Freedom of What?

This article was published in 2005.


“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of
the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
government for a redress of grievances.”

I want all of you to read that paragraph five times before you continue with
this article. Done? Good. Do you know what it means? What it stands for? Those
45 words are arguably the most important words in our entire system of law. And
apparently, our generation doesn’t care.

In a recent study conducted by the University of Connecticut, it was found that
one in three high school students feels the constitution goes “too far” in the
rights it guarantees. Furthermore, the report stated that over half of the high
school students interviewed felt that newspapers and other media sources should
not be allowed to publish stories without the government’s approval.

I honestly thought I was dreaming. Or had gone insane. I really was hoping for
the latter, because that’s the only thing that could have explained the words I
was reading. What part of free speech are we, as a generation, misunderstanding?
When exactly did “freedom of the press” come up for debate? Did I miss a memo?
The freedom of speech is what allows me to call anyone who believes that the
first amendment goes “too far” a brainless sheep of the government and I like
that freedom very much, thank you. Baaa.

As if I wasn’t noxious enough, it didn’t quite stop there. 75% of students
believed flag burning was illegal, and when informed that it was not, replied
that they thought it should be. Ok, this is where it crosses the line. I am
proud to be an American. I detest anyone who feels it necessary to sink so low
as to burn his or her countries flag. However, I feel it is that persons RIGHT
and FREEDOM to make that choice, as poor as I may feel it is. My opinion and
personal bias does not and should not dictate the freedom of those around me. In
the words of Voltaire, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the
death your right to say it.”

The government has not, does not, and should never have any inkling of an
opportunity to limit and censor the media. The press is there to criticize the
government, to express the feelings of the masses, or expose issues that the
public may be otherwise oblivious to. It’s another check on our government that
keeps them (relatively) in line.

I seem to recall the last time I saw government-controlled media. Everyone
seemed to be happy and nothing was wrong. In fact, they were so happy, that they
spent all their time praising their infallible leader. The problem was,  I
couldn’t really understand what they were saying because the narration was in
German.

The Bill of Rights is the single most important document in our system of law
and its first amendment is the piece that protects everything we hold dear. Our
absurdity can in no way be justified. Hundreds of thousands of noble, brave, and
courageous men and women have died to guarantee us the privilege of having this
right. It is beyond disrespect to shame their sacrifice because of our personal
ignorance and apathy. At the very least stand up and say how you feel, not
everyone gets that chance.

Merely a System of Control

This article was published on January 31st, 2005.


It’s killed more innocents than any disease, than any tragedy, than any war. It
has taught intolerance and hate, greed and selfishness. It has promoted elitism
and social isolation. And yet, nearly eighty percent of Americans swear by it’s
teachings, flock to its gatherings, and promote it’s dominance and continued
abuse of society.

The institution of religion has been around more or less as long as man,
possibly longer,depending on who you ask. And ever since it’s innocent beginnings, it has grown
into an overbearing and powerful weight on the shoulders of society, used by the
powerful to control the masses.

Now, before I go much further, I’d like to quickly make an important
distinction. Religion and faith/spirituality are very different things. One can
be spiritual without being religious and, unfortunately, one can most definitely
be religious without being spiritual.

Religion is nothing more than a social structure created by men as a means to
convey (initially) “God’s word” that has subsequently morphed, through careful
guidance by the power hungry, into a very useful machine for controlling the
populace.

It’s hard to argue religion’s credibility in reference to “truth,”
“righteousness,” and “salvation” without looking at all the skeletons in its
closet, and let me tell you, there’re a lot of them. Just for starters, let’s
take a look at basic ideology. The world’s largest religions, Christianity,
Islam,
Buddhism, and Hinduism, all preach peace and non-aggression. The Christians have
their commandments, the Muslims have their prophecies of brotherhood, etc, etc.

And yet, seemingly among the leading reason for murder throughout
history is religion. Apparently, “Thou Shalt Not Kill” only
applies to people that pray to the same invisible man that you do. It’s
impossible to ignore, from the Crusades and Inquisitions of years long past, to
the middle-eastern Jihad, and Catholic/Protestant struggle in Ireland today,
religion seems to have its hands continuously soaking in the blood of
innocents, regardless of the time period.

Don’t gloss over the key word in that sentence; innocents. Don’t get me wrong,
any time one
religious nutcase blows up, murders, kills, or in any other way, removes from
existence, another religious nutcase, I’m a happy camper. But it’s when these
stupid, meaningless disputes over interpretations of the word of a being no one
has ever seen, heard, or documented empirically before, start to kill innocent
people, going about their everyday life, it really rubs me the wrong way. The
punishment for murder in the name of religion should go along with what
they preach, an ‘eye for an eye’. You kill someone in the name of God? Well,
that’s wonderful, now you get to die too. Makes the world a much better place a
lot
quicker.

Now on to our next hurdle in religion’s “peaceful” partnership with society, the
question of tolerance. Tolerance of and love for all fellow man, be they
religious,
non-religious, black, white, healthy or handicapped. Apparently, this is a
founding ideal of the world’s most prominent religion, Christianity. Yet
Christians also seem to be the most intolerant and bigoted of them all,
especially here at home. Who other than the most caring and compassionate of
Christian’s will turn away homosexuals from equality and fair treatment? Who but
the kind-hearted and understanding Christian would declare that all those who
think otherwise are not only "wrong", but damned to eternal suffering for being
being so.

Don’t think I’m singling out Christians here. All religions suffer the same
hypocritical actions, from Judaism, to Sihkism. I merely focus on the Christian
faith because it is the most prominent in the United States (76.5% of all
Americans are Christian as of 2000), it also, in my opinion, happens to be the
most hypocritical, and thereby, the most ripe for example.

Speaking of hypocrisy, let's talk about the support of religious causes.
Internationally, our best friends, the Israelis are fighting to maintain their
homeland. Ironically, in recent polls, many Israelis (the majority of whom are
Jews) believe that the Palestinians should in fact have a land of their own,
however, they fully support the continued suppression of the Palestinian people
in the form of government sanctioned Zionism (the religious movement to
establish a Jewish homeland around Jerusalem). Let’s hear it for double
standards!

Here at home, a much more prominent example of this unabated hypocrisy is in the
now well-beaten argument of abortion. Christians are, as a rule, pro-life. Makes
sense, “Thou Shalt Not Kill,”… wait a minute. Anyway, back to the point at hand.
Abortion is bad, all children should be born. Well, that’s all said and good and
noble, but how many Christian Ministers do you see
adopting orphaned crack-babies, or how many anti-abortion activists do you see
taking in homeless African-American children from the
inner-city?

So despite these wonderful ethics and life lessons that religion seems to teach
us, people still put on their Sunday linen, they still wake up at 5:30 every
morning, turn to the east and pray. Pardon the pun, but for God’s sake, why?
Because people need a reason, a justification for their own existence, and what
better reason than religious teachings?

Man’s mind, as a stereotyped norm, is too simplistic and opposed to the theory
of grasping the fact that after death, there is, (to put it bluntly)
nothing. People don’t like that. So, they create traditions, customs,
procedures, and rituals to worship an invisible being that will provide meaning
to
their lives. An invisible being that states that everything they do is
worthwhile, because there is more to come, but it’s a secret, so you can’t know
what it truly is till you get there. Good, logical storytelling.

Of course, such unwavering devotion from the mass populace quickly attracted a
crowd of power hungry individuals who morphed religion to serve their own
personal needs. Our favorite, most loveable Christians, the Catholics,
determined that
God, in his infallible perfection, still need your monetary donations, and that
if you gave enough, they’d even reserve you some box seats in Heaven. And you
know what? People bought it. They gobbled it right up and the Catholic church
became the richest religous organization in the world. "Well, the men in power
told us, and they know better, so they must be right." How can institutionalized
religion be anything other than a mutated system of government, except instead
of a democracy, it’s a totalitarian oligarchy, run by the religious elite, who
define their own boundaries, for their own benefit. Afghanistan's ruling
fundamentally Islamic Taliban was another prime example of interpreatition
turned power grab. Through their extreme interpretation of the Koran the Taliban
was able to maintain wealth and dominance over an entire country, who was too
scared to question the words of their religious elite.


You know, this could honestly go on forever. Religion has damaged the world in
such a way that it may be long since irreparable, and that’s too bad. Religion,
despite its few shining moments, systematically works to better itself through
programmed and pre-mediated control of the public and it’s resources, no matter
the cost. It works to create a self-centered, biased, and close-minded public
that works for itself and no one else. As long as those in charge are
benefiting, who cares
what happens to the little people? They believe, that’s all that matters, right?

Religion is nothing more than a system of control hiding behind the biggest
fairy-tale ever told. The second thatman stepped in between God and the
individual
and said, “No no wait, you’re reading this wrong, what He really meant was…”
you’ve lost your faith and your spirituality. You’ve become a drone of the
religious juggernaut and I am sorry for your loss.

Reality Check

This article was published on December 17th, 2004.



I had a really bad weekend a few weeks back. You know the sort, everything that
can go wrong does, and everybody blames you for it. Your typical family stress,
school stress, friend stress, and relationship stress all piled in together,
with a dash of your normal teenage angst can make for a really poor Saturday and
Sunday.

After dealing with my fair share of misfortunes and tension I decided that I had
finally had enough and drove to Capital Lake for a walk. It was a bitter winter
night, the air was freezing, the rain was coming down in a drizzle and the
sidewalks were deserted on that cold Sunday night.

I strolled calmly around the lake listening to whatever it was that was playing
in my headphones, I wasn’t paying much attention. As I came around to the 4th
and 5th Avenue bridges on my way around the lake I decided, “What the hell” and
strolled under them, along the railroad, a little change of pace for my 3rd lap
around. It was a beautiful view of downtown from the tracks on that cold
evening.

After some time, sitting admiring the view and generally feeling sorry for
myself, I got up and started the stroll back towards my car and my warm bed.

On my way back under the 5th Ave Bridge I noticed what looked like some sheets
strewn up near the top of the hill, right below the bridge. I stopped and tried
to focus my eyes. It looked like a set of sleeping bags and a pillow. As I kept
peering into the darkness my sight came upon a face.

I was startled by the sudden appearance of this pair of eyes that was staring
straight back at me, perfectly still. Those eyes told me more than any book ever
could. They were cold, they were tired, they were hungry, and worst of all, they
were desolate of hope. I tore my gaze away quickly hoping I hadn’t intruded and
walked on towards my car.

As my feet passed along the wet concrete my brain couldn’t stop thinking about
those eyes. I drove home, took out some bread, a few slices of cheese and some
lunchmeat and made a sandwich. I added a drink and an apple and got back in my
car.

By the time I had returned and made my way up the hill another set of eyes had
joined the previous pair. I came up and offered my bag to the two of them, just
giving a quick hello, introducing myself, and wishing the pair of them a happy
holiday.

At first their faces were shocked, but they accepted the bag of food, shook my
hand, and managed a surprised smile as I made my way back down the hill. They’re
eyes were a little more hopeful.

Making my way back to the car a little bit of the truth that had been dawning on
me that entire night hit me in full force. As sorry for myself as I felt that
weekend, or as much as I thought I deserved the world’s pity, it all become
ridiculously trivial when I looked into those eyes.

I took a step back that night, and I gave a lot of thought to everything that I
have to be thankful for. A loving family, incredible friends, a good community
to grow up in; all are wonderful things that I am beyond lucky to be privileged
to.

Then I thought of things I didn’t normally think about. I became thankful for
the roof over your head, the food on the table, because I realized that not
everybody has even those “basics”. I was reminded that we all have an incredible
amount to be thankful for and proud of.

I’m not here to preach a crusade (for once). I’m not asking anyone to go donate
your savings account to the removal of land mines, or to volunteer 20 years of
your life in the Peace Corps, I’m not even asking you to drop a couple pennies
into the Salvation Army collection jar. All of that is personal and totally up
to you.

All I would like is that you take a quick step back from living your lives and
take a few minutes, seconds, whatever, to ponder how lucky and how happy you
truly are.

Each of us has so much to appreciate and be thankful for, we could spend our
entire lives thanking others. However, we have to live life too, so merely all I
ask is that you respect what you have and not take anything for granted, you
never know when it may disappear.

So the next time your parents wont let you go out to the movies or Old Navy runs
out of flip-flops realize that it’s ok, life goes on. Realize that there are
people not so fortunate getting by, many with a positive mindset. Realize that
you truly have no idea what the future holds in store and to relish the time,
opportunities, relationships, and luxuries you have now. And realize that
there’s always someone that cares, whether you’ve had a rough weekend, or have
to fall asleep in the cold under a bridge, there’s always somebody that cares.
Happy holidays folks, be safe and enjoy them!

And the Fight Goes On...

This article was published November 29th, 2004.


You know,  I thought that after this election was over we’d be done with
hearing the drivel and mud-slinging provided in such ample amount over the last
few months. I should have known better. Silly me thinking that because their
respective candidates won or lost, their supporters would relax and move on with
their lives. Silly, silly me.

As kids we’re brought up being taught to be good winners and to avoid being
sore losers. Apparently a few million americans have forgotten that lesson.

I can honestly say that I truly hate both the liberal left and the conservaite
right, and not just the weak ‘I have teenage angst’ kind of hate, Im taking
full-bodied, aromatic, all-consuming hatred.

The state the country is in scares me. No longer do we have the sane, moderate,
fair politicians taking the best of both worlds and working to improve their
country. Now we are stuck with tree-hugging, government loving crackpots and
their gun addicted, religious loving nut job counterparts sticking to their
party lines no matter the cost to our country.

The worst part, is now their followers and supporters are the same way. No
longer do we have an understanding, informed, bi-partisan populace. No, now we
have a blind, fantic following, ready to defend their candidates to the death.
Why? Half of these morons don’t even know what their candidates stand for, its
as if they need some sort of sad justification for their existence, so they
picked a cause to support.

Now in the left corner we have a bunch of non-bathing, close-minded, organic
obsessed communists vowing undying support for their leader and in the right
corner we’ve got the Bible belt south, with the good book in one hand, a gun in
the other, talking on a two way radio with God claiming his support for their
candidate.

I really shouldn’t have expected much different after the election. What did we
have? The day after, the misguided left was out protesting the election, with
recycled paper signs and tofu for lunch, how our President had not been elected
correctly. I guess the 5,000,000 person spread wasn’t good enough for them.

Don’t think it was any calmer on the other side of the fence either. I mean,
right after morning mass celebrating Bush’s re-election our wonderful
conservative populace was out in full force, watching NASCAR, citing Bible
verses, and reminding everyone the wasn’t wearing Sunday linen that their
candidate had won, and in a dominant way. I guess someone didnt explain to them
that 3% isn’t dominant.

You see where I’m going with this yet?

Take a step back for a second and take a look at what you’re supporting. I’m
not saying either side is right. In fact, in my opinion, they’re both terribly
wrong, but thats not the point here.

In order for this to not turn to civil war we need to take an objective look at
the situation, regardless of party affiliation. The liberals need to ask
conservatives why they feel Bush is a good leader. Don’t bother trying to
convince them they are wrong, just ask why they feel the way they do, get an
understanding. Conservatives need to do the same right back. Ask why they do not
support Bush and why they believe Kerry was a better candidate.

The final fact of the matter is, what’s done is done and we have to get along
with it for the next four years. Not a lot is going to get done if all we do is
sit, complain, and finger-point at the other camp for all the evils in the
world. That’s what the past six months have been and I for one, have had quite
enough. This country needs unity, so regardless of your stance in politics, work
towards a bi-partisan understanding to push this country forward and make it
stronger in the years to come.

The Tragedy of Beslan

This column was published on September 20th, 2004.

As a general rule, I’m very pro-American. I don’t jump on the weekly liberal "America is a bloody tyrant" bandwagon, in fact, I usually go out of my way to run those bandwagons right off the political road. Being an immigrant, I’m very grateful for all that I have. I’m exceptionally proud of being able to proclaim that I am an American and that I live in the greatest country on Earth.

It takes a lot for me to hang my head in shame of my country. Unfortunately, our leadership, as well as our people, have merited such an occasion.

On September 11, 2001, this country suffered the worst day in it’s history. Two thousand nine hundred and ninety six innocent civilian lives lost. A tragedy in it’s truest sense. On this day, and those to follow, not only did America rise against this atrocity, but so did the rest of the world. Countless foreign heads of state, world leaders, citizens, activists, everyone, expressed their grief and sorrow for America and stood with us as we began our ascension from the ashes.

The support and condolences brought tears to my eyes many times and the unconditional love expressed by the world was a true sight to behold.

So why on Earth, when Chechen rebels seized a school in Russia and undertook a 3-day siege, which resulted in the deaths of over 360 people to date, more than 160 of which were children, was CNN showing Hurricane Frances churning water 40 miles southeast of Florida?

A few weeks prior to the school siege in Beslan, Russia, two airliners exploded by supposed terrorist action, claiming nearly 100 more Russian lives. At this point, Hurricane Frances was still 100 miles away from the Florida coast, but apparently it was still very important news.

The world grieved for Russia. Over 160 of their children, the things any country should hold dearest, were brutally murdered, and the death toll is still rising as they pick apart the rubble that was formerly the school gymnasium. The United States offered a simple condolence, and went back to airing "breaking news" concerning Hurricane Frances movement over water.

What kind of disgustingly twisted hypocrisy is this? I’m not going to mention other arguments on how a war was "unjust," or whether or not our president was correctly elected. Those events are completely different. Over 1,200 people were taken hostage. Half of them are still in the hospital, a quarter of them are dead and the American public didn’t even flinch.

Not only is that wrong, it’s sick. I get noxious thinking about those poor parents whose children, instead of coming home excited about their first day of third grade, are now in a casket in the cold, unforgiving earth.

Nine days ago was the third anniversary of September 11. Many nations renewed their condolences and once again vowed to stand by us in the face of such atrocity. Many European news stations dedicated the majority of their programming to coverage of respecting "America’s Darkest Day." Over in America, MSNBC was still covering the effects of Hurricane Frances.

I ask that, we as a people, wake up. A horrendous act was carried out, and just because it was not on our soil is no reason not to acknowledge it. I’m not requesting people to fly out to Beslan and volunteer, I merely hope that the children and families of Beslan, as well the victims of the airline crashes be in your thoughts and prayers.

These children, these mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, wives, and husbands had everything taken from them, and for no reason. The least we can do is take the time to honor and respect their lives and the sacrifice that was forced upon them.

For those wishing to donate aid http://www.moscowhelp.org is accepting donations for aid to the families of victims in the Beslan tragedy.

Welcome

So, this is a test in publishing and expression for me. I'm not sure how often this will be updated, what it will consist of, or anything of that sort. I'm new to the whole 'blogging' concept, so I only ask that you give me a chance to see how this works.

I will post a few of my older 'Gospels' to get things started and write about it whenever I have a chance. Again, bear with me, and enjoy!

Also, commentary is not only welcome, but needed. Agree, disagree, love, hate, I don't care, I want to hear it, so please, feel free to post/e-mail away. Thank you.