teh Mexigogue

GETTING THE CHURCH IN THIS IS A MUST SEE!!!

 I was made aware of this thanks to The Russ Martin Show. There are no words I can use to describe it.  You have to see for yourself.

Me with my family of Mexicans.  Doin’ it old skool Mexican house decor style, scary crucifix, mounted deer head and all! Good times.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you this news bulletin:  You guys are never gonna believe this.  I am seriously! My ex-wife Carol got mad because I referred to God as her Imaginary Friend so she sicced both Friend of the Court and Child Protective Services on me accusing me of various things.  Some of the things were patently false (she accused me of taking my daughter with me to the bar) and others were benign (she accused me of teaching the children my own non-Christian ideas on ethics) but one thing really  took the proverbial cake.  I was accused of having my daughter snap this picture back last summer after I got banned for 30 days from Leroy’s.

First of all I will point out that it’s not even clear that that’s me in the picture.  From where I sit that looks like Spiderman.  Second of all, yes I did in fact have my daughter snap that and I affirmed that with both Friend of the Court and Child Protective Services.  When confronted with the question of whether or not that was a case of me taking my child to the bar I will point out that number one that picture was taken OUTSIDE the bar and number two I was in fact banned from that bar at that time.  So no I did not take my child TO the bar, we went AT the bar. And as those of you who are familiar with the Lansing area will notice that picture was taken facing South on Cedar street and the shadow is is clearly being cast from left to right which means the sun was coming up from the East when that shot was snapped.  And since the clock in the picture shows approximately 9:00 it can be ascertained that the picture of Spiderman flipping off the sign at Leroy’s was taken at 9:00 in the morning.  That is not what would normally be construed as bar time (damn I’m good, I need to get my Mystery Solving License and hang out with Foxy Love).

The Friend of the Court guy  also asked  me if I thought this was setting a good example for my children.  I stated that my message to my children was (and always has been) that if you’re angry with someone it’s not ok to physically assault them.  It’s not ok to burn their place to the ground, but it is ok to take a funny picture and to make fun of them using your words.  This is the free exchange of ideas and, coincidentally that is what I was mad at Leroy’s about, because they had objected to some true stuff I had written on my blog.  So since they came out as haters of free speech I struck back at them with free speech.  That, my freinds, is the American way (cue patriotic music and visual of flapping American flag in the background).

The irony of the situation is that while I am no longer mad at Leroy’s I am posting a link to the picture once again because for me it has become a symbol of the very thing that my detractors hate most about me, my freedom of speech which is to say free thought.  Don’t hate thinking.  Try it, I assure you it is fun!

Oh I almost forgot the exciting conclusion of CPS’s investigation.  They determined, after talking with the kids who did not show any sign or evidence of abuse or neglect (and they also indicated that they love me and wish to continue with weekend visitations) that they found no grounds to pursue anything.  The complaint/allegation was denied. 

This has been teh Mexigogue reminding you to have your midget population spayed or neutered.

This is the first of what will probably be a billion part series detailing the things I have taught my children which has incurred the wrath of their mom and her church. This battle of ideas was completely unnecessary and began only when my ex began telling my children that daddy is going to hell for not being a Christian and that they should put God before anyone, even family. The implication of those two ideas is clear and I could not sit by and assent (through silence) to such attacks on my filial ties with my children.

Against that ideological poison I have presented Truth and the other side is now alarmed. My ideas have evidently been terrifying enough to warrant counter measures, including the fact that my children have been taken to talk to The Pastor who has told them (among other things) that it is possible that I don’t love them at all and that I’m only using them to get back at their mother. I’m not going to comment on that here beyond saying that when someone says something that retarded then, rather than harming the intended target (in this case me) it is more likely that it undermines the credibility of the speaker. So be it.

Pride

Pride is not, as the mystic fundamentalists would tell you, a sin. Pride is the self esteem one acquires upon the achievement of a goal. It is not a positive or a negative in and of itself, for the goal which it celebrates may be a good one or a bad one. But for a person with a proper ethical base, for a person who values that which is good over that which is evil, pride is an indication that a goal which furthers the cause of good has been achieved.

Take for example a person who values productivity. If his goal is to further his own productivity and/or money-making ability and he is successful in doing so then the rightful result of his success will be pride in his accomplishment. That means, at base, a boost to his self esteem. This is not a sin, it is in fact positive re-enforcement which will encourage him to continually develop positively in this regard. This rightfully earned pride does not detract from any other positive minded person and is a threat only to those who require emotionally crippled people with poor self image and mental health so that they can feast upon them in their weakness. This is to say that pride is a threat only to pimps of the body and of the spirit which is to say panderers and The Church.

Take note here that I am not attacking the concept of theism itself. Anyone can be a theist (I am, in fact, one) and theism itself does not require human weakness or victims. The Church, however, does and you can bear witness to this by the fact that they teach the immoral and logically flawed concept of Original Sin in order to ensnare all people into buying their snake oil, even the Righteous. They do this by claiming that their is no Righteousness.

The concept of Pride as a sin, while abhorrent to those of us with ability, is especially attractive to people with little or no inherent ability and sense of self-worth. If the greatest virtue is to become like a child (as it is said in the book of Matthew) the low self-esteem types are one step ahead from the get-go because although they may have reached the age of adulthood in years they have not gained the concommitant sense of security and self worth that comes with normal maturity. The are already as children because they stand mentally weak in world they cannot readily comprehend. It is only with this weakness that one develops the need for The Great Opiate.

It is not enough that the weak have hustled themselves into this sham of a worldview, their goal is to trap the rest of us. Every person of ability and self-esteem (which are the basis of good mental health) stands as an unspoken testimony against the fear-based and flawed worldview of the mystics. This is why they cannot content themselves (as I can) that we can both teach our worldviews to the children who will ultimately decide for themselves and may the most logical worldview win. The fear is not that they won’t get a fair hearing but that I will, hence the bookburnings (both literal and figurative) and the cheap shots. If it is to be that way and that I must suffer persecution for the sake of my children then okey dokey. But remember as you do me such that although you may call yourselves Christians that in this persecution I am more like Jesus than you will ever be. And as you jam this crown of thorns on my head, even yet I throw horns. And I do so with Pride.

Tomorrow the anti-life and self hate teachings of the Evangelicals.

This weekend I offered to take my 10 and 13 year olds to go see Silent Hill. My son doesn’t like horror flicks to I bought him a DVD that he wanted. My daughter and I then went to the theater and watched Silent Hill on its opening night. The movie was nothing to jump up and down about but it was fairly creepy at points because it had a little scary dead-looking girl with a voice like James Earl Ray. I mean James Earl Jones. Whatever, I always get those two mixed up. Whichever one who didn’t shoot Martin Luther King.

Later that weekend, while looking at some of my daughter’s drawings I happened upon some work she had done for school. For one assignment she was asked what decisions she would implement if she were starting a new nation. Her first bullet was to insure that the economy would be capitalist and not communist. The second was to insure that taxes would not be raised except for VERY important things. Reading those two things right there was better than any Father’s Day card ever written!

Later on I was looking at an algebra paper which she had aced (hey look Monique my daughter is doing good in the classes minorities are supposed to be bad at haha!). I saw where she had written down the formula pi r square so I told her the story about the time that formula came into play at Leroy’s. It is, as I mentioned before, one of the few times that algebra has come into play for me in real life so that story will always make me laugh.

I wound down the weekend by watching the entire three part series of The Godfather as they played the whole thing over and over one some station. I like Michael Corleone (played by Al Pacino) in this movie because, as Tracey from the INTJ list once mentioned, he seems very INTJ. His thing is to keep a cool head and to never let your passions get the best of you.  I like his line:

“Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement.”

That is stoicism at its finest. I couldn’t have said it any better myself.

Party on dudes, and Be Excellent to Each Other!

A Neo-Nazi rally will take place in front of the Capitol Building in Lansing on Saturday as planned. The Circuit Court denied the group’s request to issue a restraining order to forbid the government from constructing a a six foot high fence to separate the demonstrators from counter protestors. I can only presume that they don’t want the fence there because they want to be attacked so an incident will occur which will both give them national exposure and also sort of support their point which is that people need to watch out for dangerous minorities. I, for one, thing that the Nazis should be allowed to demonstrate and that they should be ignored.

The last thing we need to do is to kick around the idea that hate speech should be banned or that certain groups should not be allowed to demonstrate. I am against government censorship so I support ANY group’s right to demonstrate, even if that group hates me. I am also against the idea that such groups should be charged by the government for all the police overtime and/or fence making the government engages in in order to prepare for such demonstrations. Number one, the Nazis didn’t ask to be protected and two, what if the group that wants to demonstrate next time is one I like but they don’t have the thousands of dollars it would take to pay the government? The first amendment right to peaceably assemble is not only meant to apply only to well funded groups.

There will be an alternate rally, a Diversity Rally to be held at Lansing Eastern on Saturday. I would ignore that one too. The opposite of Nazi-ism (collectivist racism) is not Diversity (collectivist color blindness), the true opposite of Nazi-ism is Individualism. I don’t even have to specify non-racism on that one because if you are an individualist then, by implication, you’re not a racist either because racism presumes lumping people into categories based on ethnicity which is about as pure a form of collectivism as you can get.

If you oppose the Neo-Nazis then don’t go to the rally and beat them up because that gives them press which is what they want. Don’t go to the Diversity Rally because that would just make you a different form of collectivist which plays right into their view of the world too. If you truly oppose the neo-Nazis then don’t acknowledge their little get together at all.  Their rally is like breaking wind in an elevator: what’s the point of doing it if no one shows up?

I’m helping someone do a rewrite of an assignment they are doing for some business or advertising class or something.  The first draft was ok but a little vague on the details of the offer so I was called in to advise.  After a tweak here and there of the original this is what we have come up with:

ACME Camera and Service Company is now offering an unprecedented 30% discount for 30 days on all new purchases and repair services!! This offer is being extended in order to celebrate ACME Camera and Service Company’s purchase of Otto’s Camera store.  Those guys were gay but we want your business and we are going to prove it at our Grand Opening on March 4, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.  There will be free pizza and beverages for everyone.  We will also be giving out five door prizes including a free trip to scenic Cleveland Ohio, a microwave oven, two tickets to Jimmy’s Comedy Club, a Box ‘o Porn, and a pet monkey! In addition, if the number you received with his letter matches the winning number on Saturday, you could win a free digital camera (valued at $500).

Man I love advertising.  “So getcher swerve on with the Archdioscese!” Got a nice ring to it doesn’t it? It’s advertising-speak it’s called “fluff”, people, and it’s allowed.  Carry on!!

People love me so they have brought food in to-day in order to celebrate the happying to my birf. We have meatballs, cheese, crackers, scrimps, and assorted sweets. Not to mention (wait, I’m mentioning it) that I got a Beaners card for I can comprar some coffee. My lifelong goal to start a Mexigogue cult has finally come to fruition muhuhahahhahahahhahahaa!

Wait, it’s not a cult. I’ve just been informed they do this for everybody on their birthday. Drat. Nevertheless I am well pleased.

Thank you Jenn for finally making your presence on the blog. I will also point out that Nice Rack’s cell phone must have informed her this morning (she told me she programmed it in three months ago) that it’s time for my birthday hug. I have meatballs, scrimps, coffee, and a birthday hug and NOW I CAN TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!!!

I’m sleepy. I wish I could go out and battle against all ethnic stereotypes and then afterwards put on a sombrero and go to sleep under a cactus.

Out.

This weekend I watched How Cubans Really Are:  a Documentary.  It was a very good and informative piece and it totally jibed with the experiences I have had with the Cuban people. I recommend this film to enhance your cultural competence (which is, of course,  a must in today’s world).

Yesterday I made my mid-day trek to The Coffee Place and, while filling up on a 20 oz. Rawandan blend (kill the Tutsi cockaroaches!) the girl behind the counter speaks to me:

“So how was your Easter?”

Now as anyone who knows anything about me already knows I don’t celebrate Christian holidays.  But since I am an amicable individual who is tolerant of beliefs other than my own I make an attempt to give a response that does not offend and is at the same time factually correct.  After all, for a guy like me, that is the point of a question:  the seeking of a factually correct answer. 

“Easter kind of messed up my Sunday.  My local bar was closed so I had to go all the way across town to shoot pool.”

She laughed as if I had said something witty.  The whole exchange was kind of lost on me.

“My Easter was pretty good” she says.  “We went to my grandmother’s and we had ham and black bean soup.”

??? Why is she telling me about her grandmother who I care naught about? And I have even less of a vested interest in knowing what she ate.  Heywaitaminute, is she making small talk with me for the purposes of flirting? Or is this just idle exchange.  I’m so confused.

“I had black bean soup before.  My Cuban friends made it.  That stuff was really good” says I.  “Excellent in fact.  But the Cuban people are freaking nuts.”

Oops.  I just said that in a coffee house full of people.  One guy behind the counter is clearly Latino and he smiles.  I don’t know if he’s Cuban and I’m not sticking around to find out.

Today I went to the Other Coffee Place.

The end.

I finally got a chance to watch the movie “Dogma” this weekend.  It was even better than I expected.

For those who have not seen it, the story is about a woman in contemporary times who is tasked by God (through one of His angels) with preventing two renegade angels from re-entering Heaven.  These angels (played by Ben Afleck and Matt Damon) had been instruments of The Almighty’s wrath in Old Testement times but had subsequently been cast out of God’s favor.  Hence their plot to re-enter Heaven through a loophole by passing through the gates of forgiveness (or something like that.)

Having formerly been instruments of God’s wrath (these are the two who rained fire down on Soddom and Gommorah), these two angels are, predictably, relentless and judgemental.  They do, however, discuss the possibility that God’s nature could possibly have mellowed in the past thousand or so years.  This idea is, of course, blasphemous to fundamentalists who believe in God as Everlastingly Unchanging.  But that is the good thing about this movie which is that it allows you to think outside the box.

Thinking in ways that do not fall into line with church doctrine has been punishable throughout history with charges of heresy so the faithful have long avoided these kinds of thoughts.  Now that the church holds less sway in matters of the State individuals are free to think and speak ideas that don’t necessarily adhere to the church Canon.

The gospels that were rejected by the early church such as the Gospel of Mary Magdeline and the Gospel of Judas are now receiving further study.  This weekend, at the same time as the movie Dogma was on (I was flipping channels), I saw a segment on Mysteries of the Bible that mentioned The Infancy Gospel of Thomas.  Ladies and gentlemen, I kid you not, this Gospel claims that when Jesus was a child he was accused of pushing another kid off a roof and inadvertently killing him! How cool is THAT?? (If more stories like that had made it into the Bible I would be more likely to go to church today).  In the Messiah’s defense, however, I will say that the gospel continues by saying that Jesus raised the kid from the dead and asked him if he fell or was he pushed and the kid disclaims any blame on the part of Jebus.

Other ideas being kicked around today include the idea that Jesus may have in fact been married, perhaps to Mary Magdeline (which would explain both her closeness to him in proximity and the fact that the other disciples were said to have consulted with her regarding Christ’s teachings upon his disappearence).  In the past ideas such as these would have had believers burned at the stake but the time has finally come when people have both the freedom and the means to explore ideas that don’t conform to the Christian dogma.

In the field of theology it is retarded to think that the early church could have possibly gotten everything right in deciding which books to include and exclude from the Bible.  These other ideas need to be explored in order to have more knowledge and a better understanding of the whole.  Because if you are against knowledge and understanding then what is your point Monkeyboy?

Dogma, it is man’s worst friend.  Free thy mind. Peace!