Dave’s thoughts on Religion(s)

This post may test your views on religious freedom. I’m not saying that ANYONE should agree with my views. I’m only posting this because, while not exactly the way I would say things, it is very close and I think performing a valuable service.

In case anyone thinks that I am a Godless savage. The Godless part is wrong. The savage part, well I am what I am. I think Popeye said that.

I completely agree with many of the quotes that they have chosen on their site. Not limited to these:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Cherish Your Doubts – Robert T. Weston

Cherish your doubts, for doubt is the handmaiden of truth.
Doubt is the key to the door of knowledge; it is the servant of discovery.
A belief which may not be questioned binds us to error,
for there is incompleteness and imperfection in every belief.
Doubt is the touchstone of truth; it is an acid which eats away the false.
Let no man fear for the truth, that doubt may consume it;
for doubt is a testing of belief.
The truth stands boldly and unafraid; it is not shaken by the testing;
For truth, if it be truth, arises from each testing stronger, more secure.
He that would silence doubt is filled with fear;
the house of his spirit is built on shifting sands.
But he that fears no doubt, and knows its use, is founded on a rock.
He shall walk in the light of growing knowledge;
the work of his hands shall endure.
Therefore let us not fear doubt, but let us rejoice in its help:
It is to the wise as a staff to the blind; doubt is the handmaiden of truth.

Responsive Reading 413 from Hymns for the Celebration of Live – Beacon Press
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. 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

“If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul.”

–Isaac Asimov

“For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”

–Carl Sagan

And actually I think Carl Sagan had several important things wrong. But he was clearly doing the best he knew how, and he definitely help spread an appreciation of science.

And I commonly say, when people ask if I believe in God (funny how they always mean THEIR God). I say that, “Believe seems to me to imply a lack of belief and a reliance upon faith. Would you not see anything odd about someone saying that, they “believe” in gravity, or water, or electricity? I would rather say that I’m certain of the existence of gravity, or water, or electricity, or God, but probably not YOUR concept of what that means. My God likes Love and dislikes killing and hate, just as an example.

But, I also believe in religious freedom. And I certainly hope that you do to. Let me have my ideas and I will be happy to let you have yours. If one of us is wrong in some important way, then God will explain it to us later.”

And, if you explore the following website (spoiler alert) you’ll discover a long letter written by a very intelligent and thoughtful man in 1890. And he is far harder on all organized religions than I would be. Even though I do think that they have been used by evil people, as one of the main excuses for people killing each other for many thousands of years.

I support religious freedom. But, I have a short tolerance towards killing each other. Enough of that. Here’s the website. Think of it is an ethnic experience. Just like if you went to some strange and unusual land, where they do even the most common thing, in a strange and unusual manner. Don’t be threatened by it. Don’t worry about my soul.

https://sites.google.com/site/utahfreethoughtsociety/home

Gaza & More

I see lots of clever videos about the situation in Gaza. So far almost all have been clever, but distorted propaganda pieces, for one side or the other. I would suggest that if you did not think that it is hopelessly complicated, you have not been doing your research.

Just to make my position clear, I support Israel or something very much like it, existing in that area. Permanently! So, for all of the, “Fight to the death! There can be no Jew alive in the Middle East, or some say the world.” I have a strong word that refers to the output of bulls after they have finished processing their food.

Somehow, a whole bunch of people, but I’m convinced a very small percentage, have convinced many Muslims, that killing Jews, Kurds, and even each other, is a direct order from God. Here I use that same strong word. I even pile it deeper.

You can find any opinion you want on the Internet, and use it to prove that you are right, and everybody else is wrong. Personally I like these videos about Islam.

http://www.ted.com/search?q=Lesley+Hazleton

Where I believe that she clearly says, that Islam, when read ACCURATELY, does NOT condone the massive violence, that the media blames on it.

I strongly believe that any religion that condones hatred, violence, or any antisocial activity, has been perverted. Bad humans have been at work. Do not believe that God tells you to be bad. Do not believe that hatred violence and antisocial activities are good.

I have met many, very nice Israelis, and I consider them friends, and hope that they can consider me a friend, after finding out that I believe that BOTH sides have huge lists of provocations, and justifications for their actions. In my opinion BOTH sides have wonderful excuses to keep fighting, yet each has done many things to provoke the other.

I’m not there on the scene to know what is REALLY happening. Because of my views, I probably should not ever go there. I have no desire to be arrested for not agreeing with someone. I’m still a, “freedom of speech” kind of guy. Even from people that are ridiculously wrong, which perhaps I am.

One of the complications is that, as far as I know, the actions of Israel, are the actions of a central government. While the actions of provocation against them, often come from individuals. This makes everything even more complicated.

If a single American, starts randomly blowing up things in France, is France justified in going to war against America? I hope not.

And to me that makes the provocations from Israel, harder to ignore. And for the Israelis that say “What provocations?!?”

I am talking about things like this article:
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118846/israel-palestine-history-behind-their-new-war

With things like increased Israeli settlement in the West Bank, and statements from government leaders that sound like they have no interest in ever finding a solution. And the whole dividing up the West Bank into a very complicated concentration camp, and then offering it to the Palestinian government, as their homeland. And being surprised and feeling justified, when they refuse that generous offer. That does not pass the sniff test.

I am very aware that this could all be twisted propaganda. It certainly seems to be everywhere.

I believe, and post on my sites, links that say that there is no reason for Jews, Muslims, or anybody, to be enemies. People may have to make compromises, but we can all get along. We don’t have to screw each other. We certainly should not shoot each other.

Given the seemingly accurate, but bleak perspective in this video:
http://www.globetoday.com/one-of-the-most-beautiful-accurate-and-true-cartoons-ever-a-masterpiece/

I wonder if Gaza is solvable. Perhaps the best solution would be to declare some defined zone, around the Middle East. Some large area, but not too large, were all the warmongers can go and just have a wonderful time. They are not allowed nuclear weapons, but otherwise they can just shoot the poop out of each other! I’m sure the Ukrainians would appreciate it, if some people near them would relocate to another area. With all the death and destruction among Muslims in the Middle East, they would not need to relocate very far to have a legally sanctioned bloodbath. Syria, Iraq, just a whole bunch of places could suddenly become peaceful.

The rational people in this new free fire zone, would need to be able to relocate to some sane part of the planet. But perhaps since humans are incapable of learning to not want to shoot people, or stab or strangle, perhaps we can give any defective humans, a single playground, so they don’t bother the rest of us.

The military-industrial complex, should find this very appealing. They can sell their cool toys. From my years in Baltimore, I know that Baltimore would be happy to export a few hundred people, to go play there. Mexico and Central America can send some druglords. The KKK and many zealots from America, would look so much better over there than disturbing things in America. This could work. Think of the reality TV franchise.

I have great sympathy for Israelis, Palestinians, Ukrainians, all of the groups that are at each other’s throats. I suspect that the vast majority of you, are wonderful people. Love your families, just good guys and gals. But some small percentage of you have been programmed, by not so good people, to feel totally justified in hating. I don’t how to undo that, but if you hate, then you’ve been tricked. And you will pay a terrible price. You probably are already.

I was born in Houston Texas, in 1943. A time when people of color, and that definition was pretty much whatever any white man wanted it to be, had to use special bathrooms, special drinking fountains, where the water actually was not colored at all, kind of confusing. They had to ride in the back of the bus, if they could find a seat, because many white people, just for fun, would slide the marker that signified the dividing line, way back to the back, so that there would be 25 seats for three white people, and five seats for 9 black people. What a great sense of humor, Billy Bob!

Uppity (N word here) were too frequently hung, by white men as recreation. They did not need to be guilty of anything. Just accused by a white bigot.

In the early 1970s I chose to wear a beard. Apparently people haven’t noticed, but human males have active hair follicles on their face. Seems like God made them that way. What was she thinking?

When I started my beard, it was already fairly common in the Pacific Northwest. So, I was certainly not a trendsetter, by any means. But when I would visit relatives in Houston, I had a hint of what black people in the South, and hated people everywhere, go through. I could be dressed nicer than anybody else in the store, yet when I walked into the shop, it immediately became very frosty. The staff and many of the customers, literally bristled when they saw me. They didn’t know or care anything about me. I had a beard. Therefore I was bad. A blight on humanity. Fortunately if any of them thought that God had ordered them to smite me, they kept it to themselves.

I was very aware of what was going on. All I had to do was shave it off and I would be a good old boy again. I was born there. I could talk the talk. But it bothered me. Mostly, how can they be that stupid? So I tried to be an ambassador.

“Hey Bubba, I was over at the Piggly Wiggly yesterday and there was this bearded Yankee ass hole. But, he almost seemed nice. I was really surprised.”

I’ve still got the beard and no plans to shave.

“He prayeth well, who loveth well

Many thanks for reminding me of the following quote:

“He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

I read that about 50 years ago and I had forgotten about that part of the story. But I wonder if it became indelibly printed in my brain. Subliminally. Because I very strongly believe every word of that.

Sent to me by a high school friend that I have kept in touch with. Thanks Mike.

99 Life Hacks

For those that remember MacGyver
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGyver

Here are some clever ideas to make life easier that someone, presumably the owner of the website, collected off the Internet. Like most things in life, do not be shocked if some of them don’t really work. But, I enjoyed seeing this list.

http://joelzimmerman.tumblr.com/post/33670447154/99-life-hacks-to-make-your-life-easier

And, if you want to make sure that it stays available, you may need to download the file to your computer. Then all you have to do is remember how to find it.

Closely related to that ‘How do I find it?’ subject, I’m still grinding away at organizing my numerous hard drives in storage and redundancy. They are large drives and so it commonly takes 18 hours to move the files from one drive to another, and to do other, very slow, similar projects. So, it’s a good thing I finally got actively pursuing it. It would clearly be a lot easier just to buy some more 3 TB drives, but even I thought that my present collection was getting quite ridiculous.

Also I will note here that I have modified the original post
https://alegria1976.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/if-you-have-not-met-ted-you-are-missing-out/

Note the name is the tail end of the link. That link should take you to the exact post, but you can just go to my basic blog page and scroll down until you find it.

One of my many wonderful cousins, Pam. Well, I guess were all cousins in some way or another. But, anyway Pam, posted an excellent comment to that TED post. I have heard that many of you have trouble reading the comments, and hers was so good that I incorporated it in the post. However, since you may not want to go back and skim through the original post to find the new material. I will include the new material here. I think the links are especially relevant in these troubled times.

It seems to me that religion, politics, and anchoring, are three things that get people really bent out of shape. It is common to find people who have such overwhelmingly strong opinions about those subjects, that although they are otherwise rational human beings, on certain subjects their mind is like a steel trap. An old steel trap. Closed and rusted shut.

Of course, they know beyond all certainty, that they have all the answers and that the other gazillion people in the world have it all wrong.

So, even though my many friends, are my friends, because they are quite rational and open-minded and above such lunacy, except perhaps on anchoring subjects, I worry that some stranger will find the blog and immediately jump to some sort of adrenaline enriched position, that I cannot imagine. I will just say, please don’t do that.

How will we ever solve anything, if we cannot talk about subjects, and positions that we may not agree with, but that are important. As Rumi said:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
“Come, come again, whoever you are, come!
Heathen, fire worshipper or idolatrous, come!
Come even if you broke your penitence a hundred times,
Ours is the portal of hope, come as you are.”

Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi
1207 – 1273 see http://www.mevlana.net/

He also said:

“Christian, Jew, Muslim, shaman, Zoroastrian, stone, ground, mountain, river, each has a secret way of being with the mystery, unique and not to be judged”
― Rumi

“And watch two men washing clothes,
one makes dry clothes wet. The other makes wet clothes dry. They seem to be thwarting each other, but their work is a perfect harmony.

Every holy person seems to have a different doctrine and practice, but there’s really only one work.”
― Rumi

https://alegria1976.wordpress.com/2013/06/29/random-quotes-from-rumi/

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
And Pam said, slightly edited:
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Pam & David on October 14, 2013 at 3:49 pm said: Edit

Thanks for posting this, Dave. If it’s helpful to folks, here’s a shortened URL: http://bit.ly/1gzOgwm that will take you straight there. (That link http://bit.ly/1gzOgwm worked fine for me (Dave).)

A TED talk that I like quite a lot (we all have our favorites), perhaps because I’m from Seattle, is this one:

And here she had a link, but I (Dave) removed her link because it took me to a page that wanted to install software on my computer. I recommend against doing that. Please try this link
http://www.ted.com/talks/lesley_hazelton_on_reading_the_koran.html
And I strongly recommend this related link
http://www.ted.com/talks/lesley_hazleton_the_doubt_essential_to_faith.html

Pam continues:
If you enjoy TED talks (and I do), you might also enjoy the many spoofs out there, easily found by Googling “TED spoofs.” There’s even one by a comedian who apparently talked his way into a TEDx event.

If you have not met TED, you are missing out.

One of my friends named Mike sent me this nice link:
http://www.ted.com/talks/janette_sadik_khan_new_york_s_streets_not_so_mean_any_more.html

Yes, it is a long link. If you have trouble opening it, just contact me. DO NOT let sites tell you that you need to install software! The real pages should just work. If not, then ask you local Computer Guru.

I find it kind of exciting to hear the things that she says are being accomplished in New York and the outstanding results that she says they have. I realize that it’s a puff piece. By that I mean that she’s blowing her own horn and trying to put the best possible spin on it. But I really like the video and I believe what she says. More power to her.

For me, probably the best part, is that her successes are being emulated in many cities around the world. I always like it when people get smarter. It’s really frustrating when I see large groups of people rapidly getting dumber.

While we were in the states for the last three years, we had the use of an automobile. Sadly, in the US, you usually are required to have an automobile in order to function. However, for the majority of the last 40 years, I have been a pedestrian. There’s no place to keep an automobile on our boat. And, in a lot of the world that I have been, there’s no need.

In Portugal, like many other places that we been, it was really easier to get around without a car. Not always, of course. But, frequently.

I will spare you countless pages of examples of places that virtually require you to have an automobile in order to survive there. But, it looks like from this video that America might be beginning to scratch the surface of rethinking the whole idea of requiring that every household have at least one and preferably many automobiles.

If you have not seen very many TED broadcasts, you have really done yourself a disservice. A treat awaits you! They have something for everybody. Well, maybe not everybody. Probably no child pornography or snuff films, but really a vast collection of entertainment that is usually also very enjoyably educational. I strongly encourage you to set aside some time to snoop around in the list of available broadcasts. If you look around on my blog you will find several listed, but there seems to be a gigantic assortment of them. I have to keep it to a minimum because of my traditionally terrible Internet connection. But for most of you, I strongly recommend it.

Dave

PS

Also note here that I have modified this original post

One of my many wonderful cousins, Pam. Well, I guess were all cousins in some way or another. But, anyway Pam, posted an excellent comment to that TED post. I have heard that many of you have trouble reading the comments, and hers was so good that I incorporated it in the post. However, since you may not want to go back and skim through the original post to find the new material. I will include the new material here. I think the links are especially relevant in these troubled times.

It seems to me that religion, politics, and anchoring, are three things that get people really bent out of shape. It is common to find people who have such overwhelmingly strong opinions about those subjects, that although they are otherwise rational human beings, on certain subjects their mind is like a steel trap. An old steel trap. Closed and rusted shut.

Of course, they know beyond all certainty, that they have all the answers and that the other gazillion people in the world have it all wrong.

So, even though my many friends, are my friends, because they are quite rational and open-minded and above such lunacy, except perhaps on anchoring subjects, I worry that some stranger will find the blog and immediately jump to some sort of adrenaline enriched position, that I cannot imagine. I will just say, please don’t do that.

How will we ever solve anything, if we cannot talk about subjects, and positions that we may not agree with, but that are important. As Rumi said:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

“Come, come again, whoever you are, come!
Heathen, fire worshipper or idolatrous, come!
Come even if you broke your penitence a hundred times,
Ours is the portal of hope, come as you are.”

Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi

1207 – 1273   see http://www.mevlana.net/

He also said:

“Christian, Jew, Muslim, shaman, Zoroastrian, stone, ground, mountain, river, each has a secret way of being with the mystery, unique and not to be judged”

― Rumi

“And watch two men washing clothes,

one makes dry clothes wet. The other makes wet clothes dry. They seem to be thwarting each other, but their work is a perfect harmony.

Every holy person seems to have a different doctrine and practice, but there’s really only one work.”

― Rumi

https://alegria1976.wordpress.com/2013/06/29/random-quotes-from-rumi/

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

And Pam said, slightly edited:

>>>>>>>>>>>>

Pam & David on October 14, 2013 at 3:49 pm said:

Thanks for posting this, Dave. If it’s helpful to folks, here’s a shortened URL: http://bit.ly/1gzOgwm that will take you straight there. (That link http://bit.ly/1gzOgwm worked fine for me (Dave).)

A TED talk that I like quite a lot (we all have our favorites), perhaps because I’m from Seattle, is this one:

And here she had a link, but I (Dave) removed her link because it took me to a page that wanted to install software on my computer. I recommend against doing that. Please try this link
http://www.ted.com/talks/lesley_hazelton_on_reading_the_koran.html

And I strongly recommend this related link
http://www.ted.com/talks/lesley_hazleton_the_doubt_essential_to_faith.html

Pam continues:

If you enjoy TED talks (and I do), you might also enjoy the many spoofs out there, easily found by Googling “TED spoofs.” There’s even one by a comedian who apparently talked his way into a TEDx event.

“Jodhaa-Akbar”

I just finished watching the movie, “Jodhaa-Akbar.”

This film is an epic (Running time 214 minutes) historical drama made in India and released in 2008. It is about things taking place in India around 1555. With a Muslim hero and a Hindi heroine.

It claims to be historically accurate. Back in the section on special features they list the long list of books that were used in their research. However, Wikipedia seems to think that it is not very historically accurate at all. In any case, the sets and costumes are incredible!

As several of the major movie critics said, it is easy to find things wrong with the movie. Like the hero lights a candle with a ‘strike anywhere match’, 250 years before they were invented, but holy moly folks. Most of the stuff is great.

Clearly, Harry Potter does not need to worry. But, overall the critics and I really liked it.

Give it a shot. The acting is not top notch, but it has so much to offer. The hero and heroine are both super good looking.

They do get heavily into the singing and dancing (with a cast of thousands) that Bollywood is known for, but I still like it for the supposedly ‘ethnic experience.’

Of course, no matter what, it is an ethnic experience in that Bollywood movies are generally different then you are used to.

And I like the recurring theme of trying to stop corruption, bribery, and especially religious intolerance. I suspect that all of those are important messages for India today.

Sort of a, “Hey guys. Could we please stop blowing each other up?”

And if you figure out how to stop, could you please show the rest of us?

By the way, none of the movie is in English. You can choose subtitles, if you can find where they are in the menu. You will also need them if you want to watch the outtakes, but there is a choice to have them, if you can find it.

Dave

Good news and Other news

As they say: “We have some good news and some other news.”

In this case the good news was the vest is being reunited with its owner. And for the other news:

This link tells how easy it is for literally anyone to snoop on you, ala ‘1984’.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/02/a-cheap-spying-tool-with-a-high-creepy-factor/?nl=technology&emc=edit_ct_20130808&_r=0

This next link tells of companies closing their doors rather than being complicit with non-constitutional surveillance techniques.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/08/08/email-company-reportedly-used-by-edward-snowden-shuts-down-rather-than-hand-data-over-to-feds/

And, not to ask anyone to agree, or change their mind, but my position is that strong surveillance is not in itself inherently bad. Closed-circuit TV cameras monitoring public spaces, have solved many crimes and save many lives.

In my mind, the problem is bad people. Whether they are civilians or government. It is not difficult to collect very valuable information that can be used to harm people.

It would be really simple if only wonderful people collected information and watched out and prevented bad people from doing bad things to wonderful people like you and me. When you figure out how to do that please tell us all how to do it.

In the meantime, some of us were laboring under the delusion that we had a Constitution and a few other old, dusty, pieces of paper, that set down carefully thought out rules of what was fair. The recent Snowden scandal, to my mind, points out that those old pieces of paper are being ignored by our government. If you somehow think that every human being in the government, is brilliant, and honest, and has the genuine best interest of America, and Americans clutched to his bosom every minute of every day, then you probably can’t figure out what all the fuss is about.

And here is an article saying that the sun’s magnetic field will reverse soon. Yes, that means what you think it means. The North Pole of the sun, will gradually get very weak and then reappear at the opposite end. WTF?

This is probably important to us in ways that we still don’t comprehend, but it can affect radio communications and how radiation from outer space impacts on planet Earth. It is happened about every 11 years since they noticed it. And presumably every 11 years since the sun was created. So, it’s not likely that you will be aware of it at all unless you have sophisticated instruments. Or, you rely on long-distance radio communications, like radio amateurs.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/08/130807-sun-magnetic-field-reversal-space-weather/

Speaking of radio amateurs, I was surprised to see a radio amateur starring in a movie that I watched a few days ago. The name of the movie is Contact. Made in 1997 with Jodie Foster playing the lead role. She is the amateur radio operator.

See, at least in Hollywood, they are not all like Train Spotters.

A lot of the movie involves the stress that far too many people feel between Religion and Science. Just like in the real world, most of the stress is generated by misquoting things and twisting things for dramatic effect. Actors on both sides repeatedly get their knickers in a knot over things that were not what the other person said, etc. Good Hollywood fun. It actually present some interesting conundrums.

Not to change anyone else’s mind. You obviously have given it a lot of thought and have exactly the answers to everything all figured out. However, I’m still working on the puzzle. I’m not nearly as sure of things as I was at 16. And I will just say that at my present state of ignorance it seems to me that Religion and Science have no reason to be adversaries at all.

But, like most of Life, it depends on how you define Religion and Science. My version of ‘Real Science’ is the search for truth and understanding. It requires an open mind and honesty. It requires looking at data that you don’t think should be that way, yet allowing it to be recorded and studied and not sweeping it under the carpet. Unfortunately, not common Human traits.

Also, in my tiny little mind, Religion is supposed to be the honest study of a lot of very important things, mostly about the nonphysical world. Likewise, it requires an open mind and honesty in looking at the data that perhaps you don’t think should be that way, yet allowing it to be recorded and studied and not sweeping it under the carpet.

Unfortunately, the people practicing Religion OR Science, are people. Human beings. Talk about an imperfect vessel. They have an annoying tendency to burn people at the stake, or as shown in one charming painting at the Vatican Museum, tying them to something or other so they don’t run about, and then splitting open their abdomen and slowly pulling out their intestines and winding them up on a big drum. While the victim watches. I think that’s the ‘drawn’ part of drawn and quartered. The quartered is, after they’ve taken all of your digestive system, they cut you down the middle vertically and across the middle horizontally into 4 roughly equal pieces.

Oh, those Servants of the Lord (similarly the Servants of Science) are so cute.

You see, Scientists are far from lily white either. If you come up with data that the main, entrenched, monopolistic, Scientific Community (in name only) disagrees with, you are at least banned to the hinterlands, and your economic livelihood cut off.

Just one of the countless gruesome examples is Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis. Not exactly a household name in my household. How about yours?

But a very good example of how incredibly stupid the so-called Scientific Community can be. In about 1847 there was no concept of germs. Doctors routinely performed autopsies on people that had died of who knows what. Often, the person had died of horribly contagious conditions.

Then, the same Dr. would walk upstairs to, in this example, deliver a baby. I would assume that they washed their hands for cosmetic purposes on occasion. Of course, who knows what the social norms were in 1847. But, if I were getting ready to have a baby and somebody walked into the room covered in blood and guts and disgusting things. Looking like an extra for a chainsaw massacre movie. I would probably be a little put off.

So, I’m just guessing that the problem was that, “If my hands look clean, they are clean.”

Well, dear Dr. Semmelweis, connected the dots. He began to think that on the days that he washed his hands before delivering a baby very few of the mothers got sick from complications. He got pretty excited about this alleged finding.

Unfortunately, the Medical Mafia, got pretty excited too. But, their excitement was satisfied by putting Dr.Ignaz Semmelweis into the equivalent of Guantánamo prison and letting the guards beat him to death. He died within 14 days of being kidnapped by the establishment.

And he was just asking people to wash their hands. You can see why people like Dr. Burzynski who the Medical Mafia sees as wanting to meddle with trillion dollar industries, trillion dollar monopolies, that won’t be a monopoly if they get meddled with. You can see why Dr. Burzynski gets harassed.

And don’t waste our time with telling me that he routinely cures patients safely, and comparatively inexpensively, and with virtually no side effects. That is NOT the point. He is tampering with someone’s rice bowl.

For more info on Dr.Ignaz Semmelweis, have a look at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis

Dave

Cancer & Education

Here are two links that I consider very important.

First
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/07/13/burzynski-cancer-film.aspx

My connection is so slow that I am still waiting for the download. But, Janet went to Dr Burzynski and we definitely believe that he has a breakthrough technology that is the only known cure for many types of brain cancer. The team Hannah blog that I referred you to in the past is just one example of it curing a cancer that was absolutely positively branded as incurable by the medical establishment.

I’m quite aware that many websites love to discredit him. I tried for months to reason with one of them. But, it was obvious that the whole purpose of the website was to discredit Dr. Burzynski. I was actually amazed that they would allow me to put my comments on there. But it became apparent that for every good thing I said, they posted 10 other ridiculous lies.

I assume that most of the doctors that said that Hannah was incurable are not bad people. They are just working with what they think is the best available information. The tragedy is that many technologies like this are being blocked by big Pharma through the corrupt FDA. The FDA would not allow him to use antineoplastons to help Janet and she and thousands of others may have been alive today if they had.

I also found this successful cure link:
http://www.burzynskipatientgroup.org/laurel-press/233

The second very important link is
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/07/12/malala-un-address/2511915/

You can cancel the advertisement at the beginning or Google for other articles about this wonderful woman, actually really still just a VERY brave girl.

The Taliban tried to execute Malala because she vocally supported education for women and other basic rights that we take for granted. They shot her in the head. How can such a repressive ideology not be the work of the Devil? If you do not believe in a Devil, then substitute “Evil People.” Like the comic book ultra villains. They use a religion as their excuse to do evil. Sadly, we have people far too much like that in the USA using different religions as excuses to justify their evil intent.

This is by no means intended to imply that America is worse than many other countries. Religion has been used as justification for atrocities since before recorded history.

Just to repeat the principal points of my position. Not to imply in any way that you need to agree with me or should change what you have already decided on the subject. Just to say where I’m coming from at this moment. And I reserve the right to change over time.

I have met several otherwise bright people in my travels, who try hard to convince me that religion is the only reason for “Good” in the world.

I will have to water down my opinion of that by many orders of magnitude and just say that I believe that it is nonsense. Very, very dangerous nonsense. Over and over again we have examples all through history of religion being used to justify tremendous atrocities. Haven’t the majority of wars throughout history, been justified by religion?

Over and over again we have examples all through history of atheists and agnostics, being wonderful, benevolent people. Doing wonderful good works. Not because they think some mind in the sky commands them to do so. But, because it just seems like a good idea. Kind of an obvious good idea.

Religion and a ‘concept of good and evil that I would agree with,’ are two entirely different, unrelated things. I obviously feel very strongly about that. If you disagree, then I would ask you to put on your thinking cap. Hopefully you can remember where you left it.

I also feel strongly that everyone should have religious freedom. That includes the atheists and agnostics, because what is that, but their view about the subject of religion?

I have met a frightening number of Americans who are all for religious freedom. But, somehow they think that means that their particular flavor should be supreme and forced down the throats of everyone. While all the others, and so often they attempt to denigrate all other religions by calling them cults. But they think that all these other cults, should be squashed and particularly atheists and agnostics. Once again, I cannot really tell you what I think about that position without exposing you to my rich vocabulary of words that really shouldn’t be written down. So I will just say that I think they’re full of poop and dangerous to society. I hope their brain transplant gets approved soon.

If you believe in a God, and I certainly do, then I would hope that you believe that your God is very powerful. He, she, or it should not need your help and ask you to go out and harm people. He, she, or it should not be threatened by people that have not yet arrived at your brilliantly enlightened idea of reality.

To my mind, freedom of religion is such a simple and useful idea. How else would you be allowed to practice YOUR religion, or YOUR disbelief in a higher power? If there is a mandated belief on this subject, what are the odds that it will be yours? Therefore, many, probably most people are going to be unhappy with the result. To me the obvious solution is to be allowed to believe what you want to. Won’t your God work it out just fine in the long run? If someone doesn’t think that their God is up to the task, I suggest that is proof that they need to shop around for a new one.

To me it is sort of like the idea of democracy. If we let everyone have an equal say in what happens. And it is very important that they think that they have an equal say in what happens. Actually, I’m not convinced that Americans really do. But that’s another topic.

But, if everyone thinks that they have an equal say in their government, then it seems to me, that it has a stabilizing influence. It discourages revolution and Civil War. I agree that sometimes those are necessary, but I think in general they are bad idea.

It seems obvious to me that a democracy cannot possibly be the best possible government if your definition of best means “the greatest good”. Some people are obviously much smarter and more knowledgeable about important things and how to get them accomplished than others. But, I think that the last 10,000 years of experimenting with government has shown that the odds of mandating or forcefully installing the people that YOU think are smarter and more knowledgeable about important things in charge of your government, does not happen very often. And most people will disagree with your choice.

That becomes a very unstable system, with the worst of the crud, constantly trying to float to the top. So, that is why I believe that a ‘democratic system’ is the best we have come up with so far.

I’ve read several articles recently about surveys taken all over the world. They ask individuals their opinion of the level of corruption in their countries. The corruption of political leaders, law enforcement, religious leaders, everybody. In these studies the US does not come out very well at all. In these studies most Americans think that America is quite corrupt. That’s a shame. Especially if it is true. And I know that you and I are working to reduce that corruption, but it’s a big country and I do not assume that we will turn it all into Mr. Rogers Neighborhood very soon. But I keep trying, and appreciate that you do also.

In that vein, I encourage you to always vote to the best of your ability, and to also spread ideas that you think are good, to the best of your ability. And, if you can think of some other way to help, have at it. Even if you think I’m full of poop.

Like the bumper sticker says:
“Practice random acts of kindness and senseless beauty”

I do it because it feels good, but if the only way I can get you to do it is because ‘Dave said so,’ I can live with that. Thanks.

Dave

Turkey in the news

A friend just asked, what many of you are probably wondering:

>There seem to a a lot of articles about civil strife in Turkey. Is it noticeable where you are?

Not that I have seen personally. However, some other people in the Marina say that there was a large, and extremely peaceful demonstration in Finike a few days ago. I am told that the Prime Minister has been in power for a long time and that many Turks do not usually have a problem with him, but, don’t like several of the recent decisions. And there have been people saying that some of the reforms or changes that he wants to implement could be achieved if he tried to do them more slowly.

One comment that seems to come from many people is that there is a rule that no alcohol can be served within a certain distance of a mosque. I think it is 200 meters, but I’m not sure. One of the proposals is to build a mosque on the park, which would remove the liquor license for hundreds of popular restaurants around the park. I was told that the Prime Minister has built new parks in many parts of Istanbul and perhaps Turkey in general. And that he presents that to say that you’ve got lots of new parks, you can give up a little bit of this one.

I’m certain that all would agree that I know zero about politics, but even I would know not to mess with a park that had been a popular icon for at least generations, if not hundreds of years. But, as I say, I know zero about politics and it could be that the Prime Minister is doing an excellent job if one looks at the big picture. On the face of it however, it seems like several very bad decisions. Clearly many Turks think that they are bad decisions.

I know zero about what is going on. So I have no idea how accurate any of what I have just said is. And it is extremely possible that I misunderstood. Many have pointed out that the Turkish lira is significantly down in value due to the turmoil and several are going to the ATMs and getting lots of Turkish lira while the price is good. Of course, not having a crystal ball, maybe the price is about to plummet. Turkey has been plagued in the past with runaway inflation. But during the time I have been here, the lira has been relatively stable.

The Turks as a group are an extremely nice people. I wish them well in all things. There is some small comfort in living on a boat that is at the edge of the country. And a peaceful edge at that. If I get nervous, it should be easy to move to a more peaceful country. I give that absolutely zero probability of happening, but it is nice to have the option.

Dave

Janet is still with us and says things are OK

0800 Pacific Time Reno, NV
She was just awake for over an hour and is doing OK. Obviously we’d love to be taking another look at the incredible Vatican Museum or the Museo Nacional de Antropología (the National Museum of Anthropology) in Mexico City, or sailing on a beautiful sea, like many of the days and nights crossing the Atlantic in 2005. But, this is our task right now. To make her as comfortable as possible and lately we have a nice combination that works well.

My apology for perhaps giving too much information before was offered because (A) I am painfully aware that my Skill Set of Social Graces is broken, I never have found all the pieces. And (B) I assume that some people would prefer a sweet note about how much Janet & I love each other and that she is not well. Then, later to hear that she passed peacefully in her sleep and will be missed by one and all.

I respect that.

But, I just really wanted to say what I said. Anyone that has know me more than an hour knows that I don’t know any SHORT stories. I am accused of giving more info than the recipient wanted to know.

Well, hey. At least you know it it the real Dave writing this and not a Ghost Writer. Humm, I feel a politically incorrect pun there.

Janet & I share with many of you the firm and thoroughly considered belief that our soul (it has other names too) is indeed eternal or at least does not end when the physical body does.

We are certain that death of the physical body is just a natural part of life on Earth. At age 69, I have many friends and all 4 or our patients that have already passed over.

Please do NOT judge our views. Just try to wrap your mind around them, to see where we are coming from at this moment. As we learn more, our views change. Please stay very certain of your own views of How The Universe Works. These things have been argued for as long as there have been two beings that can communicate and had the spare time to wonder and argue about them. I would never be so full of myself as to think that I had figured it all out.

But, lets get back to Janet. When awake, she is usually quite lucid. Not her best, by any stroke, but nice to see that she is still with us. We get to talk about various things.

We wait to see how this unfolds. I will protect her comfort to the very best of my very obnoxious ability. Get in my way on that Quest and you will remember me a very long time. I am still her faithful Rottweiler.

But, for now, we believe that we have enough, effective tools, to keep her comfortable while the drama unfolds.

With MANY thanks to all of the very dear friends and many strangers who send their considerable written word and the warm and loving non-physical support.

Janet is by no means the only wonderful person here. Each of you is a jewel. A gift forever.

Dave & Janet