FCC Tries Again
The FCC has announced that it is making moves to support something called net neutrality. On the surface it looks like a good move. People are saying that this is evidence that elections matter. PG, meanwhile, is confused by it all.
There has been chicken little talk for years about the end of the wide open internet. It is the techie version of the fairness doctrine. Many worried that regulation of the internet would be used to stifle inconvenient political opinions. Given the history of government regulation, this could still happen, even with net neutrality.
One explanation of this is offered by obsidian wings. “To be grossly general, just imagine roads. The world today would be much different if the Ford Motor Company owned the interstate highways and could block Hondas from using it. In short, you could imagine a “closed” interstate highway system. But that’s not how the interstates work. They’re “open.” Anyone can use them. Any “device” with wheels will work on them.
The Internet could have very easily evolved into a “closed” network, but it didn’t. Instead, the Internet is open because we adopted policies in the 1960s and 70s that required it to be open (namely, we prevented AT&T from strangling it). The FCC today is merely protecting what has always been.”
Highways have limited capacity, and safety regulation is accepted as necessary. Much of the wrangling about the new order is from telecom companies. They are told to accept all transmissions as equal, even those with much larger bandwidth requirements. Is your cell phone call as important as the guy streaming videos into his i phone? And what if the pipes are full of these high density, and largely recreational services, and the low bandwidth services suffer? Please be patient with PG on this, he doesn’t know what he is talking about.
The government seems to have good intentions here. The next step is for the telecom industry to have its well funded voice heard. Like roads, is the broadband connection to hell transmitted on good intentions?
What We Don’t Need
PG was writing his four year post when he went to Avitable to copy his url. While there, PG read a list of rules for blogging. PG does not agree with all the Avitable rules, but it did get him to think. Before long, the PG rules for blogging were on the way. A running list was started, and before long there were thirty entries. Many of them were connected.
It occurred to PG that a lot of the general rules for living have a blogging connection. The ten commandments came to mind…in fact, it was a comment about the first commandment that got PG started. While killing or committing adultery might not happen, the admonishments against stealing, lying, and using the name of G-d improperly are highly relevant.
The first time PG heard the word blog, the dead tree publication was talking about Andrew Sullivan. A “Web log” at the time was called, quaintly, a vanity website. Mr. Sullivan is one of the leading players in the blogosphere today. PG suspects Mr. Sullivan gets is it right more than he does wrong, but needs to check the statistics.
If you want to write something, but don’t know what to write about, Andrew’s blog is a good place to look. He produces some original material, and recycles the work of others. There are several others like this, which you can find easily.
The first general group of rules can be summarized as “Just Do It“. You are not ending world hunger or ending war, you are writing for the internet. The more you write, the more you see to write about. If you keep the quantity up, the quality will take care of itself. The formula for writing is ass plus chair. You are doing this because you enjoy it. Don’t be hurt if everyone does not like your precious blog as much as you think they should.
PG had a job once where the management required a one hour clockout lunch every day. Soon, this became a time to write blog posts. Get the idea, and spit out five hundred words in fifteen minutes. It is not that tough to do, and you can edit, format, and add pictures later.
Blogging is a visual medium. The pictures and videos that you add add punch to the presentation. PG decided at some point that black fonts were obsolete, and that everything would be done in color. While this is not for everyone, it does add a touch to Chamblee54.
Once you have your basic post written, there are a few things you can do. Use short sentences and paragraphs. Look over you text, and eliminate words that don’t need to be there. Assume that the reader is lazy, and make reading your text interesting, easy, and fun.
Use spell check. That is important, and could be said again. Avoid profanity. When you cuss, you shift the readers attention from what you say to the words you use to say it. Use a link to show where you got your information. This is another biggie, for obvious reasons, including respect of other people’s material. And, once again, use spell check.
If you are lucky, people will leave comments at your blog. Comment moderation is a good thing, unless you want people selling generic viagra (in Russian) on your site. A person leaving a comment is doing you a favor. If they ask a tough question or disagree, it means they are paying attention,and taking you seriously.
In general, a blog owner has the right to delete anything not wanted on their blog. When you do this too much, you eliminate the diversity needed for a lively discussion. Of course, you might want nothing but your friends, who say how awesome you are.
When leaving comments, it is good to show courtesy. Do not say anything in a comment that you would not say if the person was standing in front of you. If the person does not use profanity in the blog, you should not use it in the comments. ( Profanity is to be avoided altogether. If you think a bit, you can find a better way to express yourself.)
Andrew Sullivan had a comment about this in “Why I Blog“. “Rudeness, in any case, isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a blogger. Being ignored is. Perhaps the nastiest thing one can do to a fellow blogger is to rip him apart and fail to provide a link.”
There is more to this blogging thing. The blogspot vs. wordpress issue. The technical aspects of basic html. The way to edit pictures, and how to make them fit the spot on the page. A lot of this the veteran blogger already knows, and the novice will find out soon enough. There is really only one thing that does not find any categories, but greatly upsets PG. This is Auto Start music players.
Some people have music players that start the second the page opens. If you are listening to something else you are out of luck. If you are at work, and a music box starts to play with profanity embedded lyrics…you get the picture. Please, for the sake of simple decency, make your music embed a manual start. Trust us, enough people will want to hear your music to click the start button on their own.
Four Years Running
The Chamblee54 blog is four years old today. The original device was on blogspot. The blogspot account was created to reply to a post at a blog called Fide-O. Apparently, Fide-O is no longer being published.
The second post has a good quote. “At this point, “Chamblee54″ is a tabula rasa; a newborn critter with the potential to do anything it wants. There is so much to write about, so many pictures to post, and so many things to learn and to teach. I would hate to get bogged down in semantic quarrels about G-d.” That could be said about life in general.
In the past forty eight months, we have had 459 posts on blogspot, and 538 on wordpress. In the winter of 2008, there was an ice storm in Atlanta, and the phone line went out. When service was restored, google/blogspot was not available to this computer. After spending hours talking to tech reps in India, PG gave up. ( The issue with Google was finally resolved. Thank you Avitable)
Soon, PG had to register with wordpress to make a comment at MostlyMedia. Before long, he decided to try posting there, and never did leave. Setting up a separate Chamblee54 domain is a possibility, though one that keeps getting put off.
By the time of the split with Google, PG had gotten heavily into photo editing, and decided that black fonts were obsolete. While the huge numbers that some blogs achieve has eluded PG, he has continued to push out the *matter*.
What does the future hold? Blogs are sliding downhill on the trendy scale. Twitter is the thing now, unless that has been replaced by something PG has not heard of. As long as blogging is fun, PG will continue to do it. He might even get a few more readers.
Cursive
There was a feature in the NY Daily News about the death of cursive writing. HT to JoemyG-d. It seems like it is no longer being taught. PG says good riddance.
Cursive refers to the flowing style of handwriting, where the letters are joined. It is from the French word cursif. This is derived from Medieval Latin cursivus, literally, running, from Latin cursus, past participle of currere to run
Cursive sounds like curse, or using bad language. Many people trying to read cursive will curse. The synonym for cuss, however, is from the middle english word curs.
At Ashford Park , print writing was taught in the first grade, and cursive in the third grade. PG learned cursive, and then promptly forgot. He prints when he needs to write, except for a signature. Printing is much, much easier to read.
Some say that with the decline of cursive, that old handwritten letters will be impossible to read. With many cursive writers, they already are. Some people have the patience to write beautifully, but many others scrawl. There is a cliche about doctor’s handwriting on prescriptions. One wonders how many lives have been lost because a pharmacist is not a mind reader.
There is a quote, attributed to an ancient Greek, that “When we start to write, we will lose our ability to remember”. There was grumbling when the printing press replaced hand copied scrolls, and when the typewriter came onto the scene. Whenever machinery advances into manual territory, someone is not going to like it.
ACORN Part Two
The following is a repost. ACORN is back in the news, and PG is too lazy to write a fresh post.
When PG (briefly) worked for an ACORN affiliate in 1980, ACORN was a collection of different groups. The one PG worked for was Georgia Action. A google search for Georgia Action shows nothing about this organization on the first page. It seems like at some point, ACORN went from being an umbrella, to the body under the umbrella. A look at their web page shows no affiliated local organizations.
Rightly or not, ACORN seems to be tagged as a liberal organization. As such, it is fair game for the right wingers. The conservative (bowel) movement is upset at losing the White House and Congress, and is looking for revenge.
An organization called ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) has been in the news lately. The word is they are registering voters, and not being too choosy who they sign up. Vote early, and vote often. Since a lot of these new voters will presumably vote for BHO, the JSM campaign has made an issue of this. The talking points have gone out, and suddenly ACORN is an issue.
This brought back some memories for PG. He used to work, briefly, for one of those community organizations. In 1980, he answered an ad for “Activists”. The job was for a group called Georgia Action, which was connected to ACORN.
The job was going door to door, getting people to sign a petition. The petition called for the Public Service Commission to take action against Georgia Power Company. When the petition was signed, the signer was asked to make a donation. Checks were preferred, since people seldom make checks out for less than five dollars.
PG trained for a couple of days with a senior operator. The key word is operator. The man had a slick routine down, and did not take no for an answer. One lady said she was on chemotherapy, and was strapped for cash. The operator did not bat an eye, but said she could save money on her power bill if she would help Georgia Action.
Back at the office, PG learned that most of what Georgia Action did was “build a base”. They had meetings for Senior Citizens. The worked with neighborhoods to get garbage picked up. They did almost nothing with Georgia Power. The power company was a handy villain to use in fundraising. PG began to be disillusioned, but decided to stick it out.
The first day on his own, PG was walking from the bus stop to the office. An acorn fell off a tree, and hit him in the head.
PG tried, but never did too well. He called on a Georgia Power employee, who ridiculed what PG was doing. His heart was not there, and the money wasn’t that great either. PG called it off after a couple of days.
Now, this is just one story, about one of many community organizations. It took place 28 years ago. The petition drives against Georgia Power have not been seen in a while. Is ACORN committing voter fraud on behalf of BHO today? Who knows. The charges by JSM have the feel of noise from a losing candidate. There just might be an organization doing the same thing to register voters for JSM.
The War In AfPak Comes To America
The US Gummint wrote a draft of the objectives for the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. If you do not recall a declaration of war against Pakistan, you are not alone. The good news is that the five stan countries in the former Soviet Union are not on the enemies list. Yet. That we know of.
There are seven objectives for this war. With the exception of number one, there are lists of “metrics”, to be used for measuring progress. There will be a report issued on March 10, 2010, and at regular intervals after that. Rumors that the troops will be home for Christmas are still true, if you mean Christmas 2025.
In the spirit of fun, we have decided to look at these metrics, and apply them to the United States. Pretend that a foreign power blamed us for a tragedy, and decided to get revenge by killing women and children with unmanned aircraft. No wait, the drone attacks are primarily in Pakistan, the addon to the original Operation Enduring Freedom.
Lets say that the foreigners blamed Mexico for this tragedy, and the war somehow spread north of the Rio Grande. This foreign power…lets call them Zorlock Independent Territory, or ZIT… has a set of metrics for America, and promises to …well they haven’t promised to do anything. Darn those Zorlocks, you just can’t trust them.
Just imagine if these metrics were applied to the USA. We will give each Metric a score, as it would apply to the USA. There are four choices…Yes, we meet the requirement, or No, we don’t. The other two are DNA, or does not apply, and ?, for a fuzzy metric that makes no sense. Remember, this list is a draft, and the final version may make a bit more sense.
Also, there is no third world style insurgency in America today. For purposes of this exercise, we will consider urban gangs to the terrorists and insurgents. The original metrics will be in blue, and the grades will be in purple.
The goal of the United States is to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qa’ida in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future. DNA, unless you mean the Republican party is Al Qa’ida America.
Objective 1. Disrupt terrorist networks in Afghanistan and especially Pakistan to degrade any ability they have to plan and launch international terrorist attacks.
Metrics: Please see the attached classified annex. ? We didn’t get the memo.
Objective 2a. Assist efforts to enhance civilian control and stable constitutional government in Pakistan.
1. Progress towards Pakistan’s civilian government and judicial system becoming stable and free of military involvement no. We need to dismantle the military industrial complex .
2. Pakistan’s actions to take necessary steps to ensure economic and financial stability, job creation, and growth yes
3. Support for human rights yes Although some would argue, overall the USA has a good record here. There are a few problems to be worked out.
4. Development of an enduring, strategic partnership between the U.S. and Pakistan dna
5. Pakistani public opinion of government performance no witness the tea baggers
6. Demonstrable action by government against corruption, resulting in incrwased trust and confidence of the Pakistani public no the health care plan is being taken over by the big money interests.
Objective 2b. Develop Pakistan’s counterinsurgency (COIN) capabilities; continue to support Pakistan’s efforts to defeat terrorist and insurgent groups. For purposes of this exercise, urban gangs in the USA will be considered in place of terrorists and insurgents.
1. Effectiveness of Pakistani civilian, intelligence and military in conducting counterinsurgency operations across the clear-hold-build phases to defeat insurgent groups no
2. Level of militant-initiated violence no
3. Extent of militant-controlled areas in Pakistan no
4. Effectiveness of Pakistani border security efforts no The US Mexican border is porous.
Objective 2c. Involve the international community more actively to forge an international consensus to stabilize Pakistan.
1. Effectiveness of security, governance, and development assistance dna
2. Support from allies, international organizations, and other key players, including China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and UAE yes China lends us money, Saudi Arabia sells us oil, and Turkey lets us fight in Iraq while they fight the Kurds.
3. Coordination of international efforts by the U.N. dna
4. Status of relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan no The US and Mexico have a troubled relationship. Ten percent, or more, of Mexico is living north of the border.
5. Pakistani policies and resources committed to maintaining international support no The war in Babylon was fought with disregard to the objections of much of the world.
Objective 3a. Defeat the extremist insurgency, secure the Afghan populace, and develop increasingly self-reliant Afghan security forces that can lead the counterinsurgency and counterterrorism fight with reduced U.S. assistance. For this exercise, we will consider urban gangs to be the terrorists and insurgents.
1. Degree to which security operations are integrated into the overall COIN campaign no
2. Level of insurgent-related violence no
3. Public perceptions of security no
4. Percent of population living in districts/areas under insurgent control no
5. Percent of population living in districts/areas undergoing clearing operations no
6. Percent of populations living in districts/areas “held” by coalition and/or ANSF ( Afghan military and police) and where “build” activities are ongoing no
7. Percent of key lines of communication under government control no
8. Effectiveness of Afghan border security efforts no
9. Level of trust and confidence by the Afghan people in the ANSF’s ability to provide sustained security no
10. Capability, to include size, of the ANA and ANP ?
11. Effectiveness of ANSF-ISAF partnered counterinsurgency operations no
12. Ability of the ANSF to assume lead security responsibility no
13. Level of corruption within the ANSF no
14. Ability of the ANSF to handle their own logistics needs no
Objective 3b. Promote a more capable, accountable, and effective government in Afghanistan that serves the Afghan people and can eventually function, especially regarding internal security, with limited international support.
1. Afghan Government’s institutions at the national, provincial, and local level, including ability to hold credible elections in 2009 and 2010 yes
2. Effectiveness of the Afghan Government in collecting revenues (both in absolute terms and as a percentage of budget requirements) and executing its budget at the national, provincial, and local levels no
3. Public perception of Afghanistan’s justice sector and commitment to providing the rule of law at the national, provincial, and local levels no
4. Demonstrable action by the government against corruption, resulting in increased trust and confidence of the Afghan public no
5. Support for human rights yes
6. Public perception at the district level of the Afghan Government’s effectiveness and sustained ability to provide services yes
7. Afghanistan’s economic stability and development with emphasis on agriculture yes
8. Volume and value of narcotics no It should be noted that Zorlocks are Muslims, who see alcohol as being an illegal drug. Alcohol use remains high, although efforts against drunk driving are showing results.
9. Successful interdiction and prosecution of high-profile narco-traffickers no
10. Afghan Government’s efforts to develop and execute reconciliation programs at the national, provincial, and local levels with U.S. and international support no
Objective 3c. Involve the international community more actively to forge an international consensus to stabilize Afghanistan.
1. Support from allies, international organizations, and other key regional countries in providing resources to Afghanistan yes
2. Prospects for the Afghan Government and international community to fund the development, operations, and sustainment of the ANSF yes
3. Effectiveness of international security, governance, and development assistance dna
4. Establishment of accounting and management controls for UN coordination of international efforts no
5. Ability of NGOs to operate independently and freely ?
6. Status of relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan no
7. Status of relations between Afghanistan and its other neighbors yes, except during hockey season.
So, there we are, seven objectives, to be measured by 46 metrics. The United States is trying to convert two poor countries, with no democratic traditions, into stable democracies, We are doing this by using our military might. How would The USA score, if the same standards were applied to her? Ten yes, thirty no, four do not apply, and two ?. It looks like the Zorlocks are going to be here a while.
A Plan For AfPak
The BHO regime has released a draft of the objectives for Afghanistan and Pakistan. It looks like we are at war with Pakistan now, declared or not. The entanglements don’t get much more foreign. There is no word on whether we will be greeted as liberators.
Afghanistan was invaded as a knee jerk reaction after 911. This is despite the fact that the temporary pilots were mostly Saudi, and the scheme was planned in Hamburg. The Taliban government appeared to be “harboring” Al Queda, and that was enough justification at the time. Since then, as the war drags into it’s second decade (decayed), new reasons keep popping up. Soon, the action spread into Iraq and Pakistan.
There will be a report made about the progress of the new and improved war on March 10, 2010. These reports will continue “at regular intervals thereafter”. It seems apparent that the United States is going to be in AfPak for a long, long time. This is the outline of the plan.
The goal of the United States is to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qa’ida in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future.
Objective 1. Disrupt terrorist networks in Afghanistan and especially Pakistan to degrade any ability they have to plan and launch international terrorist attacks.
Objective 2a. Assist efforts to enhance civilian control and stable constitutional government in Pakistan.
Objective 2b. Develop Pakistan’s counterinsurgency (COIN) capabilities; continue to support Pakistan’s efforts to defeat terrorist and insurgent groups.
Objective 2c. Involve the international community more actively to forge an international consensus to stabilize Pakistan.
Objective 3a. Defeat the extremist insurgency, secure the Afghan populace, and develop increasingly self-reliant Afghan security forces that can lead the counterinsurgency and counterterrorism fight with reduced U.S. assistance.
Objective 3b. Promote a more capable, accountable, and effective government in Afghanistan that serves the Afghan people and can eventually function, especially regarding internal security, with limited international support.
Objective 3c. Involve the international community more actively to forge an international consensus to stabilize Afghanistan.
The report has “metrics” that will be used to measure the progress in these seven areas. These landmarks are in this report. Reading them might give you a headache. For anyone with the time and inclination to mischief, it might be fun to take these metrics, apply them to the United States, and see how well we do at what we demand of others.
The Four Agreements
These thoughts are for you to use. . They were articulated by a man named Don Miguel Ruiz. They are called the Four Agreements. HT to activecitizen54.
PG does not claim to live up to these ideals. Number two is especially tough for him. The main thing is to try, and to always do your best. This is not about what you believe or think, it is about what you do.
agreement 1–Be impeccable with your word – Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
agreement 2–Don’t take anything personally – Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.
agreement 3–Don’t make assumptions – Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
agreement 4–Always do your best – Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.
Jim And Edna
Jim and Edna were both patients in a mental hospital. One day while they were walking past the hospital swimming pool, Jim suddenly jumped into the deep end.
He sank to the bottom of the pool and stayed there. Edna promptly jumped in to save him. She swam to the bottom and pulled Jim out.
When the Director of Nursing became aware of Edna’s heroic act, she immediately ordered her to be discharged from the hospital, as she now considered her to be mentally stable. When she went to tell End the news she said,
“Edna, I have good news and bad news. The good news is you’re being discharged. Since you were able to rationally respond to a crisis by jumping in and saving the life of another patient, I have concluded that your act displays sound mindedness.
The bad news is that Jim, the patient you saved, hung himself in his bathroom with the belt of his robe right after you saved him. I am so sorry, but he’s dead.”
Edna replied; “He didn’t hang himself. I put him there to dry. How soon can I go home?”
Plains In Black And White
The Health Care debate has gone commando. Instead of focusing on the issues, the various players are running around pointing fingers and screaming racist. Race is the most effective divide and conquer tactic ever known, at least in America. And the big money players are watching with glee.
Matt Taibbi has a report on the deal that PhRMA has made. PhRMA is the lobbying arm of the pharmaceutical industry. They agreed to support the health care reform, if certain provisions are taken out. “two important reforms: one, to allow the government to negotiate bulk rates for drugs in Medicare, and the other to permit the importation of cheap drugs from Canada” . In exchange for this concession, PhRMA will support the health care plan with a $150 million ad campaign. Is financial support for the re- election of BHO part of the deal?
Meanwhile, the word on the street is racism. Even smiling Jimmy Carter is playing the game now. When he ran for Governor in 1970, he ran, according to many observers, a racist campaign. Once he got into office, Jimmy was suddenly a moderate, saying the time for segregation is over. Now, money is talking again, and Mr. Carter is helping the divide and conquer tactics of the special interests.
Taibbi says “Progressives this week are fighting to accumulate the votes needed to stop any health care bill that doesn’t have a public option. Hopefully they can stop this PhRMA payoff as well. If you’ve got a phone, call your congressman and give him/her hell about this…”
PG can only shake his head. His representative in the house is Hank Johnson. Mr. Johnson is talking about the Klan riding horses in the countryside.
The Return Of Cynthia McKinney
PG was talking to his friend Bradley, about the improvement Hank Johnson was over Cynthia McKinney. (Damned by faint praise) PG recalled that at one time, he liked Miss McKinney, but the sepia Lester Maddox (Lesterine?) got old. Little did PG realize how close he was to seeing history repeat itself.
Tuesday, Hank Johnson was talking to a reporter. The subject was Joe Wilson, who blurted out “You Lie” during a speech, by BHO, before congress recently. Mr. Johnson supports a House resolution condemning Mr. Wilson. Mr. Johnson said: “If I was a betting man, I would say it instigated more racist sentiment, a feeling that it’s OK, you don’t have to bury it now. You can bring it out and talk about it full. I guess we’ll probably have folks putting on white hoods and white uniforms again and riding through the countryside intimidating people. That’s the logical conclusion if this kind of attitude is not rebuked and congressman Wilson represents at least the face of it.”
Sixteen years ago, the right wing gave Bill Clinton hell. They trashed him in much the same manner as the criticism BHO is now facing. And yet, no one said it was racism. It was conservatives being themselves, as petty and obstructionist then as now.
The difference today is that we have a dark skinned President. He is a democrat, and seen by some as a liberal. The right wing propaganda machine is cranking up, just like it did against Bill Clinton.
Because the President has dark skin, this right wing nonsense is labeled racism. Strategically, this may be a bad move for the supporters of the President. It takes focus away from the legitimate differences that people may have with policies, and turns the discussion into a race issue.
PG is represented by Hank Johnson. While his rhetoric may play well in certain circles, it is offensive to PG. There are some serious issues to be faced, and whining about who is a racist is not going to solve them.
Mr. Johnson…who looks a little bit high in that video…might want to move his imagery up to the 21st century. A modern day Klan is not going to go “riding through the countryside intimidating people”. If they try that business in the hood today, they better have bulletproof sheets.
The Video is courtesy of TalkingPointsMemo. The quote is from PeachPundit. Another version of the interview is found at TheHill. Pictures are by PG, taken at the Dragon Con parade.
Ten Different Religions
Those fun lovers at Listverse recently published a feature about “10 extremely weird religions”. This goes along with Hunter S. Thompson’s observation that “when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro”. Back when Chamblee54 was on blogspot, that was the motto here. One day, there was a comment that weird was not spelled wierd. What do you expect from someone quoting Hunter S. Thompson?
Back to the “matter” at hand, people have some strange ways of talking to/about/with G-d. The miracle is that things are not worse than they already are. The dominant religion in our culture is Jesus Worship, and those folks see moderation, in religion, as a sin.
Number Ten is Scientology. If you want a link to them, you can find it yourself, and might also want to look for professional help. Scientology is only included because commenters would be offended. As it is, the comments that PG saw asked about rastafarianism, the flying spaghetti monster, Islam, atheism, and Jesus Worship. The title clearly said that this was a top ten list, and not an encyclopedia. If you want an encyclopedia of religions, try Hinduism.
Nine through Five is pretty boring, as nine to five usually is. There is white supremacy, black supremacy, ufo admirers, burned out hippies, and people who take “Stranger in a Strange Land” too seriously. PG thought that “My Favorite Martian” was the best commentary on that book.
Number four is the Church of the Subgenius. While PG has never officially participated in CotS, he admires the consecration of slack. If PG can ever get motivated to attend a devival, the world will be a better place.
Number Three is the Prince Philip movement. It seems like the residents of an island somewhere think the Queen’s hubby is a pretty cool dude. It is safe to assume the Princess Diana was not a believer.
Number Two…in more ways than one… is the Church of Euthanasia. It is popular with young people in China. ( Youth in Asia ) Given the popularity of war and capital punishment in the Jesus worship community, the CoE may become very popular. They are based in Boston, MA.
According to the church’s website, the one commandment is “Thou shalt not procreate”. The CoE further asserts four principal pillars: suicide, abortion, cannibalism (”strictly limited to consumption of the already dead”), and sodomy (”any sexual act not intended for procreation”).
The number one spot on this list is sometimes called Nuwaubianism. The travelers on this path do not use that term, preferring “factology”, and numerous other terms. The founder is Dwight York, who is currently in prison.( He is center in the last picture) The Nuwaubs had a facility in Putnam County, Georgia at one time.
The afrocentric beliefs of this group are difficult for outsiders to appreciate. The original post listed eight beliefs, among the man teachings of Mr. York. These three caught PG’s eye:
2. Furthermore, some aborted fetuses survive their abortion to live in the sewers, where they are being gathered and organized to take over the world
5. Women existed for many generations before they invented men through genetic manipulation
8. The Illuminati have nurtured a child, Satan’s son, who was born on 6 June 1966 at the Dakota House on 72nd Street in New York to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis of the Rothschild/Kennedy families. The Pope was present at the birth and performed necromantic ceremonies. The child was raised by former U.S. president Richard Nixon and now lives in Belgium, where it is hooked up bodily to a computer called “The Beast 3M” or “3666.”
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