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The Voice of
Sanity
THE NEWSLETTER OF THE UPSTATE S.C. SECULAR HUMANISTS Visit our web-site for current and back-issues at: www.uscsh.org
e-mail:
secularhmnst@aol.com |
CALENDAR
September Brunch
The
September brunch will be on September 12 at
Denny's Restaurant, 2521 Wade Hampton Blvd, Taylors
at 10:30 a.m.
September Dinner Meeting
Our
September 4th Sunday dinner meeting will be on September 27th at 5:00 p.m. at the home of Lee
Deitz, 21 Walnut St., Greenville. Please call Lee at 864-233-0905
or email at leeingvl@aol.com to
coordinate your contribution to the meal. The host will furnish the main dish.
There will be great food and greater conversation. See you all there.
THOU SHALT KILL…
Lee Deitz
“The
killing fields.” A term used to describe the
Vietnam war. We now have “the killing fields” in Iraq and Afghanistan to avenge almost 3,000 deaths of 9/11.
Eight
six percent of Americans believe that America is a “Christian nation.”
Christianity is derived from the “Christian Bible.”
The Christian Bible says, “Thou shalt not kill,” yet, all through their Bible
there is killing and much of it is a directive of Jehovah.
Jehovah
was indeed the “death penalty” warden: Observe….
Exodus
22:20. “He that sacrificeth unto any god,
save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.”
Numbers
31:17. Moses, the law giver, gives a command to… “Now therefore kill every male
among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with
him.”
Deuteronomy
13:6. “If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy
daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul,
entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast
not known, thou, nor thy fathers;…Thou shalt not consent unto him,…neither
shall thine eye pity him,…But thou shalt surely kill him;”
Deuteronomy
32:39. “See now that I, even I, am he (God), and there is no god with me:
I kill,”
Judges
20:30, “And the children
of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin…as at other
times. And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were
drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people, and kill, as
at other times, in the highways,”
Ecclesiastes
3: “To every thing there is a season,…A time to kill,”
1
Samuel 15:1. “…hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord...
Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them
not; but slay both man and woman, infant and
suckling,”
Psalms
139:19. “Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God:”
Luke
19:27. Jesus Christ
said, “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them,
bring hither, and slay them before me.”
Deuteronomy
20:16-17. “But of the cities of these
people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt
save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy them;
…”
These
few examples are telling of Jehovah God. Though a commandment had been give to
NOT kill; killing is a prominent practice in the Bible. Killing to gain ground.
Killing because of affection toward an opposing god. Killing for numerous
transgressions. Killing for disobedience to kings. Ivan The Terrible, Hitler,
Rasputin and other Madmen of History, must take a back seat --
Jehovah/Christianity has arrived!
In
the past eight years since 9/11, we have heard much about how terrible Islam
is. Unfortunately, Christians are grossly ignorant of what their Bible
says and more so of what the Koran teaches and advocates!
Christianity's Bible says, “Thou Shalt Not Kill,”
yet killing, mutilation, and "blood and guts" run strong all through
the actions of Jehovah. The Christian Bible Chronicles
numerous "killing fields." and we have learned well how to kill from
the "god of love."
Where
Have All the Jobs Gone? (Part 2)
(From an article by Leo Hindery Jr. and Donald w. Riegle Jr in “The Nation” magazine about the stimulus package provision to create or save 3.6 million jobs over the next two years 2009):
“This number is less than the 4 million or so additional jobs expected to be lost in the next year (which will only go up if GM and Chrysler are forced into bankruptcy), and it doesn’t even equal the number of jobs America needs to create just to stay even with population growth.”
Industrial corporations will operate where both wages and real estate are lower in price yielding a larger profit for investors, and these were the recent enticements for companies to move abroad. Agricultural corporations are also worldwide, but corporate farms in the US operate using mostly immigrant labor, legal or otherwise, in an attempt to raise their profit margin. All companies have tightened their belts due to failures in the financial markets. They have reduced inventories, held back on capital investment such as new machinery, buildings, etc, and reduced the amount of employees on their payrolls. The tragedy is that ordinary citizens not only lose their jobs and their source of income to support families, but they can longer hold up the very industries that practice the tactics described above, nor can they pay their usual share of taxes to support things such as schools, roads, bridges, and other infrastructure.
It is interesting to note that corporations behaved in mostly the opposite manner at the turn of the 19th to 20th century. In the 1870’s American wages were 136% of European wages; so industrial entrepreneurs advertised for American jobs in Europe in order to expand the domestic labor pool. By the 1900’s Americans lost pay advantage to Europeans, because immigrants were willing to work for lower wages. Although most of these immigrants eventually benefited, slum tenements sprang up in major cities and disparities of power and wealth became wider between rich and poor, shrinking the middle class. In 1890 the census recorded about 63 million people. By 1910 that number rose to 92 million. But, the country was still in its western expansion and there was plenty of room and opportunity for everyone.
In the decade 1900 to 1910 nearly 9 million immigrants entered the country. In the decade 1990 to 2000 more than 9 million immigrants entered the country and immigration numbers since 2000 indicate another 9 million by 2010. In none of the years between 1910 and 1990 did immigration levels ever reached this high number. In fact, during World War II the yearly level was slightly over one million each year.
To make matter worse the birth rate has been rising since 1972 and reached 2.1 in 2006, a number which is now slightly above replacement rate. Keep in mind that the rate fell below replacement for the first time (2.01) in 1972, and reached its lowest level (1.74) in 1976.
It is ironic that immigration and fertility in the US
increased at the same time corporations were relocating in other countries and
outsourcing jobs in this one. The
recent recession is the first direct reason for the quote at the beginning of
this article. But, the trends in immigration, fertility, and the export of jobs
to other countries are sure to make recovery more difficult and give credence
to the widening gap between rich and poor.
Sources: www.susps.org/overview/birthrates
Statistical abstract of the United States (2007)
Sample from “Origins”
in Scientific American (September 2009)
Cupcakes originated in the United States. The first recipe appeared in a cookbook in 1796.
The beautiful blue color appearing in paintings and books of the Middle Ages came from finely ground lapis lazuli imported from Afghanistan.
It is common knowledge that plants use sunlight to produce energy, but certain fungi some of which thrive in the Chernobyl reaction seem to use gamma rays instead.
The Pill started out as a fertility drug.
The Gem Company produced the first paper clip in 1892.
1892 was also the year in which the first professional blueprint was made. Originally, the blueprint process was considered a dead end because no chemical could be found to reverse the negative image needed in photography.