Baltimore

Violence has again struck the streets of our nation this time in Baltimore. How does this violence compare to Shay's Rebellion? That rebellion helped topple a government formed under the Articles of Confederation. It birthed our Constitution and our strong, central government. Time has buried Shay's Rebellion, its negatives and positives. Without that violent rebellion, what would we be today but Balkanized countries separated by ethic, social, and economic differences? Jefferson commented on Shay's Rebellion with a quote often remembered and seldom understood. "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

Had we seen Shay's disorganized and undisciplined army of 4,000 looting the country side for food, we would have, as people did then, called them traitors, criminals, and thugs. We would used whatever violence needed to stop them. We would have tried and convicted their leaders as was done then. Some would hang as they did then. It is not the actions which separate a riot from a rebellion, it is whether the goal is justice or injustice.

To quote Jefferson's reaction beyond the one line, "[Their motives] were founded in ignorance, not wickedness. The people can not be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to liberty. And what country can preserve it's liberties if their people [fail to] preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them."

As Jefferson suggests, we must set ourselves 'right as to the facts,' before any trial, public judgement, pardon, or punishment. If we act, and judgement in social media and cable TV is action, without facts, a summary of motivations, as well as review of the actions, then we will not pacify the rebellion or ever be able to pardon ourselves.

Locked out and hungry

My mother told me a story about ice boxes and refrigerators. Being a country girl and a child of the 1930's, my mom knew a lot about practical things.

Before the average family owned refrigerators, they keep some food cool with blocks of ice in insulated cabinets called 'ice boxes.' Of course, the ice melted and had to be replaced often.

Mom and Dad upgraded from an ice box to a refrigerator using a very novel form of consumer credit involving a pay as you go plan. To open the refrigerator door, Mom had to insert a quarter into a lock box. Once a week the salesman would come collect the quarters. When she told me this story, I thought it was great idea, a great innovation in credit.

Maybe she didn't like it. She never said. She did ask me, "What happens when there's no room for another quarter?"
It took me years to understand her lesson.

I could act with honor and pay my dues but still be locked out and hungry.

Racists promote fake video of Michael Brown beating elderly man

Post by Bob Kitsemetry.

Another fake out using video.

The above video was taken in Texas. It allegedly show Michael Brown beating an elderly man. The video shows a horror too common in our society. Not just a camera operator taking part in a crime, but a planned beating and robbery of a helpless man by a bunch of young men.

But, it isn't Michael Brown. And, the fair skinned caption writer got 13,000,000 people to watch it. That's 13 million people who did not know who was in the video and assumed it was Michael Brown of Ferguson.

Do young black men look so much alike that white people can be fooled by this crap? Mike Brown was 300 pounds and 6 foot four inches tall. The tallest person in the video is the victim, an elderly man. All the muggers appear to of average size. There's no giant in the group.

It was a caption created by a racist for a racist audience.

Break your preconceptions or live with your invisible chains.

More on the back story at Link.

Snopes debunks it.

Another fake video on the internet created by Republicans

Post by Venkata Ramesh Gangaraju.

It's a horrible scene but it's not as described. It's a funeral in 2012 hit by a suicide bomber. If you watch the entire video, the body, still wrapped in white linen, lays on the ground. Had a bomb on the body been detonated, there would be no body. Had it been an spontaneous event immediately after a shooting, why is there a camera man focused not on the body but on the bomb? Yes, the camera and camera man are focused on the bomb before it explodes. Most likely we are hearing the camera man chanting to Allah after the bombing.

So some twisted a funeral into a bombing attack/political statement then some one else twisted the bombing video into a hate engine for Conservative Americans. Over a million people have viewed the video. More than 130,000 have shared it. Over 30,000 have clicked "Like" on Facebook.

Gotta love the Conservatives who just got manipulated into enjoying the murder of innocent mourners.

Public prayer or pride

So let's hammer the false believer with the Bible.

Do you have a right to pray in public. Okay, let's say that you do. But, you violate the teaching of the New Testament.

Matthew 6:5-6 - And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites [are]: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.

Ouch. So praying even while in a place of worship could be hypocrisy. Ditto for the street corner. I'd add onto that school prayer, prayer before a football game, and in government buildings.

Matthew 6:6 - But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

So a direct statement of where to pray. In secret so that the rewards will be openly seen by all. Not on street corners. Not in football stadiums. Schools. In private.

So how did the Jesus of the New Testament pray?

Mark 1:35 - 35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

We could also visit Luke 9:18, John 6:15, Matthew 14:23, and Mark 6:46.

So let the idiots have their public prayer. It's not Christ-like. Therefore, not Christian.