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Jesus Supports Discrimination!

Ok, there’s been one or two confusing messages coming from the Morrison government. And no, one of them isn’t “What would Jesus do?” Strangely, for a government that’s had two out of three PMs profess their strong Christian beliefs, this never seems to be a consideration.

I’m more confused about things like their recent thought bubble on moving the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem. Various bodies have suggested that this may lead to protests and possibly even violence. Now, it would be far too conspiratorial to suggest that Scott is actually hoping to provoke a terrorist attack in the hope that it would give him a boost in the polls. As if he’d be prepared to do whatever it took to get re-elected; he’d only do whatever it takes to stop children being brought here for medical treatment. No, I find this confusing because – apart from Trump’s US – no other country seems to be doing this. Clearly, it’s putting our free trade agreement with Indonesia at risk, and we can’t take the lead with any action that puts our economic growth at risk when the future of the planet is at stake, but somehow, we can go out on a limb about the location of an embassy. We can follow Trump but tell the Indonesians that we don’t let other countries set our foreign policy.

And then we have the report of religious freedom which was quietly released just in time for Christmas. Ho, ho, ho!

Of course, balancing people’s rights is never a simple matter. While you may argue that you have the right to do as you like on your own property, if this involves playing loud music that keeps your neighbours awake at 3am, then the law will disagree.

Similarly, when gay people recently won right to marriage equality, it seemed to some religious groups the equivalent of loud music in the middle of the night. It keeps them awake. And furthermore, for reasons I can’t quite follow, after losing the argument that the Taliban wasn’t all bad and that they should have the right to dictate other people’s lifestyles, certain sects within the Christian cult are now suggesting that if they are forced to accept same sex marriage, do floral arrangements and make cakes for weddings, then there must be some other way to discriminate against gay people and make them feel bad.

It was here that it became confusing for me. While I can I understand that it for a school which requires any student go to counselling if they wear something with colours that are contained in the rainbow may find it hard to explain why the geography teacher is living with only one man and not a whole group of them like the Christian Brothers do, it’s all a matter of trying to balance the various rights of the people involved.

I thought that it might help if I could get Tony Abbott to explain it to me, but he’s been too busy explaining that the only way aboriginal people can improve their economic circumstances is by going to school, and to ensure that this is true, he proposes to cut any funding to the places where the attendance rate is too low. So without the benefit of someone who is a great friend of He-Who- Must-Not-Be-Named to advise me, I have to rely on my own imperfect ideas to predict how the Morrison government will play this over the next few weeks. I suspect they’ll go down the following path:

  1. We’ll be asked to agree people have a right to live without being discriminated against.
  2. We’ll also be asked to agree that if someone is religious, they have to right to their religious beliefs.
  3. From here we’ll be told that if their religious beliefs call for someone to be discriminated against, then this should take precedence over Point 1.
  4. Because some people will get annoyed over Point 3 and try to take it out on people who use it to refuse to employ people who they disapprove of, then we need to enact new laws to protect people from being discriminated against because of their religious beliefs.
  5. Someone will eventually argue that Point 4 could be interpreted as meaning that someone who had no religion cannot be discriminated against on the grounds that not believing in something is clearly a religious belief.
  6. Point 5 means that the Abbott government’s insistence that school chaplain appointments must be religious in nature may be over-ridden by any religious anti-discrimination laws.
  7. This will lead to a special exemption needing to created to exempt the school chaplains from any religious discrimination laws.
  8. The whole thing will fall apart when somebody uses the freedom of religion laws to promote some satanic ritual involving animals at a government school and everyone is powerless to stop them. Or even worse, someone cites Andrew Bolt’s comments about action on climate change being a religion and uses it as a means to promote concern about coal-fired power stations.

Of course, it would be wrong to presume that Scott Morrison has a clear plan here and that he won’t – as always – be guided by prayer. I’m sure that just like his prayers for rain, he expects that there’ll be an answer soon. He’ll possibly be spared the difficulty navigating these issues when God takes over and gives him a sign such as the election of Bill Shorten.

Mm, ever notice that when things happen that some religious people agree with, it’s the “will of God” but when it’s going badly for them, it’s because of all these people listening to the devil?

Whatever, it’s Christmas and I’d just like to say, “Merry Christmas” even though the same people who told me that marriage equality would oppress them, keep telling me that I’m not allowed to say, “Merry Christmas”. In keeping with the season, I’d like to remind people to keep such commandments as “Thou shalt not bear false witness unless one is talking about the Labor Party or The Greens”, “Thou shalt not kill unless these people have arrived by boat”, “Thou shalt not commit adultery unless it’s in Canberra and you’re pissed” and “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy by not asking for penalty rates”!

Four commandments should be enough. I think the others were non-core.

 

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55 comments

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  1. David Bruce

    I think Jesus would have said “do unto others as you would have them to do unto you!”.

    Or is the golden rule now “dem wid de gold makes da rules?”

  2. Bronte ALLAN

    Great article as usual, Rossleigh! I agree with your comments, especially like the 8 items that the Slo Mo mob will discuss.And if Slo Mo had quoted this supposed Jesus person then this Jesus person would have condemned him for not allowing all the blighted souls in these concentration camps the “privilege” (?) of coming to Australia. As for the continuing crap about non gays/religious people not having to bake cakes for gay weddings etc, WTF?? Do these imbeciles realise if they keep knocking back business, they may soon not even be in business?

  3. Slim

    The new amended Jesus: “Do unto those who have a go as you would have those who get a go do unto you.”

  4. Kaye Lee

    Christopher Pyne suggested that Labor were protecting pedophiles when they questioned the encryption legislation…..

    “Cardinal Pell is a fine man . . . Cardinal Pell is one of the greatest churchmen that Australia has seen” said Tony Abbott

    Tony Abbott also told the court that struck off priest Father Nester was “An extremely upright and virtuous man. I guess one of the things that I liked very much about John when I first him, was his maturity, intellectual, social, emotional he was, to that extent I guess, a beacon of humanity at the Seminary”

    I hope I am being suppressed enough….

  5. Matt

    ” if this involves playing loud music that keeps your neighbours awake at 3am, then the law will disagree”

    Yes, but if you go a registered music school and then complain about people playing loud music – that is being oppressive.

    “even though the same people who told me that marriage equality would oppress them, keep telling me that I’m not allowed to say, “Merry Christmas”

    Who are these “same people”? Certainly a very small minority – perhaps one person?

    “Mm, ever notice that when things happen that some religious people agree with, it’s the “will of God” but when it’s going badly for them, it’s because of all these people listening to the devil?”

    Any evidence to support this claim?

    “explain why the geography teacher is living with only one man and not a whole group of them like the Christian Brothers do”

    There is big difference between living in a shared house and having a sexual relationship with people in the house.

    ” when gay people recently won right to marriage equality, it seemed to some religious groups the equivalent of loud music in the middle of the night. It keeps them awake”

    I don’t think it keeps them awake, I think they just want to be entitled to hold their belief that it is wrong, and not continuously be called ‘haters’ for expressing such. Or are we moving to the kind of society where people can think whatever they like, but never speak of it? i,e a society of compulsed liars? That is not the free society of the West but more like an inverted version of some Islamic states. And it is not what my forefathers fought and died for thank you.

    Matt

  6. Diannaart

    I dunno, Rossleigh, I think this has already come to pass, so to speak:

    The whole thing will fall apart when somebody uses the freedom of religion laws to promote some satanic ritual involving animals at a government school and everyone is powerless to stop them. Or even worse, someone cites Andrew Bolt’s comments about action on climate change being a religion and uses it as a means to promote concern about coal-fired power stations.

  7. Kronomex

    “ProMo went to great lengths to link this to multiculturalism and mentioned that “someone” had told him that they felt less able to openly practice their religion nowadays. ”

    That was me because it’s not fair that I have to hide the fact that worshipping Big Bunny, All hail the Carrot of Num-Num, and preaching that the Evil One, Lmur of Phud, wants to destroy BB with The Stick of Bang during the dark times of R’Arbit Seezon makes people uncomfortable. It’s not fair that I have to worship in my home and not in the Vegetable Church of Woolworths.

  8. Rossleigh

    No, Matt, I have no evidence to support my claim, but I have faith that it’s true and surely that’s enough… Or do you want to suppress me and not allow me to express such. Are you trying to move us to the sort of society where I can think such a thing and never speak it? That is surely not the sort of free society that my forefathers refused to do military service for!

  9. Rossleigh

    Ah yes, diannaart, these things may be happening, but without the freedom of religion laws there’s nobody to protect those poor satanists and greenies from the likes of Bolt, Jones, Abbott and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named…

  10. Rhonda

    I have faith in you, Rossleigh. Merry days, indeed rx

  11. Matt

    Rossleigh,

    “That is surely not the sort of free society that my forefathers refused to do military service for!”

    So you use this topic as a form of jest or cheap point making? One thing every young man has to consider is whether he is prepared to go and kill and for what cause. This probably does not cross the mind of many young women, but it certainly crossed mine as I approached 18 – the conscription age – and I gave it much thought. Strong in my memory was my Uncle – who was collected on his 18th birthday and taken off for training before going to Vietnam – which has pretty much messed up the rest of life. And my grandfather who contracted illness in the 2nd world war and thus died before I really knew him. Now you might choose to use this topic as a bit of fun and to make some point (though what point exactly is lost on me), but this is a very serious decision that young men throughout history have had to make, and may have to make again – do they go to war and take other young men’s lives? What if they are conscripted – do they go to jail (and be branded a coward – an award often bestowed by women on men in the past, in the form a white feather) or do they do they go with the intention of killing young men on some foreign (or God forbid) local shore.

    Until you have to make such considerations yourself, I suggest you leave this topic out of your point scoring.

  12. Roswell

    Matt, I would suggest that Rossleigh is mocking our PM, not Jesus.

  13. terence mills

    Kaye

    A person whose name we cannot mention has been found guilty of a charge that we cannot discuss by a jury made up of ordinary Australians.

    The matter will now go to appeal, probably before a single judge who, I’m going to speculate, will find that the conviction was unreasonable and the unknown person will be acquitted. At least that’s the way it played out for former Archbishop Philip Wilson.

    The question is, can you find an appellate judge who is free of religious bias ?

  14. Alan Nosworthy

    Perhaps we fail to discern the innate Statesmanship of promo as he hides his light under a bushel basket.
    Could he, with his oft claimed devotion to “the rule of law” and stated policy of pursuing a two state solution be intending to place not 1 but 2 new embassies in Jerusalem, east and west in harmony with that cities special status in U.N. resolution? Has God gifted our humble leader with the “wisdom of Solomon ” and the sword of captains pick?
    Damn pigs just flew onto my roof again.

  15. Rossleigh

    Thanks for your suggestion, Matt, but didn’t your forefathers fight and die so I could mock whomsoever I please?

  16. Stephegb

    Well MAT,
    I just love your faux indignation.

    But mate what hell are you actually talking about. What young men who have to consider killing others!

    What absolute tripe, mate.

  17. Paul Davis

    “That is surely not the sort of free society that my forefathers refused to do military service for!”

    OK i thought this was amusing but then my childhood comic heroes were the Goons on the radio and later Monty Python on TV, so i grew up cynical and twisted, sneering at every apology of a government from Tory Britain to Menzies Australia to the gloved fist of the pretend democracy in the USA.And yes i despised the despots in South America and Eurasia and the brutal colonials in Africa.

    My conscription marble wasn’t drawn in 68 so i dodged Vietnam but four schoolmates went, one volunteer via Duntroon and three conscripts. All four were changed and not for the better…. horrible finding out two of my friends were back home demobbed in secret and vilified for something they had no choice in.

    At some point in history those usurping power created boundaries around the land they controlled as they subjugated the powerless. And now we have the entire surface of the planet enclosed and each ‘cattle pen’ given it’s own identifying label. The ‘cattle’ are exhorted and cajoled to identify with their unique label on the basis of some tenuous commonality such as race ethnicity religion culture history philosphy or dogma etc…. Such is the strength of this ‘branding’ of their ‘identity’ the usurpers can with little fear of protest demand that the young people of their herd go forth to either defend or expand their borders which in essence requires them to willing murder or be murdered to satisy the desires of the usurpers.

    I think we are doomed because collectively as intelligent educated ‘civilised’ people we do very very little except argue about crap like “two state solutions” and dont address the causes of the flows of millions of refugees from wars political upheaval and weather disasters.

    Those lines on the ground, those cattle pens …..

  18. John L

    Matt – I drew the conscription marble and told them to stick it up their arse – I knew exactly what was involved, with 19 relations killed on WW1, many in WW2 and others bearing the scars for the rest of their lives. I was threatened, cajolled, etc, but, it was possible to avoid it and I had the full support of my family. So, I found Rossleighs retort amusing.

  19. Adrianne Haddow

    Rossleigh, I would call your article ‘comedic gold’, but that would be wrong.
    It’s not comedy, it’s truth. But then all great comedy is firmly rooted in truth. Perhaps, that’s why Matt finds it so distressing.
    Maybe we can call it ‘ironic gold’.

    Whatever we call it, keep on writing.
    We all need to laugh in the face of adversity.

    Paul Davis, great post.

  20. Pappinbarra Fox

    Matt you are being disingenuous. You were never in the conscription race to glory. If you were you would know that the marble was drawn for the 19th birthday. But yes thinking seriously about taking another humans life in a faraway land in a war we should not be in must be done. And if you say yes I am up for killing then rethink your Christian beliefs.

  21. Rossleigh

    Yes, Pappinbarra Fox, people were conscripted into the army at 20 in Australia, and while I have every sympathy for the trauma that many ex-Vietnam vets suffered, I find the re-writing of history appalling. Apart from one or two incidents, it wasn’t those opposed to the Vietnam war who were unsympathetic to them; it was the lack of support for their traumas from the defence forces and various governments.
    Matt, uses two arguments that have always bemused me. 1. “People have the right to say that someone else is depraved/disgusting/sinful, but nobody has the right to call such comments hateful/unenlighted/oppressive because that inhibits their freedom of speech” and 2. “People fought and died for your freedom so you better not use it in ways that I don’t approve of!”

    And John L, good on you! It’s often forgotten how much courage it took to tell them to “stick it up their arse” back in the conscription days. I don’t know exactly what I would have done if called up – Whitlam’s election saved me from any decision. Obviously I would have voted for him in ’72 if I’d had the chance. You had to be 21 to vote, but it was ok to be conscripted at 20.

  22. Kaye Lee

    The free speech argument is unfathomable to me. Apparently, you are free to agree with free speech proponents about the things they want to talk about but you are not free to disagree with them. Just like the religious discrimination thing. You may not discriminate against someone because of their religion but their right to discriminate against you will be enshrined in law.

  23. helvityni

    As a good little Lutheran girl, I was taught never to lie, be honest and go to bed with a good conscience; then I married a Catholic boy/man , and found out that Catholics can lie as long as they go to a confession afterwards… Even when they become lapsed Catholics, they keep their old habits…LOL

    As I grew up, became a so-called grown-up, I found that telling the truth was seen as joke, and people started laughing when I was being truthful….. As Adrienne says: ‘ But then all great comedy is firmly rooted in truth.’.

    ( dear hubby, I’m only joking…you never know he might read this)

  24. Joseph Carli

    “. . . and found out that Catholics can lie as long as they go to a confession afterwards…”…..as a “good” little Catholic boy, I remember when we class one kiddies were being “groomed” for our first confessional, the little girl next in line to me asked the Nun what should she do if she didn’t have anything to confess…
    “Oh…Make something up.” she replied after a bit of thought…

    And perhaps THAT is why the Vatican owns billions in property and the Lutherans only have the (comparitavely) shirt on their backs and their honesty!

  25. Kaye Lee

    Jospeh,

    My husband used the standby – “I’ve had impure thoughts.”

    The idea that you can say ‘hail mary full of grace shoot us off to outer space’ 10 times and all will be forgiven has always bemused me.

  26. Joseph Carli

    ” The idea that you can say ‘hail mary full of grace shoot us off to outer space’ 10 times and all will be forgiven has always bemused me.”…..If you give close attention to the low decibled, “humming vibe” of those repeated words in the Ave Maria and the Pater Nosta, there will be detected similar tones of incantation that can match Eastern religion’s meditative relaxing effect…hence the calming and satisfying feelin being induced…like Eastern Mystic meditations…and the “chanter/believer” is “brought into” the circle of faith…….a bit hocus pocussy if you like…but it works….Those old monks and theoligians weren’t just sitting around on their arse all those hundreds of years.

  27. Diannaart

    Indeed Joseph, such mantras are well known to have a calming effect … however, does this prevent further sin?

    I was, briefly, CofE. And I’ve never been good.

    😈

  28. Joseph Carli

    ” however, does this prevent further sin?”…….and THAT enters the other world of religious debate..: “What is “sin”?”….is it a civil misdemeanour, or is it political or religious..and when the three meld into a religious governance….you got almost carte blanche for accusation…as we have seen…..

    In some religions, it is not the chanting that calms the “impure actions”, but rather the self flagellation!

    As for your admission of “. . . I’ve never been good” and K-l’s husband having “impure thoughts”….I have decided I am not entering further into controversy on these pages….no matter how tempting the invitation.

  29. Diannaart

    I was merely using the word “sin” in the religious or biblical sense. If you want to write an article about the meaning of sin, you have the forum.

    As for wishing to go further into controversy, but using restraint, very out of character, Joseph.

    Of course, my point that the confessional does not result in less crime, harm or even more decent behaviour has been missed. Which is very much in character, Joseph.

  30. Joseph Carli

    ” If you want to write an article about the meaning of sin, you have the forum.”…..I have written such an article..of sorts…but it is too contentious a subject to put on a discussion blog like here..so I have restricted it to my own blog..here…; https://freefall852.wordpress.com/2018/12/15/a-counterfiet-concern/

  31. Kaye Lee

    We are all different. I am happy for you that chanting gives you solace Joseph but it was precisely that that was the final tipping point for me to abandon the church. I was in Mass one day chanting with the best of them when I was overcome by how ridiculous it all was. It was the crack in the dam that led to a torrent of rejection of archaic ritual and ceremony and an awakening to the power structures behind them. It was no longer possible to employ the cognitive dissonance required to ask forgiveness for my sins from a man I knew was an alcoholic who was rooting his housekeeper and punching altar boys.

  32. Diannaart

    Joseph, would read, but have to clean out the cat litter.

  33. Joseph Carli

    Yairs..yairs..Diannaart….and oral health IS one of the most neglected fields of govt’ policy.

    “. . . an alcoholic who was rooting his housekeeper . . . “…….cripes!…but that’s really no sin!

  34. Diannaart

    Appreciate the humour, Joseph. Especially at my expense, you are a truly gifted witling.

  35. Oscar

    You are a creative soul Joseph ignore the jibes.

    D
    you are a truly gifted witling. I had no idea Joe whittles as well

  36. Paul Davis

    “required to ask forgiveness for my sins from a man I knew was an alcoholic who was rooting his housekeeper and punching altar boys.”

    OK this is always a problem with the priest class, whether a hindu brahmin, a buddhist monk, a red robed cardinal, et al. They are just mortal humans with all the foibles and failings of everyman. And they are sometimes more corruptable and venal than your average punter because of their position and status.

    But what i hate most is the hypocrisy. His housekeeper rooting probably wasn’t breaking the law of the land if there was no coercion. But he was breaking his vows plus corrupting another person and if your word is worthless then what is left….

    Speaking of hypocrisy, and i appeal to the more biblical erudite here, somewhere in apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans were not Christians exhorted to ‘render unto Caesar ‘ ie obey the laws of man and not be above the law….?

  37. Kaye Lee

    Which brings up another question Paul. Remember the hysteria when some members of the community wanted the right to practice Sharia law? People went crazy saying there is one law for all and they should not ask for any consideration for religious beliefs. Yet when it comes to Christians wanting to ignore the law of the land so they can discriminate against others and tell their children that homosexuality is evil then we must protect their rights?

  38. Joseph Carli

    ” But what i hate most is the hypocrisy. His housekeeper rooting probably wasn’t breaking the law of the land if there was no coercion. But he was breaking his vows plus corrupting another person and if your word is worthless then what is left….”…….I believe there must be leeway allowed in these most extreme cases…the physical needs of humanity ought not be dissmissed as mere disgrace or corruption…there are certain “necessities” that must be catered for..and in that corner, there are women just as “hungry” as some males…and perhaps in some situations…we could accuse them of being just as hypocritical…but then needs must . . .

    ” As I have written in a past article on the site vis: “The Hungry Womb” and “Write Again, Blue Eyes”.. I hold no criticism against any woman seeking to address that indescribable hunger that needs attending…but there are some moments….when the “need” is more delightfully salacious than serving, and the adventures that arise (if you’ll excuse the pun) from those “fullfilled needs” give lively entertainment to us “innocent bystanders” of the “play of life”. And so surely there is room yet on the canvas to allow the “art of life”, where it is still the norm’ to expect the males in society to be the protagonists and initiators of social connection, to display in full majesty it’s beauty and depth to an appreciative audience?

    For instance, we won’t criticise “Tracy”, who on her “hens night” before her wedding next day, back in the seventies, took a shine to one of the male strippers in the club she and several of her closest friends went to and ended up banging him on the back seat of her friends Datto’ 120Y..so that nine months later when the baby was due she confessed to the friend that she didn’t really know whose baby it was…except that her husband had a huge mop of rich red hair…while the other bloke . . . But it was resolved upon the actual birth when the child had light wisp of fair hair..

    “Geeez!..he looks like YOU Mick!!…Geeez!, he’s got YOUR eyes!…Geeez he looks just like YOU!!”…and Mick was happy…he was chuffed…he never knew..and who’s telling…not me!” (from https://freefall852.wordpress.com/2018/12/15/a-counterfiet-concern/ )

  39. Kaye Lee

    Joseph,

    I could not disagree with you more. If you make a commitment, whether that to be celibate or to be monogamous, that is an agreement entered into freely and a breach of trust and decency if broken. Of course people can change their mind about something but a decent person will dissolve the first agreement rather than cheat on it. There is no such thing as an irresistible urge (ok maybe to breathe and sneeze)…there are people who are too weak and too selfish to resist but that is a choice rather than a compulsion they cannot control.

    And if I was Tracy’s friend I would have said to her WTF are you thinking, as I would hope my friends would say to me before I made a poor decision. As Paul said, if your word, your commitment, mean nothing, then how can anyone ever trust you?

  40. Joseph Carli

    Kaye L….of course one’s word is one’s bond….but that is in a perfect world….and I agree..having given that commitment, it is terrible to break it…..but there are moments in some people’s world where a compulsion, a desire overides ALL bonds…ALL words…and while you or I may hold to our commitment…perhaps it is only because WE have never been confronted with irresistable desire or compulsion…..
    I am wont to accuse without resourse to excuse of reason ANYONE who for …say…the sake of love makes a sharp turn in their life…
    I have seen such honest, respectable people make those decisions and I could not condemn them for such….you could turn your head away sadly for them…but not condemn them…..because there….there but for the sake . . .

  41. DrakeN

    “As Paul said, if your word, your commitment, mean nothing, then how can anyone ever trust you?”

    Therein lies (pardon the pun) the rub.

    A lot of people seem to want to be lied to – hence the advertising industry, politics, religions and literary fiction.

    Truth is uncompromising, difficult to deal with and often a bitter pill to swallow.

    We are imperfect creatures at best – some being significantly less ‘perfect’ than others.

    The ‘truth’ in recognising one’s own frailties is the ultimate honesty.

  42. Kaye Lee

    Joseph,

    They have the choice to do the decent and honest thing of either resisting or telling the person/organisation to whom they made the commitment that they can no longer uphold it. I don’t turn my head away sadly….I say show some integrity and responsibility. If you are incapable of keeping an agreement then say so so everyone can make their own decisions and choices equally….or don’t make the commitment in the first place if you know you are too weak to fulfil it.

  43. Joseph Carli

    But Kaye Lee…sometimes the demands of peer and social cultural pressures hold a person and their desires prisoner way past the “use-by date” of any bond or commitment and the slow-motion descent into an affection that becomes love can bring a person to a point of knowledge and action before rational thinking even comes into the equation…a kiss..a kiss!………..and one could be gone….

    ” I’ll tell you a story..A story of two lovers of vastly different lifestyles, of an age when one would never expect such a event to ever again enter one’s life. Our two lovers, for that is what they did become and they did forge a new life together for the rest of their lives..were in their mid fifties, neither were of what we would call ; “The beautiful people”…nor given to extravagant lifestyles…in short : Plain, everyday people.

    I knew them well..I am a builder. I built the house for the people in this story a long, long time ago, . . . ”

    The Exile of Celia Adamson.

  44. Kaye Lee

    I guess it boils down to what is more important to you Joseph – momentary personal pleasure or the trust and loyalty of a partnership.

    I haven’t read your story…that type of stuff is not my bag….but if your lovers had other partners, all they had to do was tell them honestly how they felt. Personal choice for all….provided you aren’t the bunny who doesn’t know. Dissolve a partnership and you are a free agent.

  45. Joseph Carli

    ” I haven’t read your story…that type of stuff is not my bag . . .”……………That-type-of- stuff…..perhaps of better quality than what I may “serve up”, is what creates and glues the entire tapestry of humanity together….all else….ethnicity, family, politics even God himself, Christian / Pagan has to stand aside for what constitutes the desires of humanity……You might not act on your desires, and if one does it could very well be the death of one…as much mythology and contemporary story bears witness….but to never have that ache of want for another…within or outside of convention is to not live at all….

  46. Kaye Lee

    I am not commenting on the quality of your writing Joseph. I am commenting on my choice of reading material. And you are getting a tad carried away with your “ache for another” stuff for me on what is. primarily, a political blog. I think I shall withdraw.

  47. Joseph Carli

    There is no such thing as a “primarily political blog”…..it is all people…and the more left-wing it is, the more will humanism creep in……everything is political.. and every conversation we strike up, we strike a match…

  48. Egalitarian

    Have you written any books Joseph?

  49. Joseph Carli

    I am not a book-length writer, Egalitarian, I see the core issues in a big picture and find that the most intriguing…I may live long enough to give the tome a try…but no…I write short stories and things..

  50. Roswell

    This is a primarily political blog.

    Michael and Carol added AIM Extra and Your Say as we all enjoy a break from politics now and again.

    I personally think they were great additions; some fabulous articles have been published there.

  51. Egalitarian

    Nevertheless you are a writer.I enjoy some of your topics.

  52. Joseph Carli

    Ta, Egalitarian…..we give it a try…some work, some don’t…like most things..

    Yes..Roswell….that was what I missed most of all when I was “driven into exile” a while ago…those little pauses in political heat…a bit of time to reflect…yes..

  53. Keith

    Some fundamental religious people do not believe in anthropogenic climate change. How could it be possible, when we have only been on Earth for 6 thousand years. Fossils and dinosaurs have been left by the Devil to lead us astray, I’ve read, but not in the Bible. Do these people have the religious freedom to push the Rapture; rather than, anthropogenic climate change.

    Should anybody critical of the Rapture notion be taken to task for being anti-religious?

  54. Papuq

    “Now, it would be far too conspiratorial to suggest that Scott is actually hoping to provoke a terrorist attack in the hope that it would give him a boost in the polls.”

    No it wouldn’t.

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