There is no Hell Fire!

Many years ago, about 1976, I heard some shocking statements from a minister. There's no physical Hell. There's no physical Heaven. Both are spiritual. Both exist here and now.

The Pope confirmed today what I learned 37 years ago. We make our lives Hell. Or, we can walk as if in Heaven.

Full story

“God is changing and evolving as we are, For God lives in us and in our hearts. When we spread love and kindness in the world, we touch our own divinity and recognize it. The Bible is a beautiful holy book, but like all great and ancient works, some passages are outdated. Some even call for intolerance or judgement. The time has come to see these verses as later interpolations, contrary to the message of love and truth, which otherwise radiates through scripture. In accordance with our new understanding, we will begin to ordain women as cardinals, bishops and priests. In the future, it is my hope that we will have a woman pope one day. Let no door be closed to women that is open to men!”

Bill Gates gives away his fortune

I got in trouble for this in college. MicroSoft has issued cash dividend to all stockholders. Bill got about $8,000,000,000. If global wage was $2 per day. a day's work was at least 12 hours and we had 6 billion people on the planet, assuming every 2 out of 3 people were able bodied, 4 billion people would have been employed for one day on Bill's windfall check. So what did the Billster do in his lifetime that was equal to 48 billion man hours of ditch digging?

Consider this: We could have built 10 Great Pyramids of Giza with that much manual labor.



But, there is a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which does some good deeds.

Melinda tells Bill how to give his money away. Including helping farmers access the internet via cell phones. This picture is copied from the Gates Foundation web site. Sort of highlighting the work being done primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.



Sort of like Mrs. Howell on Gilligan's Island told Thurston Howell III to tolerate the little people.



I'm sorry Mr. Gates. Your foundation must do a lot of good work. In my humble opinion, our country needs to look at the issues of wealth growth and concentration of power before we give everything away to just a couple of people.

The shortage of guns continue in the USA. This time Virginia needed a posse.

A Glade Spring, Va. man who shot his wife, son, mother-in-law and father-in-law early Tuesday morning before taking his own life, reportedly has a documented history of abuse.

He was arrested within the last week for domestic abuse. Seems he thought about it for a few days before killing most of his family with the gun he bought to protect them.

Story

I'm waiting for the first gun nut to spew some talking points. Responsible gun owners don't do things like this. Wow! The man lived 44 years as an irresponsible gun owner? I don't think so. The phrase responsible gun owner means what? "I'm a responsible gun owner because I haven't murdered my family. Yet?" Yeah. That's what it means.

Using the gun nut logic machine, the man should be buried with his gun. If the government prevents that with some regulation, it's violating the 2nd Amendment.

I say, bury the gun. Hang the man from a tree until his bones rot with a sign saying, I'm a proud gun owner.

Florida is the new Wild West

Hard to believe? No.

A blind guy in Florida is having a few drinks with a friend. Suddenly, his friend starts beating the hell out of him. But, he didn't finish the job soon enough. The blind guy goes and gets ... wait for it ... his assault rifle. Loads it up and shoots his drunken friend to death.


Since it's Florida, say Stand Your Ground if you're sober enough to stand. We need a new SDUI law, shot dead under the influence.

The blind guy has done probation for shooting 15 rounds at his cousin ... and missing. Plus he lost a fight with a woman in a domestic disturbance some three years ago.

Since some will think I've made it up, here's that link to the story as it was published in Europe.

Letter to the Gainesville Times on real gun tragedies

A recent letter to the Editor suggested what many in Georgia believe to be true about guns. If only we had more of them, there would be fewer gun tragedies. I don’t believe we have a shortage of guns or that more guns would stop the horrors of gun deaths in America.

It’s easy to understand my point of view.

Two toddlers are playing together. One of them is five years old. The other is only four. The five year old is playing with a pistol. He points it at the chest of the four year and shoots. There’s that moment when times stands still in a crisis. But, gun powder and metal slugs have no human illusion of time stopping.

The bullet rips through the little toddler. Time pauses for every witness. The toddler turns as if he is going to run to his mother. Only, in turning, he stumbles. In running, he falls. Lying on the ground, his feet kick the ground as if his legs were still running. And, then he lies silent.

Through the pain, the stumbling, and the fall, his mind knew one thing. Momma will make it all better. She will hold me. Tell me that it’s all okay. I’m going to be all right.

But nothing will ever be all right.

The bullet killed a son and tore open a mother’s heart. In her grief, she will use the phrase, if only. If only I had been there. If only I could have held him. If only I could have said, I love you and it’s going to be all right.

There is no gun shortage in America. If only there were just one less gun, there would be at least one tragedy less. If only.