To All You Wonderful People At Christmas

 These illustrations suggest four general maxims[...].
The first is: remember that your motives are not always as altruistic as they seem to yourself.
The second is: don't over-estimate your own merits.
The third is: don't expect others to take as much interest in you as you do yourself.
And the fourth is: don't imagine that most people give enough thought to you to have any special desire to persecute you.
―Bertrand Russell




  Last year I wrote on who cares whether it is Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays. I thought I was pretty nice about it. Tried to explain in a bipartisan way that either were good. I didn't see many "Put the Merry or Christ back into Christmas", but this year I have seen a slew of them and all I could think is, you miserable tossers. Do you have nothing better to do than keep up this inane argument? Is it that important to you? Do you know while you are searching for these picture quotes from raving lunatic sites(pot meet kettle) your children are stealing $20 off of you to donate to an atheist site that gives to lest fortunate people here and abroad? More than you have or ever will. Though you wail about it with your "Likes" and "Shares". They are also becoming tolerant of different religions and races. Maybe even dating them. They are starting to hate Christmas(the secret hate behind it) as much as you hate the Eastern Indian couple that took over the gas station or convenience store just down the street. Don't say you are tolerant just because  you've actually talked to one of these people. Thinking of them as "one of these people" isn't very nice.

  Let's get down to the basic. Christmas. Celebrated on December 25 of every year since....when? Hmmm? I guess it has been since the Christians have tried to ride on the Pagans rituals.. Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia(we all watched The Big Bang Theory) the holiday ended on December 25 with a human sacrifice. A scapegoat for the week long debauchery of lawlessness. I guess the Christians wanted to put an end to the sacrifice(Uh-huh) or maybe they wanted to grab off of the popularity of the event with the birth of their Savior. They begun this in the 4th century AD. So when you Post "Put the Christ back into Christmas it was our first" You are wrong. It was never yours first. It was the Pagans first. You stole it from them. And what a wonderful time it was. The birth of your Savoir was the death of the Torah and to say that Judaism is also dead. Nothing like celebrating someones birth which lead to killing of Jews. Screw them right? It was yours first. All right keep it.

  Maybe you can argue that the new testament is different than that. Your savior changed all that. Well, let's see what he said. 

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or

the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

                                                           -Mathew 5:17

 

 That basically says that what is written in the past is also good. So, All the crazy stuff of God telling Abraham to kill his son Isaac and the fun God and Lucifer have with Job and all that nice stuff is still alright. Go ahead. Try it today. See how far you get.

  What does it really matter? Merry Christmas? Happy Christmas? Happy Holidays? It has transformed into a pleasant greeting at the darkest time of the year. The World is much smaller and together now. Where people of different races and religion are living together peacefully(at least in the western world).  Is that horrible? Is that worth using all of your contemptible energy for? For someone to wish you a safe and happy holidays? Those pricks! Maybe we should deport them or better yet smite them as your ancient tomb teaches you and your demigod(which may or may not have existed) confirms is still law. Or do you pick and choose which law to obey? Try that with the real law. Why don't you use that hate against smiting children starving or the practice of female circumcision? Go to Plan Canada or The Salvation Army Where the energy of your hate of changing some words will go to good use.

There seems to be a saying going around lately of, "first world problems" and this seems to be one.Try to go outside of yourself and listen. "We want Merry Christmas not Happy Holidays" or the what not. Now go ahead and tell this problem to a starving child. Go ahead. Be as bold and as brazen as your posts. March right up and say it. Go and tell that poor girl who has just been circumcised, mutilated and whine over a saying! Tell her how your God wants it that way! How that same God didn't protect her, but would love to see you happy over a (explicative deleted) saying! Whatever keeps YOU warm and snugly at night!

  I say Merry Christmas. I like the saying and I grew up with it. So, I will say it, but if it makes you happy I will continue saying it.

  Merry Christmas everyone. Enjoy the season of unreason.


Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.                                                                         ―Euripides

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.                                                             - George Carlin


Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives.                     ―Oscar Wilde

 We keep on being told that religion, whatever its imperfections, at least instills morality. On every side, there is conclusive evidence that the contrary is the case and that faith causes people to be more mean, more selfish, and perhaps above all, more stupid.”
―Christopher Hitchens

Facebook Terrorists

  Do this or else. You better do this or the world will come down upon you. If you don't do as I ask there will be hell to pay. I have it on good knowledge that something will go horribly wrong if you don't do this. Ah, threats. We have all received threats. How did they make you feel? The pit of your stomach rise a bit? Pupils dilate?  Does it stimulate your Hypothalamus , the part of the brain responsible for balancing stress and relaxed states?  Is it alerted of danger and sends a signal to your adrenal glands which activates the sympathetic system?  Has adrenaline and noradrenaline been released by the adrenal medulla which has raised your heart rate,  increased respiration,, slowed down digestion, allowed blood to flow more easily, carrying more oxygen and energy to your muscles and your nervous system has sent signals to your muscles to contract? Threats also lead to anger, even by the recipients of said threats.

  These threats seem harmless, but they are based on fiction, magic and superstition(I guess I really said the same thing three times). Facebook posts churned out by the hundreds it seems. By sites and people that think they are doing good or believe that this woo works. I haven't looked in to where these silly quotes come from because I really don't want to be angry all the time and to think that all these people can be so stupid. How can you post these things without really reading it or thinking.

  One says: Say this slow "God I love you and I need you." Now if you meant it Repost & a miracle will happen tonight. Ignore and all will go Wrong. Hmm? There is several things wrong  with this. First off, God? When is the last time this genie has granted you a wish?  If everything is ok in your life wouldn't a wish be a little greedy. I have wished that all pain and suffering to children stop several times, but that hasn't come true yet. 0 for 1. Then the threat. All will go wrong if you ignore it.  What is this?  What kind of person creates this, especially that you have to repost this? Is God a Moderator on Facebook(I hope that doesn't catch,  it  is pretty novel)? Could I get away with a like threat?  "Make a wish that God will make you famous and rich where you will ignore all the people less fortunate than you with the money you will be making for doing nothing. Repost this and you get your wish. If you ignore I will come to your house and will bust all your teeth and fingers and make you pick up your teeth. Have a good day!"

  Some go on tirades about being a good parent and such and share if you are. What if  I am not? What if  I have given my kids candy before they have went to bed or have gotten them to open back doors into liquor stores because they don't have their fingerprints in a database yet? In doing all this I have shared the post. I guess the Armageddon horns will sound......Hmmm? Nothing yet.

  Other ones go on about this burned child or kid with cancer and share or repost this image. NO! (explicative deleted) YOU! Most people know about such things because they watch the news or know someone or have experienced this first hand. Why would I repost this so people can see this image. Is it going to help the poor child? Does it say please donate to this cancer research or this hospital? No! It wasn't even created for knowledge that said stuff was happening. It was probably created to get more hits on a website ergo more revenue. That sounds altruistic. And I love it when they have God attached to it in some way. Like, pray and repost to save this child. Why didn't God do that in the first place? Does He(It) hate your child or just you? Would you save this child if you had  magic powers? I am sure you know that answer. Now we know who'd be and be a better God.

  Don't threaten me. You don't know who I am. You don't know what I am thinking or why I didn't repost your crazy post. Why should I? You are just a scamming hack in the guise that you are doing or portraying some good with your charlatan quotes and posts. You are pouncing on the weak and poor people who can't see through your wicked ways. Maybe you just don't know the evil you are doing, but I think the ones penning the original post know what they are doing. 



 Any man who is a man may not, in honor, submit to threats or violence. But many men who are not cowards are simply unprepared for the fact of human savagery,

 Jeff Cooper

The Karma Unicorn

 The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent.
-Carl Sagan



 Some of you may believe in Karma. Where some mystical force tries to balance everything out. Tries to set straight all the evil in the universe with some good. It catches up with this evil person and effects them in a negative way to right what wrong they have done to you, thus saving the day....The universe doesn't care. Why should it? It isn't alive in the sense that we are alive. It doesn't have a conscience. We are part of the universe so how come all or just one of us  doesn't have sway in what happens all over the cosmos? Like, I want a meteor to hit a certain evil country because they do bad things? Or maybe it is all the Suns in the galaxy that control our lives. Well, yes, but not in the Karma sense. They are just nuclear furnaces. How the hell do they control anything other than heat and some gravity? There must be something.....or maybe it is nothing at all. Like, I said the universe does not care about you. Just like Time doesn't. You can't ask Time to take revenge on someone or get you an A in Math or get you a girlfriend. No, Time just does what it always does, trudge along. Never stopping. Just bulling its way through everything.

Karma is a supposed mystical force that guides everything according to my wildly flippant view on Hindu mysticism. Created(or dreamed up) thousands of years ago other religions also believe in it. Like, Buddhists and Taoists to name a few. It employs the thought of cause and effect. If you do something bad something bad will happen to you...later on...maybe...if a God finds it fit. Uh, okay. Something will always happen to you later. If I break a window in the barn and my mom finds out later. She will chase me around the kitchen and living room  in a circle with a ruler and catch me. Or I never get caught(didn't happen). Or I die later on in life. Which, I guess would be Karma catching up to me. Bullocks! It was fine(I guess) to believe in this thousands of years ago or hell just over one hundred, but now, today? We are supposed to have a better understanding of the universe now, more scientific. Back then the sun rose, it was magic. If you didn't know the answer it was god or leprechauns. Use some critical thinking.

I have noticed some people posting things online to the effect: She got what she deserved. Karma, baby. That is a rather vengeful thought. Sure that person did something horrible to you, but vengeance isn't a very nice thing either. In taking glee at someone else s misfortune, though they did you wrong, isn't that inciting the Karma machine to enact against you? Or it doesn't work that way?  You are exempt from that? How? Is there a little loophole? It is fine to happen to you, but not me? And what about all the other times your Karma buddy didn't help you out? Did you post those? Someone cut me off, but they didn't die in a horrible crash. Damn them! They can get away with murder!

  There is no mystical force guiding the universe. Sorry to speak in hyperbole(I guess no irrefutable evidence yet). If you believe in Karma than why not Unicorns or Santa, the Easter Bunny, aliens that have visited only a select few, 90% of all conspiracy theories? Most of these were childhood beliefs that you have abandoned. They were fun at the time, but we all grow up...some of us anyways(not me). Now if you excuse me I have to post on Facebook that Santa got his by being impaled by a unicorn for not getting me a Sega Genesis when I was a kid. Karma, baby!



 Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.
-Albert Einstein  

That Sounds About Right...?

  The doctor emerges from the operating room, face grim. Your stomach rises into your throat. You know what this is going to be. Looking down at your arm in a sling. You think, this isn't bad for being in a five car pile-up from someone running a red light. The doctor now stands before you. He starts to tell you that your son has lost a lot of blood and will need to have a transfusion. Of whole blood? You ask. Yes, He needs a lot of blood now to replace all the blood he has lost. Being a Jehovah's Witness you know that you cannot let anyone take transfusions of whole blood, just fractions. If you were a Christian Scientist you wouldn't of been in the hospital. You would rely on praying to a God to magically heal your son. The same God that could of prevented this accident from happening but didn't. But being a Witness you have to settle for letting your son's brain  stop receiving oxygen because there is no more blood to pump to it. Sounds about right.

  Two factions fight over a city. A Holy city. One Christian the other Muslim. Both lay claim that it belongs to them. Their God has decreed it so(which both worship the same God). Several times there have been Crusades. Men would come down from Europe and battle the Muslims over Jerusalem. Thousands died, cities razed. Woman raped and killed. Children slaughtered. All for what? It  wasn't very tactful for the Europeans. It wasn't rich in crops. No Muslim assassin killed a king. What possible reason could there be to needlessly kill so many people? Religion. Don't fool yourself. It is still going on today. Sounds about right.

  Muslims. This will be blunt and quick. Their views are archaic. They treat woman as not even second class citizens. They are barely allowed to go to school. No high ranking jobs. They are treated like servants.Sounds about right.

  Your young daughter lies in bed wheezing and coughing drowning in her own fluids from whooping cough. You made the right decision in not getting her vaccinated, right? At least she didn't develop Autism. Instead she gets her life cut short drowning. And you will never see her smile or enjoy her curiosity again. Just because some whack thinks(with no scientific proof) that vaccinations cause Autism. Thousands of people have been duped by these idiots just to have their children die of preventable diseases. Do you think mothers in third world countries would turn down this marvel of science that would save their child just because it "might"(which it doesn't) cause Autism? They thought the mercury in some vaccines caused Autism. So, scientists tested it and even took it out. It didn't cause it, but they still removed it from the vaccines. What did the anti-vaccers do? Did they put their hands up and say, Okay. You tested it and proved that it didn't so let's focus on something else that may cause Autism. Like any good Sceptic would do when science proves something. Nope they just said it was something else and then something else and so on. All the while science kept testing and saying no, it's not that or that. I myself couldn't bare to stand by and watch any of my children die like that. What kind of people are these? They must enjoy having children die needlessly. That sounds about right.

  Now if you agree with any of these then say it out loud. Say it in a crowded room or elevator. Say, I will not save my son or daughter by an easy mean. I will just let them die. Say, I think this person should die because they are different from me. Say, my daughter shouldn't go to school and I should and then her husband should rule her like a king. She must obey me no matter the cost. I wonder if you would be looked askance? Would those people look at you like you were mentally ill? That sounds about right.




A supernatural being who performs a miracle while idly standing by in the presence of so much suffering in the course of history would be guilty of gross negligence, failing to meet obligations of moral stewardship, and failing to fulfill a duty to rescue. It would be reasonable to conclude that such a being is evil.

 -Matt McCormick

A Well Deserved Letter

  One person in my life I should thank for putting up with me and dealing with all the grief I give her. Though I have never had hair brained schemes, but I have had my....moments. Like this one time I thought that I had my iPod stolen. So, I went into my iCloud  account to look for it under the app find my iPod( I love you, Apple). As it loads it is bringing up my street and address. Hmm? I think that maybe it's locating Megan's iPhone. Nope, it's tracking my iPod. Quickly looking around I get a boost of adrenalin. Whoever has stolen it is in my house. What a big pair of balls this person has to return to my house with my Device. Ha! He will think he has a  drop on me. Springing up from my chair I head towards the kitchen to grab a weapon. As I do I see my iPod on the living room bureau. When did the thief get by me to put it there?

  Megan puts up with a lot of things I do. Like, when I obsess over things of get into an expensive little fad like hockey cards. That one was...interesting. Now it is plants, but at least she is into that. Over the winter and my birthday she bought me a mini green house. So I decided to plant over 200 seeds. Did we have enough room in the garden for the plants? No, but not all of them will grow and we can give some of them away. I have got her into gardening and weeding(which she abhors). She even picks the plants and I ask her where she wants them. She is a little prune and destruction happy, but it is a small price to pay for her interest in what I like to do....for now.

  She makes meals for me(and the kids). And what meals! She is a brilliant cook! If you don't thinks so, I weighed 200lbs when we met and now I weigh 235lbs and I rarely eat any take-away. Why would I when I have great food made for me at home and someone who makes such delightful noises when I pinch her. It is a form of gratitude for the wonderful job, though she is pushy on the fruits. Like when she puts grapes in my mouth whilst I am "napping" on the couch. If she is up when I leave and am heading out the door she will ask if I want her to make me a lunch? Late as usual I will say "no", then say, "wait" and finally, "yes". What is 5 more minutes for a delicious sandwich?

  She is a wonderful mother. She corrects and loves both of my children no matter how hard I try to corrupt them. Like when I say "What the.." in hope that Reagan will finish the sentence with a "hell?" I get a "Jeremy!" and a very stern look. Once I was told not to give Reagan any marshmallows(alone) out of the Lucky Charms cereal. Megan was in another room and I dug through the cereal box and gave Reagan some marshmallows. The last one I gave her she ran and said, "Look, Mummy. Daddy gave me this." and presented her the marshmallow. I swore under my breath and called her a little rat. I quickly hid around the corner, but I was caught. I won't bore you with the details of my terrific escape from death, but pose a question: Why can't I feed my children loads of sugar?

  Now it takes a lot to put up with someone that is so hardheaded and little and....Hmmm? Wait, that seems like it is for a different story. Okay, I've got it now. Now it takes a lot to put up with someone who is a closet sociopath. She is only around 5 feet tall, but she walks about 6'5" and 250lbs. I should know I have been in that path. She is stubborn, but I wouldn't have it any other way. She keeps me honest(a bit). She is passionate about everything that interests her and I am fortunate that I interest her.

I love you, Megan


She's been lookin' like a queen in a sailor's dream
And she don't always say what she really means

-Gordon Lightfoot

  


















 

A Worthless Apology

  January 1, 1984. I was almost 8 years old. It was in the morning and we were watching Team Canada get defeated by Team U.S.S.R when the phone rang(never a good thing in a story). I am not sure who it was, but my Mom burst into tears and my Sister and I soon found out that my Grandfather, Howard Magee had died. My Sister and I also started to cry. I am not sure where my dad was at the time, but I am sure he was doing the same. Maybe this is why I have so little interest in New Years, but that is probably not why I have the big indifference with New Years Eve. So what? It's just a new year, just like every other day. Just an excuse for drunks to drink. Look! The sun rose.! Let's drink!

  My grand parents on my Dad's side had 9 children. 9!? There was Bud(who passed away last year), Jane(the only girl!) John, Boyd, Richard(died years ago), Peter(also passed away years ago), Hughie,, Kirk(my Dad), and Brant. I could imagine the trouble all those boys would get into. I mean Reagan gets into enough for 3 boys on her own. I was in the the back yard working in the garden and I would glance back the odd time to see what Reagan was up to. I could just see a little bit of her. She was picking up seed packets and shaking them. Oh. they make a lovely sound. I start watering again, thinking,  I hope she doesn't figure out those are easy to get into and spill out. I look back to check on her again and she is firing the packets halfway across the deck.. Good. Fortunately I do have some stories of the Magee boys.

  Should I tell the one where Hughie wrestled the broom from grandma or how some of my uncles would play cowboys and Indians for keeps or maybe when Peter thought he was Batman? I think I will keep it short with two little stories. My dad(Kirk) had a bow and arrow set when he was young and what is one of the greatest things to do with projectiles? Yup, fire it into the air as soon as you got out the front door.  "Puinn" straight into the air and over the barn. My dad went toddling off around the barn in search of the arrow. Rounding the corner he saw that grandpa was sharpening the mover blade. He cautiously looked around in the long grass inching closer to grandpa. Pausing for a second and pointing with the file to a spot ten feet from him grandpa asked, "is that yours?" There the arrow was. Nothing else was said. Dad collected the arrow and ran off. Probably to do something safer. Like jumping off the veranda roof with a bed sheet as a parachute.

  Growing up on a farm, especially in the 50's and/or 60's isn't a charmed life. Like waking up in the morning with snow at the foot of your bed. You didn't always get the newest trends in clothes or even get to sleep in your own bed. You had to share, but they had fun doing it. My uncles Richard, John and Peter were screwing around in bed and my grandfather had given them a couple of warnings to settle down and go to sleep. They didn't and my grandpa came upstairs with a long piece of wood to quiet them down. When he opened the door to their room they ducked under the covers thinking that would save them. Grandpa stood there waiting. Then one head in the middle started to poke up out of the sheets and "crack" right on the forehead. Then the head squirmed back down. Grandpa kept standing there waiting. Once again the head in the middle started to move on up, maybe just to check to see if their father was gone. Grandpa cracked the head again and down it went to the safety of the covers. Apparently, the head in the middle  was my uncle Richard and he wasn't trying to get out from under the covers. John and Peter were on either side on him and pushed him up to get hit on the head, but he found strength to force his way back down.

  I was very young when grandpa was alive.  I remember getting the odd $2 bill from him and thought that was wonderful, but it was nothing compared to when he would show me a $50 bill. I apparently loved it. Even if I was shone a $100 I would say, but that's not a fifty. I would sit on the cook stove door and call grandpa over to sit beside me. "Come sit here, grandpa." Which was only about 8 inch square. My grandfather got cancer when I was...I am not sure how old. They removed his nose and gave him a prosthetic one. The cancer has spread though. In the fall of 1983 it had gotten worse and he was confined to a bed. My parents took my sister and I over to the farm to see him. Amanda(my sister) went up to him and spoke to him. I didn't. I was too scared. I refused to go up and talk to him. I could imagine how that made him feel. Your grandson wouldn't talk to you on your death bed. I have always regretted it. Every once in awhile I will remember what a terrible child I was never saying goodbye to someone that loved me. Sorry. He was still the same man he always was. When it creeps into my mind from time to time it overwhelms me with grief. I will never get to see him again. I will never get to beg for his forgiveness for being horrible.. Sorry.  It feels like....I am at a loss for words. I cannot describe it. A hopelessness maybe. Never will I see or hear him again and it rips my heart asunder every time I think of it, Sorry.  I will never get forgiveness for that. I don't deserve forgiveness for it.  Sorry. I am so sorry.....

Death leaves a wound no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.”

- anonymous 

 

  

Look At That I Am Perfect

  Billions and billions of years ago(actually around 4.5 billion years) this chunk of rock we live on was formed. Composed of an atmosphere of mainly hydrogen and helium and a rocky surface full of volcanic activity. It wasn't suited for life. But being the perfect distance away from the sun. It was primed to hold life. As the hydrogen and helium left our atmosphere(being too light to stay bound to our gravity), rocks in the crust of the earth began to release oxygen and other gasses trapped in them, As the Sun shined upon the Earth and through the water it gave life to tiny bacteria underneath the water. Bacteria that is the ancestor to all plants on the face of the planet. That bacteria evolved and spread out from the water onto land and then further into land. Evolving further to develop roots which in turn formed soil. Then to follow flowers and fruits. A perfect beginning.

  Different bacteria formed to develop into creatures, after the perfect energy source(plants and fruits) were formed. Along with the perfect gas, oxygen. Some of these creatures moved out of the oceans and evolved on land. They were the were the ancestors of the dinosaurs, birds, fish, insects and last the mammals. The perfect conditions had to take place for this to happen. Monkey's had to evolve and slowly change to what we are today. The sun had to be the right distance away. There had to be food to sustain life. There had to be oxygen for us to breathe. This all had to be perfect for us to even have a fighting chance to start.

  You may think your body is imperfect. Like, I am too fat or I am short. Those maybe true, but inside is the epitome of perfection. You are a complex individual. Yes, even your mind , but . no one cares about your feelings in this tirade. Let's start with the oxygen you need to take in. Okay,.into the lungs it goes. You have two for optimal performance, but you can get by on one. Albeit  not that greatly, The oxygen is transferred to your blood stream and back to your heart to be transported to all of your organs. The heart never stops(whilst you live). It beats and pumps like a perfectly tuned watch. Speeding and slowing as is needed without an external source programming it to do so. There is a myth that we only use 10% of our brain. Think about that. The brain consumes around 20% or our bodies resources. That is quite wasteful just to use 10% of your brain. It runs everything in your body through neurons, nerves and other chemical impulses. It tells your legs to move, your eyes to look, to grow, love and many other things. It even does such wondrous things as paralyze you and forces you to watch vivid images that sometimes fool you in believing what you see is real even with your eyes shut. Ah dreaming. No, unfortunately you use 100% of your brain. Perfection.  You have organs that filter poisons and release chemicals to convert sugars and even release them when you need it. Two eyes for depth perception and peripheral vision and two ears for balance and hearing sound from every angle. A fighting chance to be perfect in our perfect world.

  I know I have taken an optimistic view on the world. I know there is death pain and suffrage, There is crime and evil people and floods, earthquakes and other turmoil in the world, but it is easy to do that. It is easy to be cynical and note all the horrible things. It is hard to be to say all the good things. It is hard to be perfect. The world and all life on it wasn't easy to happen.We weren't all of the sudden here. That is too easy Species of all kinds struggled and lived and died even today they aren't making it. Several lanes of evolution dead ended and what you see today is what we have. In thousands of years maybe there will be something different. Again it will be something perfect.


Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life - weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.”
― Lawrence Krauss