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NRA for Gay Marriage?
A thought came to me yesterday when I heard that Congress rejected an NRA-backed bill to recognize "concealed weapons permits" from one state in any another state: Might the NRA of almost done the gay community a HUGE favor?
Had their law of passed, forcing one state to recognize the rights of individuals in another, couldn't a case of then been made that a legal gay marriage in, say, Iowa, must be recognized in a state like Georgia, where it isn't?
Just a thought that I think is deserving mention.
B Roll,
I went back and checked the URL I just sent you. It didn't go to the right video for some reason. Try this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBBvvDl25F4
B Roll,
Take a look at this fascinating video. (There are longer videos available online, but this may whet your appetite.) There is increasing evidence for historic confirmation of at least some "Bible stories":
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=The+Exodus+Decoded&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#
While I am not a Bible "literalist," I do believe that it represents oral histories and morality tales handed down over generations. I believe that there is truth in it.
Making Progress,
Thanks for posting the Youtube video. I heard the original discussion from Thom's show, but I "heard" alot more when I replayed it. I am sending that link to family, friends and others.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eZ6PeoBPyI
So, as someone who has listened to your discussion with Chris Hedges five times, I think you both have ADD. Nevertheless, he never really answered your last question of 'are you [Thom] being hopelessly optimistic about actual change'. His answer, in which you summarized as "Resacralizing America", painted a dark picture of the destruction of our species. It doesn't seem as though it's going to happen. Even in the beginning of the interview he said you are a minority in that you engage in real discussions and not the shell game that the MSM plays.
Everyone that I talk to is so busy scraping out a living that they don't and can't engage in real discussions about real issues. Instead I'm left explaining to my mother why the Pickens Plan is not a real solution, and how 27 out of 28 industrialized countries have healthcare for all. That's a fact you don't hear within the MSM on the debate over healthcare. Things will have to get a whole lot worse before they get better.
Also, it’s the end of July and RAVI BATRA said the collapse would happen around now. It’s time to have him back on to discuss.
Additionally, I would love to hear you talk to Jonathan Turley about where he thinks our democracy is now heading. I know he’s always on MSNBC, but I think you two would have a lot to talk about and 10-20 minute radio interviews are much better than TV. Rachel Maddow’s show, for example, isn’t nearly as informative as it was when she was on Air America.
Quark,
As I wrote in my previous post, I believe that Akhenaten’s religious beliefs and their link to monotheism may have been misunderstood. My understanding is that he didn’t deny the existence of other gods, but he raised the status of Aten in the Egyptian pantheon of gods. If he were a monotheist, he would have had to say Aten was the only god. Monotheists say that our god is the true god and your god or gods are false gods. (Atheists tell monotheists, we just don’t believe in one more god than you do.)
Akhenaten has been credited with being the first monotheist. I believe that the Tim, the caller who raised the issue, said that monotheism came from Ancient Egypt. My point is that even if Akhenaten was the first monotheist, it seems unlikely that it spread from him because memory of Akhenaten began being erased after his death and Egypt was back to its traditional beliefs in a matter of several years. Of course, it’s possible that his beliefs remained as a cult that spread later or that the beliefs of Akhenaten were known throughout the region because of the importance of Egypt in the ancient world. It would be interesting to know if any contemporaneous records of Akhenaten’s religious beliefs by any neighboring cultures.
There’s also a question of the timeline. The Jewish people supposedly have their origins in Abraham who was given information by God that led the founding of Judaism and the Jewish people. I don’t know of any archaeological evidence that proves Abraham was a real person and like several biblical characters, he lived an unusually long time But scholars who try to figure when he might have lived place him several hundred years before Akhenaten. If true, that would make Jewish monotheism older than Akhenaten’s time.
It’s also my understanding that there is no archaeological evidence for the Exodus or the fact that the ancient Hebrews were ever held captive in Egypt. It’s hard to believe that hundreds of thousands of people could wander in the desert for decades and leave no trace. Ancient Egypt was a very organized society and they kept meticulous records. It’s my understanding that there are no Egyptian records of the enslavement of the Jews for around two centuries. So I guess the validity of the story has to be questioned.
This is just speculation, but I find it plausible that people who invent many gods someone will come along and invent just one god. It’s also possible that among people who believe in many gods, one god may be given prominence over time and over time belief in the other gods diminishes to the point where hardly anyone worships them any more; a sort of religious evolution in which only the fittest god remains standing.
It ain’t necessarily so… it ain’t necessarily so. The things that your liable to read in the bible… it ain’t necessarily so.
P.S.: The Ancient Egyptians had this habit of one pharaoh trying to remove a preceding pharoah’s name from memory. But they never seem to have totally succeeded. Akhenaten suffered that fate during the brief rule of his son Tutankhamun and he wasn’t rediscovered for a few thousand years. Hatshepsut, the most famous female pharaoh was also given the eraser treatment after her death by her brother who believed that she had usurped his throne when he was young.
Quark,
Your welcome. I figured you'd like it. I just came here to post more about Akhenaten and monotheism. I'll post that below.
B Roll,
Thanks so much for the link. I can see I will be spending a little time there!
>> Quark July 22nd, 2009, 11:36 am
>> I could not agree MORE!!! I get even more upset with the so-called Dems.
I'm old enough to remember the pre-Reagan days when the house and senate Dem leadership knew how to play hardball.
Wilbur Mills of the Ways and Means committee, for example. If you screwed with the Dems, he never let our bill see the light of day!
Now, I think you can play _too_ mean in politics and I don't condone that.
But it is ABSURD that the GOP got all kinds of THEIR self-serving crap into the Stimulus Bill and then VOTED AGAINST IT. That's absurd.
Loretta,
Your post was supportive of mine, even if you hadn't read it!
I too have had dental issues for years, but this coming at the same time they are pressuring me to have a useless MRI, was too ironic
I will get it done somehow, try to find a discount... borrow the money , hopefully not from a bank
Does anyone take this Gilbert Eriksen seriously? I just took a quick look about him on a google search, and I am saying to myself, "Is he serious?" Am I missing something here?
oooooooops.... seems I forgot to include the link to the site
http://www.thehallofmaat.com/
Quark,
Here's a website I think you'll enjoy. It has forums (they call them discourses, so yo can up your hoity-toity quotient) on Ancient Egypt, Ancient History, Science and Technology, Culture and Anthropology and more. The regulars are a combination of autodidacts (i.e., self-taught) and students and professionals in these or related fields. There also are some interesting papers.
These people are serious. How serious. Well, some of the people who participate in the Ancient Egypt "discourse" can actually read hieroglyphics.
Sounds like real helpful discourse over at the Maddow show.
As an Iraq vet twice over myself, I can tell you Brian nothing infuriates an infantryman more than having a fellow Marine desert. One volunteers during wartime, one takes an oath, one receives superb training, and one is expected to follow orders.
Although none of my Marines had ever deserted in theater, I did experience several Marines deserting or attempting to skate out of a deployment while stateside using techniques ranging staging elaborate psychotic 'meltdowns', police chaces, self-inflicted gunshot wounds, deliberate auto accidents as well as deliberate drug use. We even had a Marine die accidentally after botching what was supposed to look like a drive-by shooting.
I'm here saying you pull any of this BS and you are not a man. You have nothing. And I want nothing to do with you.
It can only be fully understood when you know what it feels like to have to put your life in a fellow Marine's hands.
Paul R iekoff who is a veteran of Iraq war and runs Iraq Afghanistan veterans of America said it best on the M addow show. he told col.peters to shut his mouth.
I don't understand how Gilbert managed to bungle his presentation on the show so completely. Was he not informed he would only have about ten minutes to engage and capture the audience? He seemed to have no strategy at all about how to convey the essence of his research; instead he just kept droning on about one unknown scientist after another -- useless background material really. Too bad he didn't have a plan for his presentation; he lost a great chance to connect with Thom's listeners. Maybe he could be given a second chance? Because his material is definitely intriguing. Anyway I respect Thom for occasionally bringing "fringe" researchers on the show.
Oh well, now for something completely different!
http://twitter.com/AKGovSarahPalin
L Grace,
RE: "How the hell did this ever come to a vote?"
I could not agree MORE!!! I get even more upset with the so-called Dems.
B Roll,
RE: "When I did most of my reading, I could find no apparent proof of a link between monotheistic Egypt and a Semitic group which left Egypt (the Hebrews.)"
Technically, I should not have said "monotheistic" Egypt, but should have referred to Akenaton's reign in which one god was worshipped. (btw, you probably know that Akenaton's wife was Nefertiti and his son was Tutankamun. Interesting, isn't it?
One of my current areas of interest is in the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient artifact found by sponge divers off the coast of Antikythera about 100 years ago.
From what I have read, researchers still aren't exactly sure of its purpose; it could be the world's first computer, built to tell time,etc. Anyway, I think it's fascinating and would love to know more.
There are lots of websites devoted to it. Here's a nice one:
http://www.antikythera-mechanism.gr/
>> Quark July 22nd, 2009, 10:58 am
>> What a relief that John Thune’s gun amendment went down. Talk about nuts. Why not just issue a gun with every birth?
How the hell did this even come to a vote?
No conservative agenda-item should ever even come to a discussion until they stop voting as a bloc against Obama.
Ivcdaniels,
I've also had to totally change my understandings of conservatives.
There were aspects of conservatives that I respected and even adopted into my own personal view -- although with more nuance.
For example,in regard to an individual's right from government intrusion, I'm very "old school" conservative.
But, since 911, my conservative friends call me anti-American for still believing what they used to preach!
I used to say "Conservatives believe in your right to life. They just don't believe you have a right to live." Now I have to add an addendum to it: "Conservatives believe in your right to life. They just don't believe you have a right to live or die."
What a relief that John Thune's gun amendment went down. Talk about nuts. Why not just issue a gun with every birth?
The only problem with government programs is the Republicans underfunding and sabotaging them in an attempt to break them, so they can say they don't work!
RE: The California State Budget Compromise:
I am NOT surprised that the Governor and the Legislature have chosen to sell off that which makes California great rather than ask the minority party to do the right thing . . . That includes our parks, education, nursing, forced time off . . . Everything.
This is largely union-busting at the tax-payers expense. Arnold failed to screw non-REP supporting organizations with his propositions two years ago and used the budget woes created by the Party of No's desire to ride the history bus through the Great Gatsby era.
California history is a textbook on how to flip this around but the kleptocracy is working the book in reverse and the idiotic DEMs who are celebrating consensus through concession (Partying naked in the aisles and popping sparkling wine corks while Rome burns.