Perversity in jihad

Greetings.

Jewish date:  14 Kislew 5770 (Parashath Wayyishlaḥ).

Today’s holidays:  Tuesday of the First Week of Advent (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of Sir Aleister Crowley (Thelema).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Save Africa's Great Cats and Rare Canids - The Petition Site” and “Tell Harry Reid: Don't let them filibuster the public option.”  Also, please note this interesting publicity video:  “Pink Gloves Dance to Jay Sean's Down for Breast Cancer Awareness”.

I am still working on my review of The Matrix Triology.  Hopefully you should get that tomorrow.  In the meantime, I give you two items on the sheer perversity of the Israeli-Arab War, “Nasrallah Throws A Bone to the Refugees” and The Dry Bones cartoon “Delivery Systems (1994)”.

Peace.

Aaron

“Bibi Versus The Iceman”

Greetings.

Jewish date:  13 Kislew 5770 (Parashath Wayyishlaḥ).

Today’s holidays:  Saint Day of Andrew (Roman Catholicism).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Health Care is a Right, Not a Privilege - The Petition Site”.

I am still working on my review of The Matrix Trilogy and hope to have it done sometime this week.  It is taking so long because of the prodigiously large number of things wrong with this series.  I still have to write up a section on free will, determinism, choice, and purpose.

In the meantime I give you The Dry Bones cartoon “Bibi Versus The Iceman”, which deals with how people react to Israel giving concessions in the “peace process”:  by demanding more Israeli concessions, which does not help Israel at all, as if making peace were a one-sided process.

Peace.

Aaron

Bibi, creationism, and Basement Cat

Greetings.

Jewish date:  12 Kislew 5770 (Parashath Wayyishlaḥ).

Today’s holiday:  First Sunday of Advent (Roman Catholicism).

NOTE:  My apologies to anyone getting an earlier version of this post.  Sometimes Blogger does really stupid things.

Topic 1:  “Bibi's bad week”.  This article deals with what the Obama administration wants Israel to do for the sake of the “peace process”, such as freeze Israeli building in Judea and Samaria and release terrorists, how Binyamin Nethanyahu is starting to give in to such ill-conceived demands, and why all this is a bad idea.  That Israel should give concessions is based on the assumption that concessions from Israel brings the Israeli-Arab War closer to an end.  It does not.  Ever since at least Jimmy Carter, American presidents, both Democrats and Republicans, have pressured Israel to make more and more concessions to the Arabs in the hopes of peace, most of the Israeli prime ministers have made concessions, and still the war is no closer to ending.  They say that madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results; if so, the strategy of Israeli concessions is madness.  My suggestion:  United States presidents should get out of the “peace process”.  If over 30 years of sticking their noses into Israel’s business has produced only misery, hatred, destruction, and death, then they should be rethinking their actions and not relying on assumptions which are wrong.  It makes no sense to ignore basic facts about this war, such as it is an Islamic jihad against Judaism and that land is an excuse for the war, not a reason.  And Israel should refuse to be dealt with as a second-class country.  Instead of putting its own sovereignty on the negotiating table, it should be making demands and refusing to budge on anything until they are met.  From the United States, they should demand and receive the release of Jonathan Pollard and moving the American embassy to Jerusalem.  Israel should also seize complete control of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza and impose peace rather than waste time on negotiating with the Arabs.

Topic 2:  “Evangelicals, creation, and scripture:  an overview” by Mark Noll.  This paper deals with how American evangelical Christianity developed its current mode of Biblical literalism and creationism.  Literalism apparently worked well for Protestant Christianity in a democratic environment, especially anti-traditional variants; one does not need to be a great scholar to understand a literal interpretation.  There is a lot more in there, but I do not have the time at the moment to summarize it all.

Topic 3:  More religious humor:  “basement cat”:

Here we have not only the “black cat = evil” trope, but also the notion that Hell is hot.  I am not sure where that notion comes from either, so if anyone knows, please tell me.  Thanks in advance.

Peace

Aaron

Anti-Semitism in “peace plans”

Greetings.

Jewish date:  10 Kislew 5770 (Parashath Wayyeṣe’).

Today’s holidays:  Friday of the Thirty-Fourth Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Feast of Harry Smith (Thelema), Eidul-Adha (Islam).

Worthy cause of the day:  “End Water Pollution from Mountaintop Removal Mining - The Petition Site”.

Today’s topic:  “No Jews Allowed”.  This The Dry Bones cartoon deals with a fundamental asymmetry in many “peace plans” meant to handle the Israeli-Arab War:  Jews are supposed to completely evacuate “Arab” areas, while Arabs are supposed to be able to live everywhere in Israel.  This is anti-Semitic, no matter how anyone tries to sugar-coat it.  And, no, this is not specific to Barack Obama.  This is commonly proposed, especially by Arabs and Muslims.

Peace and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

V is for “vaccine” and “vitamin”

Greetings.

Jewish date:  9 Kislew 5770 (Parashath Wayyeṣe’).

Today’s holidays:  Thursday of the Thirty-Fourth Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Day of the Covenant (Bahá’í Faith), Yaum-Arafah (Islam).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Take Action: Tell President Obama to Save Rainforests and Stop Climate Change”.

Topic 1:  V (new series), episode 4:  “It’s Only The Beginning”.  This is more of a moral/ethical episode than a theological one.

A) There is a focus on the Vs performing medical miracles—apparently a reason a lot of people like the Vs—with the announcement of plans for them to distribute a new “vitamin shot” to boost the human immune system.  This should raise a question to anyone in the sciences:  is anyone doing proper studies to make sure V medicine actually works on humans better than human medicine or placebos?  Yes, there are “miracles”, but the unexpected sometimes happens in medicine.  For all we know, some of the “miracle cures” of the Vs are spontaneous remissions which the Vs take credit for.  Furthermore, is there any followup being done to track complications and side effects?  So far none of the characters seems to have thought about this issue, though they actually examine the “vitamin shots” and find out they contain——vitamins.  Seemingly ordinary influenza vaccine, however, may have been contaminated, and so the resistance takes a vial and destroys the rest.  It is not revealed why the Vs are tampering with influenza vaccines, but tampering with medicine certainly violates medical ethics.  (General rule in medical ethics:  never do anything to anyone without their informed consent.  But since the Vs are definitely doing naughty things in secret, this violation should be no surprise.)  Medicine is also used to try to control the reporter Chad Decker.  While reporting on V medical technology, he is scanned by a V medical scanner.  The Vs tell him that he will have a brain aneurysm in six months which human technology cannot detect.  There is a waiting list for V medical treatment, so there is an implication that he will have to do something for the Vs to save his life.

B) Questions of morality in in war are showing up, as they should.  Father Jack is asked if he is a priest or a soldier while he gives some emergency medical aid.  He has been both at the same time—he was an army chaplain and did two tours in Iraq.  Christianity has for the most part outgrown its militant past, and  it is a past that many consider a mistake.  Father Jack clearly feels awkward, even if his behavior is justified.  His problems are nothing compared to those of the Fifth Column, the Vs’ internal resistance.  One of the Fifth Column killed a V sleeper agent.  In order to spare the guilty party from Anna’s wrath, another of the Fifth Columnists took credit.  To make things really conflicted, Anna ordered the true guilty party, a medical officer, to inflict the punishment on the one who took credit:  skinning.  (Anna is not a nice humanoid lizard creature.)  The V who took credit justified himself to the true guilty party on the grounds of who was expendable and who was not and demanded that the true guilty party do as Anna ordered him.  He complied, but he was clearly forcing himself to do it.

C) Anna seems to have a messiah or goddess complex.  She does not tolerate “disharmony” among the V.  (See the above bit about skinning a rebel.)  Also, at the end of the episode, she sits naked(!) on a lit platform and apparently broadcasts good feelings which include her claiming to be wonderful (“bliss”).

This wraps up the series until March.  Things are not quite as bad as they seemed based on the pilot episode alone, but there is still a lot of progress that needs to be made.  In particular, the sudden reaction of many humans to the arrival of the Vs to start going to church still remains to be explained.  Fortunately there is hope that this series will turn out alright.

Topic 2:  Eastwick, episode 8:  “Paint and Pleasure”.  Theological progress is made by Roxanne, who has a vision of herself wearing a fancy necklace and snogging Darryl.  (And, yes, I have watched too much British TV.)  Soon afterwards Darryl presents her with the necklace and holds a party to introduce her paintings to the critical world.  The party is a success, with a critic praising Roxy’s art and noting all the paintings have been sold.  Roxy does end up snogging with Darryl, but she terminates the snogging session to go back to the party; she recognizes that the vision was of snogging, not going any further than that.  Therefore, even if fatalism rules in this world, the only thing she knows she must do is snog Darryl.  She later decides to go further with Darryl, but changes her mind once he stupidly hints that he was the one who bought her paintings.  (Good for the writers.  Darryl’s evil and sort of slimy.  He should not be getting what he wants.)  Roxy also gets a vision while looking at a painting of hers that was not at the party; she sees a dagger dripping blood.  The rest of the magic in the episode is fairly ordinary for this show.  Joanna, feeling depressed, mesmerizes a homosexual man into sleeping with her in Darryl’s bathroom.  Kat unpremeditatedly causes strong wind, strong enough to overturn a baby grand piano, when she sees her ex-husband snogging with his new girlfriend.

Topic 3:  More religious humor:  “Breaking News”.

I still have no idea why black cats are associated with evil.  Black = darkness = evil (opposite of light = good) makes enough sense, but why cats in particular?  Any enlightenment would be much appreciated.

Peace.

Aaron

Should we be paying “Christian Scientists” to pray for us?

Greetings.

Jewish date:  8 Kislew 5770 (Parashath Wayyeṣe’).

Today’s holidays:  Saint Day of Catherine of Alexandria (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of Sir Edward Kelly (Thelema).

Worthy causes of the day:  “No more toxic BPA in our food” and “Include Behavior Analysts in Health Care Legislation | Petition2Congress |”.

NOTE:  I am putting off reviewing the latest episode of V until tomorrow because I was half-asleep last night when I watched it, and I plan on watching it again on Hulu so I can make a fair assessment.

Topic 1:  “Gilo in Perspective” and “Press TV Spreading Hate & Incitement”.  These HonestReporting articles deal with anti-Semitism in the news, including reporters failing to do basic fact-checking to figure out where Gilo is.  (Hint:  It is not in the eastern part of Jerusalem.)

Topic 2:  “Praying for healing, lobbying for a provision”.  Healthcare reform is in the works in the US Congress, and everybody knows it.  And the (inaccurately named) Christian Scientists are using this opportunity to try to get more money for themselves.  A tenet of Christian Science is faith-healing, a practice which does not work and which has resulted in preventable deaths.  Nevertheless, Christian Scientists want insurers to pay for them to pray to heal the sick.  Forget questions of separation of church and state.  Since faith-healing does not work, there is no point in wasting money on it.  Furthermore, the attitude that they have to be paid to pray for the sick is impious; “and you will love your neighbor as yourself” does not have a payment clause.

Peace.

Aaron

“Fresh Water Source”

Greetings.

Jewish date:  7 Kislew 5770 (Parashath Wayyeṣe’).

Today’s holiday:  Saint Day of Andrew Dung-Lac (Roman Catholicism).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Support Microfinance in Haiti - The Petition Site” and “action.firedoglake.com | Reconciliation = Majority Rule. Sign our Petition to Harry Reid to pass the public option.”

Note:  Posts at the moment are largely buying time while I work on my review of The Matrix Trilogy.  I wrote a substantial amount of material last night on the concept of reality in the series, but it will take time to produce a finished review.  So please be patient.

Today’s topic:  The Dry Bones cartoon “Fresh Water Source”.  If the thesis of the cartoon sounds unrealistic, keep in mind that Islamic terrorism and other violence does not benefit the so-called “Palestinians” except maybe to produce temporary good feelings.  Shooting missiles does not put food on the table.  Killing oneself does not build houses.  Attacking others does not create good relations with the neighbors.  Destroying useful people and items, such as greenhouses, does not create a functioning economy.  All the violence has produced is self-inflicted misery and pointless deaths.  I cannot discount the idea that Ḥamas and Fataḥ, who are already responsible for much “Palestinian” suffering, would do anything which would make the lives of the “Palestinians” worse.

Peace.

Aaron