Editor's note: Given recent history's worldwide spate of religious fervor and fanaticism, I thought this email copy I ran across would be appropriate here. Education is important, no matter how it comes, eh?
Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a U.S. radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show. Recently, she said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance.
Dear Dr. Laura: Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific Bible laws and how to follow them:
1. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord -Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15:19- 24. The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.
4. Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?
6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality? I don't agree. Can you settle this?
7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?
9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? - Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)?
I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.
Ok, I like this - we need more of this in our troopery. Time for the Staunch Generals to ease up. Give the girl a little breathing room! Good gawd, Ahab, haven't you ever seen a Playboy bunny before?
Get a room full of these and you'll have volunteers all over the place!
Well, change has come
Ok, what happens now...
Change is usually good, and we have had change, so we can only wait and see. Will they use a shovel to get at the dirt? or a pitchfork to irritate the chaff? Everyone is saying everything about this, and no one really knows.
So we'll wait and see.
Visions of Spring
Aaaahhhh yes, spring is in the air. I'm all ready to stroll down the streets and see the early spring casuals like this all around me :)
Or maybe I'll just get one of those apartments right out on the city street so I only have to go out on the veranda with my coffee and paper, sit back and watch as they stroll by!
Maybe she'll stop and ask directions. I'll talk and point and invite her in for a cup of coffee. Or tea, if she'd rather. I'm quite Continental, she'd know.
Where's my real estate agent's number?
US has lost control in Iraq, says military strategist
Something most of US already know (with
some exceptions), but here it is again.
Below are excerpts of an interview between Eleanor Hall and Dr. Harlan Ullman.
The World Today - Thursday, 19 October , 2006 12:22:00
Reporter: Eleanor Hall
ELEANOR HALL: A key US military strategist who counts the former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, among his students, is absolutely scathing about the current Bush administration's strategy in Iraq and says no one except the President is in any doubt that it should change.
Harlan Ullman who's now at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, says the US lost control of events in Iraq almost immediately after the invasion and that far from assisting in the development of democracy, the US-led allies, including Australia, have fomented chaos.
But Dr Ullman says he holds out little hope that either the escalating US deaths in Iraq or the recommendations now being developed by a senior policy adviser to the former Bush administration, James Baker, will convince the President to change his mind.
HARLAN ULLMAN: We lost control of events on the ground probably in April or May of 2003. And it's taken a long time for that recognition to dawn in the White House.
The President and the administration has refused to recognise reality. Iraq is a disaster. It is a disaster at every level, and to think that they've got a functioning government and to think that the situation is better today than it was in 2003 or 2004, or 2005, is unbelievable.
We have a catastrophe on our hands and of course we've got to make course corrections and the only guy in town who seems not to be able to recognise that, sadly, is the President.
And so under these circumstances, it's very difficult to move forward because of the power of the President, and how you get the President to change his or her mind, in this case his mind, is extremely difficult.
But of course we're on a stupid course, but that doesn't mean that we are going to change it quickly enough to make a difference.
I mean, George Bush will not change his mind, he's the President. Iraq, the government there, is divided along ethnic lines, it cannot control the militias, it cannot control anything.
And so to say we can't change our course means that we're going to lose this. And what I mean by "lose" is that Iraq becomes a chaotic state, and that chaos extends throughout the greater Middle East. And all of us will suffer for it.
And what you're saying to the President of the United States, somebody who's got a huge ego, who is very, very, very stubborn, "you are wrong". And George Bush does not want to admit he's wrong.
He still thinks you deal with a hornets' nest by hitting it with a stick - and many others don't seem to see a problem with that approach either, from what I see. But you try telling them that, and boy, like some overgrown brat who hates being told no, they start accusing you of not wanting to deal with the hornets. Throwing little tantrums.
History will not be kind to bush, the wannabe King George, nor, by association, to the rest of US.
Getting relief
What has the world come to...?
An urinal shaped like the mouth of a woman are seen at a public toilet near Vienna's national opera, on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006. The businessman who runs the toilet announced Thursday that he would get rid of the urinals, after facing pressure from politicians who demanded their removal. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
Don't know if I should be asking that about why these were there in the first place, or why they are now being taken away *grin*
Disgusting? Perverted? Sexist? You bet!
But I like 'em. I'd pay to go to that bathroom!
Miss Tibet
Well, this is kinda new, at least to me, but I like it.
Isn't it supposed to be cold in Tibet? Have to look up the temperature ranges, but I don't see any "sign" of cold on her ;)
I do see "other" interesting features, though :)
I think I like Tibet.
Let's vote on them in the UN or somewhere.
Beats the heck out of Chavez and Venezuela!
bush Knows How to Pick 'em
Well, at least he has experience at something! ;)
All the recent Bush/GOP infedelism, backslapping, palm greasing, and covering up for cohorts has me wondering about the 50% or so of the people who voted these "leaders" into our midst. What must they be thinking about now? Are they sorry? Ashamed? Mad? Or do they just not believe any of the goings on are really that bad.
The recent report that our efforts in Iraq have spawned more terrorists brought this from bushbaby.
"You do not create terrorism by fighting terrorism," President bush told a receptive military audience at the Reserve Officers Association in Washington, DC, on Friday.
He just can't believe you can make a thing worse by meddling in it. In all his time "down on the farm" he must never have messed with a hornets nest, or a fire-ant bed. The results are the same. Not that terrorists don't need to be dealt with - Afghanistan was a decent attempt - but our grand repugnant "leaders" took their Amerikan bravado too far.
See the results?
And what about electing a child-molestor to the Senate? Does he still get that salary-for-life bit? I'd vote against it.
