RANDOM NOTES

Where does God reside?
The bottom of the sea? Under ground? In heaven?
Among the stars and planets ?
If heaven , how high?
We understand that the distance to the stars are measured in Light years because the distance is too great to be measured in other ways. Light travels at 126,000 miles per second. The math tells us that just one Light year is 5,865,696,000,000 miles away.
There are stars that are Multiple Light years away.
Maybe God just likes to hang out on one of the planets. Possibly Mars, a mere 425 million miles away. Does son Jesus keep him company? Or is the son and the father, one and the same?
How many languages does the Good Lord know? Ethnoloque lists 6912 living languages world-wide. Millions of silent and verbal prayers are being sent every minute of every day –just a mad guess. Are we to understand that both our silent and verbal prayers are somehow absorbed by a super, super, super, duper gigantic computer; decoded, assembled and digested and acted upon. Oh yes, He or is it She, works in mysterious ways, and prayers answered become miracles and the majority of those not answered can be classified as not being fervent enough. Right?
What is the will of God? Is it the mass murder that God ordered in the bible? Or is it the floods, the cyclones, the tsunamis,, the killing wars, the mass rapes, the quakes, the starvation and all the other goodies that our loving Lord, He, the issuer of miracles, He, the omnipotent, He, who gave us Adam who then , under Godly instructions, removed one of his ribs and lo and behold, there was Eve , naked as a Jaybird and then the sins started, oh yes the Sins.
There were so many sins, oh so many. God had Jesus nailed to the cross, to die agonizingly in order to expunge our collective sins? Have I got that right? Is that the only way he thought of to cleanse the world of our sins? Let’s have a closer look at this charade. God, the Father, decided to have his only son, born via immaculate conception, nailed to a cross where he agonizingly hung for at least one or more days in order to have him die for our sins? It simply does not make rational or humane sense. Apparently, he then had to be buried in order to have him bodily shipped to lala \ land somewhere in heaven. A grand resurrection indeed. So He the Son arrives via, heavenly transport at the gates of heaven, Peter opens the gate, after recognizing Jesus, salutes and leads him to his Father. They embrace – God looks at his son and exclaims, My god, (hold it, I’m God) my word, let me put some magical ointment on the holes in your body.
Let’s leave them alone while I just jot down one more relevant item or question. BY THE WAY, WHO MADE GOD? And who made the God who made God? Wow, there may have been hundreds if not thousands of previous Gods. So, those of you with faith at the ready, what now? Who are you actually praying to?

Someone said that we are the stewards of the land. So the question is, what does one of the multitude of Gods, do? Those responsible for making the world in seven days and also remembered to even start the human race by introducing an Adam with all the millions of cells and arteries and veins interlocking and even a moveable rib that Adam could remove, shake and presto Eve into existence.

Did I mention the Ark? No, I guess not. Some God starts a world wide flood, drowning all the animals except two of a kind. Noah is instructed to save two of each species and sail away on the ark he built, with thousands of lucky animals shivering on board. Oh wait one little minute – did he remember to make sure there were both female and male in each category?
Eh, maybe that’s why the dinosaurs died out some eighty-five years ago ---- Noah forgot one of the sexes.

WHAT IS AN ATHEIST?

A person who decides or forms opinions based on reason, not faith. Most atheists or freethinkers are humanists, basing morality on human needs, not imagined “cosmic attitudes,”
We embrace a respect for our planet, other animals, and feminist principles of equality.

Atheists are convinced that religious claims do not withstand the tests of reason. That there is nothing to be gained by believing in an untruth, and everything to lose when we sacrifice the indispensable tool of reason on the altar of superstition.

There is meaning in life, and we atheists find it in human compassion, social progress, in art, music, literature,
in personal happiness, pleasure, joy, love ---- in the beauty of humanity and in the advancement of knowledge.

Religious leaders believe that life is so complex that there had to be a designer (God) responsible for life and everything that followed. We say that Darwin’s theory of evolution , with cumulative nonrandom natural selection designed for billions of years, has provided the explanation. A “Divine Designer” is no answer because the complexity of such a creature would be subject to the same scrutiny itself.

People of faith say that religion has done tremendous good in the world. Many religionists are good people but they would be good anyway. Religion does not have a monopoly on good deeds. Many non-religionists have enriched humanity – people like Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, Sigmund Freud, Margaret Sanger, H.L. Mencken, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady and many, many others.

We are free to do our own thinking, free from restraints of orthodoxy, of the blind maintenance of ancient superstitions or self-effacing prostration before divine tyrants known only through primitive revelations. We are truly free.

THE PROS OF CIRCUMCISION

CIRCUMCISION is as old or older than prostitution. Millions of males have gone through the mill and lived to tell the tale.
Looking back I can attest to feeling absolutely no pain, I was all of 8 days when I found myself sitting on my father's lap and waiting for my foreskin to be removed. This is either done by a doctor or in my case by a Mohel who is called upon to do the removal for Jewish boys, called a Bris, kind of a religious, traditional ceremony. He does it with a steady, practiced hand, after some thousands of accurate cuts.

To make it easier and less painful, the Mohel dipped some cotton batting in some wine and gently slipped it into my waiting mouth and before I could count ten it was over and I did not feel a thing, so there. Everybody then cries Mazel tov and begins to eat everthing in sight, along with some wine or a shot of brandy or just eating non-stop.

So now a little bit of what circumcision really is and some of the advantages. At birth, boys have skin that covers the end of the penis or weewee as it is called in polite circles. This is called the foreskin and is removed so that the tip of the penis (the glans) and the opening through which the baby urinates (the urethra) are exposed.

Now for the advantages. Chances of getting a urinary tract infection in the first year of life is lessened. Cancer of the penis
is essentially eliminated in circumcised males. The risk of getting sexually transmitted diseases are lower. Circumcision eliminates foreskin infection that may occur at the peak ages of 3 to 5 years. Phimosis, a narrow opening that makes it impossible to retract the foreskin at a later age, is prevented by the famous cut. And finally, genital hygiene, which is particularly important in unsanitary conditions, maybe easier after circumcision. Oops, one more thing; cleansing in and around the area is much easier with circumcised males, no smegma (a cheesy sebaceous matter that collects between the glans penis and the foreskin.) Oy vay!!!

So mothers or anybody that's listening, give a little listen and make your boy happy, healthy, and ready to plunge easily and effectively. Ooh, did I say a bad word?

CELEBRITY VEGETARIANS/VEGANS

A VERY SMALL SAMPLE OF MEN AND WOMEN WHO FOUND A HUMANE AND HEALTHIER WAY OF LIVING.

NATALIE PORTMAN: Israeli and American actress
"I am a very strict vegetarian ... I just really, really, love animals
and I act on my values ... I am really against cruelty to animals."

SIR PAUL McCARTNEY: Singer, songwriter, composer, poet,
painter, multi-instrumentalist,
entrepaneur, animal rights activist
"I am a vegetarian because I realize that even little chickens
suffer pain and fear, experience a range of feelings and
emotions, and are as intelligent as mammals, including
dogs, cats and even primates."

PAMELA ANDERSON: Actress, sex symbol, producer.
"Chickens, pigs, and other animals? They are interesting
individuals with personalities and intelligence. What
people need to understand is if they are eating animals,
they are promoting cruelty to animals."

JOAQUIN PHOENIX: Actor
"Animal rights is a part of my everyday life. When you live by
example, you create a certain level of awareness. Friends
of mine, people I have never discussed animal rights or
vegetariaism with, are adopting vegetarian habits because
they see it."

ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Actress.
"Since i've gone vegetarian, my body has never felt better
and my taste buds have been opened to a whole
new world. It's one of the most rewarding choices I'v e
ever made and I invite you to jon me in living a healthy,
cruelty-free lifestyle."

RUSSELL SIMMONS: Music and fashion mogul.
"Chickens raised for food today are covered in excrement,
they're diseased, and they are drugged with all sorts of
toxins that you are ingestng if you eat chickens. One
recent study found that chicken flesh in this country has
four times as much arsenic -- yes arsenic, the poison
(which is used in the drugs the chickens are given) as
any other meat .... I have been a vegan for many years."

CONSTANCE MARIE: Dancer, actress.
"I stopped eating meat when I was working on the movie
Selena. During the shoot, I had to hold a chicken for five
hours -- if you hold it and feel its little heart beatng for
hours, you just can't think about eating it.

LONNIE RASHID (STAGE NAME,COMMON): Singer, songwriter.
"I think and speak clearer since I cut the dairy out. I can breathe
better and perform better, and my voice is
clearer. I can explore different things with my voice that I
couldn't do because of my meat and dairy ingestion. I am
proud and blessed to be a vegetarian, everything became
clear."

ALEC BALDWIN: Actor, political activist.
"Everytime we sit down to eat, we make a choice: Please
choose vegetarianism. Do it for ... animals. Do it for the
environment and do it for your health."

JAMES CROMWELL: Film and tlevision actor.
"So-called farms today treat animals like so many boxes
in a warehouse, chopping off beaks, and tails and genitals
with no painkillers at all, inflicting third-degree burns
repeatedley by branding cows, ripping out the teeth of pigs,
and just a horrible catalog of abuses that, if done for dogs
or cats, would be illegal on grounds of animal cruelty."

KRISTEN BELL: Television and film actress.
"I have always been an animal lover. I had a hard tme
disassociating the animals I cuddled with -- dogs and cats,
for example -- from the animals on my plate, and I never
really cared for the taste of meat. I always loved my
Brussels sprouts."

ALYSSA MILANO: Actress.
"The world has so much suffering in it already -- choosing
to be vegetarian is one thing you can do to reduce the
suffering on a daily basis."

THE DALAI LAMA: Humanist.
"I have been particularly concerned with the sufferings of
chickens for many years. It was a death of a chicken that
finally strengthened my resolve to become vegetarian.
These days, when I see a row of plucked chickens hanging
in a meat shop it hurts. I find it unacceptable that violence
is the basis of some of our food habits."

CASEY AFFLECK: Actor.
"I don't eat meat or any other animal products because
they're unhealthy and they're the product of a violent and
inhumane industry."

TOBEY MAGUIRE: Actor.
"I just never really liked meat. I had a tough time even
eating chicken. I would start imagining what I was eating
and the life of the animals and all that kind of stuff."

CARL LEWIS, ROBERT PARISH, DESMOND HOWARD, BILL PEARL,
KEITH HOLMES, CHRIS EVERT, AND EDWIN MOSES, all
vegetarians: Just a small sample of the many athletes
who practice healthy and humane living.

Beside receiving optimal nutrition from plant foods,
vegetarians also weigh less, on average, and have better
cardiovascular health and more stamima than meat-eaters.

Vegetarians and Vegans can choose from a large variety of
delicious and nutritous foods that make love to the taste buds.

See you all in the gym.

IT'S ALL ABOUT ANIMALS

The following quotes are by men who have compassion for all living beings, who understand that animals play an important part in our lives and should be free to enjoy theirs.

It is man's sympathy with all creatures that first makes him truly a man.
Albert Schweitzer

Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened.
Anatole France

I have no doubt that it is part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvements, to leave off eatng animals, as surely as the early savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized world.
Henry David Thoreau

If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals.
Leo Tolstoy

Hunting is not a sport. in a sport both sides should know they're in the game.
Author unknown

Animals are such agreeable friends -- they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.
George Eliot

Friendliness to the environment and to the animals in it.
Anonymous

Fur looks and feels much better on live animals.
Oscar Colman

Most of us love anmals, right? SO HOW COME we place these animals in cages and throw away the key? We bring our children to the zoo (jail) so they can gawk at creatures small and large penned up against their will, prisoners not by choice (Read my article under the title, "Animals don't like cages," under the label entitled,"Tales for the young at heart,")
HOW COME we have allowed "people" to raise and train pitbulls to tear each other apart and to do the same with cock fighting for the amusement of gamblers and sadists? HOW COME little is done to stop roadside animal shows parading chained up and half-starving animals for the amusement of tourists.
HOW COME we place all manner of birds in cages in our homes and treat them like loving pets? These birds have wings to fly freely, to nest on trees, to explore their world, to mate, to have friends. Have we become jailers?
HOW COME we think nothing of placing small fish in fish bowls and tanks and watch large marine animals swim around and around and still around our glorious acquariums while we sit back and enjoy their discomfort, their misery? Can we not see how wrong this is? Where is our compassion, our understanding?
HOW COME it is a common thing to take live lobsters, place them in boiling water, watch them die and eat the dead flesh with gusto? We do this in our homes in front of our children. We are teaching our children that cruelty to animals is alright and even fun, a ceremony.
ENTER THE KILLERS, the proud outdoorsmen, the nature lovers, the hunters who think nothing of taking the lives of living beings, feeling beings. I guess there are two categories, the small game murderers and the big game murderers, the latter enjoying both the kill and the trophies. All assuredly proud members of the National Rifle Association. WE need guns they rant, lots of guns, every make of gun, we must protect ourselves, we must teach our young children to shoulder arms, to kill animals they chant, as they "bond" with 8 to 12 year youngsters -- family values?

For those of you who want to live healthy and productive lives, I say this. Join the growing number of vegetarian or vegan families and live longer and happier. Doctors have long known the advantages of meat free diets but have failed to press this as much as they rightfully should. Nutritionists know this as well but have been more outspoken and I laud them for this. Listen, there are literally thousands of healthy and delicioius vegetarian and vegan recipes. Just google it into your computers. I'll be 85 in a couple of months, my wife is 82, my sisters are 88 and 93 respecfully and my older brother was 89. Guess why?
Thanks for listening folks. I speak to your compassion and to your good health.

DUCKS AND GEESE

Ducks and geese are some of America's best known and beloved animals. Adept in water, land and air, these birds fly hundreds of miles each year to migrate. Both birds fly and swim in formations that reduce air and water resistance for the birds in the rear. Ducks live in couples or groups, while pairs of geese mate for life, mourning for a significant amount of time when their partners die.

These birds are severely abused by the meat and foie gras industries. Those that are raised for their flesh spend their entire lives crammed in dirty, dark sheds where they suffer from injury and disease and are deprived of everything that is natural to them.

Ducks and geese raised for 'foie gras' endure the pain of having a pipe shoved down their throats three times daily so that two pounds of grain can be pumped into their stomachs to produce the diseased 'fatty liver' that some diners consider a delicacy. Foie gras production has been deemed cruel and inhumane by experts worldwide. The state of California recently passed a law banning foie gras because the production methods are so cruel. Please let these intelligent and beautiful creatures live the lives they were meant to live, in peace. Thank you for listening. Ducky and Goosy send their love.