kanesrealm

If you are a sincere person of faith believing in god and your religion I have no problem with you as an individual. In my lifetime, thus far, my friends have been Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian but never set foot in a church, spiritual but thoroughly confused and only one admitted atheist. One of my closest friends was an Orthodox Priest who died at the age of 57 of a variety of catastrophic diseases. He passed away over sixteen years ago and I still regularly think of him. At his funeral his wife told me that he considered me his best friend. We never talked about religion or God, that's not what he wanted. He needed a refuge from the pettiness of Church life and the bullshit his lay council subjected him to. We smoked, drank, ate, stretched our intellects and bitched about the then destruction of the Batman movie franchise. He was intelligent, perceptive and spoke four languages, including Russian and I assure you he knew that I was not simply a lapsed Catholic b

There are two topics you are never supposed to talk about, politics and religion. Sadly, it's absolutely true. If you want to start an argument or damage your personal relationships just open up these topics. Especially religion. This taboo subject can and does cause strife. So let's open it up. Nothing will get you the stinkface faster than saying you're an atheist. First we'll get some general housekeeping out of the way. An atheist doesn't believe in god the singular or gods the plural. An agnostic believes that humans cannot know God or anything beyond material phenomenon. It should be pointed out that most agnostics adhere to a very loose version of this philosophy, simply saying they don't know whether there is a God or not. A deist believes in a personal God based on reason and that God created the world subject to natural laws and takes no interest in it. Then there's everybody else, the faithful if you will. The three so called Great Religions of

The term politically correct is an oxymoron in a democratic free society. It can only exist and be true in a dictatorship. Those of us who care about critical thinking and open dialogue on all issues need to speak up now more than ever on the issue of political correctness because a viper has made it's way into the public discourse using a major platform to twist and exploit this nonsensical phrase that we have allowed to paralyze the public square. The viper is Donald Trump and the platform is nothing less than the American Presidency itself. Trump continually states that he is not politically correct as his justification for what actually is bad manners and a nasty disposition. The fight against political correctness is being greatly harmed by this despicable man and his followers. Making fun of people and reciting haneous over the top hyperbole has nothing to do with stopping this grotesque philosophy which seeks to turn us all into a stack of Pringles. The two words are inc

The Republican Party is officially scared of Donald Trump but they shouldn't be. Sure, if he gets the nomination they will once again lose the White House but that might actually be what needs to happen to reshape the party into a modern forward thinking ideology that can actually have appeal. Donald Trump is an anathema. Any other person would have already been driven out of the race for their frequent insults and fact challenged speeches. Fortunately for Trump his supporters don't care about his behavior, in fact it's why they're following him. They want his outrageousness. They want to hear his vitriolic assaults on those he dislikes and to listen to him bash entire cultures and nationalities. They are angry and  letting Trump be their blowhorn. The big question is will they actually vote for him when the caucuses and primaries begin? What does he actually stand for? Advancing the Trump name is the answer. It certainly isn't because of his carefully thought out

The poet Ashraf Fayadh has been sentenced to death for renouncing his religion. Islam was his faith and apparently one man's dissent is a threat to God. I suppose this is to be expected from a poor third world country. Oh that's right, it's not a third world country, it's our old ally Saudi Arabia. Our good friends who love to have us fight wars for them. Our good friends who bred the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 including their leader the filthy rich Bin Laden. Our good friend we refuse to call out on their bullshit. Must be all that delicious oil. We need complete energy independence if for no other reason than to tell the Saudis to lick our crack. Fayadh is a Palestinian living in Saudi Arabia. The crime he was charged with is denouncing his religion but he is also considered a troublemaker by the Saudi government. This is the perfect opportunity to get rid of a radical who dares to express sentiments of free thought. Sharia Law rules Saudi Arabia, through th

With all the Trumpisms, Carsonian quips and general media hysteria, one might think that America is changing into an environment hostile to outsiders or at a minimum suspicious of non white protestants. There is certainly nothing in our history to suggest such a thing. Well, perhaps a blip or two. The original Americans were nearly driven to extinction, those that survived were rounded up and placed on reservations where they could roam free, within certain limitations. We did have slaves in the country for 245 years, even over 75 years after proclaiming all men were equal. We did import, abuse and kill thousands of Chinese to build railroads, dams and bridges. The Catholics were not well liked but they were after all servants of the demon Pope of Rome. My own people, the Irish, need not apply for employment but who could blame proper Americans for this, we reek of whiskey and potatoes, plus many of us were Catholic. Women were not allowed to vote or talk out of turn, now look what

A person's Facebook post criticizing Starbucks holiday cup as part of the war on Christmas has been viewed 12 million times and lead to numerous commentaries. When will this war end? How many elves must die before we stop the insanity? This years cup is red with the green Starbucks logo in the middle. In previous years it has been red with the logo in the middle but had reindeers, snowflakes and tree ornaments and nothing says Jesus more than symbols taken from commercialism and pop culture. At first I thought surely this can't be right but then I did some in depth research and found some very interesting information. In the apocryphal writings of sixth century prophet Arabica. Arabica wrote: "in 15 and 20 the deceiver shall empty the cup of joy; you shall know his ways by the bitterness upon your tongue and he shall be called forth from the land of Java." Powerful stuff. The Winter Solstice is coming and that's a real thing from which the majority of Christma

It would be hypocritical of me not to follow up on my previous post on Pope Francis with regards to the story breaking today. According to Kim Davis and her lawyer she had a private meeting with the Pope last week. She was in Washington being honored by a Christian family thingy for her brave willingness not to do her job. Davis is not the contientious objector she is being portrayed as. If she were she would leave her position and take up the burden of changing the law of the land. She is not going to do that. She is a publicity hound who will ultimately pile up cash in the name of Jesus, thus fulfilling Jesus command, gather unto thee as much silver as possible. The Vatican has not confirmed this meeting occurred nor have they denied. That means it happened. Say it isn't so Papa. Oh well, you're still a nice guy but a bit misguided. I would think a poor man from Argentina would know the stench of manure when he steps in it.

Pope Francis spent six glorious days in the United States this past week and as a citizen I want to thank him for shoving Donald Trump off the airwaves. For a brief lovely time we had a pleasant diversion from all the gloom and doom. We saw a person who actually believes in the core teaching of Jesus; love, hope and forgiveness. This Pope has raised a lot of eyebrows, particularly among conservative Catholics. It's not just about his insistence that everyone must be made to feel welcome in the Church, it's his reminders of the Church's centuries old teaching on social justice. If you want to shut down religious conversation with your conservative Catholic friends just say those two magical words, "social justice". Trust me you will get a very quick, "well maybe we shouldn't go there." Pardone, pardone but I do want to go there, I don't of course because it would be discourteous. These small "g" God devotees don't like to linger on

The Huckster, old Bumble Bee Mike Huckabee himself went to Kentucky to stare down Pontius Pilate, only to be thwarted by the fact Kim Davis had been ordered to be released from jail by the same Judge that put her there early this morning. She could have quietly left the jail with the piety and modesty of, oh, what's his name? Yeah, yeah, that Jesus guy. But oh no, she exited to the theme of Rocky 3 and cried for her followers while praising the living God. The Huckster clearly hadn't anticipated her release  but didn't bother to alter his speech. It was full of demagogic nonsense about releasing her and imprisoning him in her place. I'm all for that but what a load of shit and he knows it. Davis was released because her deputies are issuing licenses. Here's an interesting factoid, the media has examined one of those licenses issued while she was in jail, it does not have her name pre-printed on it, which is what we were told last week. So what's the deal? So

A Kentucky County Clerk has made major headlines because she has refused to enforce the law and carry out the duties of her office. The Clerk is Kim Davis who says because of her religious beliefs she cannot issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Her solution is to issue no licenses to anyone. This prompted four couples, two gay and two straight, to sue her. A Federal Judge ordered her to do her job, she didn't. She has gained the support of anti same-sex marriage forces who are legally representing her and using her to their advantage. Don't feel bad, she's using them as well. Her argument is that she simply doesn't want her name, which is already pre-printed on all marriage licenses, to be associated with same-sex marriage. That argument strikes me as not only weak but non-existent. She is the County Clerk so all marriage licenses, even absent her printed name, carries her official seal, in fact her approval. You might think that the State of Kentucky would w

Which is more powerful, the truth or the lie told so often that it becomes reality? God and our Founding Fathers are invoked with the ease of spreading peanut butter. What follows are not my words. "Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize..." Thomas Paine "When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself and God does not take care to support it, so that it's professors are obliged to call for the help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one." Benjamin Franklin "Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony & irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from

Just when you thought it was safe to come out of your corn hole, this happened. The Indiana Pastor's Alliance accused Pence and other Republican leaders of betraying Christians by fixing the R.F.R.A. They claim the fix discriminates against Christians and that it is now a "gay rights bill". This according to Alliance Executive Director Rob Johnson. House Speaker Brian Bosma and Senate President David Long have both dismissed the allegations that the legislature has damaged religious liberty. Philip's Temple pastor Carl Kelly said former Republican Senator Richard Lugar didn't serve the needs of conservatives , including the tea party and he paid the price. Kelly said if Indiana failed to enact a stronger RFRA law, the same thing might happen to Pence. Dick Lugar's conservative bona fides were never in question among those with any common sense. What certain people couldn't tolerate was the fact that he knew public policy is only accomplished through neg

The Indiana General Assembly, working faster than it ever has, added language to the Freedom of Religion Act stating it cannot be used as a defense for discriminating against anyone including the LGBT community. It's a few more words than I just noted but those are the essentials.  The law was sent to Governor Pence who signed it behind closed doors with no media allowed. He then left for Europe. It's no surprise that he didn't want to be seen signing the law because he didn't want to do it.  In his opinion millions of people, including corporate C.E.O.'s are too stupid to read and understand what we just read. We are not able to connect the dots. It's a given that most politicians consider their constituents less than bright and sometimes they're right. But it's not politically wise to show such contempt. Pence and his allies in the legislature truly don't get it. Society is moving forward with or without them. It is time for Indiana to take the n

Indiana Governor Mike Pence has signed the Freedom of Religion Act into law. An intense last minute push from business and religious leaders could not sway him from this path. Even the very real possibility that the producers of the GenCon convention, which brings in 50 million dollars a year to the economy of Indianapolis, had no impact on the Governor. The Governor and his super majority party just don't get it. There will be serious economic repercussions as a result of their actions. Pence is trying to minimize the controversy by blaming the media, a classic right wing tactic. It doesn't hold water here in Indiana where the media has covered the story like it was a PTA bake sale. The reporting was done in brief snippets and hardly over the top. The Governor says that people misunderstand the law, he says it's about protecting religious rights from government interference. Apparently he needs to reread the U.S. Constitution which already covers that. He also says that t

The Indiana House of Representatives passed the Freedom of Religion Act on a vote of 63 to 31. It will now have a very brief layover in the Senate, where they had already passed their version. Governor Mike Pence is just tickled pink with the news and says he can't wait to sign it into law. In fact the super majority representives who allegedly stand for all of Indiana's citizens are all quite proud of their prejudice. There was not now nor was there ever a threat to anyone's religious belief in this country and certainly not in Indiana. A door is about to open which could have far reaching consequences. Do not be deceived by all the smiling corn holes saying it has nothing to do with the GLBT community, it has everything to do with it. It is it's origin and sole purpose. What these short sided moronic legislators fail to recognize is that they will eventually be confronted with discrimination and acts of lunacy that go beyond their intended victims. Here's a fact

It's one thing to enjoy a lazy day sippin' lemonade and binge watching a favorite show, it's quite another for our legislative representatives to waste the public's time on unnecessary legislation. The Indiana General Assembly is considering a "Freedom of Religion Act" during this session and it's coming to a boil today. This legislation began brewing after the legalization of gay marriage. It is about legitimizing refusing service to the GLBT community but it could open the door to far more discrimination than that. Apparently the sponsors of this bill and it's supporters have forgotten that they live in the United States of America and they already have freedom of religion. We have this thing called the Constitution and the First Amendment reads exactly as follows: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of t