Christmas Reality

To be sure I have no problem with people who have faith in their own belief systems and for especially for practicing Christians, it takes a LOT of faith if the Christmas story occurred as was depicted in the Gospels of Matthew (Chapter 2) and Luke (Chapter 2).

The premise being that a carpenter and his fiancé needed to travel to their ancestral home - Beyt Leḥem (Bethlehem) from Natz'rat  (Nathereth) to partake in a census ordered by Caesar. Along the way, the young woman was impregnated without losing her virginity, and had a dream instructing her how to name the boy. When they got home, she gave birth in an animal shed because there was no room anywhere else. A star hung over the place where she gave birth, providing directions for the shepherds and Magi to show up shortly thereafter.  The local Roman Governor (Herod) heard that a prince had been born, and ordered all baby boys under two to be slaughtered, so the young Mom fled to Egypt only to return later and raise her son.

Sound about right?

I know, I missed the part about the Angels signing and the Little Drummer Boy, but the essence of the story is there.

It takes LOTS of faith to take that story at face value, and if you have that faith that this is the way things happened as first recorded some 50 years after the boy’s death, then good for you!  Enjoy your fantasy and read no further.

However, there are some historical truths that have come to light over the last century or so that may give you pause to question the reality of the story. These truths come from historians who recorded events much closer to the time of the event, with both Jewish and Roman records agreeing with each other and decrying the stories written two to three generations after his death.

Where to start?

The Census

The Romans kept impeccable records, even if they were often skewed in their favour, but there is no record of a census being conducted outside of Rome itself decades before or after the time of the birth. Even if a census did occur at the time of Yeshua ben Yusef’s (AKA:  Jesus) birth, the people would not have been required to return to their ancestral home. That would be a totally impractical arrangement. If it happened this way, all work throughout the Roman Empire would stop. Some people would have had to travel for months to return to their ancestral home. The transportation infrastructure could not possibly have handled the flood of travelers.
Further, Yusef ben Ya'akov (AKA: Joseph) would not have taken Miriam, daughter of Joachim (AKA: Mary) with him, even if he had to go to Bethlehem to register. Only men were enumerated or taxed, so there was no necessity for her to accompany Joseph. Mary's pregnancy was in its ninth month at the time. She would not have been in a condition to travel.

No Room at the Inn

So why did they even need an inn to begin with? They were going to Joseph’s home, and in the Bible, there is no innkeeper - and probably no inn. That's because inns were only found on major roads, and Bethlehem was the equivalent of a truck stop outside of a rural town in Saskatchewan.

Much of our picture of the story is based on the mis-translation of a single word: the Greek "kataluma" which was translated as "inn," when a far more accurate translation would have been "the guest bedroom." We actually have a pretty good sense of just what a kataluma is, because the only other time the word is used in the New Testament is to describe the room where the Last Supper takes place, which Mark describes as "a large upper room furnished and prepared."

So that's a great description of where they didn't get to stay, but we all know where they did end up, based on the supposition that Jesus was laid in a manger -- i.e., a feeding trough for animals.
However, just because there was a manger doesn't mean they were in a stable.
In the first century BCE and CE the first floor of homes were akin to large kitchens, where animals would be brought inside at night for heat and protection. Consequently, the lower floor of the house would have had a manger -- the Bible isn't saying that innkeepers are jerks and Jesus was born in a barn. It's saying that they stayed with the in-laws and had to crash on the downstairs couch with the pets -- a time-honored Christmas tradition most of us practice to this day.

Timelines
The Bible doesn't provide a precise timeline for all these events, but the gospels make it pretty clear that Mary didn't give birth the night they arrived in Bethlehem. They say "while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered," which strongly implies that the birth takes place days, if not weeks, after their arrival.

Jesus didn't hit the ground running, either. He was circumcised (eight days after he was born) and presented at the Temple, which could only happen after Mary's period of purification was completed -- because according to the laws of Leviticus, a woman was considered ritually impure for 40 days after giving birth to a boy (80 days for a girl).

There are some hints that it's much longer -- perhaps up to two years -- before the wise men even show up: by the time they get there, the family is living in a house, not a stable, and Jesus is referred to as a "young child," not a baby. This makes sense, since the reason Herod kills all the children up to 2 years old is because the wise men specifically told him that was Jesus' age. Now, admittedly, Herod wasn't exactly known for his restraint, so he might have started by killing the infants and then momentum just took over.

Three Wise Men

The gospels don't mention kings visiting young Jesus, only a group of magi from the east. Magi weren't royalty, but rather priests or wise men versed in astrology and magic.
Now, hopefully these were at least royal court magi, because your run-of-the-mill magi were a pretty sketchy bunch -- they're described throughout the Bible as frauds, snake oil salesmen, and swindlers. It's assumed that these weren't lowly street magi based on the luxury gifts they came packing, though one Old Testament verse suggests that they were just as likely to be traveling salesmen as they were wandering nobility -- an interpretation shunned by church authorities, but that was understandably popular with Renaissance businessmen.

The magi's choice of gifts would have raised some eyebrows, too, given how frequently the Bible mentions both frankincense and myrrh as aphrodisiacs. It wasn't until the Middle Ages that the magi began to be described as kings, largely to make the New Testament story better match the Old Testament messiah prophecies, and probably because "kings" sounded better than "magical spice perverts."

The story of the Magi coming to Palestine to give homage to the King of the Jews appears to have been freely adapted from the story of Mithra's birth. He was mythical Persian savior, also allegedly born of a virgin in a cave on DEC-25, who was worshiped many centuries before Jesus' birth.

Herod

According to Matthew (2:7), Herod inquired as to the exact time that the star appeared. This was to learn exactly when Jesus was born, so that he could have all of the male children close to that age in the Bethlehem area murdered. Since he later ordered all of the children less than 2 years of age slaughtered, Jesus must have been living with his parents in Bethlehem for many months by the time that the Magi arrived - perhaps at least a year. If Jesus had been just born, then Herod would have ordered only newborn infants killed. This conflicts with Luke (2:39), which states that when Mary was ritually purified 40 days after the birth, that the family returned to Natz'rat immediately afterwards. It also conflicts with the archaeological record which conclusively shows that Beyt Leḥem was deserted during the 1st century BCE and 1st century CE.

Depression in Rawanda

"We had a lot of trouble with western mental health workers who came here immediately after the genocide and we had to ask some of them to leave.

They came and their practice did not involve being outside in the sun where you begin to feel better. There was no music or drumming to get your blood flowing again. There was no sense that everyone had taken the day off so that the entire community could come together to try to lift you up and bring you back to joy. There was no acknowledgement of the depression as something invasive and external that could actually be cast out again.

Instead they would take people one at a time into these dingy little rooms and have them sit around for an hour or so and talk about bad things that had happened to them. We had to ask them to leave."

~A Rwandan talking to a western writer

Stupidity should be painful

Submitted with permission to reprint, and for other to reprint and post where ever bigots gather.

"Another Sociologist, and friend of mine who works on the Wet Coast, has opined on occasion that "Stupidity should be painful". As a corollary to that point, I might add that "Stupidity plus hate should be fatal". 

Although wishing somebody a painful death is less than human to most of us, accounting for the hundreds of thousands of useless hours trying to reform a bigot is no more productive than a sexual bigot trying to 'reform' a person who is naturally attracted to a person of the same gender.

From a purely "Modest Proposal" point of view, these poor creatures, would no longer have the influence on susceptible young minds, turning their offspring also into stupid hate mongering machines. In a single generation, moronic haters would be nothing but a memory.

Most of the US Republican Party would be dead with the rest of them in significant pain, along with the followers of the KKK (in whatever form to which it has evolved/devolved), the members of the Westboro Baptist Church, and the founders/followers of the American Family Association and Focus on the Family.

Until we realize that "Stupidity should be painful and Stupidity plus hate should be fatal" is yet just a glorious dream, and the efforts to educate the moronic bigots that inhabit our planet must continue.

Insensitivity

Am I being totally insensitive, or are the people receiving the messages over reacting? 

This is a judgement call at best depending on the gap between the sender and receiver of information.

This exchange with an internal developer earned me a lecture from my boss.

From: B****
Sent: August 13, 2014 14:46
To: D*****
Subject: RE: [Ticket #******] [intranet page]  scroll issue 07AUG14

Hi D*****,

 [Ticket #******] [intranet page]  scroll issue 07AUG14

Please close this ticket.

In that 

- IE is the ONLY browser in which [intranet page] functions, and that;
- IE is a dysfunctional browser at the best of times – therefore;
- IE is the fifth browser of choice behind Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari.
Instead of trying to make [intranet page] function in real browsers, an effort which could be considered a WOMBAT (Waste Of Money, Brains and Time), my solution is to avoid [intranet page] all together until or unless it becomes absolutely imperative to try to make IE work for me.

Ergo: Please close this ticket.

Perhaps “D*****” has a stock portfolio that includes Internet Exploder, or he only develops programs for IE, but he was so upset about these particular comments he took them to his boss who took them to my boss, who landed on me with both feet to provide a reprimand for being “inappropriate and disrespectful” to a colleague.

POLICY that I apparently violated:
Objectionable conduct and behaviour includes, but is not limited to:

-       conduct by words, acts or omissions, which is disrespectful or harmful to an individual and that is likely to have the effect of creating an embarrassing, intimidating, hostile or offensive environment within the organization and /or is likely to prejudice an individual’s performance, self-esteem or dignity. 

At least I did not tell “D*****” to take IE and shove it up his assets - THAT would have been “inappropriate and disrespectful”!

See I do know the difference :-)

Stupid questions deserve stupid answers.

 Q: Do all Canadians live in igloos?

A: For starters it is iglu, or more accurately ᐃᒡᓗ. Yes! We all do. Only the very rich here can afford wood and cement and other fancy southern building materials.

The pros; iglus are very eco-friendly, fire insurance premiums are very low (self-extinguishing house) and air conditioning in the summer time is next to nothing!

The cons: every little piece of dirt shows up and when our dog sled puppies pee in the corner you have to stare at yellow snow all winter long and warn the kids not to eat it.

Iglu prices here range from $150K to $200K for a condo, right up to a cool Mill for a big single family iglu on a large ice floe (with a waterfront in the Spring).

That is why global warming scares us so much: Where will we live when our houses all melt?  

USA in Distress

As I reflect on Independence Day it is obvious to the observer that the USA is certainly in distress (unless you have a six or seven figure income) as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The rich can afford to remain healthy by buying healthy food and regular medical checkups, while the poor get and remain unhealthy because they cannot afford healthy food, thereby relying on cheap heavy starches and sugar laden foods, never mind seeing their doctor for regular body maintenance.

When the poet Emma Lazarus penned The New Colossus, part of the sonnet reads:

… Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!...

It was an invitation to those being subjugated in other lands to come to the USA to seek religious and political freedom, not an indication that they should continue their station and remain … tired, … poor, …huddled masses yearning to breathe free...[or]  wretched refuse of …the homeless.

Indeed many did cast off their political, moral and religious chains and started dynasties of their own, replacing being suppressed to being the suppressors of their own employees. This trend continues today in the USA, the latest barrage to hit the … tired, … poor, …huddled masses, is a ruling by the Supreme Court that allows an employer’s religious beliefs to restrict medical insurance payment of medication and medical procedures, thereby overruling medical decisions by licensed physicians. Without medical insurance, physicians can charge astronomical fees for their services, and pharmaceutical companies can charge whatever the market will bear for medication.

It is sad that President Obama and his Democrats did not have the power necessary to have a social medical system such as Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, or India. At every step, the opposition Republicans raised their Bibles with one hand declaring that certain procedures are against the words of a 1700 year old book, and stock portfolios with the other demanding that the wealthy who could afford insurance had the right to do so, while those working poor who could not afford insurance … oh well, it sucks to be you … get a better job where you can afford insurance.

As I reflect on Independence Day it reminds me of what a great country Canada is by comparison. We don’t wrap ourselves in our flag, but are no less proud of who we are. Universal health care may mean waiting your turn for surgery when there are more urgent cases before you, but until, during and after, there is no cost for medical services. Medical insurance is provided without restrictions based on your employer’s religious beliefs because we have true division between “Church and State” – a concept lost in US corporations.

737 Safety Features

This is why I fly Southwest when I am in the US. Westjet in Canada come close, but they have to do the same speech in both official languages so it makes it a little more difficult.

Transcript from a Southwest Airline FA:  Safety Features on a Boeing 737

If I could pretend to have your attention for just a few moments, my ex husband, my new boyfriend and their divorce attorney are gonna show you the safety features about this 737-800 series. It's been a long day for me.

To properly fasten your seatbelts, slide the flat into the buckle; to release, lift up on the buckle. Position your seatbelt tight and low across your hips like my grandmother wears her support bra.

If you get mad and you wanna take the tour alone, there are eight ways to get there! Two forward exit doors, wing window exits, two rear doors. Signs overhead, disco lights on the floor leading to each exit.

Everybody gets a door prize in the seat back pocket in front of you along with dirty diapers, chewing gum wrappers, banana peels and all other gifts you leave us from time to time. Take it out, check it out. You'll notice in the highly unlikely event that the captain lands us near a hot tub, everyone gets their very own teeny weeny yellow Southwest bikini! One size fits all. Take it out of its holder, place it over your head, wrap that strap around your waist, buckle it and pull to tighten. Once that's on, pull on the tab to make it inflate; to re-inflate, blow on the tube at your shoulder. The flight attendants are coming by hoping you'll tell them how good looking they are. 

We're gonna make sure your seats and tray tables are in the full upright and absolutely most uncomfortable position possible, and that your carry-on items are currently stored completely under the seat in front of you leaving absolutely no room for your knees or feet.

As you know, it's a no smoking, no whining, no complaining flight. 

It's a "Please and thank you" and "You are such a good looking flight attendant" flight. 

Smoking is never allowed on board a Southwest. If you're caught smoking in the lavatories the fine for that is $2000, and if you wanna pay that for your air fare, you should have flown somebody else.

 If we do make you that nervous in the next hour and a half, you're more than welcome to step outside. We don't discriminate at Southwest, we have a special smoking section just for you. We'll even show you a movie tonight! We have: Up In The Air.

The flight attendant serving you tonight is Wendy and her motto is if you can light it, you can smoke it! Federal law prohibits tampering with, disabling or destroying any smoke detector or webcam in either of our lavatories.

Federal aviation regulations require passenger compliance with any passenger information signs and plastic placards. Basically, just do what we say and nobody gets hurt.

And although we never anticipate a loss in cabin pressure (if we did, we certainly wouldn't be at work tonight), but if needed four oxygen masks drop from the compartment overhead. Stop screaming, let go of your neighbor, pull until that plastic tubing is fully extended, place the mask over your nose and mouth and breathe normally. To activate the flow of oxygen, simply insert 75 cents for the first minute, and 15 cents for every minute after that. Although that plastic bag may not inflate, you are receiving lots and lots of "gin". Oxygen that is.

And if you're travelling with small children, we're sorry. If you're travelling with more than one child, pick out the one that you think might have the most earning potential down the road. And if you're travelling with somebody needing very special assistance, like your husband (bless his heart), or your wife, put on your mask first.

That's it for the dos and donts of show and tell. Sit back and relax, or you can sit up and be tense, either way. You're already on our flight and the clock's already ticking.

Seriously, if there is anything we could do to make your flight more enjoyable please tell us... just as soon as we land in Salt Lake City. 

And if there is anything you could do to make our flight more enjoyable, we'll tell you immediately. We're not shy at Southwest. That's what you call very cheap entertainment. No one has to pay any extra but you certainly don't get a refund! 

Thank you for choosing Southwest, welcome aboard!"

Caveat Emptor

This will not be a big shock to people who travel for both business and pleasure, but for the infrequent traveller – one who spends the family savings on a two or three week vacation once per year someplace far away from work, it may come as something that makes you go

“Huh! That is interesting / shocking / backwards / and other superlatives”.

When you stay at a hotel or motel, the more you pay, the more they make you pay.

To explain…

If you stay at a place that has a rack rate under $125/night, chances are you will get a microwave, fridge, complementary high-speed internet, free local phone calls, sometimes complimentary water, bed-time chocolates, a morning newspaper, and a buffet breakfast – all at no extra change.

Stay at a place that charges $200/night, any or all of the above will cost you from $3 - $30 per night if they are available at all.

Forget a microwave or fridge – they want you to eat at their (usually over-priced) restaurant. High speed internet can cost upwards of $30/24hour period ending at noon each day. Phone calls start as low as $1.00 for a ‘connection fee’ per call, and long distance has a premium tag of $1 to $3 PER MINUTE over and above the actual cost of the call. Water and chocolates are available at the gift shop ($0.38 for 500ml of cold bottled water at Safeway will cost $3.00 at the gift shop), your morning paper will cost $2.00 and your buffet breakfast will be billed to your room at $17.95 + 5% tax + 20% Gratuity ($22.62).

Is this not backwards?

If I choose to stay at a higher priced hotel such as Hilton, Delta, George V, Four Seasons, etc., I would

expect the rates for the lodging would include the amenities available at moderate to low priced accommodations such as Ramada, Travel Lodge, Quality Inn, Quinta, etc., as they also include these in their costs.

Before you book your next hotel stay, especially if the costs are coming out of your own pocket, check to see what you get for what you pay. Given the choice of Delta or Quality Inn, I will take Quality Inn any day of the week

Tough On Crime

One day, Canadian judges will realize that to get tough on crime, there needs to be some funds directed at the Canadian justice system that either deters others from committing the same crime, has a REAL shot at rehabilitation, or for those for whom rehabilitation is a lost cause, to keep these people away from the general population outside the walls and fences of our human warehousing we know as jails and prisons.

Start with eliminating the concept and practice of concurrent sentencing. If somebody is convicted of three counts of {name your crime}, with an 18 month sentence each, that person needs to serve 54 (4.5 years) months in federal prison, not 18 months in provincial jail. While you are at it change the automatic time off for good behavior from 10 days for every 30 sentenced, to five days for every 30. 

That way the person sentenced to 18 months would only get three months off for good behaviour instead of the existing six months – during the 54 month sentence as above, the person could earn up to nine months off for being a model prisoner and be out in 45 months.

Change the earliest time for day parole or early parole to be after the person has completed 80% of their sentence after time off for good behaviour. The 54 month sentence could see early parole in 36 months.

Get drunks off the streets. The very first conviction of driving while impaired needs to result in a minimum mandatory sentence of 729 days (two years less a day) in provincial jail. With good behaviour they would still be off the streets for a little over 20 months.  A second conviction needs to result in a minimum mandatory sentence of five years in federal prison in a different province. IF the person decided to repeat the behaviour, then they have demonstrated they are a lethal menace to the public so a minimum mandatory sentence of 25 years, for each charge is appropriate. The three-time loser would still have to serve a minimum of 16 years before they could apply for parole, but at least the public would be safe for 16 years.

Make conviction fines mean something by combining a minimum amount with a percentage of income – whichever is greater. If a person is speeding up to 39KM over the posted limit, there is a speeding ticket of $138-$196 is applied. It is the fines for excessive speed that needs to be adjusted (currently, the range is from $368–$483). For a first offence this needs to be from $3,680–$4,830 OR 5% of the driver’s gross annual income, whichever is greater to be paid within 365 days. 

A second offence this needs to be from $36,800–$48,300 OR 10% of the driver’s gross annual income, whichever is greater to be paid within 365 days.  

A third conviction demonstrates they are a lethal menace to the public so a minimum mandatory sentence of 25 years, for each charge is appropriate. The three-time loser would still have to serve 1 minimum of 16 years before they could apply for parole, but at least the public would be safe for 16 years, in addition to the minimum fine.

I have absolutely zero tolerance for drug dealers. Any conviction requires a minimum mandatory sentence of 25 years, for each charge. Period.

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime

Which Bible? (Continued)

Thanks for the comments, private and public on my original Ramblings

If you are looking for citations for my Ramblings, you are out of luck. This is not an academic exercise, but a culmination of 35 years of research (academic, mentored, and personal) and my opinions based on those 35 years of intense navel-gazing contemplation with the support of an assortment of a dozen (or more) Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic Priests/Ministers , no less than five Rabbis, three Imams, a Mahasaya and a very interesting Sikh Granthi who had more positive input on the Christian Bible than any other community religious leader noted above.

My original point was referring to a document that cannot be called THE Bible, because there are so many variations and information lost in translation from the second and third century CE Armenian (the common language of the people in the Middle East from 2000 BCE), to Greek (the common language of international commerce and philosophy of the day) to Latin (the common language of law of the day) to ancient Spanish (the most widely spoken language on the planet after the 4^th Century CE) and finally to English in the 16^th Century CE, and the variety of translations in English since 1611.

This is not to mention the dozens of political additions, subtractions, and translations from the bible from the First Council of Nicea (325CE) to the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council (Concilium Oecumenicum Vaticanum Secundum) in 1965.

As an instrument of instruction for living a good life, it can be boiled down to what has been come to be known as the “Golden Rule”: Treat everybody that way you want to be treated. This is common in every one of the current spiritual instruction books on the planet – Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Islam, Jewish, etc. Everything else is filler and often poor translations from the original Armenian/Greek/Latin writings of the second and third Century CE when 90% of the Common Era history was written.

In 35 years of academic instruction, reading, and being mentored in the study of organized religions, there is nowhere in any Bible I have been able to find that rejects the celebration of birthdays, that requires spiritual leaders to abstain from marriage, that the world was going to end in 1925, that the ‘gates to heaven’ closed in 1935, that the world would end in 1975, or that the birth date of Emmanuel (Jesus) was December 25 (rather than late Spring/early Summer as indicated in actually READING the book).

The bottom lines:

Do good stuff, not bad stuff

Treat others as you want to be treated

Which Bible?

It continues to amaze me that there are those that cling to a singular view of all things biblical.  If it is not in the King James Bible exactly the way he had it translated, it is a fake, a forgery, or an insidious plot by Satan to corrupt the minds of men.  

All of the excluded books from the 4^th through 19^th century, of course, are controversial to some, but authenticity is an individual decision.  Anything else is, in any case, intellectual censorship. 

It is also interesting to note that the first books of the New Testament were not written until 40 years after the crucifixion, therefore written by scribes who were at best, toddlers at the time of the crucifixion with only word-of-mouth stories to relegate to papyrus. The following books were written after that. Three hundred years later, a political convention (Diet of Wourms) made political decisions as to what should, or should not be included in the Bible to ensure that the Church of the day maintained absolute religious and political power over the population.

For anyone who claims that the Christian Bible they hold so dearly in their hands is THE Bible, it had better be written in Greek, Hebrew, or Armenian and contain ALL of be books of both the old and new testaments. For example, the four Gospels of Mary of Bethany refer to the marriage of Emmanuel (Jesus) to Mary of Bethany, (Magdalene), at Kefr-Kenna and the subsequent birth of their son Sirach, which flies in the face of the Catholic belief of a life-long bachelor and childless Jesus.

There are over 500 books that have been associated with the Bible either through archaeological research or historical documentation.  This does not include any books believed to be written after the corruption of doctrine by the Universal Church established by the Emperor Constantine in the Fourth Century AD.

More than 60 English-language versions are available. We can divide them into three broad types: word-for-word, meaning-to-meaning (also called thought-for-thought) and paraphrased. Usually a particular Bible version will explain, on its introductory pages, which approach was used in preparing it – some include the apocrypha, many do not. The term "apocrypha" comes from a Greek word meaning "hidden" or "secret" and the books were originally considered by the early church as too exalted to be available to the general public. As time progressed, the exalted nature of the books was lost and the books were deemed by some as false. Between the Book of Malachi and Matthew there is a gap of approximately 450 years. It is these books that fill that gap and, in the time of Christ, these books formed part of the Septuagint Greek Bible that was in circulation at that time.

What is missing from most Bibles, and our understanding of it, is what happened in that 450-year gap. Prophets were still writing and reflecting on life in the Holy Land right up until the Romans destroyed the temple of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The world that Jesus entered in 4 BC is not the world that Daniel and Malachi experienced. One of the values of these books is how they reflect the mindset of Judaism and a Roman world that the New Testament writers faced. Malachi and Daniel leave us in Persia; Matthew brings us into a Roman world. 

The Apocrypha bridges that gap and gently nudges us into the reality of Roman Palestine. It was only in the fourth century AD that Christians first started to question the “canonicity” of the works, although most survived to be included in the King James translation of the Bible in 1611.

Unknown to almost all of the over two billion people who claim the Bible as their spiritual foundation is that there are several books and two sections missing from all but a few modern versions of that Bible. Perhaps one of the best kept secrets of the modern Protestant church is that the Bible used by that church is not the original King James Bible. That translation, completed in 1611, and the Bibles published for the use of the clergy and the church members until 1885, contained 80 books. Although attempts to remove the books of the Apocrypha from the Bible began immediately after the King James translation was completed, they remained in the Bible until the end of the 19th Century. There is no doubt that the books of the Apocrypha were controversial, but it cannot be denied they were included in the original King James Bible.

The concept of the Protestant Church about the Apocrypha is virtually non-existent, with the general understanding that only the Catholic Church uses it. One would be hard-pressed to find any members of the clergy even aware that these books were ever included in the King James Bible. There are 155,683 words and over 5,700 verses contained in 168 chapters now missing from the King James translation of the Bible due to the exclusion of the Apocrypha. Although this only happened just over a hundred years ago, their existence as fully accepted scripture is virtually unknown.

The Apocrypha in the original King James Bible (1611 – 1885):

1st Esdras

2nd Esdras

Tobit

Judith

Add to Esther

The Wisdom of Solomon

Ecclesiasticus or the Wisdom of Jesus Son Sirach

Baruch

Letter of Jeremiah

Prayer of Azariah or Song of the Three Young Men

Susanna

Bel and the Dragon

Prayer of Manasseh

1st Macabees

2nd Macabees

The Apocrypha in the Douay Rheims Bible:

1st Esdras

2nd Esdras

Tobias

Judith

Wisdom of Solomon

Ecclisiasticus (The Wisdom of Jesus' Son Sirach)

Baruch

Abdias

Micheas (This is the book of Micah)

Aggeus (This is the book of Haggai)

1st Macabees

2nd Macabees

These Apocrypha books are missing from in the Douay Rheims Bible:

Addition to Esther

Letter of Jeremiah

Prayer of Azariah or Song of the Three Young Men

Susanna

Bel and the Dragon

Prayer of Manasseh

Electoral Integrity

There is a government that is using unilateral power to change elections to suite themselves. Getting rid of the ‘watchdog’ agency was the first step, re-writing donation rules allowing millions to pour into party coffers, disallowing classifications of people who are expected to vote against the current rulers followed shortly thereafter. 

The actions being undertaken are deeply damaging for electoral integrity within the country, as well as providing an example which, if emulated elsewhere, may potentially harm international standards of electoral rights.

Pippa Norris, a Harvard University lecturer who is leading a six-year electoral integrity project, comparing democratic systems worldwide. Ms. Norris said "I would very much hope they take a breath and would take account of expert opinion, would take account of civil society, would take account of everybody and have basically a royal commission, is what you need, [that] could take this out of the partisan arena," she said. "By eliminating identity vouching at the voting booth, the bill mirrors efforts in the United States that would, in effect, add barriers to the voting process" she said.

Other scholars warn the bill would expand "the role of money" in elections by allowing parties to exempt fundraising activities from campaign spending, raising certain donation limits, not requiring parties to document their expenses and "increasing the influence of personal wealth" by allowing people to donate more to their own campaigns.

China?

Iran?

Afghanistan?

Russia?

Nope: Canada. Google: Fair Elections Act

Georgia Grandma

Lawyers should never ask a Georgia grandma a question if they aren't prepared for the answer.

In a trial, a Southern small-town prosecuting attorney called his first witness, a grandmotherly, elderly woman to the stand. He approached her and asked, 'Mrs. Jones, do you know me?' She responded, 'Why, yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams. I've known you since you were a boy, and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, and you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you're a big shot when you haven't the brains to realize you'll never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you.'

The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, 'Mrs. Jones, do you know the defence attorney?'

She again replied, 'Why yes, I do. I've known Mr. Bradley since he was a
youngster, too. He's lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can't build a normal relationship with anyone, and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him.'

The defence attorney nearly died.

The judge asked both counsellors to approach the bench and, in a very quiet voice, said,

'If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I'll send you both to the electric chair.

Knick Knacks

Like knick-knacks on the the shelf, there have been a number of little things on my mind lately that individually are nothing to complain about, but collectively add to the static blocking out items of more relative importance that I want to think about. My objective here is to lay out the knick –knacks so I can start to forget them.

Beiber, Justin: (Canadian Singer Embaressment  Idiot). It boggles the mind that ANY news service, even the bottom-of-the-barrel-lets-make-stuff-up, Faux… err  Fox News would spend more than two seconds on the antics of this mental midget and the headlines he hopes to make. If the reporters would not show up, he would learn that he is not as important as he thinks he is (unless you are a girl between the ages of 8 – 12, who are infinitely more intelligent than Beiber).

“I Lost Everything – I have No Insurance”: What morons. In the last three months news stories have hit the airwaves about families who spend hundreds on Christmas presents but REFUSE to pay the pittance premium for content insurance when they are renting. Wake up, people! It is an added cost of renting, like utilities. Many of these renters have combinations of phones, cable, cell phones, Xboxes, Play Stations, etc. paying the connection and monthly fees, but REFUSE to buy content insurance to protect their toys. These morons need to get their priorities straight.

Darwin Award Winners:  “…Citizen Smith, was killed late last night while walking on the right side of the highway. S/he was wearing black jeans, and a black hoodie with no reflective patches. The driver of the SUV  accidentally hit Citizen Smith who was pronounced dead on arrival …” Far too many variations of this happen in the winter, and my give-a-damn, just gave up.  From the time they can walk, sometime between 9 and 14 months of age, we teach our children to walk facing traffic: on the LEFT side of of the road. Anybody walks on the right, especially after sundown, is simply playing Russian Roulette and may end up strengthening the human gene pool as a result.

Reporters who get “assaulted”. Having seen on the news how reporters hound people they deem to be newsworthy, invading their personal space with microphones, and cameras, it is surprising how few of these vultures have been  pushed out of the way. In a society that is generally considered to be ‘polite to a fault’, why is there no common decency and respect shown by people who report the news? There are no legislators, provincial or federal that have the intestinal fortitude to write and enforce respectful boundaries for the Fourth Estate. Even allowing every citizen one metre radius of personal space between themselves and the media could be enough to keep the peace.

Social Service Drug Addicts. It has long been accepted that drug addiction is a disease primarily of the mind, but has very strong affects on the body, and spirit. So treat them as a victim of a disease by placing them in residential programs, psych wards, and other acceptable means of treatment. Sounds like a plan, right? Well what we do with these sick individuals who are unable to find work due to their disease, is pay them not to look for work. An estimated 250,000 people in BC alone extrapolates to 2,5 MILLION Canadians are on social services, collecting a ‘paycheck’ on the last Wednesday of the month (thanks to the generosity of the taxpayer).  It takes nothing short of a court order to have any one of them tested for illegal drug residue, which would prove to the courts that the person is using his/her public funds to purchase and use non-prescribed drugs. If they have enough money for tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, (and the list goes on), perhaps the government is giving them too much money to begin with. Order a random series of blood an urine tests, and anybody who has illegal drug residual in either system needs to be cut off the money supply for a three months on the first offence; one year on the second offence, and with three strikes - they’re out. PERIOD. NO MORE BUCKS.

“I can’t find a job in Vancouver/Calgary/Edmonton/…”   In the BC North alone there are 1,000 jobs right now, today, just in construction paying union wages for everything from Labourers, to Journeymen, to supervisors. Never mind all the ancillary jobs to support the industry.
BUT the jobs are in places that are cold (a previous boss used to tell people who complained about the cold to work harder), experiencing upwards of six months of snow per year, and 18 hours of daylight in the summer. To those who continue to complain: If you are too lazy to work: STARVE.

I do one part of my job and put on a forced smile, because I have a job to do and every job has something that we dread with every fibre of our being, but it has to be done. For some people it is quarterly reports, others it is budget development, somebody has to drain the swap full of alligators, and clean up after the elephants. Overall I love what I do,where I do it, however once every 18 months I am forced to spend a week in Vancouver. Vancouverites, tend to be under the misconception that anybody who is not within an hour’s drive of ‘Metro’ are desperate and anxious to get to the city at all costs, whenever they can possibly get there, and to provide poor country bumpkins with the opportunity to have their flights and hotel paid is equivalent to Nirvana. Well I have news for you Vancouver, you can keep your city, your smog, ALL of your suburbs, and overbearing crowds. Yes, I have to be there one every 18 months and will undertake my duties as efficiently and effectively as I can possibly muster, but please do not, under any circumstances, even for a nano-second delude yourself into thinking you are doing me a favour.