Yonkers, New York
12 October 2008

In his essay in the Washington Post today, "Economic Meltdown Will Boost Religion's Stock," Ira Rifkin is quite right.

This is what he says: "x x x. And when times are tough and insecurities mount, as they are today, more people tend to view tribalism--be it identification with clan, nation or religion--as an appealing haven. So look for the current economic meltdown to boost religion's stock worldwide."

Ever since Pethicantropus erectus, man has always been afflicted with unnamed fears, anxieties and insecurites. Man feared the thunder. He feared the lightning. He feared the meteorites streaking across the sky on dark nights. He feared many other natural phenomena which his limited cognitive powers could not explain to him satisfactorily.

And so man created a belief system called "religion" which gave him a good measure of comfort and assurance in times of fear, anxiety, distress and unbearable insecurity.

Modern man, even 21st-century man with his much-improved cognitive powers, is not immune to those fears, anxieties, distress and unbearable insecurity which haunted and tortured Pithecantropus erectus or Neanderthal man.

As with Pithecantropus erectus and Neanderthal man, 21st-century man is now bedevilled by a series of crises--starting with the mortgage meltdown which morphed into a financial meltdown and which has now turned into an economic meltdown--which has impacted his life and the life of his family in ways which have brought real pain, fear, anxiety, distress, a feeling of helplessness and powerlelssness, insecurity and torment.

It is precisely this situation which will impel man to seek the comfort, the security and the reassurance which he thinks he can find in religion.

Expect swarms of people to go to churches, synagogues, temples and mosques starting this week. Religion's stock, indeed, will be boosted immensely all over the world.

Mariano Patalinjug
MarPatalinjug@aol.com

Claiming scientific objectivity, this writer makes a claim which is itself based on a set of a priori convictions vis a vis religious certainty. In this case the belief is that all religious convictions have their origins in the human need to create them. A belief in a future resurrection in this case becomes "nothing but" wishful thinking based on our fear of death. William James, skeptic that he was,long ago discounted this kind of a priori reasoning regarding religious conviction. It is not scientific. It is agnostic conviction masquerading as objectivity.

Dogmatic pronouncements, be they from people of faith or, in this case, no faith, need to be challenged when they claim scientific objectivity. This is clearly the case here.

A Wasted Vote
by Rep. Chuck Baldwin
October 10, 2008

When asked why they will not vote for a third party candidate, many people will respond by saying something like, "He cannot win." Or, "I don't want to waste my vote." It is true: America has not elected a third party candidate since 1860. Does that automatically mean, however, that every vote cast for one of the two major party candidates is not a wasted vote? I don't think so.

In the first place, a wasted vote is a vote for someone you know does not represent your own beliefs and principles. A wasted vote is a vote for someone you know will not lead the country in the way it should go. A wasted vote is a vote for the "lesser of two evils." Or, in the case of John McCain and Barack Obama, what we have is a choice between the "evil of two lessers."

Albert Einstein is credited with saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result. For years now, Republicans and Democrats have been leading the country in the same basic direction: toward bigger and bigger government; more and more socialism, globalism, corporatism, and foreign interventionism; and the dismantling of constitutional liberties. Yet, voters continue to think that they are voting for "change" when they vote for a Republican or Democrat. This is truly insane!

Take a look at the recent $850+ billion Wall Street bailout: both John McCain and Barack Obama endorsed and lobbied for it. Both McCain and Obama will continue to bail out these international banksters on the backs of the American taxpayers. Both McCain and Obama support giving illegal aliens amnesty and a path to citizenship. In the debate this past Tuesday night, both McCain and Obama expressed support for sending U.S. forces around the world for "peacekeeping" purposes. They also expressed support for sending combat forces against foreign countries even if those countries do not pose a threat to the United States. Neither Obama nor McCain will do anything to stem the tide of a burgeoning police state or a mushrooming New World Order. Both Obama and McCain support NAFTA and similar "free trade" deals. Neither candidate will do anything to rid America of the Federal Reserve, or work to eliminate the personal income tax, or disband the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Both Obama and McCain support the United Nations. So, pray tell, how is a vote for either McCain or Obama not a wasted vote?

But, back to the "he cannot win" argument: to vote for John McCain is to vote for a man who cannot win. Yes, I am saying it here and now: John McCain cannot win this election. The handwriting is on the wall. The Fat Lady is singing. It is all over. Finished. John McCain cannot win.

With only three weeks before the election, Barack Obama is pulling away. McCain has already pulled his campaign out of Michigan. In other key battleground states, McCain is slipping fast. He was ahead in Missouri; now it is a toss-up or leaning to Obama. A couple of weeks ago, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida were all leaning towards McCain, or at least toss-up states. Now, they are all leaning to Obama. Even the longtime GOP bellwether state of Indiana is moving toward Obama. In addition, new voter registrations are at an all-time high, and few of them are registering as Republicans. In fact, the Republican Party now claims only around 25% of the electorate, and Independents are increasingly leaning toward Obama.

Ladies and gentlemen, Barack Obama is headed for an electoral landslide victory over John McCain. John McCain can no more beat Barack Obama than Bob Dole could beat Bill Clinton.

I ask, therefore, Are not conservatives and Christians who vote for John McCain guilty of the same thing that they accuse people who vote for third party candidates of doing? Are they not voting for someone who cannot win? Indeed, they are. In fact, conservatives and Christians who vote for John McCain are not only voting for a man who cannot win, they are voting for a man who does not share their own beliefs and principles. If this is not insanity, nothing is!

So, why not (for once in your life, perhaps) cast a vote purely for principle! Vote for someone who is truly pro-life. Someone who would quickly secure our nation's borders, and end the invasion of our country by illegal aliens. Someone who would, on his first day in office, release Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean and fire U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton. Someone who would immediately, upon assuming office, begin leading the charge to dismantle the Federal Reserve, overturn the 16th Amendment, expunge the IRS, and return America to sound money principles. Someone who would get the US out of the UN. Someone who would stop spending billions and trillions of dollars for foreign aid. Someone who would prosecute the Wall Street bankers who defrauded the American people out of billions of dollars. Someone who would work to repeal NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT, the WTO, and stop the NAFTA superhighway. Someone who would say a resounding "No" to the New World Order. Someone who would stop using our brave men and women in uniform as global cops for the United Nations. Someone who would stop America's global adventurism and interventionism. Someone who would steadfastly support and defend the right of the people to keep and bear arms.

"Who is this person?" you ask. Go here to find out:

http://www.baldwin08.com/

As John Quincy Adams said, "Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost."

Here is what it comes down to-

In good times, people's natural tendency is to avoid, ignore, or even deny God's providence in our lives. When bad times come, some realize it really is true that God provides for them, others cry crocadile tears crying out to God, and the atheists - the radical ones - deny His existence even more, but with bitterness.

http://www.isebrand.com/Gore_Vidal_Monotheism_1992.htm

"(The Great Unmentionable) Monotheism and its Discontents," The Lowell Lecture, Harvard University, April 20, 1992

It is very easy to discuss what has gone wrong with us. It is not so easy to discuss what should be done to correct what has gone wrong. It is impossible in our public discourse to discuss why so much has gone wrong and, indeed, has been wrong with us since the very beginning of the country, and even before that when our white tribes were living elsewhere. ......

God's Daily Promise, 10/07/08. This week's promise: God forgives all sins, no matter how big God's gift of salvation
"Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you. Psalm 130:3-4 NLT"

What does Fear God mean? Lie, Cheat, Covet, Steal, Kill, make religious and civil temples by Human Hands? Make Civil, Religious, and Family Rules, instead of God's Rules. What does 'Thou Shalt Not Kill', mean?

What Books help Killing Humans Unite in Peace? How many published Books, help explain the 'mysteries' of GOD, God, Jesus and other Prophet/Priest/King Religions?

The Early Jewish One God Christians, were not like the Trinity Catholic Christians. Protestant Christians are different, from each other, as are all other religious movements today.

What are the Characteristics of a Child of God? or a Child of Humans? In the beginning, the Lord God Reproduced not Children, but Human Equal Male and Female Clone Adults, in 'his' Physical Human Image, to be Caretakers of Life on Earth.

Why did these Perfect Equal Male and Female Clone Adult Humans, Reproduce Unequal Male and Female Children, in their Physical Human Image, that became Killer Humans?

Today Humans Travel in Spaceships. Humans Know How to Colonize a Planet, and do Reproduce Human fetus', and Clone Life in the Lab, similar to the Lord God.

It is Time to Translate All Scripture and Myth, with our High Tech Science Knowledge. Humans can Know the Truth of GOD the Creator of LIFE, not a Human, and, God our High Tech Human Ancestors, not GOD.

The Peace Equal Caretaker Clone Human Species, can have High Tech Science Eternal Physical Life After Birth, on Planets and in Spaceships.

Tribal identity, religious or national, is not the only alternative to ""stateless elites" whose primary allegiance is to their own well-being." The most mature people I know have identities that are truly stateless; they identify across time and space with those of every nation and religion who live out the universal values of integrity, compassion, responsibility, and courage. Knowing that people of value will rise up in every possible future, they can die peacefully, assured that humanity's deepest values will live on, and even occasionally triumph over humanity's ugliest traits.

I don't need my religion, my family or my nation to live forever. I do need a sense that love, truth and beauty will go on beyond me.

hi Farnaz,

Im fine, thanks.

Im think Paulson don't know what he is doing. Im more prone to believe that he is an idiot than a bad person.

Shortsellers are the bad people here. Im not sure if he is a shortseller himself.

BAN SHORTSELLING of ALL STOCKS (No exemptions) (Give it a shot even for a month or less and see how sanity will return to the market)

I'll make this very simple. The only way you can sell a brand new car for 100 dollars or less is to let shortsellers sell it. They don't own the car so they have no worry if it is priced at 1 dollar. The same logic is happening in the stock market.

HANK PAULSON, ARE YOU LISTENING?

"Religious identity - cultural religious identity, really - is at the core of this tribal safety net. It is evident in the statements of those Muslims who say allegiance to the ummah, the worldwide Muslim community, comes first; in the votes of those American Jews who select a candidate solely on the basis of their stand on Israel, and in the insistence of those conservative Christians who only vote for someone they accept as a proper Christian."

No offense, but this is now not only offensive, but repetitive, boring, and resoundingly stupid. IMHO, if you have nothing intelligent to post, don't post. Polluting cyberspace isn't a good way to sell books, anyway.

Hello Spiderman,

You write: At least the Brits were buying stock and OWN THE COMPANY. This person is an IDIOT!!

Unfortunately, he isn't an idiot, just a bad man. He is a billionaire who made his money creating the "toxic paper" we, the public, are now paying for.

Perfect man to be secretary of the treasury. Meanwhile, there have been suicides and hospitalizations just as there were in 1929. We aren't expected to come out of this for ten years.
It is affecting markets all over the world.

Take care of yourself, my friend.

Farnaz

So religion is making it's bones off of others suffering? Sounds about right. What a repulsive article. If anything the current economical crisis is proof GOD doesn't care.

Then again maybe he does. Jesus always preached the virtues of minimalism.

"Sell all you own and follow me".

Maybe it is a larger scheme. GOD is bankrupting us to help us see the light. How many times can you pray at night, see things get worse, and continue to believe GOD is listening? I know people say GOD challenges you so you can prove to yourself you are strong, but come on.

Although we are talking about a GOD who murdered Job's family and destroyed everything he owned just to prove a point to Satan. Murdered a baby to teach King David a lesson, so he's a pretty rough deity.

I hope, if anything, this economic crisis will teach people that sole reliance on a higher power is no way to go through life. more times than not He's not gonna be there when you need him most. There isn't a single pair of footprints because GOD is carrying you, it's because he left you alone on the beach to find your own way home.

The shortselling ban was for financial institutions only. It was not a total ban on all stocks. They were allowing shortsellers to hammer these other stocks and it drags down the financial stocks also.

Err, Spidey, seems like days now that I've been trying to tell you they already banned shortselling for the duration, whatever that turns out to be.

BANKRUPTING THE GOVERNMENT

There is no faster way to bankrupt the government than to buy stocks WITHOUT OWNERSHIP. We have a top guy in the financial market who is an IDIOT. Does he really understand what he is doing? Shortsellers can swallow those billions in seconds. It's tantamount to money transfer from government to shortsellers for free.

SACK HANK PAULSON!!! THIS GUY IS TERRIBLE!!

At least the Brits were buying stock and OWN THE COMPANY. This person is an IDIOT!!

Ban shortselling just even for 3 to 5 days (around the world) and let's see how the market behaves. LET'S GIVE SANITY A BREAK. I can't wait to see the market shoot straight up.

****

BAN SHORTSELLING !! (It's time Paulson be replaced coz he comes from an institution that's part of the problem)

The stock market is shooting downward. Naturally, everybody should be saddened. But NO, not everyone. Who are these people? Who are they who profit from this downturn. It's the SHORTSELLERS. The government should realize that shortselling DEFIES NATURAL SCIENCE. It is an ABNORMALITY. Nobody should be allowed to sell things that are not theirs.

THIS IS THE CANCER THAT IS PLAGUING the stock market. It defies science and anything that defies science is HARMFUL. We are now reaping the bad fruits which SHORTSELLING sowed.

When a house is burning, everybody should grieve. If you see somebody who's overjoyed, Im sure HE/SHE IS THE ARSONIST. Shortsellers are the only people who are overjoyed now.

For as long as the "arsonists" are at large, people's money are NOT safe. LOCK THEM (shortsellers) UP BEFORE MORE HOUSES WOULD BURN. For as long as they are around, our money will not be safe in the bank. LOCK THEM UP SOON OR THE FIRE WON'T STOP.

These bailouts cannot continue forever. These water hoses would soon dry up. Stop the fire from its source -- the SHORTSELLERS.

Ban shortselling just even for 3 to 5 days and let's see if how the market behaves. LET'S GIVE SANITY A BREAK.

"Organized religion articulates values and provides a blueprint for living"

The only problem with this is that these articulations, many of which are millenia old, form the basis for competing churches. Not only are these churches mutually exclusive but their descriptions of the world, while admittedly containing the kernels of universal and timeless truth, have overridden such values with obsolete perspectives. Conflict in the marketplace today has as much to do with competition between these obsolete systems of ideas as it does with economic theory. Ultimately, resolving the economic problems depends on recognizing a single, transcendent church based on the timeless and universal principles of religion. The competing powers of the various churches today makes this impossible.