On the matter of Trump’s decision to acknowledge Jerusalem, as Israel’s capital …
Though our logic may be strong, much of what is known about Zionism, Christian Zionism, the Balfour Declaration of 1926 (its actual intention), the Roman Empire’s creation of Palestine, etc. may be based on false assumptions and so the conclusions are suspect. This is not to say our personal perceptions or logic are wrong, only that the assumptions upon which our conclusions are based must be re-examined to get closer to the truth. Without this re-examination, a new factual context cannot be built.
My college philosophy teacher was and probably still is an atheist, yet he was an amazingly brilliant teacher … one of my best. Despite his lack of faith or belief in things unseen or unproven by his deductive method, he was staunchly anti-abortion. He reasoned as did I that once you minimize or devalue life at one end of the spectrum (very young) what logically will prevent you from minimizing it at the other end (very old); and once so done, one’s foot is squarely placed on the proverbial slippery slope. And where does this slope lead? Well it leads to further adjustments at either or both ends. So if we have scarce resources —which we always do– the value of a person prior to being productive for society would be less than say a person of working age and likewise the value of an older person incapable of vigorous work would be less valuable. So at some point, this logic trip leads us to the conclusion of stratification of value based on age; such that a society would be more interested in investing and/or saving the life of someone between the age of 18 and 35 say. Outside this range, you are less valuable and therefore on your own; or possibly a candidate for post-birth abortion. In fact this is already occurring. We have death panels with Obamacare and recent opinion polls on college campuses show a growing approval of post-birth abortion up to age five if it would save jobs. So there you have it. Ideas have power and they have consequences that on first blush you may not have even considered.
If you are religious, you can find many persuasive arguments against abortion from the pulpit; but if you are not religious, these arguments are unimpressive, unconvincing and annoying. If you believe that there is no creator, and that we are just the end result of eons of random successful genetic mutations originating from a primordial soup, the idea of a fetus being just a blob of cells like your liver or spleen– to be removed at will when necessary or convenient– is intellectually reasonable if not entirely emotionally satisfying. The non-religious would naturally wonder what the big fuss is all about and rightfully feel these religious nuts are encroaching on “my reproductive rights!” Amazingly, however, faith has found a place in the hearts of the faithless…once the fetus is beyond the birth canal, umbilical cord cut and fetus viable; it somehow magically attains full rights of an individual human being and is so named. This is part of a long list of “well-established” facts that comprise the credo of the secular world. They reason that perhaps life may begin a bit earlier than this, but not by much. To make things more confusing, we are told that no one really knows when life begins anyway; so we can now use this fuzzy construct to smudge any clear demarcation and add confusion to the ill-trained mind.
What kind of barbarian would deny a woman the right to control her own body or her right to practice birth control as she sees fit? And what about rape, incest and the mother’s life or the quality of life of the infant due to poverty, genetic irregularities, malformations or congenital maladies? Or you wanted a boy and not a girl or it’s just not convenient just now. Surely you must see the logic of allowing women to abort their fetuses? And, to combat the religious nuts, there are websites dedicated to proving that abortion is biblical just in case you are not so sure about all this Deity stuff. So what’s the big deal? The non-believer has every angle covered. It’s just a medical procedure performed by a doctor and his patient.
So, if we are to make any headway on this debate, we have two choices: we can convert everyone on the planet to agree with our particular religious views—unlikely– or we can take a logical, scientific view upon which believers and non-believers can agree.
So what is a fetus? Is it a blob of cells? Yes and no. Is it a weed or a flower, trash or treasure? A series of electrochemical reactions or a blessing? I think we can agree that the term fetus is a cold, disinterested name given to a very young human. It is not a dog. It is not a cat and it is not a liver or an abscessed tooth to be pulled or a hair or finger nail to be cut. It is something different. It depends on the mother for sustenance but it is not part of the mother and does not share its DNA with any other cell in the mother’s body. Every cell in the Mother’s body has the same DNA as every other cell in the Mother’s body except the fetus or baby which resides within the mother’s womb…there by no fault of its own. Helpless, nature’s most vulnerable. The baby possesses some DNA from the Father and some from the Mother but woven together in a very unique way. No two siblings are exactly alike even identical twins differ in terms of gene expression and space and time…and none possess the same combination of DNA as the Mother.
So I think we can safely say that the fetus is not part of the Mother’s body in any logical since unless you also consider the male’s penis part of the mother’s body during coitus and could be aborted as well if not attached to a legally defined separate human. But such conclusions illustrate the foolishness of the abortionists logic more than my crassness. And we can safely say that the fetus is a young human though we may disagree if it is alive or not. Since we have no good definition of life this can be problematic. Some viruses defy our definition of life by many accounts; however, most of us can tell the difference between a virus and a rock yet we get confused when discussing a fetus.
For the non-believer none of this may matter much anyway since the pain to the little human is short –if at all– and it benefits the greater good of the collective to reduce the population, but you must admit that this is a little more consequential than getting a tooth removed or a haircut and there may be some ethical question about killing an innocent life. And for the agnostic or the ethically challenged… if perchance there is a Creator, I would imagine this creator might be just a little bit pissed at a people who chose of their own free will to pass a law that has resulted in the death of over 58 million of His most innocent ones.
In full disclosure, I was born and raised a Christian and am a Christian today. I do however have a brain and have a background based on personal experience in many different denominations, religions and philosophies.
Depending on whose numbers you use, there are between 20,000 and 40,000 different Christian denominations. It is remarkable that all claim to base their religion on the reading of the same book. Though born and raised a Baptist, I have spent most of my life in many diverse denominations and found it curious that one would condemn the drinking of alcohol while another would use alcohol as part of Holy Communion (Eucharist). Some would baptize via sprinkling while others full-immersion. Some believe in the elect and predetermination while others believe in free agency. Some would allow singing but no musical instruments, others would not permit coed swimming or dancing and so it goes. All this from one book?
I use to enjoy torturing some of these people by turning their own words against them using exegesis and then watching them flop around with the logic bomb I just released. This was not done as a cruel joke, but rather an opportunity for them to think and grow out of their self-imposed rut. I have also censored many of my comments like there were two major edits of the KJV of the Bible and over 600 books entirely left out of the version they are reading.
But based on the diversity of belief systems we discover in the wild, it occurred to me that perhaps we each read a lengthy book like the Bible and then we each find something of ourselves within this book. We find our loves, our fears and our hatreds –and of course being flawed humans– accentuate and embellish those things we find that stimulate a particular emotional charge that makes each of us unique. In effect the Bible can reveal to us our biases and our prejudices and we are then turned over to our own strong delusions to create our own man-made religion. So in a sense our reading of the Bible can be like looking into a mirror of Erised. So how do we avoid the mirror of Erised effect? Firstly, we must be willing to gore our own ox in the pursuit of truth; and secondly, we must be lovers of the truth. In short, we must have a pure heart. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. (God = Truth = Light = Love). More on this topic in the link below…
I cannot and do not dispute any quotes found in the Quran. I cannot and do not dispute any of the horrible violence committed by Muslims, nor do I condone any of this violence. I cannot and do not dispute that much or all of this violence can be justified by what is found in the Quran. The Quran is full of contradictions. There is nice stuff in the Quran and there is violence in the Quran. The context of which I speak is that most of the violence we see on the world stage today has been financed and supported by the USA and Saudi Arabia and most of the Islamic violence sources from Wahhabism which is spread by the 1,000s of madrasas funded and supported by our major alley in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia. The USA has funded, trained and armed al-Qaeda and ISIS. This is not my opinion, this is a documented fact. The USA also supports and protects the major progenitor of this violence, Saudi Arabia. We also know that Muslims, Jews and Christians have lived and worked side by side in relative peace in Syria for over 200 years until the USA decided they wanted to impose regime change and get rid of Assad. Why? Because the House of Saud did not like Assad, and because Assad wanted to build a pipeline that would supply the Western European market which would have cut in on Saudi Arabia’s profits. There is much more to this story, but we, the USA, need to own our role. Where do you think all the Christians in Syria came from that ISIS murdered? They were protected by Assad until the USA unleashed its proxy army called ISIS on Syria. So the reality is that the USA –a Christian nation by tradition–is funding, arming and training those who are killing Christians. We should be asking why.
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I have known many Muslims as friends, fellow students at the university and as co-workers. What I know firsthand is that most all of them were extremely intelligent, well-educated, affable, approachable and friendly. I have spent many an evening with them discussing religion, philosophy, history, and politics and playing chess. All of them were indelibly and unmovably stuck in their religion. None were violent or cruel as far as I am aware. Most had a fundamentally different view of women than most westerners, but some of my best memories are the times I spent with these incredibly intelligent and well-educated Muslims.
I also know that since WWI, the West has been using and abusing Muslims like property of no individual value or consequence. We have removed their sovereign leaders when it pleased us. We have consistently –at will– imposed the cruelest dictators; and redrawn their national boarders without respect to language, culture or religion as though it was our divine right. We have murdered many millions of innocent Muslim men, women and children in cold-blood without a second thought or the slightest tinge of remorse. We have supported the most radical and violent versions of Islam imaginable and spread this radical Islam far and wide for our own geopolitical agenda.
My Muslim friends at the University were terrified of the Shah of Iran and his secret police Savak; both of whom we installed and supported, yet they did not hate me for this and never blamed me.
The solution to the terrorist and the refugee problem is for the West to stop destroying countries in the Middle East like Syria, Libya, Egypt and Iraq and stop installing, arming and supporting dictators like the House of Saud, stop killing innocent Muslims en-masse and stop spreading the most brutal form of Islam the world has ever known called Wahhabism by our continued support of Saudi Arabia.
Author Patrick Wood discusses his recent book “Technocracy Rising”, in a 3-part interview. (Summary of parts, below) Technocracy Rising
Patrick Wood is an author and lecturer who has studied elite globalization policies since the late 1970’s, when he partnered with the late Antony C. Sutton to coauthor Trilaterals Over Washington, Volumes I and II. He remains a leading expert on the elitist Trilateral Commission, their policies and achievements in creating their self-proclaimed “New International Economic Order.”
An economist by education, a financial analyst and writer by profession and an American Constitutionalist by choice, Wood maintains a Biblical world view and has deep historical insights into the modern attacks on sovereignty, property rights and personal freedom. Such attacks are epitomized by the implementation of U.N. policies such as Agenda 21, Sustainable Development, Smart Growth and in education, the widespread adoption of Common Core.
Wood is a frequent speaker and guest on radio shows around the nation. His current research builds on Trilateral Commission hegemony, focusing on Transhumanism, Technocracy and scientism, and how these are co-opting economics, politics and religion around the world.
Technocracy, Trilaterals & TPP: An Interview with Patrick Wood
Published on Sep 11, 2015 by Richard Grove with Tragedy and Hope
Patrick Wood: Technocracy Rising Interview (Part 1 of 3) Length – 1:13:53
Part 1: Energy based Currency, Columbia University origins of Technocracy, Eugenics, Population Control, and Agenda 21, origins of Positivism and Scientism;
Patrick Wood: Technocracy Rising Interview (Part 2 of 3) Length – 56:40
Part 2: Trilaterals, CFR, Rockefellers, U.N., 1992 Rio Conference, Agenda 21 and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP);
Patrick Wood: Technocracy Rising Interview (Part 3 of 3) Length – 57:21
Part 3: Wood’s work with Antony C. Sutton, the Origins of the Trilateral Commission, Trilaterals and Larry King, and how the Trilateral Commission influenced the U.S. Govt. since 1973 to present day. Thanks to Ernie & Donna Hancock at FreedomsPhoenix.com for the use of their studio, and to Rick Malchow for his assistance in bringing you this interview.
Technocracy Rising: The Trojan Horse Of Global Transformation Paperback – December 29, 2014 by Patrick M. Wood(Author)
Science is full of “Eureka!” moments. Why is something so obvious being ignored?
It has perplexed me for a number of years now that the scientific community has not come to the conclusion that homosexuality is predominately genetically based. It doesn’t require an advanced degree in reproductive genetics to connect the dots and come to a conclusion which would be relatively simple with today’s technology to confirm.
I became aware of the possibility of proving a genetic basis for sexual orientation in 1991, after reading the work of Dr. Simon LaVey; a Cambridge and Harvard educated neuroscientist who had shown anatomical differences in the hypothalami of deceased homosexual men who had succumbed to A.I.D.S.. His findings demonstrated that the hypothalami of the gay men studied were consistently the same size of a female. The study had a small sample group, because of course there just aren’t that many gay men offering up their corpses for necropsies on a daily basis. The study was derided by many in the scientific community and not a tremendous amount of attention was given to it as the years went by. About a decade ago though I had my own eureka moment when I learned more about genetics and theexistence of chimerism, mosaicism, vanishing twins and the existence of even microchimerism between mothers, their children and even transplant recipients. It didn’t take long after learning about these naturally occurring phenomena to put 2 and 2 together.
The vast majority of homosexuality is likely the result of chimerism.
I will try to break it down in as few words as possible how chimerism is most likely the basis of non-traditional sex orientation or sexual identity.
Not everyone is running around with just one set of DNA. Nope, many of us unknowingly carry blue prints from not just one plan but two and sometimes even more individuals. How does this happen? Well it’s pretty interesting. Many times women produce more than one egg during ovulation. As a matter of fact, many pregnancies are multiple para in the beginning, it’s just that not very many second or third eggs are viable and don’t make it to implantation. So when these other embryos break apart on their little trip down the fallopian tube, cells from the demised gamete can come in contact with a viable one. When this occurs, often times the viable gamete absorbs and incorporates the DNA of the non-viable twin into its own structure. It’s why you see people occasionally express these traits as an odd colored eye or a shock of blonde hair in a scalp dominated by brunette. Most times it’s not noticeable at all because where this DNA has been incorporated isn’t seen. There are cases of women whose reproductive organs are not their own but that of an unborn twin. Imagine going to have genetic testing to see if your children are a match for a kidney transplant only to find that you’re not a genetic match with your child. Then being told that they are only a close relative because the ovaries which produced them belonged to your unborn sister. This was the case for one 52-year-old woman suffering from renal failure. Read the case study here. There have been multiple cases discovered in recent years of mothers who have given birth to the children of their own unborn twin as in the case of Lydia Fairchild.
How to recognize a chimera? Most times you can’t.
Animals born in large litters are more chimeric than humans. Cats are a good example of this. Male calico cats and male tortoise colored cats are chimeras. They’re expressing the female coat patterns but retain the sex organs of the dominant male DNA. In humans sometimes you’ll see subtle things like dark patches of skin which tan differently than other body parts, elaborate mosaic patterns of different colored skin and even the occasional supernumerary nipple. Some of them are striking to look at.
There is something philosophers call ‘ontological knowledge’ that is also called innate knowledge. This knowledge lies beneath the critical thinking and reason realm (see ClearNFO: The structure supporting cherished beliefs…). We can offer up excuses and explanations and generate descriptions that seduce our vaulted egos into believing we have conquered a fact or two, providing thereby, some sort of understanding or wisdom; yet all this cognitive effort turns out insufficient and unsatisfying when dealing with the ontological realm. The ontological deals with the feelings of love for one’s spouse of many years and the comfort, trust and effortless commitment that interweaves its tapestry, bonding the relationship. This realm also includes the birth or adoption of your first child; and for me, my pure joy and amazement and the miracle of my first grandchild … this is what I wrote when my beautiful Kylee B was born…
Yesterday had to go down in my life as a perfect day…(October 7, 2010 at 6:48am)
My beautiful 19 year old daughter had her first baby and my first grand baby yesterday. For those into stats… she was born at 3:02 PM, 20.25 inches long and weighed in at a whopping 7.1 lbs. Both the mother and the child are doing very well. My daughter had a very quick and easy labor and the child was born healthy and beautiful. The hospital was perfect. The room was very large, comfortable and well equipped with all necessary amenities including chairs, a large sofa, TV, CD/VCR Player, Refrigerator, etc. The mother and child never had to move from the birthing room and the family was left alone to admire and get to know our new addition in privacy, peace, quiet and comfort. Interestingly the new baby was cleaned up and placed skin to skin on the mother’s bosom…what an incredible way to bond! In the other birthings I’ve attended, the child is whisked away from the mother into a cold room all by its self. Both families were in attendance for the entire event. It was very obvious to this observer that this special gift from God was born into two awesome families who will surround and protect and love and cherish our new addition.
So, what’s it all about? The ‘it’ here is life, and It’s about the family. It’s as simple as that. Why? Because you can only have so many Ferraris, summer homes, iPhones, iPads, etc. And for me, there is no success that can compensate for failure in the home.
Am I here to make your feel bad or jealous or to envy my perfect life or my perfect relationship? Not at all for my life is not perfect and my history is strewn with failures, heartbreaks and disappointments that would likely curl your toenails and straighten your hair. My intent rather is to communicate what I have learned based on my failures and successes.
Am I here to micromanage your life and tell you how to live or what is important to you? Not at all. I would never be so presumptuous as to believe that I have all the answers or that my truth is immutable; yet for me, I have found great joy and satisfaction within the family.
For me, Natalie Merchant expresses this well in her song below entitled ‘Beloved Wife’
Dionne Warwick Alfie – What’s it all about, Alfie?
Set aside a little bit of time if you plan to actually go through these fascinating maps compiled by Max Fisher. You may or may not be surprised at all of these maps, but I bet you will improve your understanding of the Middle East considerably. Enjoy!
Maps can be a powerful tool for understanding the world, particularly the Middle East, a place in many ways shaped by changing political borders and demographics. Here are 40 maps crucial for understanding the Middle East — its history, its present, and some of the most important stories in the region today.
Like many people, I’ve watched and learned from the many TED Talks that have been produced over the years as published on YouTube and other places. Lots of different, thoughtful topics have been covered, yet I have always been bothered a bit by how their audiences seem to accept the information contained within these talks as fact without question. I have also wondered who the gatekeepers were and how the topics and speakers were filtered. These talks use the tried and true TED format wherein someone gets up on stage and gives a personal testimony of some hidden truth or fact and the audience dutifully oohs and awes and claps in adoration. Reminds me of my early church-going days where the requirement was to turn off all my critical thought processes and accept what the preacher was saying without question. You can find more on my religious proclivities here: On Religion. In any event, I have wanted for some time to write an article on how TED Talks are like a religion but Megan Hustadmarch beat me to the punch with her excellent Opinion piece in the NYT linked below. I would have taken a different approach: Listing common features of Religion and mapping those to the TED Talks. I applied this technique to my article entitled: Misc Musings on the surety of science or why I am skeptical of ‘Well-Established’ facts:
“Science…I believe in the empirical method. I also believe that many in our scientific community have let their emotions and political point of view turn their science into a religion. You either believe certain “well-established facts” or you do not get tenure or you are ridiculed or…. These “well-established facts” represent a dogma or a credo similar to any religion. The result is that many place their minds in a box and their ability to take in new information and process this information critically and honestly is therefore necessarily aberrated.” – David Brown
In any event, TED Talks are part of the human condition and should therefore be part of the exhibits we proffer as we explore the world around us and what it means to be human; they are useful, but shouldn’t be taken as gospel.
And just for fun, the Satire Web Site Called ‘The Onion’ does a great job poking fun at the TED Talkers:
Compost-Fueled Cars: Wouldn’t That Be Great? – Onion Talks – Ep. 1
Young media professional Cameron Hughes delivers a compelling argument for his vision of the future–one filled with cars powered by compost. He outlines the idea he came up with in detail, leaving the formalities for other visionaries in other fields. One thing is for certain: he already came up with the idea.
Ducks Go Quack, Chickens Say Cluck – Onion Talks – Ep. 3
Young media professional Cameron Hughes delivers a compelling argument for his vision of the future–one filled with cars powered by compost. He outlines the idea he came up with in detail, leaving the formalities for other visionaries in other fields. One thing is for certain: he already came up with the idea.
‘Thought Leader’ gives talk that will inspire your thoughts | This is That | CBC
Related ClearNFO thoughts on science and religion:
