Roads to Perdition, Paths of Righteousness, and the Gray Area In Between

Apparently there are seven things that piss off the Christian God more than anything else.  And, not surprisingly, those seven things are all common traits in both those who worship Him and in those of us who doubt or deny His existence.  Real or imaginary, you've gotta give the man upstairs credit for His sense of humor.  Too funny...incorporate faults and flaws into our DNA, and then punish us for them.  Even threats of Hellfire and damnation don't seem to carry much weight in deterring good Christians from lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, or pride.  One would strongly suspect that a vast majority are CHRINOs (CHRistians In Name Only), smarter than they appear, and only in it for the sense of community, political correctness, and/or lucrative business contacts.  Some combination of those seven deadly sins plays a part in most forms of human bad behavior.  And in most instances, only extreme punishment (imminent death or lengthy incarceration) will deter any of us from being the nasty little lustful, gluttonous, greedy, slothful, wrathful, envious, and prideful monkeys we are.

  L U S T  

The fake news consortium is awash with sordid tales of lustful, mostly powerful old men, who use their wealth and stature to justify sexual trespasses against mostly the young and vulnerable.  Lecherous, horny bastards from high levels of entertainment, politics, pro sports, and big business are taking the fall for letting the bad judgment of their genitalia guide their actions.  Sacrificial lambs in the Circus of Empire.  Charlie Rose was way overripe and due for replacement anyway.  It was no accident that lust is first on the list of sins.  It seems that there's just no means of control over the basest of human activities.

Although it ended abruptly about thirty years ago, I too fell victim to the advances of various sexual predators during my youth.  Ah yes, back before smooth skin, six-pack abs, a white smile, and a bushy head of hair gave way to blotchiness, wrinkles, flab, yellow teeth, and ears full of hair...I fell prey to quite a number of randy women, and a few men.  I simply rejected all the men, and even a few of the women.  Near as I can tell, I was not psychologically injured by any of these advances.  Being wanted and desired is complimentary.  Of course, old people preying on youngsters is deplorable, but the dance of life must go on.  Flirtations between adults should be expected and accepted by all.  Nobody really knows whether advances will be unwanted or not until contact is initiated.

At the tender age of 22, I fell victim to one particularly insistent woman.  She forced herself upon me with great vigor, but it is impossible to rape a willing body, so I never complained.  In fact, she was 17 at the time, and in succumbing to her charms, I became the (statutory) rapist.  I did six years for my crime, as her husband and father to our daughter.  There's a lot of gray area when it comes to lust, and the fake news loves anything that even smells racy.  Get over it!  Unless there is a small child, a corpse, a household pet, and/or violence involved, there's nothing to get in a tizzy over.  It happens a billion times a day.  I'm ashamed to have wasted three paragraphs on the subject.

Botero

Back in the days when I was a young, careless glutton, I ate cows, pigs, fish, turkeys, and chickens with barely a thought to those billions of sentient creatures in brutal captivity.  I consumed the milk of cows, even as their young were denied the nourishment, and were being slaughtered for veal.  I deprived chickens of their progeny by devouring their eggs, while mixing their genetic material with flesh ripped from pigs, over a piping hot burner.  At a gut level, I knew I was being a thoughtless, brutal asshole.  But what's a poor human to do, when all the best information is telling us that we NEED the protein.  We NEED the dead flesh of the designated sacrificial beings.  After all, who in his right mind would consider giving up In and Out Hamburgers?

Selfishness may be the only reason most humans ever exhibit decent behavior.  In my case, I only gave up animal protein in favor of a plant-based diet because I became convinced that the gluttonous consumption of dead animals is the major cause of cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, Parkinson's, and many cancers.  I did it for my own good.  I did it out of selfishness.  The decision had little to do with empathy or kindness.  Like all humans, I'm still an asshole, but now I'm an asshole who can look into a cow's big brown eyes without guilt.  I can forget the sins of my past, and the cows will never be the wiser.

Gluttony is second only to lust on Ye Shitlist o' The Lord, and looking around, it appears that humans have not only overpopulated the earth with their lustful antics, they've filled it to overflowing with gluttonous, flabby, morbidly obese, thoughtless, brutal assholes.  Gotta blame much of this mess on God, Himself for telling His clueless minions that they should "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."  One of the best examples of The Lord's dark sense of humor; with His blessings, the planet is overpopulated to bursting by gluttonous, fat-assed killers.

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride.  The other five deadly sins are the perfect ingredients for a country and its people, hooked on wars for profit.  Wall Street, the politicians it owns, and the military/intelligence divisions it controls are infinitely greedy for the resources of other lands.  Too slothful to find wealth by less violent means, their wrath is unleashed upon every country in possession of assets they envy.  And being the Exceptional Nation, the U.S.A. has no problem with stirring up a noxious soup of national pride, waving flags, and public support for its endless procession of wars.  Of thee I sing.

Fifty years ago, I had a choice:  1. Stay in college and keep the 2S Deferment, which would keep me out of The Vietnam Fiasco for a while.  2. Drop out of college and head for safety in Canada.  3. Drop out of college and take my chances with the draft board.  or 4. Drop out of college and join the U.S. Navy, in order to avoid being drafted into the U.S. Army, and possibly becoming fertilizer for rice paddies in Vietnam.  I hated college, so choice #1 was out.  Number 4 was a possibility for a while, but the more I learned about military matters, the more I became convinced that I just wouldn't fit into any of their uniforms.  So when it came down to a choice between possible prison time, and maybe never again seeing friends and family, I chose to stand my ground on U.S. soil.  My number came up, and I refused induction into the freaking Army.  Twice.

Of course I knew that war was wrong in every conceivable way.  Even as a young child, I wondered what made the mass-murder of warfare okay, when murder on a personal basis was illegal.  I'd sure like to be able to say that my anti-war stance was firmly rooted in empathy and compassion for all mankind, and to a great extent it was.  But to an even greater extent, I did it out of selfishness.  I did it to save my own ass from a kill or be killed scenario.

After doing time for my crime, I found out that in virtually every war waged by my country of birth, the blood of young men was shed for the benefit of the already wealthy profiteers at the top of the economic ladder.  I learned that the U.S.A. grew out of the deaths of millions of Native Americans, and that the sweat of enslaved Africans greased the wheels of capitalism.  I found out about Manifest Destiny, the theft of the northern half of Mexico, the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy, and a string of sordid wars across the globe, spanning two centuries.  It was a surprise to discover that the U.S.A. was behind Hitler's rise to power, and largely responsible for 80 million deaths in World War II, and an even bigger surprise to find out about the Pentagon's post-war plan to drop 204 atomic bombs on 66 Russian cities, and "Wipe The Soviet Union off the map."  What a disappointment it must have been for our fighting forces when the world's greatest fireworks show was not approved.  Since it is military policy to avoid counting the dead bodies, it is impossible to know the extent of American mayhem since WWII.  But according to James A. Lucas, my country is responsible for at least 20 million deaths in 37 countries since the end of the second war to end all wars.

Just as summer must succumb to autumn, and autumn to dead, cold winter, all things must pass.  Cradles to graves, empires to dust.  I've never even fired a gun, and know nothing about weapons systems.  But fortunately The Saker does, and if he's right, the bloody dance of the American Empire may be coming to an end.  It appears that while required reading at The Pentagon has been "The Power of Positive Thinking", the Russian Military has been absorbed in "The Art of War".  And while bloviating American politicians have been blathering about their country's greatness, exceptionalism, and invulnerability, their Russian counterparts have been quietly building earth's most formidable military arsenal.  Without going into detail (link to The Saker's article below), it now appears that The U.S. Empire is no longer militarily superior, nor invulnerable.  If this is correct, the long-standing nuclear standoff has tilted in extreme favor of the Russkies, and the United States now finds itself wielding a knife at a gunfight.

https://www.greanvillepost.com/2017/11/12/debunking-two-american-myths/

Fortunately for those of us who live under the Stars and Stripes, who value and enjoy our allotted time to breathe, eat, procreate, and recreate, Vladimir Putin's Russia represents a threat to no other country.  President Putin is apparently a wise man.  He understands human nature.  He knows that, as I stated above, selfishness may be the only reason most humans ever exhibit decent behavior.  He knows that capitalism has inadvertently castrated the U.S. Military Machine, and that The Pentagon must be aware that it is now in possession of simply second rate hardware.  Yes, America...the profits of Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon are, and have always been more important than the quality of their products.  Russian jets, missiles, and bombs cost much less, but pack unparalleled punch.  Thou art no longer exceptional, America.  Thou art second rate when it comes to weaponry, and had better start considering standing down.  Reconsider thy threatening stance, and understand that thy choice now involves simply life or death.  Maintain thy stance, and prepare to meet thy Maker, or do what is right and take thy place righteously in the world community.

If there happens to be a just God or, much more likely, if we're just lucky, The U.S. Empire will follow my fine example from the Vietnam era, and decide strongly against participation in World War III.  Whether righteous or selfish:  A sound decision is a sound decision.  Worst case scenario:  He's watching from the clouds, pulling all the strings, waiting for the final fireworks show, and preparing for the biggest and best laugh He ever had.