I Think Integrity is Important. Silly Me.

We knew it was going to come down like this. In spite of all evidence,the protester/ rioters telling the media they were at the Capitol on Jan.6,2021on Trump’s orders, to decertify or not allow the election to be s certified, because HE said the election was stolen, the GOP seems to think winning by any means necessary is winning.

I drafted the above statement 2 years ago, and now they have embraces George Santos.

First Mitch McConnelll says to wait until after the inauguration to impeach, and then he says it’s unconstitutional. Well, the Congress can still vote to revoke his benefits. Will they? Fat chance. He is not going away, and this has nothing to do with Conservative ‘values’—it’s all about immature, short-sighted greed. I thought I was the only one seeing this. These people even couch themselves in the cloak of Christianity, and there is no OTHER religion on earth that allows for this type of behavior: knowing what you re doing is unethical and dangerous for your community and the earth…and not caring.

Evan Osnos,in his sobering yet clearly factual New Yorker article ( https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/11/how-greenwich-republicans-learned-to-love-trump) shows us that these new conservatives only care about themselves and really don’t care if the world is better after they die. They don’t see any responsibility at all. How can these people profess to be Judeo-christians? Of course, the irony. They condemn religions, such as Sikh, Zoariaster, and Buddism because the the concept of God is so much easier to understand when nirvana comes as a result of your own behavior, or you rot in purgatory for ever.

As even bigger irony is they get so many less educated, very religious,more rural or smaller town dwelling supporters, leading them to believe that they have economic interests in common. They never lay out the choices. You gamble and win big, you deserve all the trappings, and if your circumstances don’t lend to working for this, hope ya win the lottery.

Amazingly, integrity is only important to those of us who are NOT Christians. The Christians who say they think integrity is important state that those others are not ‘real’ Christians. Oh yeah? so why do you band with them? Because you were raised that way and never learned to think for yourself? Or because it is politically expedient to be part of that culture (how often have I heard ‘work from within..’ as though that ever worked).

They’ve painted us as savages and heathens because we question their mumbo-jumbo. We have to keep pointing out to them when they get so insanely mad over abortions nobody is forcing on them, drag queens reading stories to kids, and a scripture translated by men with agendas—-that we don’t all believe the same thing, and they promote too many inconsistencies.

Immigrants, Refugees, Humans, …and Christians

I was thinking of tweeting:’Humanitarian cirisis at our southern border caused by our arrogance’. Plenty of money for a military that wastes it, and the GOD fighting over a gavel & philosophy,

There was some controversy over Jeanine Cummins book “American Dirt” because she’s not Chicana. She says int he afterword of her novel that she asked a respected scholar, Norma Iglesias Prieto,whether she should write this, and was told, “…We need as many voices as we can get telling this story.”

The story is of how an educated, middle class woman suddenly becomes a refuggee fleeing for her life.

It just so happened , while I was reading “American Dirt,” that I picked up an old “New Yorker‘https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/11/15/is-the-president-of-honduras-a-narco-traffickerm with this story by Jon Lee Anderson about Honduras, and how our foreign policy influenced by lobbyists played a huge part in creating a refugee crisis.

It’s not like I didn’t know. The late George Crile, who wrote “Charlie Wilson’s War’, touches on what we did in Central America, but I guess for the Christians among us, it’s not as compelling as a football player being almost killed on a sports field and being brought back to life.

The Storefront Dilemma: Economics vs. Capitalism, and why Land Trusts make Sense

Do you remember when you went to a shopping area, and ther ewere clothes stores, record stores, shoe stores, bakeries, groceries, butchers, green grocers, gift shops, hair salons…pet stores? Where did they all go?

Walmart. Target. COSCO….Even Home Depot now sells snacks. Where will it end?

The problem is clearly land rents; not just capitalists speculating on improved (infrastructure) land and bidding up the costs, but property taxes.

I live in Chicago. Our aldermen make more money than our state senators and state representatives, and what do they really do? Ade they returning value for what we pay?

It’s malfeasance, but since they vote on their own salaries and most people feel ther is a futility in voting, things have gotten so bad that if you do a business plan to open a store in a store front, you see that you can’t breakl even. You would have to do about $300 net per day if your monthly rent is $1500

George Santos, the GOP, Abortion, & Christians

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Santos

Christians need have no integrity & do not have to be honest because they admit they’re imperfect, but all they need do is ask Jesus to forgive them & them can go to heaven. Apparently, being for eternity in a place that allows liars, bullies, arrogant assholes and other degenerates doesn’t bother them in the slightest. The GOP couldn’t agree on Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the (U.S) House of Representatives because he doesn’t spout enough stupidity. It’s a petty argument that makes them all look like idiots…but it doesn’t matter, does it? They voted to give more money to the military than the military asked for…meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis on our southern border which could be ameliorated by sending down people—military or otherwise—to process these humans, and give them food and shelter—-this these ‘Christians’ can not do. In fact, https://people.com/tv/todd-and-julie-chrisley-will-head-to-federal-prison-after-request-for-bail-denied/ Todd & Julie Chrisley were convicted of over a million dollae bank fraud & tax evasion. Their friends describe them as ‘people of faith’ you know what that faith is—because Buddists, Sikhi, and Jews don’t get forgiven…by ourselves or others.

.In case you haven’t been following the news, this guy won a congressional seat to represent part of New York. A small town newspaper started questioning who he was and where he got the money, but larger media sources didn’t pick up the story, and the small town newspaper didn’t have the means to continue an investigation.

This guy lied about his religion (claiming to be Jewish—then changed to ‘Jew—ish”), his family history, his education, and his work experience. But—since he’s Christian, Jesus will forgive him. He knows his fellow Republicans have! BTW—-Jews don’t forgive. You lie, you cheat, it’s all on you.

As an aside, we also have Joshua Mast, a marine captain and judge advocate—and profound Christian, who killed a bunch of people in Afghanistan, including a baby’s mother, claimed the orphan without looking for the family. That was a major problem in Afghanistan. I guess nobody told the army guys with weapons that they’re not all enemies—-but since they couldn’t tell the people on ‘our side’ (?) from the Taliban, a lot of innocent people were killed. Is it any wonder ‘we’ couldn’t win against the ragtag Taliban?

Afghan people found the baby’s family and placed the baby with cousins, who cherished her. Mast and his wife had 3 sons in the USA, and wanted a daughter, so lied to the baby’s family—whom they searched for after Joshua Mast returned to the USA—- about the ‘help’ they could provide in the USA for her medical care & when they got the child to the USA, claimed her relatives were terrorists to any and all. and they shouldn’t have her. This was reported by Rozina Ali in the Nov.20, 2022 issue of the New York Times magazine.https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/magazine/afghanistan-orphan-baby-l.html.

So, you see, who we are—as a nation—-whether you are Christian or not—-is a bunch of liars who will be self-serving by any means necessary. Of course, the Mast family claim the baby will have a better life in the USA. I’m positive she will…until she learns the circumstances. I guess they don’t think that far ahead. This is human trafficking, but the Masts have lawyers and it’s now in the courts for other Christians to decide.

Meanwhile, as a group, the Republicans want us all to follow their rules, and they believe life starts at conception, and YOU should not be allowed to make a decision yourself. That’s what we have now. Happy 2023!