Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Saturday, 14 July 2012
JOSEPH BLENDING HEADS LEE KUI SCHOOLS
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Not only does he teach remedial children , he carries out Lee Kui's directives for a holistic education for Megacity , creating programs to encourage adults and children to be more aware of their true potentials and destinies in service to themselves as a society
JOSEPH BLENDING is a man of absolutely no importance. So reckons the status quo of present society. However, he is fully aware this does not include everybody's reckoning, especially this present child generation, eager for a real education instead of the indoctrinated pap presently forced upon them. They seek relevance to their world not their preceding generations' worlds. This is Joseph Blending's mission.
Having sufficiently qualified himself in economics on an Open University course along with other relevant courses in sociology and psychology, he has managed to position himself with a school teaching those with reading and writing difficulties in order to impart basic economics. Of course, the authorities expect nothing great to come from the exercise, so leave Blending free to commence how he wishes. He aims to empower them to realise their true potentials, thus enabling them to restructure society to their desires responsibly and holistically.
Int: school classroom and corridor.
Walls bare and white above pine panelling below dado rail. Only black plastic chairs common to schools stacked against west wall, facing multi-paned window segregating outside panorama into small boxed fragments. Floor of parqueted mahogany, residue of a more prosperous yet unethically astute age. A huge 'whiteboard' replaces the now politically incorrect 'blackboard'. Mustn't be racialist now. What has a blackboard done to anyone a white' bored' hasn't, I wonder? Being black, I suppose. Why are these political correctness fascists so up themselves? Don't they realise their labels for people are just as offensive as those they've replaced? Challenged this, challenged that. We're all challenged here on Earth, it's why we ARE here.
The pupils await their economics teacher, whom they have never before met, in the corridor which is laid with plain pale grey linoleum.
Similar walls as classroom only completely white, as is the ceiling, illuminated by bulbs in cased in beacon like clam shells. Placed at two metre intervals along the corridor they produce an eerie gloom.
The children, thirty in this class, are boys and girls aged 10-16. They wear their own clothes.
MR.BLENDING aged 46, dressed comfortably in burgundy corduroy slacks, paisley shirt of red/green hue, a velvet jacket with reinforced patches at the elbow, also in burgundy [if not a deep wine red], walks in black Cuban heels, down the corridor toward his awaiting pupils. His hair, collar length with a left side parting at front is auburn with flecks of grey at temples and sideburns. He fumbles with the keys until he finds the one that opens successfully amongst assorted impatient groans from the children.
JB: Good morning all. Sorry for the delay. Problem finding the keys for this room. [Looks around classroom as all pile in] Dreary, isn't it ?
PUPIL: [Fastidiously] An understatement.
JB: Well there is a good reason for it being so dreary.
PUPIL:[Contemptuously] And that is?
JB: I intend for you to decorate it, to your tastes.
PUPIL: But what has this to do with economics? You have got the right class, I presume, Mr. er Blandin ?
JB: If economics is what you expect to be taught you, then yes. And my name is Blending.[Walks to whiteboard, picks up marker and spells name onto it]. Has anyone any suggestions worthy of mention? [Looks out at sea of blank faces and shrugging shoulders] So that I can get to know you all without asking your names over and over, could you state them as you speak, please.
PUPIL: Peter Standish. How much can we spend?
JB: An excellent start to a course on economics. Next question, how do we justify what we spend?
PUPIL: Penny Oliver. How can we justify what we haven't thought of yet?
JB: Any suggestions?
PUPIL: Peter Standish. Let's see how we can decorate this place, add up it's cost, then present it to the 'Head' along with our justification of why we deserve an environment conducive to inspiration.
JB: May I suggest a collage to fill the vacuity? Comprised of images depicting the world how you perceive it.
PUPIL: Don Watts. What's a collage?
PENNY: [Hissing] Idiot!
JB: Good question if you've never heard of the concept. A collage, young man, comprises of many cutouts from magazines and old newspapers, also fabrics and other materials such as plastic or metal; whatever sticks to a canvas. But it's not always haphazard, there's reason behind the placement on/in the collage, even though it's not understood by all. What I propose is that we meditate on how we feel about the world we live in now. Relax yourselves anywhere in the room. Sit or lie down allowing your thoughts to gently focus on how you feel about the world.
[They do so in their own time]
PUPIL: Douglas Dempsey. Do computer images count?
JB: Of course they count.
DON: So when do we start?
[Raucous laughter raised by class]
PENNY: We've all ready started, you tosser.
JB: Now that's enough with the tosser.
[uncontrolled sniggering and hisses from some]
Relax and focus on how you ...
PENNY:[bored]...feel about the world.
JB: That's enough of that cheek too.
4TH PUPIL: Susan Hollingsday. Too short.
DON: Too heavy!
5TH PUPIL: Avril Puckering. Too much!
PETER: Ado about nothin'.
AVRIL: [Droll] Very witty.
6TH PUPIL: Brian sommer. Scummy.
JB: Any brighter images?
BRIAN: No it's all pretty much bollocks really.
AVRIL: Not all the time, is it. I mean there is a lot of good stuff in the world I'd like to see keep coming but without tackiness attached to it. Isn't a wiser choice to pay for quality rather than quantity, we can still recycle and curb our spending so we can ease up on our carbon footprint.
PETER: Carbon footprint my arse. It's a government scam to make us believe it's all our fault.
JB: Isn't it our fault, then?
PENNY: What do you mean? course its not all our fault. What about all the toxic dumping of the huge chemical and oil companies?
JB: Are you so sure its not? Do you not use electricity, water, gas?
What about all the chemicals you consume, whether you consented directly or not?
DON: What do you mean by consented directly
JB; Well, whenever you choose to buy something, you indirectly consent to consuming its ingredients, if foodstuff, otherwise its contents. So what exactly do you spend your money on, and where does it come from? Do you actually know where all our waste goes after we throw it, or spend it, or do you just trust that the local council deals with responsibly?
PENNY: The money or the stuff I buy?
JB: O.K. Lets deal with one issue at a time. What happens to the wasted or "dead" deposits of our fuel consumption?
PENNY: Most of it ends up in the atmosphere as pollution, right?
JB:[Nods agreement] And where else do you think?
7TH PUPIL: Roy Caper. It falls back into the earth to poison our food crops, plant life and animals so we end up eating and drinking our own crap.
DOUGLAS: And the scientists have considered cramming all our crap into pods or capsules and jettisoning it all into the Sun. Won't that just come back at us in the form of polluted sunlight?
JB: So what can we do if we can't burn it here on Earth without polluting ourselves nor in the Sun as it will just come back at us as poisoned sunlight?
SUSAN: So, how did we deal with our rubbish before the industrialization of the world?
PETER: Good question.[Turns to J.B. with inquisitive frown]
JB: What did we do, I wonder? Any suggestions on that one?
DON: Come on Sir, don't try to wriggle out of it.
JB: O.K. then, for a start, everything we produced for sale and consumption was organically grown and bred so whatever we had no immediate use for was somehow stored for future recycling. It is true that in the Neolithic and Stone ages people buried their household rubbish in a pit outside their homes, but this was all, but bones and broken crockery, biodegradable, usually whatever the family dog and other livestock wouldn't eat. Generally they produced/bred enough to meet their needs. However, as we all have come to realize, the subsequent escalation in consumption, due to wider trade links during the Roman and middle ages as well, our thirst for ever more electronically advanced tools and toys due to the present technological age, we appear to have amassed a hefty surplus of appliances as we are continually shamed into believing them to be obsolete. Not forgetting also the excess foodstuffs that pile only to be destroyed by E.U. and U.N. regulations.
ROY: Isn't that just criminal? Governments punish business for producing too much yet waste the food rather than do the decent thing of donating the cost of redistributing vital resources to those countries that need them through charities like Oxfam and Live Aid
JB Bravo! You've hit the nail on the head, Roy. Unfortunately governments are not as ethically advanced as are we. They only interest themselves in the profits of war and commercial greed.
PENNY: So how can we persuade them differently?
JB: Alas we cannot. We can only, as far as I can see, outgrow them by educating ourselves so we can take over the reigns responsibly. Make it your generation's destiny to make the appropriate changes by creating your own Governments. Not by inciting bloody revolutions that have failed throughout history, as the leaders of such coups have inevitably been of the same stamp as those they have overthrown.
PUPIL: Benjamin Freede. Wasn't it The Beatles who sang "if you want to change the world, you'd better change your mind instead" ?
JB: Maybe not the exact lyric, but yes, that is what they were saying and I am advocating to you. You need to side-step the way governments are run in the future by creating your own political parties that truly speak and deliver to your generation. Involve the population of your respective countries in the governing of themselves.
AVRIL: Well, we won't be needin' paper. Straight on the walls with it.
JB: How do you mean?
AVRIL: We don't HAVE to meditate, we can visualise. The writing can be on the walls like in ancient Greece and Rome. They used graffiti to express ideas and opinions just as we paint drab city walls with our brand of graffiti. We deliver our messages to those who understand us. If the councillors and other bods in government could bother themselves to read and listen, a channel for communication could be set up. We can be flexible if they can.
BRIAN: We're only here because the Education bods aren't flexible enough to realize that our forms of expression have moved on from the three 'R's', as they so patronizingly phrase it.
JB: Do you not think that there should be a standard of language for everyone to understand?
BENJAMIN: If so, shouldn't we all be speaking and writing the same language around the world?
JB: Well, it has been tried in the past. There was a language called Esperanto but it didn't take off.
BENJAMIN: Exactly my point.My parents often say Variety is the spice of life. Maybe that's why this Esperanto failed to take on.
JB: Maybe so. Most probably the Governments of the world found it too problematic to instigate.
with no problem anyway. We don't need any boring reading and writing lessons.
BENJAMIN: And as Avril has said, isn't it you adults who should be learning our languages since we are supposed to be the future? MR.Blending's Co-created Society BENJAMIN: Exactly my point.My parents often say Variety is the spice of life. Maybe that's why this Esperanto failed to take on.
JB: Homo Sapiens have outgrown their use. Make way for the Homo Superior. Is that what you mean?
BENJAMIN: No. We don't want to get rid of you, just your obsolete thinking.
JB: Then at least I speak the same language as yourselves. Or am I being presumptuous?
BENJAMIN: We understand where you're coming from. You have our attention.
[JB scans class for visible signs of approbation, receiving them in various forms. The Children begin to peer about the walls ,at and through the windows, even, for pictorial inspiration.]
JB: Let us get back to discussing our consumption and it's inevitable waste product, pollution. Penny referred to money as a product of this, in so many words. We all know money is produced at the Mint. But how the Governments of the world justify the amount of paper notes and metal to coin has long led to economical imbalances. We discussed earlier the wasted food and commodities due to the reluctance of Governments to redistribute to those who sorely need them, cause of an economical and ecological imbalance. So how can we expect the few in Government to responsibly distribute monied wealth when they wish to hoard it all for themselves at the expense of the many?
PUPIL: Especially when they have huge armies of soldiers and police to protect it. [JB stares at her inquisitively]Oh, Karem Weng.
DOUGLAS: How are we to get the armies and police forces on our side whenever we do create our own governments?
JB: Will you feel the need for armies since you all seem to agree that you speak a common language worldwide? I do agree that some kind of law enforcement is necessary until mankind has evolved beyond war and crime but it could be practiced by other means than at present.
Don't you think?
PENNY: When there is no want in the world crime will diminsh but, there will still be the power hungry. How will we deal with them?
JB: In the past we exiled them to tiny islands but only to replace them by equally power hungry egocentrics. So what should we do with the drunken sailors of your future.[Enigmatic expressions all round] Just an expression taken from an old song.
PETER: Like you adults singing the same old song which is why the world is in this present state of stagnation?
JB: Exactly! Which is why I wish to teach you how to bridge this empasse. So lets get back to this money issue.
BENJAMIN: Wouldn't it be a idea to find out just how much money there is in the world and how it can be evenly distributed just as we should be finding out how much money the Head Teacher has to spend in order to justify our expenditure.
JB: Capital! Which is the amount a business or institution, such as this school, has to spend on maintaining itself. When it comes to entire countries we speak of GNP and GDP as a measurement of a nation's wealth. But since Gross National Product and Gross Deficit Product are pretty inaccurate measurements if we are dealing with an holistic economy, I think it wiser to leave dealing with them until a more appropriate time. However, if we could, with the cooperation of Miss Bridget, assertain and re-evaluate the school's budget, which is a good starting point. Which also brings us back to our original task of justifying the expenditure of decorating this classroom, which would also be a feather in our cap for seeking her cooperation.
[Meanwhile some pupils have taken the initiative of raiding the school art stores. Having procured all the tablets of paint pigment and any powdered paint, gathered some empty tubs, containers and blunt instruments, are busy crushing pigment into powder, filling containers, adding water, and vegetable oil to thicken enough to daub successfully, they mix each colour in separate containers].
JB: But we still have not answered the question of where the money comes from to justify the money minted.
BENJAMIN: So how can there be more credit available than actual paper and metal? Isn't this why the banks have gone to pot?
JB: Unwise speculation on the money markets has always been the cause of crashes and burst speculation bubbles throughout history. Its to do with trusting the metal to keep its expected value on the market. But When gold and silver drastically drop or rise unexpectedly, inflation or depression follow. The quantity of goods being manufactured and the spending power we have are also a factor previous governments neglected to consider, notably Germany after the First World War. The International Monetary Fund decides how much money is brought into circulation in certain zones of the world and how much is withdrawn from others at certain times. Of course we already discussed the political bias as a major factor for the imbalances throughout the world. Instead, I want us to explore a totally different perspective, hence the collage I suggested and the graffiti mural you have decided on as a base to explore where we wish to go with our approach to a holistic economy.
[paint being duly mixed the pupils begin daubing the walls] When your parents arrive home after a days' work, complaining of being knackered, unable to play or help with homework, yet prepared to sit in front of the soaps all evening, have you wondered whether there's more to it than physical exhaustion?
BENJAMIN: They're emotionally drained too. My mum's always threatening an heart attack or nervous breakdown if we don't calm down and shut up.
JB: So why do you think this is?
DON: Stress in the workplace. Agro from the boss and others at the office, or wherever. Then us when she gets home.
JB: That's what I'm getting at. What does your mum work at, Don?
DON: [Sniggers and mock vomitting from his mates] She helps cook the school dinners then has to cook for us.
CHILDREN: Gluttens for punishment, Yeargh!
JB: Calm down now. And why the agro?
DON: 'Cos people get on yer tits a lot of the time.
JB: So how are the tensions sparked off, do you think?
PENNY: You heard, people piss you off a lot of the time.
JB: Inequality and lack of selfworth engendered in the workplace, I feel, are the major contributors to emotional stress in the workplace. Of course this spills over on the commute home. Delays and cancellations to public transport, traffic jams etc; and upon reaching home as minor issues are wound up into huge arguments. Some employees efforts are overlooked whilst shortsighted managers reward those deemed by their colleagues as undeserving such rewards.
PETER: We all need incentives to aim for though, otherwise what's the point of working other than to pay bills and feed ourselves.
JB: What do you perceive as incentives to aim for?
PETER: Decent chance of promotion and wage rises to beat inflation are what my parents bang on about, but we need more stimulation. The choice to contribute to the company we work for in more than one capacity.
JB: So how would this work?
PETER: By working part time on the shop or office floor and part time in the manager's office we can grasp for our selves the overall picture of how the business we're employed in operates, so prompting us to successfully present improvements to management without being softsoaped by mediocre managers, fearing the loss of their power.
AVRIL: In what way do you see the boss as being equal to the employees yet still order them to do their work, Mr.Blending?
JB: Well, Peter obviously understands where I'm coming from with this. Incentives are indeed neccessary, but do they need to be penal opposed to inspirational? A worthy employer is of such a quality of character that coercive incentives...
DON: [interupting]What's coercive mean, sir?
JB: Threatening. Do this or else that will happen to you. So a worthy employer has no need of coercive measures to motivate staff to persue their duties. As Peter has pointed out so succinctly, an employer who values employees by inspiring them to leadership roles within the company instead of fearing their success, encourage them to become self motivated. For example, how does Captain Picard successfully captain his ship whilst rarely raising his voice or cajouling his crew into action?
DON: [Immitates Picard pointing finger]Make it so.
JB: Is it his rank or personality that commands so?
AVRIL: Both, by pulling rank only when he feels it neccessary, not to bolster his ego.
DON: He also allows his officers to speak frankly or 'off the record' if they believe his stubborn streak is jeopardizing the ship, crew or mission.
JB: So delegation normally runs smoothly throughout the Enterprise, because?
PENNY: Because the crew are valued by their captain.
BENJAMIN: Shouldn't we consider an equality of salary. As an incentive to contribute to the companies we'll work for?
PENNY: And how would that encourage managers to feel their worth, considering our present parent generation's mindset
BENJAMIN: It would bruise quite a few egos, for sure, but test the integrity of those who claim to be upto the challenge.
ROY: They don't use money either, do they? Just some kind of credit system.
JB: So they must be credited in some way for the service they provide for The Federation.
ROY: On Deep Space Nine they use bars of gold pressed latinum, whatever that is.
PENNY: But they're not universal currency, within The Federation.
JB: So how do they value the commodities they order from the replicators? This is the kind of scenario I want to place us in, where money as we know it, no longer has value so we are compelled to create afresh by revaluing ourselves, our resources, and the commodities we decide to produce both for the home market and abroad. As well as our choice of imports and importers. Do we for instance choose those countries we can make a fast buck from, or those we recieve fair quality from whilst ensuring their employees are treated as equally as we expect of ourselves?
PETER: If we opt for a truly holistic economy you seemed to be alluding to, shouldn't we be considering the plant and animal kingdoms?
SUSAN: Not forgetting the minerals, elementals and other lifeforms. Even though we can't see them, they all share Earth's environment with us.
JB: Yes, everyone must be equally considered.
DON: So, how much money is the world really worth?
JB: Some sources reckon on $47 Trillion. But does that consider the entire planet's resouce potential, I wonder?
PENNY; So, how can we assertain it for ourselves?
BENJAMIN: I think it better to dismiss these official figures altogether and look to a new method.
JB: Ditto. I suggest we are no other but each other. We are all varieties of energy patterns formed from the Universal source.
So how can we pretend further that we are superior to other varieties of ourselves? Can anyone honestly look to the sky and pinpoint THE centre of Creation and claim it to be more or less superior to any other pinprick of light or dark, anymore than this planet could be?
AVRIL: So, how can we improve on anything if everything is equal?
JB: Indeed, how do we justify furthering our potentials as well as that of which we rear or produce if all is equality?
BENJAMIN: By percieving equality and potential in a different light?
JB: Good answer, but is it enough, do you think? could we be missing something? If we were to tap into the wisdom of other beings in the Universe, to discover how they do things, we would of course think many of them far advanced than our own, simply for being unknown to us. But I think we should discuss this further tomorrow. For now, let's return to present value assessment
PETER: We could make a list on the mural of what we as a class value most then justify our claims.
BENJAMIN: Why not go online to find what other schools value?
PETER: Ask them how they would value their choices?
AVRIL: Finding a common denominator to work with.
BENJAMIN: An interschool currency but without cash?
AVRIL:
The very reason Mr.Blending suggested we evaluate how the school is funded we could use in order to value an interschool currency. An interesting exercise for us could be, once we have assessed how we feel about the world, school, and what and how we are taught to believe in, should be expressed. And if we could learn from Miss Bridget the logistics of managing a school, from her perspective.
Scene closes as children continue daubing the walls and pine panelling.
Day/Int. Morning classroom
Children have already got stuck into their mural. JB bowls into the classroom with a stack of papers and glossy magazines propped under his chin. Almost crashing into the far wall he defts a spin on his left heel so the stack lands with a smack to the floor.
JB: How many of you think there's not enough time and how many think there's just enough?
AVRIL: Just enough for what?
JB: Exactly!
DON: What exactly?
JB: Have you had enough of it yet?
PENNY: Of what you've been wasting, maybe?
JB: Why not? There's enough of it.
DON: How do you know if there's enough?
JB: Now there's enough to be getting on with. O.K then, who thinks time is or could be elastic?
DON: Like a spring or elastic band, you mean?
JB: In a way, yes. It's the way you think about time that has to be elastic for you to experience its elasticity.
BENJAMIN: Einstein said time is relative. That's what you mean, isn't it?
JB: Exactly. You have to be elastic with your relativity. People often use fear-based phrases concerning time as if there's never enough of it, ever. Another cause for stress in our lives we could do without. How many of you consider a holiday starting at your holiday destination ?
[Six children show their hands.]
How many consider the adventure commencing as soon as you 've left your homes?
[Only two pupils show theirs]
DON: So what's the difference ?
JB: All the difference in the world, maybe. When I fear the lack of time to a schedule, such as arriving at the airport in time, things enevitably go awry. Allowing plenty of time to arrive with no fear of losing any, every part of the journey runs more smoothly. Now that's easy for me to say, not being a parent of highly excited or mischievious children, but if the parents could chill out and view the whole journey as an adventure instead of a logistics course on The Krypton Factor, their holiday could be all the more relaxing. Or am I talking out of my backside. Be flexible, leaving space for alternate plans.
PENNY: Like when it rains when you want to go to the beach?
JB: Exactly! Consider when you are at the beach, how much time do you spend in the sea as to on the beach itself. The amount of time spent doing either and the enjoyment of them are factors in the evaluation of your holiday. Likewise with eating, what you eat and where you eat. Where you sleep. Is it a hotel, bed and breakfast, hostel or camping site? Are you under canvas or in a caravan? Did you personaly want to go there, or was it your parents' choice and you had to lump it or leave it? Ditto for the accomodation and eating.
DON: So what has all this to do with economics? You've lost me.
BENJAMIN: What sir is saying is that we must ask ourselves these sort of questions in order to understand the relativity of life in all its complexity. We can then evaluate our experiences and commodities we buy considering their relativity, pricing them accordingly.
DON: What if you could fill out a comments slip about your stay at a hotel, B&B, or campsite which could immeadiatly be fed into a computer to assess how much you deserve to pay?
BENJAMIN: Right on! Could the same be done with package deal holidays?
DON: Some money could be paid upfront, one or two hundred pounds, say until you return. After filling the forms in about all the aspects of your holiday, the computer then makes an evaluation reimbursing or demanding more.
AVRIL: But wouldn't people make out they had a terrible holiday so as to get all or most of their money back?
JB: True, but I'm sure there would be watchdog systems to protect those within the travel business as well as holiday makers.The travel company would have to take full responsiblity for this so all are serviced adequately. It's the same with work. The quality of the commodities you produce or help to produce, or the services you provide depends on how much time, care and diligence you devote to them.
AVRIL: So, if you feel undervalued in your work, you won't bother about quality, and so we end up with crappy commodities in the shops.
DON: And shoddy workmanship from traders that come to "fix" this or that in our homes or our streets and elsewhere yet we're expected to cough up the quality price rate for them. But if we insist on paying for good service and commodities only, traders will be forced to raise their standards or not be paid what they expect
JB: Most of the time, yes. Also when unrealistic or penalistic targets are set upon the work, as well as pure profit-mongering, often quality flies out the window in order to meet those deadlines.
PENNY: So why are they imposed?
JB: To prevent contactors prolonging their work to keep themselves in business and their employees permanantly employed. Corners are often cut so they are called on perpetually to repair their faulty original work. Unfortunately, quality goods now, as in the past, are out of the reach of many households. So to rectify, what should we do?
BENJAMIN: Find ways of getting people to change their ideas about time and the cost of it.
JB: This, I feel, will come to light as we progress with a wider scope of how people in other parts of the world value their lives, work and recreation. Now I remember, this brings us to where I cut off yesterday, about the possibility of discovering how other Universal beings do things in their world. We may find them futuristic because they are alien, forgive the pun, being unknown to us. But are they not contemporary, only different means of living?
This could be how equality and improvements in ourselves and our technology may not necessarily contradict. Let's ponder it as we continue today.
BENJAMIN: This could be the beginning of a massive survey.
PETER: Or the close of this project if we can't justify the expense to Miss Bridget.
DON: And how do we know you won't get the push at the end of term and we end up with a boring teacher.
PETER: Or no economics at all!
JB: True, this I cannot guarantee, but I would be prepared to set up an after school school, since you seem interested enough to continue learning from me.
PETER: That would be great.
DON: Would we have to pay you?
JB: I think we could come up with an amicable agreement should the need arise.
BENJAMIN: A form of credit similar to that used in StarTrek?
PETER: Do you mean those gold pressed latinum bars?
BENJAMIN: No, credit points, sort of.
JB: Think flexibly
BENJAMIN: Think relative to relativity.
JB: Another fallacy about time is that time spent doing nothing is wasted.
PENNY: How come?
JB: That time spent doing nothing is not wasted?
PENNY: If you like.
JB: It being the general attitude in western society that we should be busy doing. Our waking life should be actively full. Eastern society does not always hold to this. It allows for contemplation.
DON: Isn't that the same as meditation?
JB: Yes, it is a form of meditation. Practicing either or both opens yourself to universal wisdom that may inspire you to invent or discover something of world shattering significance or merely advice on when best to plant those flower seeds or bulbs or a recipe for a special meal for friends. The mind is more flexible when there is no time agenda. Both Einstein and Darwin were inspired whilst taking walks out in nature, along with many other creative people such as poets and artists et al. And who's to say they were not inspired by other world beings. For when we meditate, our brainwaves switch frequencies, allowing cell particles to travel away from the body crossing into other realms or planes of existance momentarily. Not only this, those meditating on those or other planes reciproccate with their cellular particles, or equivelant, returning to their physical or etheric bodies with information collected .
DON: So, we're all our own cosmic web sites. Is this what we should be doing, more consciously, though?
JB: Yes we could put it that way. And yes, be more consciously aware of how we communicate with each other. Our cells listen to us in ways we have not yet fathomed and respond likewise. But I want to mention another fallacy, that denies dreaming. How many times have you heard the expression that we spend a third of our lives sleeping, inferring that time is wasted?
[Some nods from pupils acknnowledged]
Yet sleep and dreaming is just as vital to our survival as breathing.
ROY: If we don't get enough sleep we become tetchy, right. If we lose too much we go crazy. I saw it on Horizon Once. It's a scientific fact.
JB: Exactly. It's essential for our peace of minds. I assume those who would have us stay awake 24/7 would have us either working or consuming, so long as profits are being made for the select few. But then that's my bias. I would sooner choose more dreamtime.
PENNY: Whilst awake?
JB: Certainly. This is the direction I intend our classes should be heading once we have decorated our classroom and possibly commenced on the rest of the school with Miss Bridget's approval. Now, I have spoken to Miss Bridget, and yes, she is willing to cooperate. She has her own list of budget targets the school needs to meet for this year and has handed us the interesting challenge of not only beating those targets, but of hiding any surplus funds from the school authorities.
KAREM: What does she mean by hiding any surplus funds?
BENJAMIN: What we can save for the school, we need to keep in reserve against inevitable rises in costs or fall in budget allowance.
JB: Very astute of you, Benjamin. We need to make the books right without cooking them, by some how justifying the saving without losing out in next year's budget. So, if we can decorate this room at no extra cost to the budget, Miss Bridget will see how she can allocate funds from the existing budget to decorate the rest of the school on condition we can beat her estimate before we start.
PETER: Then we start dreaming our own style of economy
JB: As we proceed, certainly. I believe your mural is the first step to acknowledging each others perceptions, or at least those not already acknowledged and allowing me to realize them for myself.
We then begin our dreaming sessions with paper and pencil at hand to jot down whatever we were dreaming then create in any form something from those dreams we can each share. Remember we must justify our results to the class in the form of healthy debate. We then repeat the process until a pattern of thought is realized. We can experiment with grouping patterns and enviroments to discover whether any particular patterns produce more interesting results than others and so determine, for instance, who has a greater aptitude for dealing with certain aspects of holistic economy. If you prefer to work on projects in teams, they could then act as team leaders focusing on those aspects, for once we have suceeded with re-assessing the school budget we can then think about linking up with other schools as Benjamin has already suggested
PENNY: Why wait. Start the ball rolling now by elasticating time. Text and E-Mail our mates for feedback whilst we work on our projects, whatever they maybe.
ROY: Yea, what will these projects entail?
JB: The creation of your own living spaces, homes, streets, towns and /or cities recreational spaces, shopping centres. All your municipal needs you will learn to fund and cater for as well as your neighbours in natural spaces, as we've mentioned before. All factors will be painstakingly considered, from the needs of your grandparents, those physically and mentally disadvantaged [for the sake of a more humain term] to the smallest of creatures that maintain the micro-ecologies of the smallest blade of grass and sod of earth. To your own grandchildren, be flexible enough with your designs to allow them to be re-adjusted and amended without recourse to partial or total demolition of structures, municipal and domestic. Beleive me, you will need to know all this. And since the government have no interest in teaching it to you, the most practical way is for your generation to teach yourselves. I'm only here to guide you.
TO BE CONTINUED.
----------------------------------------------------------------------e you.
Not only does he teach remedial children , he carries out Lee Kui's directives for a holistic education for Megacity , creating programs to encourage adults and children to be more aware of their true potentials and destinies in service to themselves as a society
JOSEPH BLENDING is a man of absolutely no importance. So reckons the status quo of present society. However, he is fully aware this does not include everybody's reckoning, especially this present child generation, eager for a real education instead of the indoctrinated pap presently forced upon them. They seek relevance to their world not their preceding generations' worlds. This is Joseph Blending's mission.
Having sufficiently qualified himself in economics on an Open University course along with other relevant courses in sociology and psychology, he has managed to position himself with a school teaching those with reading and writing difficulties in order to impart basic economics. Of course, the authorities expect nothing great to come from the exercise, so leave Blending free to commence how he wishes. He aims to empower them to realise their true potentials, thus enabling them to restructure society to their desires responsibly and holistically.
Int: school classroom and corridor.
Walls bare and white above pine panelling below dado rail. Only black plastic chairs common to schools stacked against west wall, facing multi-paned window segregating outside panorama into small boxed fragments. Floor of parqueted mahogany, residue of a more prosperous yet unethically astute age. A huge 'whiteboard' replaces the now politically incorrect 'blackboard'. Mustn't be racialist now. What has a blackboard done to anyone a white' bored' hasn't, I wonder? Being black, I suppose. Why are these political correctness fascists so up themselves? Don't they realise their labels for people are just as offensive as those they've replaced? Challenged this, challenged that. We're all challenged here on Earth, it's why we ARE here.
The pupils await their economics teacher, whom they have never before met, in the corridor which is laid with plain pale grey linoleum.
Similar walls as classroom only completely white, as is the ceiling, illuminated by bulbs in cased in beacon like clam shells. Placed at two metre intervals along the corridor they produce an eerie gloom.
The children, thirty in this class, are boys and girls aged 10-16. They wear their own clothes.
MR.BLENDING aged 46, dressed comfortably in burgundy corduroy slacks, paisley shirt of red/green hue, a velvet jacket with reinforced patches at the elbow, also in burgundy [if not a deep wine red], walks in black Cuban heels, down the corridor toward his awaiting pupils. His hair, collar length with a left side parting at front is auburn with flecks of grey at temples and sideburns. He fumbles with the keys until he finds the one that opens successfully amongst assorted impatient groans from the children.
JB: Good morning all. Sorry for the delay. Problem finding the keys for this room. [Looks around classroom as all pile in] Dreary, isn't it ?
PUPIL: [Fastidiously] An understatement.
JB: Well there is a good reason for it being so dreary.
PUPIL:[Contemptuously] And that is?
JB: I intend for you to decorate it, to your tastes.
PUPIL: But what has this to do with economics? You have got the right class, I presume, Mr. er Blandin ?
JB: If economics is what you expect to be taught you, then yes. And my name is Blending.[Walks to whiteboard, picks up marker and spells name onto it]. Has anyone any suggestions worthy of mention? [Looks out at sea of blank faces and shrugging shoulders] So that I can get to know you all without asking your names over and over, could you state them as you speak, please.
PUPIL: Peter Standish. How much can we spend?
JB: An excellent start to a course on economics. Next question, how do we justify what we spend?
PUPIL: Penny Oliver. How can we justify what we haven't thought of yet?
JB: Any suggestions?
PUPIL: Peter Standish. Let's see how we can decorate this place, add up it's cost, then present it to the 'Head' along with our justification of why we deserve an environment conducive to inspiration.
JB: May I suggest a collage to fill the vacuity? Comprised of images depicting the world how you perceive it.
PUPIL: Don Watts. What's a collage?
PENNY: [Hissing] Idiot!
JB: Good question if you've never heard of the concept. A collage, young man, comprises of many cutouts from magazines and old newspapers, also fabrics and other materials such as plastic or metal; whatever sticks to a canvas. But it's not always haphazard, there's reason behind the placement on/in the collage, even though it's not understood by all. What I propose is that we meditate on how we feel about the world we live in now. Relax yourselves anywhere in the room. Sit or lie down allowing your thoughts to gently focus on how you feel about the world.
[They do so in their own time]
PUPIL: Douglas Dempsey. Do computer images count?
JB: Of course they count.
DON: So when do we start?
[Raucous laughter raised by class]
PENNY: We've all ready started, you tosser.
JB: Now that's enough with the tosser.
[uncontrolled sniggering and hisses from some]
Relax and focus on how you ...
PENNY:[bored]...feel about the world.
JB: That's enough of that cheek too.
4TH PUPIL: Susan Hollingsday. Too short.
DON: Too heavy!
5TH PUPIL: Avril Puckering. Too much!
PETER: Ado about nothin'.
AVRIL: [Droll] Very witty.
6TH PUPIL: Brian sommer. Scummy.
JB: Any brighter images?
BRIAN: No it's all pretty much bollocks really.
AVRIL: Not all the time, is it. I mean there is a lot of good stuff in the world I'd like to see keep coming but without tackiness attached to it. Isn't a wiser choice to pay for quality rather than quantity, we can still recycle and curb our spending so we can ease up on our carbon footprint.
PETER: Carbon footprint my arse. It's a government scam to make us believe it's all our fault.
JB: Isn't it our fault, then?
PENNY: What do you mean? course its not all our fault. What about all the toxic dumping of the huge chemical and oil companies?
JB: Are you so sure its not? Do you not use electricity, water, gas?
What about all the chemicals you consume, whether you consented directly or not?
DON: What do you mean by consented directly
JB; Well, whenever you choose to buy something, you indirectly consent to consuming its ingredients, if foodstuff, otherwise its contents. So what exactly do you spend your money on, and where does it come from? Do you actually know where all our waste goes after we throw it, or spend it, or do you just trust that the local council deals with responsibly?
PENNY: The money or the stuff I buy?
JB: O.K. Lets deal with one issue at a time. What happens to the wasted or "dead" deposits of our fuel consumption?
PENNY: Most of it ends up in the atmosphere as pollution, right?
JB:[Nods agreement] And where else do you think?
7TH PUPIL: Roy Caper. It falls back into the earth to poison our food crops, plant life and animals so we end up eating and drinking our own crap.
DOUGLAS: And the scientists have considered cramming all our crap into pods or capsules and jettisoning it all into the Sun. Won't that just come back at us in the form of polluted sunlight?
JB: So what can we do if we can't burn it here on Earth without polluting ourselves nor in the Sun as it will just come back at us as poisoned sunlight?
SUSAN: So, how did we deal with our rubbish before the industrialization of the world?
PETER: Good question.[Turns to J.B. with inquisitive frown]
JB: What did we do, I wonder? Any suggestions on that one?
DON: Come on Sir, don't try to wriggle out of it.
JB: O.K. then, for a start, everything we produced for sale and consumption was organically grown and bred so whatever we had no immediate use for was somehow stored for future recycling. It is true that in the Neolithic and Stone ages people buried their household rubbish in a pit outside their homes, but this was all, but bones and broken crockery, biodegradable, usually whatever the family dog and other livestock wouldn't eat. Generally they produced/bred enough to meet their needs. However, as we all have come to realize, the subsequent escalation in consumption, due to wider trade links during the Roman and middle ages as well, our thirst for ever more electronically advanced tools and toys due to the present technological age, we appear to have amassed a hefty surplus of appliances as we are continually shamed into believing them to be obsolete. Not forgetting also the excess foodstuffs that pile only to be destroyed by E.U. and U.N. regulations.
ROY: Isn't that just criminal? Governments punish business for producing too much yet waste the food rather than do the decent thing of donating the cost of redistributing vital resources to those countries that need them through charities like Oxfam and Live Aid
JB Bravo! You've hit the nail on the head, Roy. Unfortunately governments are not as ethically advanced as are we. They only interest themselves in the profits of war and commercial greed.
PENNY: So how can we persuade them differently?
JB: Alas we cannot. We can only, as far as I can see, outgrow them by educating ourselves so we can take over the reigns responsibly. Make it your generation's destiny to make the appropriate changes by creating your own Governments. Not by inciting bloody revolutions that have failed throughout history, as the leaders of such coups have inevitably been of the same stamp as those they have overthrown.
PUPIL: Benjamin Freede. Wasn't it The Beatles who sang "if you want to change the world, you'd better change your mind instead" ?
JB: Maybe not the exact lyric, but yes, that is what they were saying and I am advocating to you. You need to side-step the way governments are run in the future by creating your own political parties that truly speak and deliver to your generation. Involve the population of your respective countries in the governing of themselves.
AVRIL: Well, we won't be needin' paper. Straight on the walls with it.
JB: How do you mean?
AVRIL: We don't HAVE to meditate, we can visualise. The writing can be on the walls like in ancient Greece and Rome. They used graffiti to express ideas and opinions just as we paint drab city walls with our brand of graffiti. We deliver our messages to those who understand us. If the councillors and other bods in government could bother themselves to read and listen, a channel for communication could be set up. We can be flexible if they can.
BRIAN: We're only here because the Education bods aren't flexible enough to realize that our forms of expression have moved on from the three 'R's', as they so patronizingly phrase it.
JB: Do you not think that there should be a standard of language for everyone to understand?
BENJAMIN: If so, shouldn't we all be speaking and writing the same language around the world?
JB: Well, it has been tried in the past. There was a language called Esperanto but it didn't take off.
BENJAMIN: Exactly my point.My parents often say Variety is the spice of life. Maybe that's why this Esperanto failed to take on.
JB: Maybe so. Most probably the Governments of the world found it too problematic to instigate.
with no problem anyway. We don't need any boring reading and writing lessons.
BENJAMIN: And as Avril has said, isn't it you adults who should be learning our languages since we are supposed to be the future? MR.Blending's Co-created Society BENJAMIN: Exactly my point.My parents often say Variety is the spice of life. Maybe that's why this Esperanto failed to take on.
JB: Homo Sapiens have outgrown their use. Make way for the Homo Superior. Is that what you mean?
BENJAMIN: No. We don't want to get rid of you, just your obsolete thinking.
JB: Then at least I speak the same language as yourselves. Or am I being presumptuous?
BENJAMIN: We understand where you're coming from. You have our attention.
[JB scans class for visible signs of approbation, receiving them in various forms. The Children begin to peer about the walls ,at and through the windows, even, for pictorial inspiration.]
JB: Let us get back to discussing our consumption and it's inevitable waste product, pollution. Penny referred to money as a product of this, in so many words. We all know money is produced at the Mint. But how the Governments of the world justify the amount of paper notes and metal to coin has long led to economical imbalances. We discussed earlier the wasted food and commodities due to the reluctance of Governments to redistribute to those who sorely need them, cause of an economical and ecological imbalance. So how can we expect the few in Government to responsibly distribute monied wealth when they wish to hoard it all for themselves at the expense of the many?
PUPIL: Especially when they have huge armies of soldiers and police to protect it. [JB stares at her inquisitively]Oh, Karem Weng.
DOUGLAS: How are we to get the armies and police forces on our side whenever we do create our own governments?
JB: Will you feel the need for armies since you all seem to agree that you speak a common language worldwide? I do agree that some kind of law enforcement is necessary until mankind has evolved beyond war and crime but it could be practiced by other means than at present.
Don't you think?
PENNY: When there is no want in the world crime will diminsh but, there will still be the power hungry. How will we deal with them?
JB: In the past we exiled them to tiny islands but only to replace them by equally power hungry egocentrics. So what should we do with the drunken sailors of your future.[Enigmatic expressions all round] Just an expression taken from an old song.
PETER: Like you adults singing the same old song which is why the world is in this present state of stagnation?
JB: Exactly! Which is why I wish to teach you how to bridge this empasse. So lets get back to this money issue.
BENJAMIN: Wouldn't it be a idea to find out just how much money there is in the world and how it can be evenly distributed just as we should be finding out how much money the Head Teacher has to spend in order to justify our expenditure.
JB: Capital! Which is the amount a business or institution, such as this school, has to spend on maintaining itself. When it comes to entire countries we speak of GNP and GDP as a measurement of a nation's wealth. But since Gross National Product and Gross Deficit Product are pretty inaccurate measurements if we are dealing with an holistic economy, I think it wiser to leave dealing with them until a more appropriate time. However, if we could, with the cooperation of Miss Bridget, assertain and re-evaluate the school's budget, which is a good starting point. Which also brings us back to our original task of justifying the expenditure of decorating this classroom, which would also be a feather in our cap for seeking her cooperation.
[Meanwhile some pupils have taken the initiative of raiding the school art stores. Having procured all the tablets of paint pigment and any powdered paint, gathered some empty tubs, containers and blunt instruments, are busy crushing pigment into powder, filling containers, adding water, and vegetable oil to thicken enough to daub successfully, they mix each colour in separate containers].
JB: But we still have not answered the question of where the money comes from to justify the money minted.
BENJAMIN: So how can there be more credit available than actual paper and metal? Isn't this why the banks have gone to pot?
JB: Unwise speculation on the money markets has always been the cause of crashes and burst speculation bubbles throughout history. Its to do with trusting the metal to keep its expected value on the market. But When gold and silver drastically drop or rise unexpectedly, inflation or depression follow. The quantity of goods being manufactured and the spending power we have are also a factor previous governments neglected to consider, notably Germany after the First World War. The International Monetary Fund decides how much money is brought into circulation in certain zones of the world and how much is withdrawn from others at certain times. Of course we already discussed the political bias as a major factor for the imbalances throughout the world. Instead, I want us to explore a totally different perspective, hence the collage I suggested and the graffiti mural you have decided on as a base to explore where we wish to go with our approach to a holistic economy.
[paint being duly mixed the pupils begin daubing the walls] When your parents arrive home after a days' work, complaining of being knackered, unable to play or help with homework, yet prepared to sit in front of the soaps all evening, have you wondered whether there's more to it than physical exhaustion?
BENJAMIN: They're emotionally drained too. My mum's always threatening an heart attack or nervous breakdown if we don't calm down and shut up.
JB: So why do you think this is?
DON: Stress in the workplace. Agro from the boss and others at the office, or wherever. Then us when she gets home.
JB: That's what I'm getting at. What does your mum work at, Don?
DON: [Sniggers and mock vomitting from his mates] She helps cook the school dinners then has to cook for us.
CHILDREN: Gluttens for punishment, Yeargh!
JB: Calm down now. And why the agro?
DON: 'Cos people get on yer tits a lot of the time.
JB: So how are the tensions sparked off, do you think?
PENNY: You heard, people piss you off a lot of the time.
JB: Inequality and lack of selfworth engendered in the workplace, I feel, are the major contributors to emotional stress in the workplace. Of course this spills over on the commute home. Delays and cancellations to public transport, traffic jams etc; and upon reaching home as minor issues are wound up into huge arguments. Some employees efforts are overlooked whilst shortsighted managers reward those deemed by their colleagues as undeserving such rewards.
PETER: We all need incentives to aim for though, otherwise what's the point of working other than to pay bills and feed ourselves.
JB: What do you perceive as incentives to aim for?
PETER: Decent chance of promotion and wage rises to beat inflation are what my parents bang on about, but we need more stimulation. The choice to contribute to the company we work for in more than one capacity.
JB: So how would this work?
PETER: By working part time on the shop or office floor and part time in the manager's office we can grasp for our selves the overall picture of how the business we're employed in operates, so prompting us to successfully present improvements to management without being softsoaped by mediocre managers, fearing the loss of their power.
AVRIL: In what way do you see the boss as being equal to the employees yet still order them to do their work, Mr.Blending?
JB: Well, Peter obviously understands where I'm coming from with this. Incentives are indeed neccessary, but do they need to be penal opposed to inspirational? A worthy employer is of such a quality of character that coercive incentives...
DON: [interupting]What's coercive mean, sir?
JB: Threatening. Do this or else that will happen to you. So a worthy employer has no need of coercive measures to motivate staff to persue their duties. As Peter has pointed out so succinctly, an employer who values employees by inspiring them to leadership roles within the company instead of fearing their success, encourage them to become self motivated. For example, how does Captain Picard successfully captain his ship whilst rarely raising his voice or cajouling his crew into action?
DON: [Immitates Picard pointing finger]Make it so.
JB: Is it his rank or personality that commands so?
AVRIL: Both, by pulling rank only when he feels it neccessary, not to bolster his ego.
DON: He also allows his officers to speak frankly or 'off the record' if they believe his stubborn streak is jeopardizing the ship, crew or mission.
JB: So delegation normally runs smoothly throughout the Enterprise, because?
PENNY: Because the crew are valued by their captain.
BENJAMIN: Shouldn't we consider an equality of salary. As an incentive to contribute to the companies we'll work for?
PENNY: And how would that encourage managers to feel their worth, considering our present parent generation's mindset
BENJAMIN: It would bruise quite a few egos, for sure, but test the integrity of those who claim to be upto the challenge.
ROY: They don't use money either, do they? Just some kind of credit system.
JB: So they must be credited in some way for the service they provide for The Federation.
ROY: On Deep Space Nine they use bars of gold pressed latinum, whatever that is.
PENNY: But they're not universal currency, within The Federation.
JB: So how do they value the commodities they order from the replicators? This is the kind of scenario I want to place us in, where money as we know it, no longer has value so we are compelled to create afresh by revaluing ourselves, our resources, and the commodities we decide to produce both for the home market and abroad. As well as our choice of imports and importers. Do we for instance choose those countries we can make a fast buck from, or those we recieve fair quality from whilst ensuring their employees are treated as equally as we expect of ourselves?
PETER: If we opt for a truly holistic economy you seemed to be alluding to, shouldn't we be considering the plant and animal kingdoms?
SUSAN: Not forgetting the minerals, elementals and other lifeforms. Even though we can't see them, they all share Earth's environment with us.
JB: Yes, everyone must be equally considered.
DON: So, how much money is the world really worth?
JB: Some sources reckon on $47 Trillion. But does that consider the entire planet's resouce potential, I wonder?
PENNY; So, how can we assertain it for ourselves?
BENJAMIN: I think it better to dismiss these official figures altogether and look to a new method.
JB: Ditto. I suggest we are no other but each other. We are all varieties of energy patterns formed from the Universal source.
So how can we pretend further that we are superior to other varieties of ourselves? Can anyone honestly look to the sky and pinpoint THE centre of Creation and claim it to be more or less superior to any other pinprick of light or dark, anymore than this planet could be?
AVRIL: So, how can we improve on anything if everything is equal?
JB: Indeed, how do we justify furthering our potentials as well as that of which we rear or produce if all is equality?
BENJAMIN: By percieving equality and potential in a different light?
JB: Good answer, but is it enough, do you think? could we be missing something? If we were to tap into the wisdom of other beings in the Universe, to discover how they do things, we would of course think many of them far advanced than our own, simply for being unknown to us. But I think we should discuss this further tomorrow. For now, let's return to present value assessment
PETER: We could make a list on the mural of what we as a class value most then justify our claims.
BENJAMIN: Why not go online to find what other schools value?
PETER: Ask them how they would value their choices?
AVRIL: Finding a common denominator to work with.
BENJAMIN: An interschool currency but without cash?
AVRIL:
The very reason Mr.Blending suggested we evaluate how the school is funded we could use in order to value an interschool currency. An interesting exercise for us could be, once we have assessed how we feel about the world, school, and what and how we are taught to believe in, should be expressed. And if we could learn from Miss Bridget the logistics of managing a school, from her perspective.
Scene closes as children continue daubing the walls and pine panelling.
Day/Int. Morning classroom
Children have already got stuck into their mural. JB bowls into the classroom with a stack of papers and glossy magazines propped under his chin. Almost crashing into the far wall he defts a spin on his left heel so the stack lands with a smack to the floor.
JB: How many of you think there's not enough time and how many think there's just enough?
AVRIL: Just enough for what?
JB: Exactly!
DON: What exactly?
JB: Have you had enough of it yet?
PENNY: Of what you've been wasting, maybe?
JB: Why not? There's enough of it.
DON: How do you know if there's enough?
JB: Now there's enough to be getting on with. O.K then, who thinks time is or could be elastic?
DON: Like a spring or elastic band, you mean?
JB: In a way, yes. It's the way you think about time that has to be elastic for you to experience its elasticity.
BENJAMIN: Einstein said time is relative. That's what you mean, isn't it?
JB: Exactly. You have to be elastic with your relativity. People often use fear-based phrases concerning time as if there's never enough of it, ever. Another cause for stress in our lives we could do without. How many of you consider a holiday starting at your holiday destination ?
[Six children show their hands.]
How many consider the adventure commencing as soon as you 've left your homes?
[Only two pupils show theirs]
DON: So what's the difference ?
JB: All the difference in the world, maybe. When I fear the lack of time to a schedule, such as arriving at the airport in time, things enevitably go awry. Allowing plenty of time to arrive with no fear of losing any, every part of the journey runs more smoothly. Now that's easy for me to say, not being a parent of highly excited or mischievious children, but if the parents could chill out and view the whole journey as an adventure instead of a logistics course on The Krypton Factor, their holiday could be all the more relaxing. Or am I talking out of my backside. Be flexible, leaving space for alternate plans.
PENNY: Like when it rains when you want to go to the beach?
JB: Exactly! Consider when you are at the beach, how much time do you spend in the sea as to on the beach itself. The amount of time spent doing either and the enjoyment of them are factors in the evaluation of your holiday. Likewise with eating, what you eat and where you eat. Where you sleep. Is it a hotel, bed and breakfast, hostel or camping site? Are you under canvas or in a caravan? Did you personaly want to go there, or was it your parents' choice and you had to lump it or leave it? Ditto for the accomodation and eating.
DON: So what has all this to do with economics? You've lost me.
BENJAMIN: What sir is saying is that we must ask ourselves these sort of questions in order to understand the relativity of life in all its complexity. We can then evaluate our experiences and commodities we buy considering their relativity, pricing them accordingly.
DON: What if you could fill out a comments slip about your stay at a hotel, B&B, or campsite which could immeadiatly be fed into a computer to assess how much you deserve to pay?
BENJAMIN: Right on! Could the same be done with package deal holidays?
DON: Some money could be paid upfront, one or two hundred pounds, say until you return. After filling the forms in about all the aspects of your holiday, the computer then makes an evaluation reimbursing or demanding more.
AVRIL: But wouldn't people make out they had a terrible holiday so as to get all or most of their money back?
JB: True, but I'm sure there would be watchdog systems to protect those within the travel business as well as holiday makers.The travel company would have to take full responsiblity for this so all are serviced adequately. It's the same with work. The quality of the commodities you produce or help to produce, or the services you provide depends on how much time, care and diligence you devote to them.
AVRIL: So, if you feel undervalued in your work, you won't bother about quality, and so we end up with crappy commodities in the shops.
DON: And shoddy workmanship from traders that come to "fix" this or that in our homes or our streets and elsewhere yet we're expected to cough up the quality price rate for them. But if we insist on paying for good service and commodities only, traders will be forced to raise their standards or not be paid what they expect
JB: Most of the time, yes. Also when unrealistic or penalistic targets are set upon the work, as well as pure profit-mongering, often quality flies out the window in order to meet those deadlines.
PENNY: So why are they imposed?
JB: To prevent contactors prolonging their work to keep themselves in business and their employees permanantly employed. Corners are often cut so they are called on perpetually to repair their faulty original work. Unfortunately, quality goods now, as in the past, are out of the reach of many households. So to rectify, what should we do?
BENJAMIN: Find ways of getting people to change their ideas about time and the cost of it.
JB: This, I feel, will come to light as we progress with a wider scope of how people in other parts of the world value their lives, work and recreation. Now I remember, this brings us to where I cut off yesterday, about the possibility of discovering how other Universal beings do things in their world. We may find them futuristic because they are alien, forgive the pun, being unknown to us. But are they not contemporary, only different means of living?
This could be how equality and improvements in ourselves and our technology may not necessarily contradict. Let's ponder it as we continue today.
BENJAMIN: This could be the beginning of a massive survey.
PETER: Or the close of this project if we can't justify the expense to Miss Bridget.
DON: And how do we know you won't get the push at the end of term and we end up with a boring teacher.
PETER: Or no economics at all!
JB: True, this I cannot guarantee, but I would be prepared to set up an after school school, since you seem interested enough to continue learning from me.
PETER: That would be great.
DON: Would we have to pay you?
JB: I think we could come up with an amicable agreement should the need arise.
BENJAMIN: A form of credit similar to that used in StarTrek?
PETER: Do you mean those gold pressed latinum bars?
BENJAMIN: No, credit points, sort of.
JB: Think flexibly
BENJAMIN: Think relative to relativity.
JB: Another fallacy about time is that time spent doing nothing is wasted.
PENNY: How come?
JB: That time spent doing nothing is not wasted?
PENNY: If you like.
JB: It being the general attitude in western society that we should be busy doing. Our waking life should be actively full. Eastern society does not always hold to this. It allows for contemplation.
DON: Isn't that the same as meditation?
JB: Yes, it is a form of meditation. Practicing either or both opens yourself to universal wisdom that may inspire you to invent or discover something of world shattering significance or merely advice on when best to plant those flower seeds or bulbs or a recipe for a special meal for friends. The mind is more flexible when there is no time agenda. Both Einstein and Darwin were inspired whilst taking walks out in nature, along with many other creative people such as poets and artists et al. And who's to say they were not inspired by other world beings. For when we meditate, our brainwaves switch frequencies, allowing cell particles to travel away from the body crossing into other realms or planes of existance momentarily. Not only this, those meditating on those or other planes reciproccate with their cellular particles, or equivelant, returning to their physical or etheric bodies with information collected .
DON: So, we're all our own cosmic web sites. Is this what we should be doing, more consciously, though?
JB: Yes we could put it that way. And yes, be more consciously aware of how we communicate with each other. Our cells listen to us in ways we have not yet fathomed and respond likewise. But I want to mention another fallacy, that denies dreaming. How many times have you heard the expression that we spend a third of our lives sleeping, inferring that time is wasted?
[Some nods from pupils acknnowledged]
Yet sleep and dreaming is just as vital to our survival as breathing.
ROY: If we don't get enough sleep we become tetchy, right. If we lose too much we go crazy. I saw it on Horizon Once. It's a scientific fact.
JB: Exactly. It's essential for our peace of minds. I assume those who would have us stay awake 24/7 would have us either working or consuming, so long as profits are being made for the select few. But then that's my bias. I would sooner choose more dreamtime.
PENNY: Whilst awake?
JB: Certainly. This is the direction I intend our classes should be heading once we have decorated our classroom and possibly commenced on the rest of the school with Miss Bridget's approval. Now, I have spoken to Miss Bridget, and yes, she is willing to cooperate. She has her own list of budget targets the school needs to meet for this year and has handed us the interesting challenge of not only beating those targets, but of hiding any surplus funds from the school authorities.
KAREM: What does she mean by hiding any surplus funds?
BENJAMIN: What we can save for the school, we need to keep in reserve against inevitable rises in costs or fall in budget allowance.
JB: Very astute of you, Benjamin. We need to make the books right without cooking them, by some how justifying the saving without losing out in next year's budget. So, if we can decorate this room at no extra cost to the budget, Miss Bridget will see how she can allocate funds from the existing budget to decorate the rest of the school on condition we can beat her estimate before we start.
PETER: Then we start dreaming our own style of economy
JB: As we proceed, certainly. I believe your mural is the first step to acknowledging each others perceptions, or at least those not already acknowledged and allowing me to realize them for myself.
We then begin our dreaming sessions with paper and pencil at hand to jot down whatever we were dreaming then create in any form something from those dreams we can each share. Remember we must justify our results to the class in the form of healthy debate. We then repeat the process until a pattern of thought is realized. We can experiment with grouping patterns and enviroments to discover whether any particular patterns produce more interesting results than others and so determine, for instance, who has a greater aptitude for dealing with certain aspects of holistic economy. If you prefer to work on projects in teams, they could then act as team leaders focusing on those aspects, for once we have suceeded with re-assessing the school budget we can then think about linking up with other schools as Benjamin has already suggested
PENNY: Why wait. Start the ball rolling now by elasticating time. Text and E-Mail our mates for feedback whilst we work on our projects, whatever they maybe.
ROY: Yea, what will these projects entail?
JB: The creation of your own living spaces, homes, streets, towns and /or cities recreational spaces, shopping centres. All your municipal needs you will learn to fund and cater for as well as your neighbours in natural spaces, as we've mentioned before. All factors will be painstakingly considered, from the needs of your grandparents, those physically and mentally disadvantaged [for the sake of a more humain term] to the smallest of creatures that maintain the micro-ecologies of the smallest blade of grass and sod of earth. To your own grandchildren, be flexible enough with your designs to allow them to be re-adjusted and amended without recourse to partial or total demolition of structures, municipal and domestic. Beleive me, you will need to know all this. And since the government have no interest in teaching it to you, the most practical way is for your generation to teach yourselves. I'm only here to guide you.
TO BE CONTINUED.
----------------------------------------------------------------------e you.
CORRESPONDENCE WITH A MODERN DEIST
CORRESPONDENCE WITH A MODERN DEIST
From: Steven Stewart
Subject: Am I a deist?
To: jayson@deism.com
Date: Friday, March 11, 2011, 7:01 AM
Subject: Re: Am I a deist?
To: defoedanielinfidel@hotmail.co.uk
Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2011 06:45:27 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Am I a deist?
To: defoedanielinfidel@hotmail.co.uk
Dear Steven,
To: defoedanielinfidel@hotmail.co.uk
Hi Steve,
The color of the day is turquoise.
--- On Sun, 3/13/11, Steven Stewart
From: Steven Stewart
Subject: RE: Am I a deist?
To: jayson@deism.com
Date: Sunday, March 13, 2011, 3:44 PM
Hi Jason ,
I just happen to be reading some more essays on the Diesm website when I recieved your response with much pleasure. We
do have much in common and would like to continue a dialogue with you and other diests ,so decided to read on to offermore
topics before replying.Further on crime and punishment, I did at one time believe that if you murdered some one e.g at the age
of 20, than life should mean 80 years behind bars;if 80, than 20 years, or the number of years from 100 you deprived your victim
of, but because a] more people are living longer than 100 years b] as mentioned, lawyers nowadays are more interested in "winning"
their cases than seeing justice prevail, thus people are wrongly imprisoned, and c] because we now understand the ripples from such
transgressions have wider consequences to society to consider, more thought should be given to how we should atone for tresspasses
against our fellow citizens.
That is an interesting idea, and I certainly do not mind it very much.
I didn't always believe this way--maybe it is because I live in Texas now, the Execution Capital of the United States--but I favor convicted murderers being quickly and inexpensively executed, assuming that they are almost certainly guilty. A lifetime of prison is terrible for prisoners and expensive for society. Plus, executing a murderer keeps the murderer from hurting anyone else and sends a strong message to other would-be murderers: You will get what you give.
Despite being unable to provide concrete proof, I do believe it possible for those of a highly spiritual nature,
loving and forgiving of everyone, an extremely rare condition here on Earth, of bi-location. Since there is less dubious media
attention drawn to this phenomenum, than others, I find it all the more credible. Would this be blind faith or leaning on the
side of reasoned caution ?
Exactly why do you believe in bi-location?
Do you believe in Bigfoot, the Yeti /Abonimal Snowman? Can you believe them smart enough to evade us ,instinctively
knowing our intentions toward them, if caught ? I believe in the latter. And could they not be Neanderthal man, or their
biological cousins?
To paraphrase Shakespeare, there is more in the universe than is dreamed of by our philosophies. So, I keep an open mind. However, I don't want my mind to be so open that my brain falls out. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Claiming that extremely large, human-like apes are wondering North America and Tibert is an extraordinary claim. I am not aware of any extraordinary proof for it. A fresh corpse, examined by credible scientists with much media coverage, would do.
I don't buy the official ""pushed off the Iberian Penninsula into oblivion" story, purely on the evidence
of a few bones in caves They were more widespread than Western Europe alone and could easily have found their way to
Asia then across The Bering Strait , if not buliding craft to sail the Atlantic, if not walk the frozen Artic Circle .And why
should they not have evolved in North America simultaneously with Europe?And why not modern Homo Sapien the
evolution of interspecies fornication!?
I suppose that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals crossbred.
I dismiss none of this purely on inconclusive evidence. We thought the coelacanth
extinct until surfacing alive and well in 1938
The Infinite in a nutshell. How ? Infinite unfettered perception? And why shouldn't It be so before the Big Bang, and why
shouldn't other Creations of diverse orders exist prior to the present? "It's life Jim, but not as we know it" .
I still, however have this gnawing anomily concerning deism's claim to non violence
Deism teaches reason and the existence of God. It does not necessarily advocate nonviolence.
,since I have just read in the essay The
Ten Commandments ,Washington presiding until his death over the Society of The cincinnati, a military society, despite
retiring to his farm
So, what can we do for our countries to free them from religio-political agression funded by economic greed? You know
as well as I and others, but how can we educate with ahimsa ,so free ouselves from this slavery,when Israel 's agression is
economically fueled from U.S.A?
To quote paraphrase a corny-sounding but excellent saying, we should light a candle rather than curse the darkness. In other words, we should do what we can to help ourselves and the rest of humanity to achieve our positive potential. That is the best way to spend our lives.
Take me for example. I do a good job raising my son, teaching my seventh-grade English students, and promoting Deism. Maybe my efforts seem insignificant compared to the evil that some other people do, but the alternative is just to give up. And giving up is very foolish. Despite how bad things look, goodness just might prevail. In any case, I would rather die doing good than live doing evil.
I and others in Britain have considered non payment of taxes If everyone in U.K and
U.S.A refused to pay taxes, would the governments of each make concentration camps of our nations. for non payment ?
Not paying taxes is a gutsy idea. I think that I prefer democracy and enlightening humanity, though. If we make our nations completely democratic and the majority of people vote to not support evil endeavors, tax money will be spent much better.
Could they not just import foreign workers to fill the jobs to continue paying these taxes that fuel such oppression?Do you
have any suggestions, as well as spreading the word of deism ?
Maybe you can distribute bumper stickers that say something like this:
Reason + Belief in God = Deism
www.deism.com
I've decided that's enough for now. Look forward to further correspondence on similar issues.
Regards, Steve
May reason prevail!
Jayson X
Deputy Director
World Union of Deists
Subject: RE: Am I a deist?
To: jayson@deism.com
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 7:19 AM
Hi Jason,
I've just read your reply to last, with thanks As you have surmised, I am not an advocate of capital punishment, as too many examples of misscarraige of justice have come to light in Britain of late, Too late for some convictions for murder before the abolition of capital punishment in Britain back in 1965. But I do understand the anger and rage of those who have lost loved ones due to such violence, especially from paedophilles and child murderers like Brady and Hindley, especially when they admitted their horrific crimes without remorse. As for capital punishment in U.S. states, I agree with you, but can you explain the purpose of allowing murderers to remain on death row for decades before execution, considering they are such an expense keeping them alive. It seems to me a case of rubbing salt in the wound, to the victims as well as society, and so belies the deterrent. Even so, the deterrent doesn't seem to work very well ,since there are so many murderers in the world, let alone U.SA, unless you believe we would all be murdering ourselves into extinction, without such a deterrent?
The legal system of the United States is unnecessarily inefficient. If I were the emperor of America--and I am not and never will be--I would drop the jury system for a trial presided over by three honest and intelligent judges. I would also allow many convicted criminals the option of jail time or flogging. Either way, justice would be served.
Executing people is serious business, so the government should be fairly certain that the one being executed is guilty. Once that is determined, though, "Full steam ahead!" I say.
Have you heard about cases in the United States in which death-row inmates were not successfully killed by lethal injection? I say that if lethal injection does not work, just shoot them. A bunch of bullets to the head and chest might be a more humane way to die than lethal injection anyway.
No deterrent is perfect because some humans will always murder. However, execution does at least permanently stop those who are executed and should save the government prison expenses.
It is very unfortunate that innocent people sometimes are convicted of crimes, but we must consider the greater good. If only one in 1,000 people are unjustly convicted and imprisoned or executed, their suffering is worth the happiness that the rest of society will gain by having 999 criminals justly imprisoned or executed. Those who are unjustly imprisoned should try to keep that in mind and find some happiness in that, like a martyr suffering for his or her cause.
I, for one, would rather die than live imprisoned for years on end. So I would prefer to be executed rather than spend my life in jail. In fact, I think that prisoners should be allowed to choose quick, painless suicide if they want.
I do believe the deterrent in Britain is merely a dead letter, as many murderers spend less than 10 years in jail. I think this more obscene to the sense of justice than sentencing people in the U.S states to multiple life sentences adding up to two or three centuries. Why not just say "Life until you drop dead", if you you don't execute, unless it is to placate the public ?
I agree with your thinking. Both practices are foolish.
Why do I believe in Bi-location without evidence to prove it so? It would be too easy to say because there is no definite proof to dismiss it either, but I have only the testimonies of those witnesses to Padre PIo and eastern Yogis That we are comprised of several billion particles, some phyisist claim as many as there are stars in the Milkyway, as above, so below, if you like, with many "voids" between, why shouldn't a well trained mind learn to bi-locate and spread their particles to different locations. Since our minds are in every cell of our bodies, the well trained mind could transfer bi-located cells to other locations. I have to admit my knowledege of particle physics surpasses my skill in written description of how it works, Many experiments since the70's, have proven that particles and cells purposely seperated from their various forms and located several distances apart, continue to respond and reciprocate with the particles and cells of their "parent forms" [ Look up "The Secret Life of Your Cells" by Dr. Robert B Stone and "The Secret Life of Plants" by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird ]
This , then is the best I can offer on the subject at present.
Very interesting. "Beam me up, Scotty." Are you a fan of Star Trek? I am.
Bigfoot, yeti etc This is exactly why I can believe that if they do exist, they are probably wise enough to keep themselves hidden. I do believe that these video clips are most likely hoaxes just as many of the mock photos of Nessie, So, I keep my mind open enough to await alternate proof to a corpse on a mortary slab. If you were a non- homo-sapien but sentiently concious being, would you want to end up being probed by spotty youths in a lab? Which brings me back to deterrents. I think the fear of being cut- up on university theatre tables in the 18th /19th century, thus denied a christian burial, the greatest deterrent for those times. You don't appear to rule out inter- continental migration ,or species evolving on diffeing continents simultaneously considering those continents were as one clump at some time.
I tend to believe whatever the consensus of credible scientists and historians is. Such people do believe that species traveled across continents and evolved wherever they go. Evolution never stops. However, maybe we are not talking about the same things.
Spreading the news. I have been doing this in my small way for several years in conversations with fellow backpackers and others I've conversed with and seen the eyes roll or eyebrows rise whilst nodding positively, but I continue, At work, I push a cleaner's barrow around the srteets of London tacked with slogans of peace, love and tolerance and suggestions of freeing ourselves from banker and political slavery etc, but felt it not enough, so started up my blogsite, but have not gained many followers. Social networking is a skill I obviously need to work on. Facebook has been suggested, but have found many on facebook are students interested in other issues of no interest to me Maybe I'm just inexperienced at internet networking,too
Well, keep doing what seems good to you. If everyone did that, the world would be a much better place.
Until later, Steve.
Cheers!
Jayson
yson
Date: Mnon, 9 May 2011 16:22:17 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: Re: Just catching up
To: defoedanielinfidel@hotmail.co.uk
Jayson
Date: Sat, 21 May 2011 11:27:23 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Just catching up
To: defoedanielinfidel@hotmail.co.uk
Date: Sun, 22 May 2011 06:33:47 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Just catching up
To: defoedanielinfidel@hotmail.co.uk
Hi Steve,
The color of the day is pink.
--- On Sun, 5/22/11, Steven Stewart
From: Steven Stewart
Subject: RE: Just catching up
To: jayson@deism.com
Date: Sunday, May 22, 2011, 7:08 AM
Hi Jayson,
Thanks for the prompt reponse. Sadly, for Britain, ditto. This is what I have been asking teachers I meet along the way as well as others. According to those teachers and my nieces they are not taught anything about economics[except responsible banking in some schools], relevant politics or social studies, or how the law of their country works until university level, but that's only for those who choose to study. Have I mentioned, that when I picked up on Chaucer and Shakespear whilst researching english history for myself, I was in my mid twenties, I bought The Riverside Chaucer, a compendium of all his written work. The footnotes alone were a mindboggling insight into the medieval mindset which allowed me to appreciate the text all the more. Similarly with Shakespear, it took a n Open University T.V. programe to do likewise.
It A T.V. documentry once held an experiment of pupils swapping schools for a fortnight. Working class pupils found that the quality of teaching was no better in the Public schools,only they were less restricted, rule -wise, in their state schools. I surmise from this that not much in the way of politics ,law or economics are taught to the upper classes, especially considering the hash they make of the nation when they become M.P.s or House of Lords members. Maybe they are taught enough law to enable them to dodge paying their taxes, but we've discussed this before, haven't we?
I think that one of the biggest problems in American education is mainstreaming. Mainstreaming means that slow learners are put in the same classes as fast learners. The idea of this is that slow learners will learn more in classes with fast learners and the pace of instruction will not change. The reality is that many slow learners do not learn more and the pace of instruction actually slows down for the other students because the teachers have to spend much time reteaching simple concepts and managing poorly behaved students. Many slow learners are slow learners primarily because they are so busy misbehaving in class that they do not learn as much as they should.
I favor placement tests starting in fifth grade. At the end of the school year, each subject will have a placement test for the next school year--a test for math, civics (law, economics, government, geography, and history), science, reading, writing, and so on. The students who score in the top 10% in a subject will attend a fast class in that subject the next school year, the students who score in the bottom 10% will attend a slow class, and everyone in between will attend a middle class. This solution is fair, efficient, and motivating. Students get placed where they deserve with little hassle, and students know that their fate is in their hands. If they work hard, they are likely to be placed in a faster class. If they don't, they are likely to be placed in a slower class.
Another part of my proposed reform is to make certain that students are taught only things that they need to be successful in life beyond school with some exceptions, and they should be taught those important things thoroughly. The exceptions that I have in mind are a little exposure to art, music, drama, various sports, and classical works of literature. The purpose of this exposure is to make students aware of these things in case they want to pursue them outside of school.
The last part of my proposed reform is to generally support teachers and effectively discipline students. At least nine times out of ten, when a teacher says that a student misbehaved, that teacher should be believed and the students should be punished with something like detention or a spanking. That will keep the students in line and add order to the circus-like atmosphere of the current American public school system. Parents who find this approach too strict should be encouraged to find or establish a less strict private school.
Others gain their posts through nepotism and the "old school tie", no matter how dense they are. Am I right to assume this is same for U.S.A? Were G.W. Bush and Reagon really as stupid as they appeared in the media, or just willing, handsomely paid puppets serving corporate buisness and banking interests?
Sadly, I think that the United States is too much a plutocracy and not enough a meritocracy. However, even men like George W. Bush have to be smart in some ways to achieve the office of president. I suspect that Bush had excellent people skills and knew how to influence the common voter.
There is an excellent movie about him, called W; and in it Bush says after losing an election, "I will never be out-Christian-ed or out-Texan-ed again!" And he wasn't, and he was a very successful politician thereafter.
In hindsight, I believe Thatcher to be a very clever woman, who knew what she was doing, by paving the way to enslaving Britain to EU. Of course I despise her for it.
Being Scottish, what do you think about being part of Great Britain? What do you think about British royalty?
As an American who is very knowledgeable about history, I am glad that the United States achieved its independence through revolution and I hate the very concept of monarchy. No offense intended.
Yes, soul being an illusion of The Creator/Brahma, is how the Hindus and Buddhists believe. Those following Rig Veda have similar belief to modern astrophysists about the big bang, expansion and contraction of universe and consecutive big bangs, thus the three faces of Brahma as creator, sustainer and destroyer ad infinitum. Something exists that we are of as I stated yesterday with the infinite shards of a mirror explanation, which explains reincarnation as a purposeful concept. My only disagreement with the Hindu caste system, as I understand it, is the abuse of it by the upper castes, who misuse it to boost their egos. I believe in order to evolve to a higher caste the next life around is to aid the lower castes in their spiritual evolution, instead of degrading them further. Show them how to behave by "right" example.
If one is going to believe in reincarnation and karma, that is a good why to understand the caste system. However, I disbelieve in reincarnation and the caste system, and I say, "Even if reincarnation and karma are true, get rid of the caste system, establish a meritocracy, and let people prove where they belong in society by their abilities and actions rather than their parentage."
This for me, is serving Brahma as a SELF- EVOLVING CONCIOUS ENERGY t
I believe to accept the energy that comprises the Universe as well as being the essense of The Creator, as real,in the form of matter particles of all we experience tangibly, to be the sanist way, even though it be all ilusion.I find it intriguing that you rate the truth of reincarnation etc, higher than the existance of God.
I think that there has been a misunderstanding. I think that it is more likely that God exists than reincarnation happens. In fact, I believe in God and disbelieve in reincarnation.
Having read about the Khabbalah [ I know, there are many ways to spell it], I find khabbalists themselves like to limit The Creator in similar ways to the orthodox religons. There's something about humanity I can't put my finger on that needs rules to conform to. It can't accept that The Creator can be infinite.
Until next time,live long and prosper
Steve
Peace and long life,
Jayson
on
Date: Tue, 24 May 2011 20:08:37 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Just catching up
To: defoedanielinfidel@hotmail.co.uk
Date: Mon, 30 May 2011 09:11:54 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Just catching up
To: defoedanielinfidel@hotmail.co.ukn
Hi Stephen,
The color of the day is pink.
--- On Wed, 5/25/11, Steven Stewart
From: Steven Stewart
Subject: RE: Just catching up
To: jayson@deism.com
Date: Wednesday, May 25, 2011, 7:59 AM
As to differing factions of independance, we had a similar situation at the end of our English Civil Wars. There were so many factions who could not agree with each other within their own factions, that Cromwell decided to take matters into his own hands to bring some kind of stability back to Britain since she had decided to kick royalty out. Of course he was a tad too, lets say enthusiastic for the liking of many and so, instead of agreeing still to some form of republican government, they cried for a return to monarchy. I wonder, if England had Thomas Paine then, he would have sucessfuly persuaded her to vote for a republic of moderation. Most probably, not as too many were still largely uneducated enough to see the sense of a republic. Either Voltaire or J.J. Russeau said that rebublics could only work successfuly in small countries. Do you think this so?
Well designed tests. Ithink you've hit on what I neglected to say .It appears to me that school curriculums have been designed around exam papers. I remember my teachers saying that the same questions pop up on a rotating basis in exam papers.Thus old exam papers are used for revision puposes. As I also stated, and you agree that subjects could be better complimented, and made more relevant to the world children are expected to cope with. There are discussions on going about returning to classical latin and greek studies. Now my opinion is that if this means teaching debating, rhetoric, positive criticism as from the example of the classical authours and philosophers, this would be great. If purely translating from english to latin/greek and back in rote grammatic fashion, then it shall be a waste of teacher and pupil's time.
I heard a radio debate recently where a parent asked which alternate language she should recommend for her children. Japanese and russian being offered at the school. The guest panalist recommended chinese. I thiink this wise since China appears tobe one of the upcoming dominating financial powers in the 21st century, along with Korea and India, even. So korean, hindu and urdu .should be include, shouldn't they.? Well,since Indians from differing linguostic regions are quite happy to converse in english, maybe those languages are not so important to be taught in schools.
I still argue that the overall term and year's work should be merited. I've also considered an idea posited in Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenace,
As I touched on previously, I feel history should be complimented, where relevant to other subjects, especially political history to political geography;, social history to literature;. agriculture to ecology; archeology and geology are also complimentry and are popular subjects with children in Britain as they are fascinated by their social and hisorical heritage. But histories should be taught on a debating/philosophical basis, not on the governments' lies that they have forced upon us. This I feel, is how the children of today can benefit from the mistakes and triumphs of the past by applying them to their lives in this century.
This brings me to my blogsite The Voltarian Shines It's Light On.../ Mr. Blendings' Builds His New Society, where I lay open to discussion Enlightenment thought. as well as my own opinions It came to me last night that I should include our correspondences as a thread on this blog. Would you object to this?
The color of the day is yellow.
--- On Wed, 6/1/11, Steven Stewart
From: Steven Stewart
Subject: RE: Just catching up
To: jayson@deism.com
Date: Wednesday, June 1, 2011, 1:27 PM
Hi Jayson,
Apologies for misspelling your name. I've noticed now I've done this frequently. It must be a tad irritating.
Not at all. Most people spell Jayson without the y.
Ive had it all my life with both names being misspelled or is it misspelt? The latter looks all wrong to me. I also have a problem with "Forty". It looks wrong without the "u". I've learned to be patient with people and state Steven with a "v" and Stewart with a"W" , or when people mistake Stewart for Steward. Both have the same origins, servant to Ssottish clan nobility. I've also discovered that the Scots make no difference between Stuart and Stewart whereas the english do.
As for Scotish parliament devolving more fully from England, I wouldn't like Scotland to become a foreign country like the Republic of Ireland, but I do support more independance if it benefits Scotland as a nation. Does that smack of double standards?
I guess you are saying that you want what is best for both England and Scotland. If being united is best, you want that. If it isn't, you don't. And right now, you believe that they are better off united. Is that what you mean?
Modern America has kind of made 18th cxentury perspective on republics obsolete. I just wanted your opinion.
I'm not sure what you mean. Please elaborate.
Thanks for allowing me to post our correspondences. I'm thinking of naming them Correspondences with Modern Deism. to be interspersed with my correspondences with Paine.
I agree, we have enough gangsters in European government, we don't need them to start rapping either,though some have made spectacles of themselves in the attempt. When Obama was elected my thoughts were on Booker T. Washington with his" Up From Slavery" and Martin Luther King and his dream, as the popular community leaders. Is it about to come to fruition, or is Obama as white as opinion suggests.
I think that most white Americans consider Obama more black than white, although he is a 50/50 mix.
Mind you, I haven't read "Up From Slavery" yet, But I imagine both would be proud that America has chosen Obama. I'm reading up on Booker T. as I write, to find he had many rich ,influential white financiers and entrepreneu supporting him. The financial support from black communities show me that it can be done $4.7m was raised to help construct new schools in the early 20th century, when the total population was approx 92m; black 9.8m. Are these the sort of facts you're talking about?
Sorry, I'm not sure what you are talking about here.
An honest aethiest. Do you mean someone uncorruptable who sticks to their principles?
I mean an Atheist who is honest about perceiving and thinking about the universe, and who tells the truth about his or her opinions.
[N.B.my use of "un" instead of "in"-corruptable] And a college degree cuts me out for president, too. What about advisor?
You're confusing me here. I believe that most (if not all) U.S. presidents have had college degrees.
You may have heard from your media that the English parliament has decided to raise college and university fees for english students, whereas Scotland and Wales do not charge. I for one, could not afford £9000 per year[triple the usual charge + Bank loan charges] to go back to school. I can afford council sponsered evening classes though. Now, I have been thinking, why doesn't the nation's parents unite to create their own university for their children to attend.This could be run similarly to The Open University, sponsered by The B.B.C, in that no expensive property need be bought, as it could be administered from parent- group homes over the www. The staff could be poached from the state universities , those who are sick of the mindless bureaucracy. Would it be financially possible to stick two fingers up at the Government and banker greed? Since this is Britain's national census renewal year, it would be interesting to discover how many parents of college age children there are and how much they would have to stump up to do so. It could be more than the £9000 per year per student, but then if they didn't have to payback the banks or government, seeking appropriate sponsership ,they would not be dictated to by either. Unless the E.U. stick their irritating bureaucratic boot in. Since many parents of college and university students were once students themselves [given that the politicians are also], the parents will be more responsible as well as student and tutor orientated than government, who wish to stick to their "traditional values".
Your idea sounds promising, but it is a little outside of my area of expertise.
But I'm steering off the track a little. as my purpose is that if students are educated sufficiently, we could have more responsible politicians in governments, elected by a politically, financially and legally wised-up population. Of course we are not likely to see it , but our grandchildren's generation may. I've noticed from history that it normally takes a generation for new ideas to become widely accepted.
Now history as fact. Whose facts is what I, along with Voltaire and others argue. For myself, I have decided to view history from the perspective of those living it , even if it be opinion or agreed fact. Taking all opinions into account has given me a more interesting take on our past.To debate about why this/these person/s thought this way or that on their contemporary issues has more value to me than 20th/21st century hindsight, even so, accurate statistics provided by modern research are helpful for an overview or background of the age being studied.
Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig, was written forty years ago and published in 1974, but has recently been re-published in Britain It was one of the books I saw my dad reading, as he was a classic motorcycle enthusiast. It has little to do with taking bikes apart though. It maintains that to keep your motorcycle regularly tuned, should be enough, the remainder deals with the methods of education and values I have related ,the fine tuning of people's minds being the main point. The title is a pun on a book entitled Zen And The Art of Archery by a german, Eugen Herrigal fascinated by japanese studies, published in 1948 and translated into english in 1953.inspiring a quantity of Zen And The Art of.....books. I found out previously that zen archery is not about hitting the bulls eye but whether the arrow looks as if it belongs in the target.
There is much wisdom in Zen philosophy, although I do not consider myself a Zen Buddhist. I get a nice natural buzz (slight intoxication), though, when I Zen literature.
A more multi-linguistic Britain we have, but as mentioned,these languages are not on the common curriculum They are usually kept within ethnically based schools.
Good for Britain! I wish that the United States would declare English its official language and print almost all government publications in English. English is not the best language in human history, but it is the language of the United States because of historical circumstances. A nation is united by a common language, and I am afraid that the United States might soon be divided linguistically like Canada.
Individual citizens and private corporations should be allowed to write in any language they want, but making almost all government publications in English should force many immigrants to learn English.
I also think that pupils should be given the choice of Tai Chi Chaun, Qi Gong and other oriental disciplines as an alternative form of physical education. Tai Chi Chuan and Qi Gong especially are healthy for mind and body and could be practiced before lessons instead of boring assembly.,. thus a more attentive and responsive class. Check this out for yourself if you doubt. Learning chinese calligraphy is also a mind discipline in itself that could be incorperated into art classes. thus, once more an attentive and responsive class.
I like that idea and would like to see it tried in a few public schools as a test-run.
Although I have practiced both, and prefer Qi Gong, I have not as yet tried Chinese calligraphy. I have been taught the basics in how and why the characters are formed, enough to keep the interest in mind. So much to interest myself in. I have the time but I lack the disccipline of prioritizing.
Thanks for the generous period of twenty years on my methods. Most governments would expect results within their four - five year terms of office. Mind you I have suggested M.P.'s should prove their worth with-in two years, but only on those issues they feel confident of fulfilling sucessfully.This to stop them promising results on projects they know they cannot fulfill .
I want to go on, but not waffle on irrelevantly
I believe I've mentioned my dream of creating a community of like-minded people in previous correspondence The reason for my being in Scotland, scouting for such a community to learn from is my present project. I spent last year surfing the net for these communities, but found only two, who reponded to my e-mails. One, Findhorn, being the oldest and most widely known has since changed their philosophy to a more business minded project. The other, I thought too religously orientated to accept me and so let them alone despite their philosophy being identical to mine in every other way. I recently discovered them to be ecumenical, claiming to accept aethiests
Why do you spell atheists with an extra "e"?
, so long as they don't cause disruption. So, will they accept a Deist? They call themselves L'Arche. They help people with learning difficulties find their respective fields of specialities and skills in an enviroment of encouragement with no pressure to conform to a specific rate of progress. Hence my ideas on education being unpressured match theirs. Their website info being a little dated, I have not been able to contact them by e-mail, but as they are based in Inverness I shall be making progress in that direction to discover whether they still have room for volunteers.
I hope that it works for you.
I've noticed other diest websites within the essays on your site. Are they as open to our ideas, or should I just check them out for myself?
I like the World Union of Deists and Unified Deism, so I recommend that you check them both out.
I've just noticed you're on facebook, world union of deists anyway.The thread is lengthy! I see. And there are new articles. Be hearing from me about these, to be sure.
Good! : )
May your open reason endure
Steve
May the Force be with you, always!
Jayson
Hi Steven,
I have not heard anything about the hadron collider in Texas. Texas might be too busy dabbling with Creationism to take on a new serious scientific enterprise.
Jayson
--- On Tue, 10/25/11, Steven stewart
>
Subject: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Saturday, July 21, 2012, 4:35 PM
Am I rambling on somewhat? Please excuse, it just fascinates me so. You are probably asking what credence have I for it all. Well anything kiboshed by the powers that be must have something they wish to hide from us. If not, then why go to the effort of coercing people to" clam up" and "wasting" those who won't?
From: Steven stewart
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Sunday, July 22, 2012, 9:03 AM
Apart from scientific tinkering, if you are perpared to consider the possibility that The Infinite Creator Being is an infinite conciousness, and that It has many ways of evolving, that evolution occurs throughout the Universe/Multiverses, then I think we should wait and see rather than dismiss out of hand.Atomic behaviour at the quantum level is totally unpredictable to mainstream scientists, but if they are prepared to humble themselves to consider factors outside their normal paradigm, they may just find the answers a whole lot quicker and less expensive than building gigantic hadron colliders.and condemning minds that are prepared to reach further than analytical science allows. If it turns out to be rubbish, at least we'll have learned so through experience,for the mind is far more than we have been given to believe.
You ask who has been silenced or murdered for believing Kepler and his geometrical shapes within the earth's core. I did not say this. Scientists have only recently discovered this to be true, however ,many inventors, scientists and freethinkers have been silenced with threats of death or inpisonment if they revealed their work to the public, especially concerning flying craft and anti-gravity devices that do not deprend on expensive fossil or nuclear fuels. likewise in the medical world where any,medicine, nutritional diet or invention that cures cancer and other diseases without the need of extortionately priced pharmecuticals, is either scotched or ridiculed out of the practice of mainstream medicine.
As to the monks and their levitations, it's a case of if first you don't succeed, try ,try again.Just as mainstream scientist have to when their experiments fail. It appears that Tibetan monks have more stamina than western scientists, or is it no pressure of funds, siince the instruments they use are probably centuries old, being no doubt hidden well from the Chinese authorities.
Live long and prosper,
The Voltarian
From: Steven stewart
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Monday, August 6, 2012, 5:07 PM
Hi Jayson,
Apologies for the tardy reply as internet connection has been poor this past week. Could be due to influx of visitors for the Olympics all wanting to use the net I'm not a keen sports fan but, I'm impressed with Britain's successes so far. My mum says it's because our teams have been adequately sponsored by lottery funds which were not forth coming from Blair's or previous governments. I hear U.S.A and China are out in the lead medal wise.
I don't believe laboratory conditions will sufffice, but if some top western scientists could observe acoustic levitation for themselves on Tibetan "turf" to discover whether or not any strings are attached, that would impress me as to their ready open mindedness. However I find Mr. Randi too skeptical,especially against homeothapy,water holding information even though the agent has been diluted out of existance, yet the healing potency has multiplied.I do know these things take a generation or two to be generally accepted, but two centuries! Has he read Masuri Emoto concerning the healing power of water that "reads" the vibration of human intent? But then each to his/her taste for incredulity. You may think me credulous, but as mentioned before,I prefer to keep possibilities open rather than closed until finality has proven either way.
I've been re-reading Leibnitz this past week to remind myself how advanced his view on the nature of the universe was. It is remarkably close to quantum physics. He also believed in multiverses; why should God create only one universe when he has the capacity to create many possibles each with its own laws of nature?, was his argument against his contemporaries of the 17th century. Until next email,
- Live long and prospe
The Voltarian
Hi Steven,
Yes, Britain is doing very well in the Olympics, especially when one considers its size compared to the United States and China.
Maybe God did create many universes. I think that God should have created at least four: This universe to teach and test rational creatures for the next life, Heaven to reward relatively good rational creatures, Reformatory to fix relatively evil rational creatures, and Other Place to teach and test rational creatures who were not adequately taught and tested in this universe. Other Place would probably be good for people who died when they were babies.
I've heard of Leibnitz, but I have not read much (if anything) written by him. This summer, I read There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind, written by Antony Flew with Roy Abraham Varghese. Are you familiar with it? Overall, it was a good book. Flew lived most of his life as an outspoken Atheist and died an outspoken Deist.
Go for the gold!
Jayson
From: Steven stewart
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Tuesday, August 7, 2012, 4:25 PM
Hi Jayson,
I believe all those Universes are what is normally refered to as the "Other Side". Being infinite and out of time there is room for it all and more .I've never heard of these authors
but they sound interesting. I have a notion that there is more chance for an atheist to reach heaven than a dogmatic religonist who inists on paving his/her own path to hell for sins imagined or impressed upon by their priesthoods. Of course we all sin but they are attoned for in one
of those Universes you've mentioned or the requisite area on the Other Side.
[Excuse this break in line continuity. my keyboard refuses to join them for some reason]
Live long and prosper
Steven
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2012 18:36:33 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: theswiftian1667@hotmail.co.uk
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2012, 4:14 PM
Hi Jayson,
Here, here! Just to add to multiverses you mentioned, I don't rule out your possibility either.
Peace and long lie to you also
Steven
Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2012 08:47:35 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: theswiftian1667@hotmail.co.uk
Hi Steven,
I agree with you that there will probably be a higher percentage of Atheists who go directly to Heaven than "Revealed" Religionists. I believe that Atheists tend to be more honest, reasonable, and generally virtuous people than "Revealed" Religionists.
Peace and long life,
Jayson
Jayson
To Steven stewart
From: Jayson (jayson@deism.com)
Sent: 09 August 2012 19:02:08
To: Steven stewart (theswiftian1667@hotmail.co.uk)
Hopefully, we will both end up in the best universe forever once we take a dirt nap
------------
IS THIS PART OF CORRESPONDENCE WITH JAYSON X ?
This maybe forgotten extract from previous correspondence session
Hi Jayson,
Having found time to retrieve those Opinions I told you about, I have discovered that those I copied were of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison only. I have discovered a different website called Religious Tolerance Org-Ontario consultants on Religious Tolerance ,says it all concerning Jefferson's defence of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in his Bill For Establishing Religious Freedom originally drafted 1777. for the state of Virginia. I could send you those I copied if you like. or wait until I have done further research from the books I have yet to read on the period .
The original essay /website I have now lost track of ,debated over who and how many of the co-signatures of the Constitution were deists.A lengthy forum discussion ,that at first I found intriguing, until it slid into a mudslinging contest for atheism vs. deism.. However, it appears officially, that only three were confessed deists, Jefferson, Madison and Franklin,World of Deism believes there were more, Washington included. Am I correct?
It appears that the majority; co-signers and general populace, favoured religious tolerance in that no one religon should enforce its doctrines upon the beliefs of others through the passing of illegal enactments against their consent.
This is what Washington himself quoted on the matter;
"If I could now conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution... [E]very man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity
according to the dictates of his own conscience." (Stokes, supra, p. 495.)
I shall continue my researches on these and other opinions, as I find your era of Independence as fascinating an aspect of the Age of Enlightenment ,as that of Europe. At present I'm studying the Scottish perspective, which as you know ,has much relevance to America's revolution as well as Europe's, then as now.
In Bob Johnson's essay Communism in the Bible, he does not acknowledge the Essenes who practised socialist principles of shared property without fear.
I can’t help but find it darkly humorous that people like Mohandas Gandhi, a mere human, could see and partake in selfless love against his enemies but our supposed “God” could not. Gandhi would directly contradict Yahweh’s teachings when he proclaimed “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” He knew that doing the right thing wasn’t always easy, and he still gladly died in order to do it. Yet according to the Bible, Gandhi (a Hindu unbeliever) is cast ablaze in hell to this day. The quote “Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker?” from the Book of Job seems particularly fitting.
Is the passage about Elisha ordering bears to tear forty-two children to shreds for calling him "Bald head" some mortal's hate mail/propaganda ?for this makes The Lord an extremely weak god, even by biblical standards.
Divine intervention is not needed for the workings in nature because God has already put all the gears in place to make the clock of the universe run. Is this meant metaphorically?Only I believe Creator and Creation to be organic life , not inanimate machine.
Atheists still have a way to offset God of course. They assert that if we can presuppose that God can exist outside of time and space then why can’t the same be said for random volatile energy. Indeed if a God can spark the big bang then can’t the unintelligible energy do so too? Yet this is effortlessly countered using the fine-tuned universe (universal constant) argument. Ah, God’s existence seems conclusive then doesn’t it? Well, in the field of experimental physics there dwells the fringiest of fringe theories dubbed the “Multiverse” theory. Under this entirely hypothetical theory (no hint of it has ever been tangibly validated) there exists billions upon billions of parallel universes. Granted, the chances of any life forming without God in one particular universe may be atomically miniscule, but if there’s billions then it becomes much more plausible. So it comes down to two choices then doesn’t it? Either I’m to believe that there are hundreds of billions of parallel universes all around us that just so happen that they can’t be observed, and that we are the by-products of random bits of mindless energy that just happened to be thrashing around in the right place, or I can take credence in a conscious entity. Using reason, I choose the God factor.
I choose the God factor that includes these multiverses as much within it's essence as the one we experience, comprised of concious energy
""To me it’s evident that our cosmic creator has some semblance of affection toward us, for if he was apathetic to us why did he create the universe in the first place? If he had bloodlust, why would he allow any modicum of happiness whatsoever in this realm, and not instead mould it into a festering breeding ground for torture and pain? Therefore, since I exist, have not seen or heard of any credible “miracles,” live in a world where love is possible, and all revealed religions are frauds, I then conclude that the Supreme Being is a loving entity that wishes the best for us, but cannot intervene lest he take away our freedom."
This I fully concur with
TO BE E-MAILED TO JAYSON THEN PASTED ONTO RELEVANT BLOG PAGE
BI-LOCALITY; SCIENTIFIC REASON FOR IT
Hello Jayson,
Again,long time, no correspondence. How are you and your world doing? I,ve been taking a cerebial sabbatical since last we corresponded, indulging in DVD's of 60's /70's T.V. drama and comedy as well as contemporary T.V. quiz shows ,the odd drama and comedy along with documentaries.We have a show here called Embarrassing Bodies. Paradoxically, people who are too embarrassed to consult their family G.P.'s on embarrassing health issues, appear on this show to bare all to the world. Do you find that amusing? I 'm also in the process of re-arranging and streamlining my library,i.e. chucking stuff out. Do you find it difficult to throw stuff out you believe you won't need but that nagging mind says "Don't be too sure you won't need it in future"?
Some time ago,you asked me whether I believed in bi-locality and if I had proof for it. My recent research into quantum particle physics that I previously presented to you concerning Tibetan acoustic levitation ceremonies and anti-gravity experiments by russian scientists in the 1940's and 50's had not I believe, entirely convinced you. What I have rececntly been reading may not do so either, but I felt I ought to inform you anyway.
I had been rereading a book entitled The Divine Matrix# by Gregg Braden;you may or may not know of him. Evenso, he reminded me of Padre Pio, the Italian theoolgian , who , during WWII, appeared before a squadron of U.S Airforce bombers on a mission to bomb his city, San Giovanni Rotondo, having come under the control of the Nazis., and so containing mliitary srongholds He appeared before them ,whilst in mid flight imploring them to cease their mission. Obviously bewildered and confused, they decided to turn back to base. Simultaneously, at ground level, Padre Pio was witnessed in his chapel at the altar, praying. This was verified by the timing of the mass and the time recorded by the aiforce crew upon witnessing Padre Pio "in the sky". So, how was this possible?
You may or may not of read/heard or remembered of a globally publicised experiment performed in 1997,under the leadership of Nicholas Gisin . This was an experiment previously undertaken by Einstein, Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen in 1935,only they didn't believe the results they recieved from the quantum realm, Einstein famously called it "Spooky action at a distance" Dividing a photon into two identical particles the Gisin team blasted them in totally opposite directions. Having reached a distance of 14 miles between them, forced to choose random pathways of continuance, they chose identical pathways in the direction each was travelling at 20,000 x speed of light [previous experiments of the same nature in the 1980's produced speeds 20x light.] Maybe this,is along with the apparent randomness of particles ,is what Einstein, also famous for his "God doesn't play dice " quotation, Podosky and Rosen could not accept. So what has this all to do with bi-location? Previously, you stated that verified experiments are repeatable. Now, what if on a successive experiment, the protons identically chose a different direction to the previous experiment.Would that render the whole experiment void, in your eyes?,
Considering the mind is of a greater capacity than our Newtonian based physical paradigm allows us to believe, and that mind is also composed of energy particles spinning at high frequencies and speeds some orthodox scientists are still unwilling to accept, I propose that a trained mind such as that of Padre Pio and other bi-locators can send or allow the force of Creation to send temporarily, a number of particles of themselves, clothing included, to other desired locations. This I believe works on the same principle as the Tibetan acoustic levitation.,thus flitting between other dimensions, modern scientists such as Michio Kaku call membranes or simply "branes", Padre Pio's prayers and intentions being the key sacrament for the bi-location to occur.
Excuse I being pedantic,yourself, having expressed to me that you prefer to believe in empirical science than mere philosophical supposition, do you believe we and the Universe are mere mechanical automatons as Newton's "theories" propose? Or are we an Infinite organic mind influenced by and influencing everything/one within an infinite ocean of fluctuating energy? Why do we hold onto Newtonian and Einsteinian theories and ideas as if they are God given testaments whilst Creation has been showing us a totally wider aspect to it's nature? I don't propose to throw Newton or Einstein out with the bath water, only realise that some of their impractical theories should be consigned to the history books whilst the still practical remain as valid science.The most elemental level of living things can no longer be considered as chemical reactions alone but as energy of which chemical reactions are a factor
#The Divine Matrix, mentioned above, as you are probably aware ,has gone by a plethoria of names by as many scientists and authors throughout history. The electro-magnetic theory of light considered as electro-magnetic vibration in the ether and that electro-magnetic and luminiferous ethers were the same ,proposed by James Clerk Maxwell, is the theory I prefer. although Nikola Tesla's ether is tempting; the Universe as a kinetic ether from which energies could be harnessed, including electricity.This of course upset the fossil fuel tycoons and their buddies in government and commerce who ,upon his death ,confiscated and classified as top secret all his papers,which remain so today.Remember , we discussed this also? So which ether do you prefer, if any?
Some would argue that the electro-magnetic ether could never work due to Bohr's belief that electrons can only lose energy when they jump from one orbit to another- electro-dynamics says so, yet an English physicist ,Timothy Boyer proposed and later, Hal Puthoff proved mathematically, that ths is not so, electrons are being refueled by tapping into fluctuations within the ether field, maintaining dynamic equilibrium, balanced at exactly the right orbit. .This could account for the temporary presence of Padre Pio in the sky until his mission suceeded in halting the airforce squadron's mission
Apparantly, Hal Puthoff has come up with a unified theory of physics to explain gravity and non-locality within this field..Recieving polite applause for his theory, it is obviously not warmly welcomed, upsetting ,as it does, the bedrock of 20th century physics . Using his field theory, he has invented mauch condensed charged technology, including flat screen T.V,. The Pentagon has only recently started to take him seriously.Two of his collaborators, Alfonso Rueda and Bernard Haisch during the 1990's produced two new papers which mathematically proved, using Einstein's relativistic physics,vs Newtonian physics, that the ancients were correct, that we are indeed all beings of light .Having typed all this, I have a nagging feeling that Newton was not altogether wrong, only has been misread by modern standards.He did after all propose that degrees of density are subject to ratios of space or void to matter. So I leave it here awaiting your response.
Having re-read my gnostic gospels recently I have decided to postpone sending a paragraph concerning Christ's teachings and "miracles" that sound more feasible in the light of recent quantum physics mentioned above , until I receive your response to this
Live long and prosper
The Voltarian
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jayson
To Steven stewart
From: Jayson (jayson@deism.com)
Sent: 09 August 2012 19:02:08
To: Steven stewart (theswiftian1667@hotmail.co.uk)
Hopefully, we will both end up in the best universe forever once we take a dirt nap.
--- On Wed, 8/8/12, Steven stewart wrote:
From: Steven stewart
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2012, 4:14 PM
Hi Jayson,
Here, here! Just to add to multiverses you mentioned, I don't rule out your possibility either.
Peace and long lie to you also
Steven
Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2012 08:47:35 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: theswiftian1667@hotmail.co.uk
Hi Steven,
I agree with you that there will probably be a higher percentage of Atheists who go directly to Heaven than "Revealed" Religionists. I believe that Atheists tend to be more honest, reasonable, and generally virtuous people than "Revealed" Religionists.
Peace and long life,
Jayson
--- On Tue, 8/7/12, Steven stewart wrote:
From: Steven stewart
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Tuesday, August 7, 2012, 4:25 PM
Hi Jayson,
I believe all those Universes are what is normally refered to as the "Other Side". Being infinite and out of time there is room for it all and more .I've never heard of these authors
but they sound interesting. I have a notion that there is more chance for an atheist to reach heaven than a dogmatic religonist who inists on paving his/her own path to hell for sins imagined or impressed upon by their priesthoods. Of course we all sin but they are attoned for in one
of those Universes you've mentioned or the requisite area on the Other Side.
[Excuse this break in line continuity. my keyboard refuses to join them for some reason]
Live long and prosper
Steven
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2012 18:36:33 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: theswiftian1667@hotmail.co.uk
Hi Steven,
Yes, Britain is doing very well in the Olympics, especially when one considers its size compared to the United States and China.
Maybe God did create many universes. I think that God should have created at least four: This universe to teach and test rational creatures for the next life, Heaven to reward relatively good rational creatures, Reformatory to fix relatively evil rational creatures, and Other Place to teach and test rational creatures who were not adequately taught and tested in this universe. Other Place would probably be good for people who died when they were babies.
I've heard of Leibnitz, but I have not read much (if anything) written by him. This summer, I read There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind, written by Antony Flew with Roy Abraham Varghese. Are you familiar with it? Overall, it was a good book. Flew lived most of his life as an outspoken Atheist and died an outspoken Deist.
Go for the gold!
Jayson
--- On Mon, 8/6/12, Steven stewart wrote:
From: Steven stewart
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Monday, August 6, 2012, 5:07 PM
Hi Jayson,
Apologies for the tardy reply as internet connection has been poor this past week. Could be due to influx of visitors for the Olympics all wanting to use the net I'm not a keen sports fan but, I'm impressed with Britain's successes so far. My mum says it's because our teams have been adequately sponsored by lottery funds which were not forth coming from Blair's or previous governments. I hear U.S.A and China are out in the lead medal wise.
I don't believe laboratory conditions will sufffice, but if some top western scientists could observe acoustic levitation for themselves on Tibetan "turf" to discover whether or not any strings are attached, that would impress me as to their ready open mindedness. However I find Mr. Randi too skeptical,especially against homeothapy,water holding information even though the agent has been diluted out of existance, yet the healing potency has multiplied.I do know these things take a generation or two to be generally accepted, but two centuries! Has he read Masuri Emoto concerning the healing power of water that "reads" the vibration of human intent? But then each to his/her taste for incredulity. You may think me credulous, but as mentioned before,I prefer to keep possibilities open rather than closed until finality has proven either way.
I've been re-reading Leibnitz this past week to remind myself how advanced his view on the nature of the universe was. It is remarkably close to quantum physics. He also believed in multiverses; why should God create only one universe when he has the capacity to create many possibles each with its own laws of nature?, was his argument against his contemporaries of the 17th century. Until next email,
Live long and prosper,
The Voltarian
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2012 05:24:09 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: theswiftian1667@hotmail.co.uk
Hi Steven,
The color of the day is pink.
--- On Sun, 7/22/12, Steven stewart wrote:
From: Steven stewart
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Sunday, July 22, 2012, 9:03 AM
Hi Jayson,
Good to find you're doing fine.I haven't read The Communist Manifesto myself, but have read that Marx had strong issues concerning man's struggle with history, or something like that.My response is that is how he wanted to view history, a struggle of the proletariat against the bourgeois that could only be won by bloody revolutions. I differ, but then I'm writing with 21st century hindsight, so what the diddly sqwat do I know.
Although you have not read "The Communist Manifesto" and I am only about two-thirds finished, I think that you understand it well.
Apart from scientific tinkering, if you are perpared to consider the possibility that The Infinite Creator Being is an infinite conciousness, and that It has many ways of evolving, that evolution occurs throughout the Universe/Multiverses, then I think we should wait and see rather than dismiss out of hand.Atomic behaviour at the quantum level is totally unpredictable to mainstream scientists, but if they are prepared to humble themselves to consider factors outside their normal paradigm, they may just find the answers a whole lot quicker and less expensive than building gigantic hadron colliders.and condemning minds that are prepared to reach further than analytical science allows. If it turns out to be rubbish, at least we'll have learned so through experience,for the mind is far more than we have been given to believe.
I think that most scientists are aware of many answers to fundamental questions. They just use tools like the large hadron collider to determine which answer is correct. The problem is not so much a lack of answers/hypotheses as it is a lack of empirical verification. One should not believe anything without sufficient proof and/or logic.
Watching a T.V. program last month on the brain, Neurosurgeons,Neurologists ,Neuro-psychologists, I discovered ,see the brain purely as a machine instead of a living organ. The same goes for cardiologists, for them, the heart,is merely a pump. Have they forgotten Einstein's words about science without heart Here's a quote from a short chapter called The laws of Science and the Laws of Ethics in his own Einstein Reader chapter 15;
"There is something like the puritan's restraint in the scientis nwho seeks the truth: he keeps away from everything voluntaristic or emotional. Incidentally, this trait is the result of a slow development, peculiar to modern western thought." Next paragraph begins "From this it might seem as if logical thinking were irrevelant for ethics.Scientific statements of facts and relations ,indeed ,cannot produce ethical directives.however,ethical directives can be made rational and coherent by logical thinking and empirical knowledge". Well, since the scientific world lords him to the skies, why not quote him back at them.
Different types of thinking are helpful for different issues. Sometimes it is helpful to limit one's thinking to that which is most obvious so that one fully accepts what is obviously true and rejects that which is likely to be false. For example, suppose a cardiologist wants to heal a patient with a clogged artery. It is obviously true that the human heart is a pump which does not work well when it is clogged. It is not obviously true--in fact, it is likely to be false--that the human heart contains the incorporeal spirit of a human being. In this case, by focusing on obvious truths and ignoring other assertions regarding the human heart, the cardiologist is more likely to heal the patient, because in this case, the heart is just an organic pump that needs to be fixed.
You ask who has been silenced or murdered for believing Kepler and his geometrical shapes within the earth's core. I did not say this. Scientists have only recently discovered this to be true, however ,many inventors, scientists and freethinkers have been silenced with threats of death or inpisonment if they revealed their work to the public, especially concerning flying craft and anti-gravity devices that do not deprend on expensive fossil or nuclear fuels. likewise in the medical world where any,medicine, nutritional diet or invention that cures cancer and other diseases without the need of extortionately priced pharmecuticals, is either scotched or ridiculed out of the practice of mainstream medicine.
Unfortunately, these above assertions are likely to be true. People do all sorts of evil deeds for money, and there are probably many technological breakthroughs which are not generally known. However, I will not accept such assertions as true without more proof. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
I'll give one example, an italian named Pere Leonardo Ighina, a student of Marconi, harnessed the energy that passed between earth and the sun applying it to rejuvenate diseased cells. He discovered that atoms do not oscillate, but vibrate, which led toone of his most brilliant, if curious inventions, the magnetic field oscillator. by changing the vibrationary state of a group of particles, material itself could transform. After several experiments, he tried larger species, an apricot tree was exposed to his field oscillator,altering the atomic vibration to that of an apple tree. After 16 days, yes, you've guessed it the tree's apricots had transformed into apples. It doesn't stop there. Experimenting with diseaed cells within rabbits , change of vibrational rate healed the damaged tissue,so long as the vibrational index was correctly calibrated .Simultaneously,other russian scientists were experimenting with laser strobes ,transforming D.N.A. codes of frogs eggs into salamander eggs. Is this the scientific tinkering you mean? Of course all this was kept tightly under raps by the Soviet authorites , yet allowed to continue whereas, Ighina's oscillator was quietly scotched ,removed from hospitals, after his death in 1941. So threse guys were not bumped off, but many have disappeared without trace for refusing to "collaberate" with the authorities.
I wish that a qualified group of scientists would openly continue such experiments to proof or disproof these assertions to the general public, which includes me.
As to the monks and their levitations, it's a case of if first you don't succeed, try ,try again.Just as mainstream scientist have to when their experiments fail. It appears that Tibetan monks have more stamina than western scientists, or is it no pressure of funds, siince the instruments they use are probably centuries old, being no doubt hidden well from the Chinese authorities.
Have you heard of The Amazing Randi Foundation's Million Dollar Challenge? Basically, the foundation will pay anyone one million dollars if he or she can do something miraculous (impressive, mystifying, and scientifically unexplainable) under laboratory conditions. See http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/1m-challenge.html for details. One of those levitating monks should take the challenge, win the million dollars, and give the money to the poor.
And yes mainstream geologists do despute it,but then why should the monks hurl pearls before swine?
Skepticism is wiser than credulity.
Live long and prosper,
The Voltarian
Be excellent to one another, and party on, dude!
Jayson X
Deputy Director
World Union of Deists
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2012 21:30:08 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: Re: Long time no contact
To: theswiftian1667@hotmail.co.uk
Hi Steven,
It's nice to hear from you again. I will respond to your email with yellow highlighted words like these below.
--- On Sat, 7/21/12, Steven stewart wrote:
From: Steven stewart
Subject: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Saturday, July 21, 2012, 4:35 PM
Hi Jayson,
Long time no contact. How have you been?
I am fine. My son and I are having a wonderful visit with my family in upstate New York.
I returned from Scotland last September and have been back at work since November, saving up to return for a longer stay, but have bogged myself down with spending sprees on electrical goods. A new Digital T.V. to turn off all those repeats I don't want to watch, a D.V.D/video recorder, I haven't the time to record programs and films with because i'm reading all the new books I just can't put down. So what does that say about me?
You're busy. I'm reading The Communist Manifesto right now.
I'm strongly telling myself that the printed word and image means more to me than electronically generated info. Which brings me to the impetus for emailing you.
Some of these books have been revealing fascinating insights into how the Universe works that mainstream science forbids, such as time travel possibilities, levitation of huge stones using sound and mental focus of hundreds of people in Neolithic times, this also witnessed in 20th century by a Swedish aircraft designer in Tibet in the 90's, Henry Kjellson.
Scientifically verified phenomena are repeatable.
A New Zealand researcher, Bruce Cathie wrote a detailed analysis of it in a book called Anti-Gravity and The World Grid by David Hatcher Childress.Others had heard of this before, but kjellson was the first westerner to witness it. I could go into detail if you wish. How about previously believed extinct species experiencing a come back, as well as modern species regrowing limbs and organs of their extinct ancesters?
That reminds me of an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, when the crew of the USS Enterprise began to de-evolve. I believe that de-evolution is possible but unlikely, without scientific tinkering.
I believe the latter to be more probable. Dormant D.N.A. within present species awakening. I've also discovered pretty fascinating stuff about the Maya and their enigmatic Tzolkin calender and many time cycles that match other ancient civilizations' time cycles.
Also that Johannes Kepler was correct in supposing the Earth's core to be an onion layered sequence of geometrical shapes. These shapes turn out to be the configurations of proton structure in the elements; each proton coresponds to a vortex of the geometry, cubic, octrahedron, icosahedron, dodecahedron (although tetrahedron is also one, two normally combine back to back to form an octahedron). The cube is the first shell of 8 protons-oxygen-62.55% of atoms comprising Earth's crust.Second, octahedron with 14 protons-silicon-21.22% which is just important to biological life as carbon on Earth. Icosahedron with 26 protons-iron-1.2% which still add upto 5% of total weight. Then dodecahedron with 46 protons-palladium (used in cold fusion another power source kiboshed by the greedy powers that be who falsified data to show cold fusion to be inaffectual)
I don't think that the majority of geologists agree with you and Kepler yet on that assertion.
Am I rambling on somewhat? Please excuse, it just fascinates me so. You are probably asking what credence have I for it all. Well anything kiboshed by the powers that be must have something they wish to hide from us. If not, then why go to the effort of coercing people to" clam up" and "wasting" those who won't?
Who has been silenced or murdered for asserting that the "Earth's core . . . [is] an onion layered sequence of geometrical shapes"?
Most of it makes sense to me considering my understanding of quantum physics. I'm pepared to think furthe rbut also prepared to retract and rethink when sufficient evidence proves correct to the contrary And there's more, if you're interested ,but for no w
Live long and prosper,
Regards, The Voltarian
Peace and long life,
Jayson X
Deputy Director
World Union of Deists
From: Steven Stewart
To: Jayson
Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2013 8:12 AM
Subject: U.S.A a free country?
Hello Jayson,
Well it has been a long time, this interval. how are you doing?
I'm fine. How are you?
I've been busy looking into methods of creating an equal society without bloody revolutions as discussed in our last correspondences about Marx. An interesting book recently aquired, entiled The Spirit Level; Why Equality is Better for Everyone by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, is a huge survey detailing how countries who are more socially equal suffer less mental and physical health problems, have smarter, healthier children and a better quality of living standard. and life expectancy. These are countries that spend far less of their treasury resourses on warmongering and paying wanker bankers obscenely huge bonuses. Guess who comes bottom most of the time, followed closely by Portugal U.K and oher E.U. countries.
Vatican City?
Countries like Japan and the Scandanavian countries seem to be more prosperous. There are factors they have introduced that I disagree with and admit, a lot of thought should be put into the subject before dismissing or totally agreeing with all infomation given, but it has proved the point I have been pushing, egalitarianism is more healthy than greed and over consumption of world's resourses to feed profits at the expence of many.
I completely agree with you. Here is an article that I wrote on that subject this year.
To the crux of my subject matter. I recently read a story from a man who was jailed for 5 years and fined $10,000! in 1942 for refusing to be drafted because of his religious conviction. Is this an act of a country that boasts freedom of conscience , or is it merely the prejudice of a meely minded Kansas magistrate ? I know there are many other examples, but I find $10,000 in 1942 extremely harsh and unwarranted. How do you feel about this? As it happens this guy is in his nineties now, I wonder if the judge is sill alive?
Unfortunately, both individuals and nations are forced by God and/or nature to fight to survive. A nation that doesn't have an effective military will soon (or at least relatively soon) be conquered. People should be allowed to protest their government's actions without fear of punishment. They should also be allowed to leave their nations as they see fit. However, people who choose to live in a nation should be willing to help defend that nation if the democratically elected government of that nation chooses to fight. If the war effort seems just, conscripts should be willing to kill enemy combatants. If the war effort seems unjust, conscripts should at least be willing to serve their nation's military in supporting roles such as clerks or medics. Even Gandhi served as a medic in the British army. Conscientious objectors in a democratic society should be given the choice of serving in a non-combat position, permanently immigrating to another nation, or staying in jail until the war is over. What do you think?
I have also been reading about G.W. Leibniz and his ideal society, which pretty much matches mine, only he wanted to keep the social heirarchy but posts should be filled by merit worthy members of society, not so called nobility and regals.
I, too, am pro-meritocracy.
Yes, a king should be a commoner.
I prefer a president to a king, and I prefer the rule of a democratically elected congress to a democratically elected autocrat.
I would prefer no hierarchy only government posts filled by worthy people who are truly accountable to the nation and can easily be dismissed by the nation if deemed unworthy at a future date. I believe I've discussed this before with you.
I actually just finished writing a constitution for the make-believe nation of Jasonia which is based on those premises. I will try to email it to you this week.
Also Karl popper has come to my notice via the physicist David Deutsch. I bought Popper's main work, The Open Society and it's Enemies but have yet to start on it as I've been urged to read Stendhal first. He appears to be protesting about he same issues I bang on about, snobbery, false education, hypocrisy of church and state.
Well i'll leave it there and await your response, if you are still interested in further correspondences
Yours
Wishing prodsperity and long life
The Voltarian
Joyous Festivus!
Jayson
This maybe forgotten extract from previous correspondence session
Hi Jayson,
Having found time to retrieve those Opinions I told you about, I have discovered that those I copied were of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison only. I have discovered a different website called Religious Tolerance Org-Ontario consultants on Religious Tolerance ,says it all concerning Jefferson's defence of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in his Bill For Establishing Religious Freedom originally drafted 1777. for the state of Virginia. I could send you those I copied if you like. or wait until I have done further research from the books I have yet to read on the period .
The original essay /website I have now lost track of ,debated over who and how many of the co-signatures of the Constitution were deists.A lengthy forum discussion ,that at first I found intriguing, until it slid into a mudslinging contest for atheism vs. deism.. However, it appears officially, that only three were confessed deists, Jefferson, Madison and Franklin,World of Deism believes there were more, Washington included. Am I correct?
It appears that the majority; co-signers and general populace, favoured religious tolerance in that no one religon should enforce its doctrines upon the beliefs of others through the passing of illegal enactments against their consent.
This is what Washington himself quoted on the matter;
"If I could now conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution... [E]very man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity
according to the dictates of his own conscience." (Stokes, supra, p. 495.)
I shall continue my researches on these and other opinions, as I find your era of Independance as fascinating an aspect of the Age of Enlightenment ,as that of Europe. At present I'm studying the Scottish perspective, which as you know ,has much relevance to America's revolution as well as Europe's, then as now.
In Bob Johnson's essay Communusm in the Bible, he does not acknowedge the Essenes who practiced socialist principles of shared property without fear.
I can’t help but find it darkly humorous that people like Mohandas Gandhi, a mere human, could see and partake in selfless love against his enemies but our supposed “God” could not. Gandhi would directly contradict Yahweh’s teachings when he proclaimed “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” He knew that doing the right thing wasn’t always easy, and he still gladly died in order to do it. Yet according to the Bible, Gandhi (a Hindu unbeliever) is cast ablaze in hell to this day. The quote “Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker?” from the Book of Job seems particularly fitting.
Is the passage about Elisha ordering bears to tear forty-two children to shreds for calling him "Bald head" some mortal's hatemail/propoganda ?for this makes The Lord an extremely weak god, even by biblical standards.
Divine intervention is not needed for the workings in nature because God has already put all the gears in place to make the clock of the universe run. Is this meant metaphorically?Only I believe Creator and Creation to be organic life , not inanimate machine.
Atheists still have a way to offset God of course. They assert that if we can presuppose that God can exist outside of time and space then why can’t the same be said for random volatile energy. Indeed if a God can spark the big bang then can’t the unintelligible energy do so too? Yet this is effortlessly countered using the fine-tuned universe (universal constant) argument. Ah, God’s existence seems conclusive then doesn’t it? Well, in the field of experimental physics there dwells the fringiest of fringe theories dubbed the “Multiverse” theory. Under this entirely hypothetical theory (no hint of it has ever been tangibly validated) there exists billions upon billions of parallel universes. Granted, the chances of any life forming without God in one particular universe may be atomically miniscule, but if there’s billions then it becomes much more plausible. So it comes down to two choices then doesn’t it? Either I’m to believe that there are hundreds of billions of parallel universes all around us that just so happen that they can’t be observed, and that we are the byproducts of random bits of mindless energy that just happened to be thrashing around in the right place, or I can take credence in a conscious entity. Using reason, I choose the God factor.
I choose the God factor that includes these multiverses as much within it's essence as the one we experience, comprised of concious energy
""To me it’s evident that our cosmic creator has some semblance of affection toward us, for if he was apathetic to us why did he create the universe in the first place? If he had bloodlust, why would he allow any modicum of happiness whatsoever in this realm, and not instead mold it into a festering breeding ground for torture and pain? Therefore, since I exist, have not seen or heard of any credible “miracles,” live in a world where love is possible, and all revealed religions are frauds, I then conclude that the Supreme Being is a loving entity that wishes the best for us, but cannot intervene lest he take away our freedom."
This I fully concur with
IS THIS PART OF CORRESPONDENCE WITH JAYSON X ??
TO BE E-MAILED TO JAYSON THEN PASTED ONTO RELEVANT BLOG PAGE
BI-LOCALITY; SCIENTIFIC REASON FOR IT
Hello Jayson,
Again,long time, no correspondence. How are you and your world doing? I,ve been taking a cerebial sabbatical since last we corresponded, indulging in DVD's of 60's /70's T.V. drama and comedy as well as contemporary T.V. quiz shows ,the odd drama and comedy along with documentaries.We have a show here called Embarrassing Bodies. Paradoxically, people who are too embarrassed to consult their family G.P.'s on embarrassing health issues, appear on this show to bare all to the world. Do you find that amusing? I 'm also in the process of re-arranging and streamlining my library,i.e. chucking stuff out. Do you find it difficult to throw stuff out you believe you won't need but that nagging mind says "Don't be too sure you won't need it in future"?
Some time ago,you asked me whether I believed in bi-locality and if I had proof for it. My recent research into quantum particle physics that I previously presented to you concerning Tibetan acoustic levitation ceremonies and anti-gravity experiments by russian scientists in the 1940's and 50's had not I believe, entirely convinced you. What I have rececntly been reading may not do so either, but I felt I ought to inform you anyway.
I had been rereading a book entitled The Divine Matrix# by Gregg Braden;you may or may not know of him. Evenso, he reminded me of Padre Pio, the Italian theolgian , who , during WWII, appeared before a squadron of U.S Airforce bombers on a mission to bomb his city, San Giovanni Rotondo, having come under the control of the Nazis., and so containing miitary srongholds He appeared before them ,whilst in mid flight imploring them to cease their mission. Obviously bewildered and confused, they decided to turn back to base. Simultaneously, at ground level, Padre Pio was witnessed in his chapel at the altar, praying. This was verified by the timing of the mass and the time recorded by the aiforce crew upon witnessing Padre Pio "in the sky". So, how was this possible?
You may or may not of read/heard or remembered of a globally publicised experiment performed in 1997,under the leadership of Nicholas Gisin . This was an experiment previously undertaken by Einstein, Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen in 1935,only they didn't believe the results they recieved from the quantum realm, Einstein famously called it "Spooky action at a distance" Dividing a photon into two identical particles the Gisin team blasted them in totally opposite directions. Having reached a distance of 14 miles between them, forced to choose random pathways of continuance, they chose identical pathways in the direction each was travelling at 20,000 x speed of light [previous experiments of the same nature in the 1980's produced speeds 20x light.] Maybe this,is along with the apparant randomness of particles ,is what Einstein, also famous for his "God doesn't play dice " quotation, Podosky and Rosen could not accept. So what has this all to do with bi-location? Previously, you stated that verified experiments are repeatable. Now, what if on a sucessive experiment, the protons identically chose a different direction to the previous experiment.Would that render the whole experiment void, in your eyes?,
Considering the mind is of a greater capacity than our Newtonian based physical paradigm allows us to believe, and that mind is also composed of energy particles spinning at high frequencies and speeds some orthodox scientists are still unwilling to accept, I propose that a trained mind such as that of Padre Pio and other bi-locators can send or allow the force of Creation to send temporarily, a number of particles of themselves, clothing included, to other desired locations. This I believe works on the same principle as the Tibetan acoustic levitation.,thus flitting between other dimensions, modern scientists such as Michio Kaku call membranes or simply "branes", Padre Pio's prayers and intentions being the key sacrament for the bi-location to occur.
Excuse I being pedantic,yourself, having expressed to me that you prefer to believe in empirical science than mere philosophical supposition, do you believe we and the Universe are mere mechanical automatons as Newton's "theories" propose? Or are we an Infinite organic mind influenced by and influencing everything/one within an infinite ocean of fluctuating energy? Why do we hold onto Newtonian and Einsteinian theories and ideas as if they are God given testaments whilst Creation has been showing us a totally wider aspect to it's nature? I don't propose to throw Newton or Einstein out with the bath water, only realise that some of their impractical theories should be consigned to the history books whilst the still practical remain as valid science.The most elemental level of living things can no longer be considered as chemical reactions alone but as energy of which chemical reactions are a factor
#The Divine Matrix, mentioned above, as you are probably aware ,has gone by a plethoria of names by as many scientists and authors throughout history. The electro-magnetic theory of light considered as electro-magnetic vibration in the ether and that electro-magnetic and luminiferous ethers were the same ,proposed by James Clerk Maxwell, is the theory I prefer. although Nikola Tesla's ether is tempting; the Universe as a kinetic ether from which energies could be harnesed, including electricity.This of course upset the fossil fuel tycoons and their buddies in government and commerce who ,upon his death ,confiscated and classified as top secret all his papers,which remain so today.Remember , we discussed this also? So which ether do you prefer, if any?
Some would argue that the electro-magnetic ether could never work due to Bohr's belief that electrons can only lose energy when they jump from one orbit to another- electro-dynamics says so, yet an English physicist ,Timothy Boyer proposed and later, Hal Puthoff proved mathematically, that ths is not so, electrons are being refueled by tapping into fluctuations within the ether field, maintaining dynamic equilibrium, balanced at exactly the right orbit. .This could account for the temporary presence of Padre Pio in the sky until his mission suceeded in halting the airforce squadron's mission
Apparantly, Hal Puthoff has come up with a unified theory of physics to explain gravity and non-locality within this field..Recieving polite applause for his theory, it is obviously not warmly welcomed, upsetting ,as it does, the bedrock of 20th century physics . Using his field theory, he has invented mauch condensed charged technology, including flat screen T.V,. The Pentagon has only recently started to take him seriously.Two of his collaborators, Alfonso Rueda and Bernard Haisch during the 1990's produced two new papers which mathematicaly proved, using Einstein's relativistic physics,vs Newtonian physics, that the ancients were correct, that we are indeed all beings of light .Having typed all this, I have a nagging feeling that Newton was not altogether wrong, only has been misread by modern standards.He did after all propose that degrees of densityare subject to ratios of space or void to matter. So I leave it here awaiting your response.
Having re-read my gnostic gospels recently I have decided to postpone sending a paragraph concerning Christ's teachings and "miracles" that sound more feasible in the light of recent quantum physics mentioned above , until I recieve your response to this
Live long and prosper
The Voltarian
MAYBE PASTE ONTO PAINE PAGE OF BLOG
On Deism and the Writings of Thomas Paine
From: Steven Stewart
Subject: Am I a deist?
To: jayson@deism.com
Date: Friday, March 11, 2011, 7:01 AM
Hello Jason,
I have been reading the Paine essays and others on your website www.deism.com and found them fascinating, only I'm not sure whether I can call myself a deist as I have differing views on the nature of our Infinite Creator being both Creator and Creation simultaneously, since we are all created from energy which is the composition of the Universe .Also, that since all that exists issues from an Infinite Creator we must all be aspects of that energy.
I had intended sending you a letter I have composed to Thomas Paine on these issues for my Blog , but maybe the above is sufficient to answer my query
Yours, The Voltarian.
From: jayson@deism.comI have been reading the Paine essays and others on your website www.deism.com and found them fascinating, only I'm not sure whether I can call myself a deist as I have differing views on the nature of our Infinite Creator being both Creator and Creation simultaneously, since we are all created from energy which is the composition of the Universe .Also, that since all that exists issues from an Infinite Creator we must all be aspects of that energy.
I had intended sending you a letter I have composed to Thomas Paine on these issues for my Blog , but maybe the above is sufficient to answer my query
Yours, The Voltarian.
Subject: Re: Am I a deist?
To: defoedanielinfidel@hotmail.co.uk
| Hi Voltarian, You sound like a Deist to me, specifically a Panendeist. A Panendeist is just like a Panentheist, except the Panendeist tries to base all of his or her beliefs on reason. A Panentheist believes that the universe is part of God. So the universe is God, but God is still bigger than the universe. For the record, I am a Panendeist too because I believe that the universe is probably like a purposefully created thought in God's brain. I would love to "hear" more of your thoughts on these matters. May reason prevail! Jayson X Deputy Director World Union of Deists |
Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2011 06:45:27 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Am I a deist?
To: defoedanielinfidel@hotmail.co.uk
Dear Steven,
It is good to hear back from you. I will record my response in highlighted words like these throughout your email below.
--- On Sat, 3/12/11, Steven Stewart
From: Steven Stewart
Subject: RE: Am I a deist?
To: jayson@deism.com
Date: Saturday, March 12, 2011, 6:53 AM
Anyway, if your'e interested in my story, I fell out with God and Jesus along with all orthodoxy at an early age. At the time of the middle eastern wars of the late 60's/early 70's, I would come home from a day of religous pumping at school. God is great and kind and loving but you must hate those who don't believe in your church's idea of God to have to hear it all over on the news . I had never heard of Deism so I believed myself to be an athiest without really understanding of what it really means.I was in my mid twenties when I had a dream of being shown a paradise, allowing me to realize, upon waking, that all the hypocrisies of religon have nothing to do with whatever/whomever you prefer to call God or Jesus but man only, and have since been discovering the true nature of our Creator. Researching info for my blogs vindicating Thomas Paine, who I consider along with Voltaire and other enlightenment personalities to be champions of freethinking, that I came across your website. I have previously been fascinated by particle physics and the Tao along with cell memory and our DNA potentialities.
My Dear Friend Thomas Paine,
Here I am once more, writing to you from across the centuries and hoping this finds you well and pleased with your present condition, wherever in Creation that maybe. I write having recently discovered ,downloaded, and read some of your essays and letters concerning your deist beliefs. Although I can agree on many of them concerning the nature of our Infinite Creator and It's Creation, through the study of it, I have some issues of discord I wish to discuss with you I don't believe I can call myself a deist on these accounts, but then you may find differently and think my differences negligable.
My main disagreement concerns the authenticity of Jesus Christ as a living person as opposed to a purely symbolic or mythical figure of sun/zodiacal worship, decending down the ages from sucessive cultures.,
--- On Sat, 3/12/11, Steven Stewart
From: Steven Stewart
Subject: RE: Am I a deist?
To: jayson@deism.com
Date: Saturday, March 12, 2011, 6:53 AM
Hi Jason
Thanks for your prompt reply and further interest. I mentioned my blogsite You can find it at misterblendingsnewsociety.blogspot.com. Although it's title is The Voltarian Shines It's Light On... An earlier blogsite I had to abandon because my computor was saying NO at me . It's still floating about hyperspace
Thanks for your prompt reply and further interest. I mentioned my blogsite You can find it at misterblendingsnewsociety.blogspot.com. Although it's title is The Voltarian Shines It's Light On... An earlier blogsite I had to abandon because my computor was saying NO at me . It's still floating about hyperspace
Thanks for the information.
Anyway, if your'e interested in my story, I fell out with God and Jesus along with all orthodoxy at an early age. At the time of the middle eastern wars of the late 60's/early 70's, I would come home from a day of religous pumping at school. God is great and kind and loving but you must hate those who don't believe in your church's idea of God to have to hear it all over on the news . I had never heard of Deism so I believed myself to be an athiest without really understanding of what it really means.I was in my mid twenties when I had a dream of being shown a paradise, allowing me to realize, upon waking, that all the hypocrisies of religon have nothing to do with whatever/whomever you prefer to call God or Jesus but man only, and have since been discovering the true nature of our Creator. Researching info for my blogs vindicating Thomas Paine, who I consider along with Voltaire and other enlightenment personalities to be champions of freethinking, that I came across your website. I have previously been fascinated by particle physics and the Tao along with cell memory and our DNA potentialities.
Sounds good to me.
Maybe this letter I have composed will give you more and hope will not bore you
I doubt it will.
My Dear Friend Thomas Paine,
Here I am once more, writing to you from across the centuries and hoping this finds you well and pleased with your present condition, wherever in Creation that maybe. I write having recently discovered ,downloaded, and read some of your essays and letters concerning your deist beliefs. Although I can agree on many of them concerning the nature of our Infinite Creator and It's Creation, through the study of it, I have some issues of discord I wish to discuss with you I don't believe I can call myself a deist on these accounts, but then you may find differently and think my differences negligable.
My main disagreement concerns the authenticity of Jesus Christ as a living person as opposed to a purely symbolic or mythical figure of sun/zodiacal worship, decending down the ages from sucessive cultures.,
All Deists believe just two things: 1) One should base one's beliefs on reason, and 2) reason leads one to conclude that God exists, or at least probably exists. Deists disagree about the historicity of Jesus of Nazareth. I believe that he was a real person who was mythologized into Jesus Christ by his followers, like Saint Nicholas was mythologized into Santa Claus.
I do agree that he is not the fabrication the Holy Roman Church would have us believe, but there are tell-tale verses within the New Testament that have been missed by the "holy" censors yet match up with other scriptures more reliable yet unknown to you in your century on Earth. I have not the verses to hand at time of writing this and in no way do I hazard guessing at them from poor memory, knowing how scrupulously and diligently you read such scriptures., but shall include them at a latter date for your perusal. So, far from calling you a liar, or presuming you somehow deluded, I only wish to bring you up to speed with 21st century research and perspective on this issue.
In 1945 and1947, many scrolls came to light, hidden since the mid first century and 2nd or 3rd centuries A.D. in the desert of Egypt and the rocky mountain shores of The Dead Sea at a place called Qumran They tell a different story, shedding revealing light on the character of Jesus Christ, who he was and what he was about whilst in human form Now you may quaff ,exclaiming, not more stories, but please bear me out Since these scrolls were deliberately hidden, they were obviously deemed heretical, blasphemous and/or politically subversive to the Roman and Hebrew authorities alike To me, this gives them some credance of authenticity, but I a m still open to correction and further evidence. So why would the Roman Church wish to supress these scrolls, then as well as after they were found?,for it took thirty and forty years for them to be published due to wranglings between Orthodox Christian and Hebrew clerics, university academics, lawyers and governments. Were they merely NOT part of the lie the church wished to impart to the people? Were they giving true hope of an afterlife or better way of living in this world?It appears to me to be a bit of both I must note, that there were two sects of people living on The Dead Sea, called the Essesnes One held to the strict hebrew doctrines of Deutornonomy, the other more liberal and open to foreign influences in the sciences The Egyptian scrolls were also of a liberal based community. It is believed that Jesus lived amongst the liberal Essenes at some stage of his early life
You hold that Jesus must be a fiction concocted by the church to justify their doctrines, dogmas and overall agenda because the Infinite Creator did not impart the knowledge of the printing press to him, so how could he and his disciples spread The Word so vastly, so quickly. I answer that in his day,it was quite normal for those so inclined, to walk great distances, if not by venerable ass, which you declare was more the size of a horse in those times, otherwise,camel. From 21st century perspective, those of us who are prepared to see further, do not see this as a problem of vanity as Christ had none. And have you forgotten waterbourne traffic?
We must not presume that, just because northern Europe had forgotten the art of navigation and fallen into the superstition bred by the church, presumably,that man would fall off the edge if he sailed too far, others of previous ages thought otherwise.So why do I presume this? Indeed Islam understood navigation well and so some travelled farther than Marco Polo, his uncle and brothers, whilst most of Europe ,under the thumb of Rome, sat on their laurels. Even when the Polos returned from Asia and the Orient, bringing back knowledge and wonderous stories of these lands, the church and authorities ridiculed and imprisoned Marco, for his obstinance and impunity.I love the story told of when he, on his deathbed, was uged to tell the truth of what he'd seen, he admitted that he hadn't told the world of half the things he saw. But of all this, I'm sure you are aware .
So, yes, distance and a smaller world population were of little obstacle to Christ and his disciples in delivering their True Gospel . It is even ventured that he built the first church on English soil, at Glastonbury, or somewhere nearby, during the missing years from 12-30. 20th century research has discovered that Druidism, early christian beliefs and ancient mathematics were akin disciplines, so the likelyhood of Jesus visiting Celtic Britain also, is now thought not too incredible, for the further seekers It is also possible he travelled to India, as far asTibet. Records have been seen by Europeans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, that he visited Buddhist temples at Ladakh in north-eastern India cica 20A.D.
Some verses in the Egyptian scrolls mention that Christ did not always appear in solid form, but seemed ghost-like. This before the crucifixion Hindu yogis and some European mystics have also held this quality, called bi-location. Have you heard of it in your age?
In 1945 and1947, many scrolls came to light, hidden since the mid first century and 2nd or 3rd centuries A.D. in the desert of Egypt and the rocky mountain shores of The Dead Sea at a place called Qumran They tell a different story, shedding revealing light on the character of Jesus Christ, who he was and what he was about whilst in human form Now you may quaff ,exclaiming, not more stories, but please bear me out Since these scrolls were deliberately hidden, they were obviously deemed heretical, blasphemous and/or politically subversive to the Roman and Hebrew authorities alike To me, this gives them some credance of authenticity, but I a m still open to correction and further evidence. So why would the Roman Church wish to supress these scrolls, then as well as after they were found?,for it took thirty and forty years for them to be published due to wranglings between Orthodox Christian and Hebrew clerics, university academics, lawyers and governments. Were they merely NOT part of the lie the church wished to impart to the people? Were they giving true hope of an afterlife or better way of living in this world?It appears to me to be a bit of both I must note, that there were two sects of people living on The Dead Sea, called the Essesnes One held to the strict hebrew doctrines of Deutornonomy, the other more liberal and open to foreign influences in the sciences The Egyptian scrolls were also of a liberal based community. It is believed that Jesus lived amongst the liberal Essenes at some stage of his early life
You hold that Jesus must be a fiction concocted by the church to justify their doctrines, dogmas and overall agenda because the Infinite Creator did not impart the knowledge of the printing press to him, so how could he and his disciples spread The Word so vastly, so quickly. I answer that in his day,it was quite normal for those so inclined, to walk great distances, if not by venerable ass, which you declare was more the size of a horse in those times, otherwise,camel. From 21st century perspective, those of us who are prepared to see further, do not see this as a problem of vanity as Christ had none. And have you forgotten waterbourne traffic?
We must not presume that, just because northern Europe had forgotten the art of navigation and fallen into the superstition bred by the church, presumably,that man would fall off the edge if he sailed too far, others of previous ages thought otherwise.So why do I presume this? Indeed Islam understood navigation well and so some travelled farther than Marco Polo, his uncle and brothers, whilst most of Europe ,under the thumb of Rome, sat on their laurels. Even when the Polos returned from Asia and the Orient, bringing back knowledge and wonderous stories of these lands, the church and authorities ridiculed and imprisoned Marco, for his obstinance and impunity.I love the story told of when he, on his deathbed, was uged to tell the truth of what he'd seen, he admitted that he hadn't told the world of half the things he saw. But of all this, I'm sure you are aware .
So, yes, distance and a smaller world population were of little obstacle to Christ and his disciples in delivering their True Gospel . It is even ventured that he built the first church on English soil, at Glastonbury, or somewhere nearby, during the missing years from 12-30. 20th century research has discovered that Druidism, early christian beliefs and ancient mathematics were akin disciplines, so the likelyhood of Jesus visiting Celtic Britain also, is now thought not too incredible, for the further seekers It is also possible he travelled to India, as far asTibet. Records have been seen by Europeans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, that he visited Buddhist temples at Ladakh in north-eastern India cica 20A.D.
Some verses in the Egyptian scrolls mention that Christ did not always appear in solid form, but seemed ghost-like. This before the crucifixion Hindu yogis and some European mystics have also held this quality, called bi-location. Have you heard of it in your age?
Do you believe in bi-location?
You may find it incredulous and no doubt many in my century also, but there are many things in Heaven and upon Earth that bely the usual senses.This leads me to the question of miracles claimed of him. Could they be made reasonable if interpreted in a modern scientific vernacular? Scientific vernacular in my age has rendered them all the more untenable, yet I suspect not proven impossible. Maybe it needs a less sceptical age of scientists to see through the blind obstinancies of my present age to conduct the appropriate experiments to conclude positively either way.
You have, no doubt noticed my peculiar use of 'It' as a pronoun for our Infinite Creator From my perspective, I believe The Creator and It's Creation to be One.
You have, no doubt noticed my peculiar use of 'It' as a pronoun for our Infinite Creator From my perspective, I believe The Creator and It's Creation to be One.
"It" is better than "He" or "She" because God does not have a gender. God does not need a penis or vagina to create life or the universe.
You, having read Spinoza, will have some idea of this as his philosophy closely resembles what mankind has discovered about the nature of The Universe during the 20th century
Study of sub-atomic particles have revealed behaviour that responds to conciousness, not only human but all concousnesses on, Earth at least. Since we have discovered that these particles are comprised of energy that comprise all matter and anti-matter, the Life Force or Holy Spirit, if you will, it is androgynous, therefore our Creator also must be , and so I prefer It as a pronoun. However, I have not read so far yet as to determine whether you agree as you continue to use Him. Is this a convenience of courtesy, a sign of due reverence or have you never considered this aspect?
Perhaps it was a force of habit. Also, remember that back then, the third-person masculine pronoun ("he") was used to refer to both genders in many cases. If I taught high school English in 1950 and was talking to one of my classes, which, like my other classes, had a mix of boys and girls; I would say, "Every student needs to bring his literature book to class tomorrow." Only after the rise of Feminism in the 1960s and 70s would educated English speakers say, "Every student needs to bring his or her literature book to class tomorrow."
There is of course the notion of the Godhead. That there is an entity in some kind of human form that communicates with man This I do not dismiss out of hand, but am sceptical about That the Infinite Creator does communicate with It's Creation, I have no doubt of, I just don't buy the hoary white-haired old man in the heavens story any more than you believe the Adam and Eve story, which for me also, has too many anomolies to be believed in but as symbolic myth understood by those who wrote, or commisioned to be written yet lost to us, both in yours and my centuries.
So, who do I belive Jesus Christ is? I answer that he, whilst on Earth, was a man born of natural parents both, but blessed for his ministry as a prophet and teacher, with extraordinary knowledge and wisdom of the Universal Life-Force ie The Infinite Creator. NOT the only Son of God and NOT as Our Saviour. Some verses I do remember,make it plain he wished us to be responsible for our own actions and that only we, as individuated souls, can determine whether we do good or bad. There is no hint of predestination No clay moulded from the same lump, yet deemed either honourable or dishonourable . This I agree with you upon ,that Paul does great dishonour to both Creator and Creation, in this way, as 20/21st century perspective has discovered [learned from indigenous peoples in Americas and elsewhere] that energy responds to conciousness whether treated well or ill. We chooose our own way and this determines how we experience the afterbody life Even so his ministry was to guide us to a soul enriching life, as opposed to soul destroying. I do believe he had incredible healing powers that he may have learned from the druids or from his travels through Asia, if he hadn't been born with them, innate. We've discussed the possibility of him travelling long distances earlier. Yet some say we are but instruments of God's will in that we merely channel It's energy. To this I disagree in that , as mentioned above,we have the power of will to direct it how we please to engage with our Creator, which I believe is one of the ways It communicates with us and we respond I also contend, that being both Creator and Creation, we are therefore Co-Creators, if only we allow ourselves the scope of mind to do so, so as to evolve at a rate exceeding that of the past 20-30,000 years A further notion presented to me being that our Creator also evolves in this way, along with others, of course We have the capacity for it, laying dormant, 95% or so, locked as it is, within our D.N.A sequence. We need only stop slitting each others throats over religon, politics and money in order to spend our energies and funds saved from irradicating war to exploring ourselves more fully
You sound like another Deist, Thomas Jefferson, who believed that Jesus was a great teacher of theology and morality--the greatest ever in fact.
Elsewhere, you quoted Xenophon thus "For my part , i could never think that the soul while in a mortal body lives, but when departed from it dies:or that it's conciousness is lost when it is discharged out of an unconcious habitation But when it is freed from all corporeal alliance, it is then that it truly exists" Do you concur with this, or only use it as an example of how church scripture corrupts such ancient texts?
For my part, from what I've gathered so far ,from my century, and a certain Emanual Swedenborg in yours, there is unlimited oppurtunity for those who seek it
If, however you are one who believes there is only hell and damnation, that is what you shall experience, until you realize it doesn't need to be so It is not our Creator that condemns but ourselves, and as Creator, rather than preventing us from experiencing that which we believe, It allows us to do so This also means that It experiences also, simultaneously with It's creation. As you mention in your Discourse at the Society of Theophilanthropists, matter is acted upon by the law of nature, As we are as much matter and spirit acted upon, we are also the law acting upon it, the Infinite Creator being the power of first cause, overseeing yet experiencing all of It's conciousness as The Lfe Force or Holy Spirit
Now you argue that The Creator is unchangable. I have believed otherwise until now in that I ask is it only my perception that has changed, as it may do to everyone else, or can It be simultaneously changing and unchangeable? Paradox though it is,it would be dismissive to deny without providing substantial proof either way
I'd like to move on now to other topics of social reform.You mention that churches and other religous meeting places should be sold off to fund the education of the poor and care of sick and aged. Should this also include Quaker meeting houses, or am I being a tad pedantic? In your Agrarian Justice, you missed this out but I fully concur. If churches are to be kept, they should be in the care and keep of the people, or nation, not money-grubbing priests Further, I was wondering whether the stipend of £15 per annum you quote was intended as a supplement or substitute for labourers' wages for disnfranchisement That you say it was intended for rich and poor alike, suggests a supplement, or at least a financial cushion in times of economic hardship.I have been studying the economics of David Ricardo, who wrote in the age you proposed your Agrarian Justice to be practiced, finding it could only do so if governments were not greedy for the profits of war at the expense of the nation, priests their tithes and other monies they have enveagled out of an uneducated population, as well as keeping the monarch yin an obscene state of luxury when the money saved could be, as you proposed ,used in funding your Agrarian scheme, than burdening the people with the upkeep of workhouses.
But do you believe the labouring poor should be elevated to the status of consumer-citizen, having the necessary spending power above the level of bare living expenses, in order to enjoin and enjoy the spirit of mercantilism that brings revenue to the nation , despite it being abused by government? I believe you do, but I have not yet read anything of yours that confirms this, unless the statement in your letter to Camille Jordan on church bell ringing, entitled 'Citizen Representative' from my research source, "given new life to commerce and employment to our people" Offers such an oppurtunity.
I was pleaded to discover you claim yourself 'A Friend To The Indians' Does this mean that you believe they deserve the same inaliable rights white Americans enjoy, or should they be denied as the negroes are denied theirs? I should hope the former from you, and further, they should be left to continue their lifestlyes as they have done for the previous countless millinea, before our arrival Not forced to learn 'white man paper', thus losing their culture and ancient knowledge. Those among them should, however, if they choose, learn 'white man paper' if they are to be allowed representation in the senate and openly allegable to government posts. This of course may mean they must renounce their religons and beliefs, unless they pronounce themselves Deists. Could you campaign for them to gain these liberties that your Declaration of Independance so adamantly declares it should, without the renouncing of their diverse beliefs? Are they not, as original Americans, 'The People' also?
You have stated that a good citizen is not necessarily a good man and vice-versa It appears to me that you were both a good man but bad citizen in England but both good in America, until you fell from grace for you Deist beliefs, then you were deemed a bad citizen .J.J.Rousseau believed we are all generally good but corrupted by the world. Edmund Burke believes we are a mixture of good and bad that must be restrained with penal laws. Do you think he is going too far and Rousseau too leniant? I believe we are corrupted by the evils of the world we have created for ourselves, but there are those more incorrigable that do need restraint, but penal punishment ,in your age, was going too far. Atonement in the form of social/ community service without pay but food and lodging provided, which if at the expense of private persons could be re-imbursed by the offender once gainfully re-employed on a wage, or at the expense of the tax payer. Or do you believe the offender's family, or next of kin should house them and bear the cost whilst atoning? A mixture of all is in practice today in Britain, but is it too soft? Some reckon so, and I count myself as one in certain circumstances There are too many cases where offenders have commited many crimes before they are given a custodial sentence, which allows them to continue their crimes at the cost to the community, usually their own neighbourhoods, whereas when Mr Burke was threatened with violence in the riots of June1780, he was well protected by the authorities and the perpetrators duly and severely punished Burke believed that"the advantages of society are the product of intricate human experience over many centuries , not to be amended overnight by some coffee house philosopher" With these sentiments of the descendants of robber barons who believe they should continue to enjoy the luxuries of life, exclusive of and often at the expense of the labouring class and poor,who deserve not even the bread on their tables, which are begrudgingly exchange for a few shillings wage, I'm not surprised the rioters threatened to attack him Am I going too far? Burke seems to resemble the Tory back benchers and Lords in Parliament of whom the same can be said in my age..The police protect the wealthy but ignore the labouring and poor in society,who are expected to pay, from their taxes, for the police protection they are not recieving. It is also a common occurance, that he who harms a thief or housebreaker whilst protecting his property from said theif/house breaker is more likely to end up in jail ,than that theif /housebreaker. This is normally due to clever lawyers who see only profit from protecting the offender, however much in the wrong, as he can call on legal aid, or just winning, than seeing justice prevail because the plaintiff cannot afford such a lawyer, for being gainfully employed, finds himself non-legable for such aid which again, he pays for from his taxes. I'm sure, if you were living on earth today, this would be more than ample for you to campaign against. It would not be incredible for me ,if you were someone of this temperament, whether famous or largely unknown.
Crime and punishment is a fascinating, important, and challenging topic. I think you also brought up the issues of minimum wage and welfare too. Rather than critique either your opinions or Paine's opinions, I will just briefly give my opinions.
1) The punishment should fit the crime. Therefore, the more money someone has stolen, the more someone should be punished. Someone who steals $1,000,000 from people's pensions should be punished more than someone who steals $200 from a liquor store. Alas, I do not believe that this is always how the American legal system works.
2) Citizens should be guaranteed a living wage if they work within their nation. A living wage does not make one rich, but it is enough for one to live a lower-middle-class lifestyle if one works 40 hours a week and is frugal. Paying less than a living wage promotes economic slavery which is less good than people should live. In other words, economic slavery should be considered so evil that society should not tolerate it.
3) The purpose of a government is to provide its citizens with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Since people need water, food, and shelter to accomplish these goals, a government should provide its citizens with these things if the citizens cannot provide them for themselves. However, it is very problematic to encourage people to be lazy and unproductive. Therefore, the government should only provide those citizens who are physically and mentally capable of working the bare necessities to keep them alive if they are on welfare: clean water; rice, beans, and a vitamin for food; and a concrete room and inexpensive clothes for shelter. The goal is to keep these potential workers alive but unhappy, so that they try very hard to find work to improve their lives and the lives of their dependents.
Yet Burke was not all bad. His tireless campaign against British oppression of catholics and his contribution to the independance of America, stood him in good stead, only his attitude toward France puzzled you and I, who still agree with your stance on France, whose ideals were spoilt by the excesses of Robespiere and Bonaparte.
I have to pull you up on your stance vis war, as you fervently advocated war against British government, if not the nation, for America's independance, along with other deists, Franklin, Jefferson and Washington, yet rebuked Europe for thier war-mongering. I understand Washington was driven by providence. Was it the same for you.?If so, can you explain the nature of this providence considering you believe in a god that abhors war among It's Creation So, how do you plead? Trafficking weapons for foodstuffs, and other commodities your people could do with considering the trade embargos America and Britain had set against yourselves
I presume you would answer that we intended no profit by war with Britain, only independance, but who but the American people would have to pay for it afterward,once won?
Well, enough wrangling, for now. I do anticipate your response to all this, and at some point I shall send you examples of those scrolls found at Qumran and Hagmanni in Egypt for further discussion
All the best for now, from your good friend, The Voltarian
Badrallach, Wester Ross, Scotland
March 5 2011
Hope this has given you more than enough to comment on yourself.
Yours in anticipation The Voltarian
I liked your letter. Unfortunately, I cannot comment for Paine, only for myself. I hope that my feedback was adequate. Please email me again if you want to keep our discussion going.
May reason prevail!
Jayson X
Deputy Director
World Union of Deists
Study of sub-atomic particles have revealed behaviour that responds to conciousness, not only human but all concousnesses on, Earth at least. Since we have discovered that these particles are comprised of energy that comprise all matter and anti-matter, the Life Force or Holy Spirit, if you will, it is androgynous, therefore our Creator also must be , and so I prefer It as a pronoun. However, I have not read so far yet as to determine whether you agree as you continue to use Him. Is this a convenience of courtesy, a sign of due reverence or have you never considered this aspect?
Perhaps it was a force of habit. Also, remember that back then, the third-person masculine pronoun ("he") was used to refer to both genders in many cases. If I taught high school English in 1950 and was talking to one of my classes, which, like my other classes, had a mix of boys and girls; I would say, "Every student needs to bring his literature book to class tomorrow." Only after the rise of Feminism in the 1960s and 70s would educated English speakers say, "Every student needs to bring his or her literature book to class tomorrow."
There is of course the notion of the Godhead. That there is an entity in some kind of human form that communicates with man This I do not dismiss out of hand, but am sceptical about That the Infinite Creator does communicate with It's Creation, I have no doubt of, I just don't buy the hoary white-haired old man in the heavens story any more than you believe the Adam and Eve story, which for me also, has too many anomolies to be believed in but as symbolic myth understood by those who wrote, or commisioned to be written yet lost to us, both in yours and my centuries.
So, who do I belive Jesus Christ is? I answer that he, whilst on Earth, was a man born of natural parents both, but blessed for his ministry as a prophet and teacher, with extraordinary knowledge and wisdom of the Universal Life-Force ie The Infinite Creator. NOT the only Son of God and NOT as Our Saviour. Some verses I do remember,make it plain he wished us to be responsible for our own actions and that only we, as individuated souls, can determine whether we do good or bad. There is no hint of predestination No clay moulded from the same lump, yet deemed either honourable or dishonourable . This I agree with you upon ,that Paul does great dishonour to both Creator and Creation, in this way, as 20/21st century perspective has discovered [learned from indigenous peoples in Americas and elsewhere] that energy responds to conciousness whether treated well or ill. We chooose our own way and this determines how we experience the afterbody life Even so his ministry was to guide us to a soul enriching life, as opposed to soul destroying. I do believe he had incredible healing powers that he may have learned from the druids or from his travels through Asia, if he hadn't been born with them, innate. We've discussed the possibility of him travelling long distances earlier. Yet some say we are but instruments of God's will in that we merely channel It's energy. To this I disagree in that , as mentioned above,we have the power of will to direct it how we please to engage with our Creator, which I believe is one of the ways It communicates with us and we respond I also contend, that being both Creator and Creation, we are therefore Co-Creators, if only we allow ourselves the scope of mind to do so, so as to evolve at a rate exceeding that of the past 20-30,000 years A further notion presented to me being that our Creator also evolves in this way, along with others, of course We have the capacity for it, laying dormant, 95% or so, locked as it is, within our D.N.A sequence. We need only stop slitting each others throats over religon, politics and money in order to spend our energies and funds saved from irradicating war to exploring ourselves more fully
You sound like another Deist, Thomas Jefferson, who believed that Jesus was a great teacher of theology and morality--the greatest ever in fact.
Elsewhere, you quoted Xenophon thus "For my part , i could never think that the soul while in a mortal body lives, but when departed from it dies:or that it's conciousness is lost when it is discharged out of an unconcious habitation But when it is freed from all corporeal alliance, it is then that it truly exists" Do you concur with this, or only use it as an example of how church scripture corrupts such ancient texts?
For my part, from what I've gathered so far ,from my century, and a certain Emanual Swedenborg in yours, there is unlimited oppurtunity for those who seek it
If, however you are one who believes there is only hell and damnation, that is what you shall experience, until you realize it doesn't need to be so It is not our Creator that condemns but ourselves, and as Creator, rather than preventing us from experiencing that which we believe, It allows us to do so This also means that It experiences also, simultaneously with It's creation. As you mention in your Discourse at the Society of Theophilanthropists, matter is acted upon by the law of nature, As we are as much matter and spirit acted upon, we are also the law acting upon it, the Infinite Creator being the power of first cause, overseeing yet experiencing all of It's conciousness as The Lfe Force or Holy Spirit
Now you argue that The Creator is unchangable. I have believed otherwise until now in that I ask is it only my perception that has changed, as it may do to everyone else, or can It be simultaneously changing and unchangeable? Paradox though it is,it would be dismissive to deny without providing substantial proof either way
I'd like to move on now to other topics of social reform.You mention that churches and other religous meeting places should be sold off to fund the education of the poor and care of sick and aged. Should this also include Quaker meeting houses, or am I being a tad pedantic? In your Agrarian Justice, you missed this out but I fully concur. If churches are to be kept, they should be in the care and keep of the people, or nation, not money-grubbing priests Further, I was wondering whether the stipend of £15 per annum you quote was intended as a supplement or substitute for labourers' wages for disnfranchisement That you say it was intended for rich and poor alike, suggests a supplement, or at least a financial cushion in times of economic hardship.I have been studying the economics of David Ricardo, who wrote in the age you proposed your Agrarian Justice to be practiced, finding it could only do so if governments were not greedy for the profits of war at the expense of the nation, priests their tithes and other monies they have enveagled out of an uneducated population, as well as keeping the monarch yin an obscene state of luxury when the money saved could be, as you proposed ,used in funding your Agrarian scheme, than burdening the people with the upkeep of workhouses.
But do you believe the labouring poor should be elevated to the status of consumer-citizen, having the necessary spending power above the level of bare living expenses, in order to enjoin and enjoy the spirit of mercantilism that brings revenue to the nation , despite it being abused by government? I believe you do, but I have not yet read anything of yours that confirms this, unless the statement in your letter to Camille Jordan on church bell ringing, entitled 'Citizen Representative' from my research source, "given new life to commerce and employment to our people" Offers such an oppurtunity.
I was pleaded to discover you claim yourself 'A Friend To The Indians' Does this mean that you believe they deserve the same inaliable rights white Americans enjoy, or should they be denied as the negroes are denied theirs? I should hope the former from you, and further, they should be left to continue their lifestlyes as they have done for the previous countless millinea, before our arrival Not forced to learn 'white man paper', thus losing their culture and ancient knowledge. Those among them should, however, if they choose, learn 'white man paper' if they are to be allowed representation in the senate and openly allegable to government posts. This of course may mean they must renounce their religons and beliefs, unless they pronounce themselves Deists. Could you campaign for them to gain these liberties that your Declaration of Independance so adamantly declares it should, without the renouncing of their diverse beliefs? Are they not, as original Americans, 'The People' also?
You have stated that a good citizen is not necessarily a good man and vice-versa It appears to me that you were both a good man but bad citizen in England but both good in America, until you fell from grace for you Deist beliefs, then you were deemed a bad citizen .J.J.Rousseau believed we are all generally good but corrupted by the world. Edmund Burke believes we are a mixture of good and bad that must be restrained with penal laws. Do you think he is going too far and Rousseau too leniant? I believe we are corrupted by the evils of the world we have created for ourselves, but there are those more incorrigable that do need restraint, but penal punishment ,in your age, was going too far. Atonement in the form of social/ community service without pay but food and lodging provided, which if at the expense of private persons could be re-imbursed by the offender once gainfully re-employed on a wage, or at the expense of the tax payer. Or do you believe the offender's family, or next of kin should house them and bear the cost whilst atoning? A mixture of all is in practice today in Britain, but is it too soft? Some reckon so, and I count myself as one in certain circumstances There are too many cases where offenders have commited many crimes before they are given a custodial sentence, which allows them to continue their crimes at the cost to the community, usually their own neighbourhoods, whereas when Mr Burke was threatened with violence in the riots of June1780, he was well protected by the authorities and the perpetrators duly and severely punished Burke believed that"the advantages of society are the product of intricate human experience over many centuries , not to be amended overnight by some coffee house philosopher" With these sentiments of the descendants of robber barons who believe they should continue to enjoy the luxuries of life, exclusive of and often at the expense of the labouring class and poor,who deserve not even the bread on their tables, which are begrudgingly exchange for a few shillings wage, I'm not surprised the rioters threatened to attack him Am I going too far? Burke seems to resemble the Tory back benchers and Lords in Parliament of whom the same can be said in my age..The police protect the wealthy but ignore the labouring and poor in society,who are expected to pay, from their taxes, for the police protection they are not recieving. It is also a common occurance, that he who harms a thief or housebreaker whilst protecting his property from said theif/house breaker is more likely to end up in jail ,than that theif /housebreaker. This is normally due to clever lawyers who see only profit from protecting the offender, however much in the wrong, as he can call on legal aid, or just winning, than seeing justice prevail because the plaintiff cannot afford such a lawyer, for being gainfully employed, finds himself non-legable for such aid which again, he pays for from his taxes. I'm sure, if you were living on earth today, this would be more than ample for you to campaign against. It would not be incredible for me ,if you were someone of this temperament, whether famous or largely unknown.
Crime and punishment is a fascinating, important, and challenging topic. I think you also brought up the issues of minimum wage and welfare too. Rather than critique either your opinions or Paine's opinions, I will just briefly give my opinions.
1) The punishment should fit the crime. Therefore, the more money someone has stolen, the more someone should be punished. Someone who steals $1,000,000 from people's pensions should be punished more than someone who steals $200 from a liquor store. Alas, I do not believe that this is always how the American legal system works.
2) Citizens should be guaranteed a living wage if they work within their nation. A living wage does not make one rich, but it is enough for one to live a lower-middle-class lifestyle if one works 40 hours a week and is frugal. Paying less than a living wage promotes economic slavery which is less good than people should live. In other words, economic slavery should be considered so evil that society should not tolerate it.
3) The purpose of a government is to provide its citizens with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Since people need water, food, and shelter to accomplish these goals, a government should provide its citizens with these things if the citizens cannot provide them for themselves. However, it is very problematic to encourage people to be lazy and unproductive. Therefore, the government should only provide those citizens who are physically and mentally capable of working the bare necessities to keep them alive if they are on welfare: clean water; rice, beans, and a vitamin for food; and a concrete room and inexpensive clothes for shelter. The goal is to keep these potential workers alive but unhappy, so that they try very hard to find work to improve their lives and the lives of their dependents.
Yet Burke was not all bad. His tireless campaign against British oppression of catholics and his contribution to the independance of America, stood him in good stead, only his attitude toward France puzzled you and I, who still agree with your stance on France, whose ideals were spoilt by the excesses of Robespiere and Bonaparte.
I have to pull you up on your stance vis war, as you fervently advocated war against British government, if not the nation, for America's independance, along with other deists, Franklin, Jefferson and Washington, yet rebuked Europe for thier war-mongering. I understand Washington was driven by providence. Was it the same for you.?If so, can you explain the nature of this providence considering you believe in a god that abhors war among It's Creation So, how do you plead? Trafficking weapons for foodstuffs, and other commodities your people could do with considering the trade embargos America and Britain had set against yourselves
I presume you would answer that we intended no profit by war with Britain, only independance, but who but the American people would have to pay for it afterward,once won?
Well, enough wrangling, for now. I do anticipate your response to all this, and at some point I shall send you examples of those scrolls found at Qumran and Hagmanni in Egypt for further discussion
All the best for now, from your good friend, The Voltarian
Badrallach, Wester Ross, Scotland
March 5 2011
Hope this has given you more than enough to comment on yourself.
Yours in anticipation The Voltarian
I liked your letter. Unfortunately, I cannot comment for Paine, only for myself. I hope that my feedback was adequate. Please email me again if you want to keep our discussion going.
May reason prevail!
Jayson X
Deputy Director
World Union of Deists
To: defoedanielinfidel@hotmail.co.uk
Hi Steve,
The color of the day is turquoise.
--- On Sun, 3/13/11, Steven Stewart
From: Steven Stewart
Subject: RE: Am I a deist?
To: jayson@deism.com
Date: Sunday, March 13, 2011, 3:44 PM
Hi Jason ,
I just happen to be reading some more essays on the Diesm website when I recieved your response with much pleasure. We
do have much in common and would like to continue a dialogue with you and other diests ,so decided to read on to offermore
topics before replying.Further on crime and punishment, I did at one time believe that if you murdered some one e.g at the age
of 20, than life should mean 80 years behind bars;if 80, than 20 years, or the number of years from 100 you deprived your victim
of, but because a] more people are living longer than 100 years b] as mentioned, lawyers nowadays are more interested in "winning"
their cases than seeing justice prevail, thus people are wrongly imprisoned, and c] because we now understand the ripples from such
transgressions have wider consequences to society to consider, more thought should be given to how we should atone for tresspasses
against our fellow citizens.
That is an interesting idea, and I certainly do not mind it very much.
I didn't always believe this way--maybe it is because I live in Texas now, the Execution Capital of the United States--but I favor convicted murderers being quickly and inexpensively executed, assuming that they are almost certainly guilty. A lifetime of prison is terrible for prisoners and expensive for society. Plus, executing a murderer keeps the murderer from hurting anyone else and sends a strong message to other would-be murderers: You will get what you give.
Despite being unable to provide concrete proof, I do believe it possible for those of a highly spiritual nature,
loving and forgiving of everyone, an extremely rare condition here on Earth, of bi-location. Since there is less dubious media
attention drawn to this phenomenum, than others, I find it all the more credible. Would this be blind faith or leaning on the
side of reasoned caution ?
Exactly why do you believe in bi-location?
Do you believe in Bigfoot, the Yeti /Abonimal Snowman? Can you believe them smart enough to evade us ,instinctively
knowing our intentions toward them, if caught ? I believe in the latter. And could they not be Neanderthal man, or their
biological cousins?
To paraphrase Shakespeare, there is more in the universe than is dreamed of by our philosophies. So, I keep an open mind. However, I don't want my mind to be so open that my brain falls out. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Claiming that extremely large, human-like apes are wondering North America and Tibert is an extraordinary claim. I am not aware of any extraordinary proof for it. A fresh corpse, examined by credible scientists with much media coverage, would do.
I don't buy the official ""pushed off the Iberian Penninsula into oblivion" story, purely on the evidence
of a few bones in caves They were more widespread than Western Europe alone and could easily have found their way to
Asia then across The Bering Strait , if not buliding craft to sail the Atlantic, if not walk the frozen Artic Circle .And why
should they not have evolved in North America simultaneously with Europe?And why not modern Homo Sapien the
evolution of interspecies fornication!?
I suppose that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals crossbred.
I dismiss none of this purely on inconclusive evidence. We thought the coelacanth
extinct until surfacing alive and well in 1938
The Infinite in a nutshell. How ? Infinite unfettered perception? And why shouldn't It be so before the Big Bang, and why
shouldn't other Creations of diverse orders exist prior to the present? "It's life Jim, but not as we know it" .
I still, however have this gnawing anomily concerning deism's claim to non violence
Deism teaches reason and the existence of God. It does not necessarily advocate nonviolence.
,since I have just read in the essay The
Ten Commandments ,Washington presiding until his death over the Society of The cincinnati, a military society, despite
retiring to his farm
So, what can we do for our countries to free them from religio-political agression funded by economic greed? You know
as well as I and others, but how can we educate with ahimsa ,so free ouselves from this slavery,when Israel 's agression is
economically fueled from U.S.A?
To quote paraphrase a corny-sounding but excellent saying, we should light a candle rather than curse the darkness. In other words, we should do what we can to help ourselves and the rest of humanity to achieve our positive potential. That is the best way to spend our lives.
Take me for example. I do a good job raising my son, teaching my seventh-grade English students, and promoting Deism. Maybe my efforts seem insignificant compared to the evil that some other people do, but the alternative is just to give up. And giving up is very foolish. Despite how bad things look, goodness just might prevail. In any case, I would rather die doing good than live doing evil.
I and others in Britain have considered non payment of taxes If everyone in U.K and
U.S.A refused to pay taxes, would the governments of each make concentration camps of our nations. for non payment ?
Not paying taxes is a gutsy idea. I think that I prefer democracy and enlightening humanity, though. If we make our nations completely democratic and the majority of people vote to not support evil endeavors, tax money will be spent much better.
Could they not just import foreign workers to fill the jobs to continue paying these taxes that fuel such oppression?Do you
have any suggestions, as well as spreading the word of deism ?
Maybe you can distribute bumper stickers that say something like this:
Reason + Belief in God = Deism
www.deism.com
I've decided that's enough for now. Look forward to further correspondence on similar issues.
Regards, Steve
May reason prevail!
Jayson X
Deputy Director
World Union of Deists
Subject: RE: Am I a deist?
To: jayson@deism.com
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 7:19 AM
Hi Jason,
I've just read your reply to last, with thanks As you have surmised, I am not an advocate of capital punishment, as too many examples of misscarraige of justice have come to light in Britain of late, Too late for some convictions for murder before the abolition of capital punishment in Britain back in 1965. But I do understand the anger and rage of those who have lost loved ones due to such violence, especially from paedophilles and child murderers like Brady and Hindley, especially when they admitted their horrific crimes without remorse. As for capital punishment in U.S. states, I agree with you, but can you explain the purpose of allowing murderers to remain on death row for decades before execution, considering they are such an expense keeping them alive. It seems to me a case of rubbing salt in the wound, to the victims as well as society, and so belies the deterrent. Even so, the deterrent doesn't seem to work very well ,since there are so many murderers in the world, let alone U.SA, unless you believe we would all be murdering ourselves into extinction, without such a deterrent?
The legal system of the United States is unnecessarily inefficient. If I were the emperor of America--and I am not and never will be--I would drop the jury system for a trial presided over by three honest and intelligent judges. I would also allow many convicted criminals the option of jail time or flogging. Either way, justice would be served.
Executing people is serious business, so the government should be fairly certain that the one being executed is guilty. Once that is determined, though, "Full steam ahead!" I say.
Have you heard about cases in the United States in which death-row inmates were not successfully killed by lethal injection? I say that if lethal injection does not work, just shoot them. A bunch of bullets to the head and chest might be a more humane way to die than lethal injection anyway.
No deterrent is perfect because some humans will always murder. However, execution does at least permanently stop those who are executed and should save the government prison expenses.
It is very unfortunate that innocent people sometimes are convicted of crimes, but we must consider the greater good. If only one in 1,000 people are unjustly convicted and imprisoned or executed, their suffering is worth the happiness that the rest of society will gain by having 999 criminals justly imprisoned or executed. Those who are unjustly imprisoned should try to keep that in mind and find some happiness in that, like a martyr suffering for his or her cause.
I, for one, would rather die than live imprisoned for years on end. So I would prefer to be executed rather than spend my life in jail. In fact, I think that prisoners should be allowed to choose quick, painless suicide if they want.
I do believe the deterrent in Britain is merely a dead letter, as many murderers spend less than 10 years in jail. I think this more obscene to the sense of justice than sentencing people in the U.S states to multiple life sentences adding up to two or three centuries. Why not just say "Life until you drop dead", if you you don't execute, unless it is to placate the public ?
I agree with your thinking. Both practices are foolish.
Why do I believe in Bi-location without evidence to prove it so? It would be too easy to say because there is no definite proof to dismiss it either, but I have only the testimonies of those witnesses to Padre PIo and eastern Yogis That we are comprised of several billion particles, some phyisist claim as many as there are stars in the Milkyway, as above, so below, if you like, with many "voids" between, why shouldn't a well trained mind learn to bi-locate and spread their particles to different locations. Since our minds are in every cell of our bodies, the well trained mind could transfer bi-located cells to other locations. I have to admit my knowledege of particle physics surpasses my skill in written description of how it works, Many experiments since the70's, have proven that particles and cells purposely seperated from their various forms and located several distances apart, continue to respond and reciprocate with the particles and cells of their "parent forms" [ Look up "The Secret Life of Your Cells" by Dr. Robert B Stone and "The Secret Life of Plants" by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird ]
This , then is the best I can offer on the subject at present.
Very interesting. "Beam me up, Scotty." Are you a fan of Star Trek? I am.
Bigfoot, yeti etc This is exactly why I can believe that if they do exist, they are probably wise enough to keep themselves hidden. I do believe that these video clips are most likely hoaxes just as many of the mock photos of Nessie, So, I keep my mind open enough to await alternate proof to a corpse on a mortary slab. If you were a non- homo-sapien but sentiently concious being, would you want to end up being probed by spotty youths in a lab? Which brings me back to deterrents. I think the fear of being cut- up on university theatre tables in the 18th /19th century, thus denied a christian burial, the greatest deterrent for those times. You don't appear to rule out inter- continental migration ,or species evolving on diffeing continents simultaneously considering those continents were as one clump at some time.
I tend to believe whatever the consensus of credible scientists and historians is. Such people do believe that species traveled across continents and evolved wherever they go. Evolution never stops. However, maybe we are not talking about the same things.
Spreading the news. I have been doing this in my small way for several years in conversations with fellow backpackers and others I've conversed with and seen the eyes roll or eyebrows rise whilst nodding positively, but I continue, At work, I push a cleaner's barrow around the srteets of London tacked with slogans of peace, love and tolerance and suggestions of freeing ourselves from banker and political slavery etc, but felt it not enough, so started up my blogsite, but have not gained many followers. Social networking is a skill I obviously need to work on. Facebook has been suggested, but have found many on facebook are students interested in other issues of no interest to me Maybe I'm just inexperienced at internet networking,too
Well, keep doing what seems good to you. If everyone did that, the world would be a much better place.
Until later, Steve.
Cheers!
Jayson
yson
Date: Mnon, 9 May 2011 16:22:17 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: Re: Just catching up
To: defoedanielinfidel@hotmail.co.uk
| Hi Steven, Welcome back! I will respond with highlighted words like these throughout your email below. --- On Mon, 5/9/11, Steven Stewart From: Steven Stewart Subject: Just catching up To: jayson@deism.com Date: Monday, May 9, 2011, 12:56 PM Hi Jason, Back again. Have you heard of Anthony Peake or his book, Is There Life After Death? No. This I found in a library on my travels recently . He proposes that we live eternaly through different dimensions but relive in the style of Groundhog Days, until we get it right.That deja vu are reminders of previous life experiences and that N.D.E. 's are manufactured in the brain by glutamates flooding the brain to produce that life flashing before you sensation in a time delated way and the white entity asking questions of you before sending you back to normal time/space because you are not yet ready to cross over. Also to accustom ourselves to the upcoming change of conciousness when it is time to go .Our higher self or intuition he calls the Daemon-Eidolon that warns us of turning off our respective life paths. I have simplified these for reasons of time and space to go, but will be interested in going into greater depth if you wish. That is an interesting hypothesis. Thank you for sharing it with me. I find some of these easy to relate to but others are abit challenging to accept without further research. I still haven't researched those gnostic gospels in my discussions with Thomas Paine yet ,as other topics come up continually. I didn't answer you concerning Star Trek, did I, only that would have side tracked me even further. Yes I have been a life- long fan. No, I don't go to Star Trek conventions, I just enjoy rewatching the Original Jim Kirk episodes and the Next Generation before the philosophy and exploration was sacrificed to continual shoot outs with the Cardasians and Borg. That's a funny observation! LOL! I liked Deep Space Nine especially the shape shifting policeman Odo .Do you have any particular favourites? I like all the Star Trek series, except for the beginning episodes of Voyager. I thought that the episodes toward the end were much better, though. I guess that The Next Generation is my favorite series because I want to be just like Jean Luc Picard--very intelligent, compassionate, virtuous, and wise. The one where Picard is zapped onto a long dead planet to live a life so it could be recorded as existing on the Enterprise's computor log. The one where Wesley Crusher meets another shapeshifter who becomes a valuable teacher and friend in the same vein as Carlos Castanada's Don Quan Mateus. I also love Q I find him to be similar to John Fowles' The Magus only Picard won't play along as he refuses to take the short -cuts Q is offering. For me Q is trying to break down the Federation's rigid paradigm of regulations /directives of how the Universe should be. Considering Picard has the responsibility of a large crew I can see why he has to exercise caution and so views Q as a menace. However I found the episode introducing Q, putting humanity on trial, fascinating, as it portrayed Picard's presunption that humanity should be exempt from other species sense of jurisprudence? O.K., so the jury were no better than Yahoos , which is how I see much of humanity's behaviour, as did Swift. My favorite Star Trek episode is called "Tapestry." It is the one in which Q enables Jean Luc to relive his past, except that this time Jean Luc can "correct" the supposed mistakes that he made. The result is that he made his life much worse. Those mistakes where actually beneficial actions. Perhaps the main reason that I love that episode so much is that I often wish that I could go back in the past and redo some choices that I made. However, I know that my life right now is much more good than bad, and that those choices might actually have been ultimately beneficial. What if those astronauts that eventually do land on Mars are met with intelligent life that demand why Earthlings have Tresspassed on their planet without asking permission? That would be very cool. Just because they do not show up on our radar of limited technology, does not rule them out of existance, as I have discussed previously. Why haven't they intercepted our probes and other equipment?,you may argue. Maybe they're monitoring our transgressions to build a case for prosecution, I may replyWould I be tempted to allow Q to show me the full nature of the Universe? Being a lone star trekker without a crew to be responsible for , what do you think I would do? See how I go on . Maybe you view me as a crank now, but as I've written previously, I keep a benefit of the doubt until undeniable proof is ascertained. Almost anything is possible, and what is possible should never be dismissed as absolutely certainly untrue. Whilst the Scientific overlords blockfunding for projects that may prove the existance of beings and findings uncomfortable to their paradigms and agendas, I'm not satisfied with taking their word as gospel. Is not this the deist way? Deism is based on reason, and reason tells us what I wrote before: Almost anything is possible, and what is possible should never be dismissed as absolutely certainly untrue. However, some things are more likely to be true than others, and we should believe what is most likely to be true. Below is information that better explains my thoughts on this subject. The truth is that we only know, with absolute certainty, very little. Knowing with absolute certainty means that we cannot be sane and doubt what we know. At most, I can only think of three things that I know with absolute certainty: 1) I exist, 2) I perceive, feel, and think. 3) Mathematics remains constant. These facts alone belong to The Absolutely Certain Level of Knowledge. Everything else can be doubted. I am real, but the whole universe might be my hallucination. For example, I can doubt that the keyboard I am typing on exists. Perhaps some scientist is prodding my brain in a laboratory somewhere and making me think that I am typing on a real keyboard. Any doubt, whether probable or not, is enough to disqualify something from the category of what is absolutely knowable. I do not absolutely know the keyboard exists or that I am typing on it. Obviously, you absolutely know something I do not. You absolutely know that you exist. However, you cannot absolutely know that I exist. Perhaps you have made yourself believe that someone else wrote this email, but the truth is that you wrote it in your imagination. Maybe you are the only existent being--God Itself--and you want to believe others exist so that you will not be bored and lonely. Having defined the first level of knowledge, The Absolutely Certain Level, it is time to define the second level of knowledge, The Deductive Level. Into this category belong all things we accept as true which are not self-evident. The reason we believe these things is that we perceive them or that they explain reality. Either way, we use deduction to accept things as true which are not self-evident. I deduce that this keyboard is real because I can see it, touch it, and hear its keys click when I press them. We have to believe in things in the Deductive Level in order to enjoy life and cope well with its challenges. So, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, how much faith does it take to believe certain assertions? The following is my estimation: 1. Oneself exists: 0 2. My keyboard exists: 1 3. The stranger walking outside my window exists: 2 4. The Great wall of China exists: 3 5. God exists: 4 6. God does not exist: 5 7. The Loch Ness Monster exists: 6 8. The Incarnation, Atonement, Resurrection, Ascension, and Second Coming are all true: 7. 9. The Flying Spaghetti Monster exists: 8. 10. We all live in a yellow submarine: 9. 11. Oneself does not exist: 10. So, where should I draw the line for blind faith? I draw it between Assertion Level 6 and 7. Until next time, I await your reply Yours Steve defoedanielinfidel@hotmail.co.uk. May reason prevail! Jayson X Deputy Director World Union of Deists |
Jayson
Date: Sat, 21 May 2011 11:27:23 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Just catching up
To: defoedanielinfidel@hotmail.co.uk
| Hi Steven, The color of the day is blue. --- On Sat, 5/21/11, Steven Stewart From: Steven Stewart Subject: RE: Just catching up To: jayson@deism.com Date: Saturday, May 21, 2011, 10:42 AM
Hi Jason,
Thanks for your response Sorry it has been some time as I have internet signal problems in some remote places in Scotland, or when the weather is poor. Your remarks highlighted enblock below are discusseed in depth, especially the issue discussed in the Tapestry episode, in Anthony Peake's book, as it happens. The choice I would love to remedy is that of taking a page out of G.B.Shaw's book of life, of truanting from the boring school lessons to persue my own researches that I have since discovered are seriously lacking in state schooling in Britain .Subjects that are truly relevant to life beyond school; sujects that should have been applied more relevantly, instead of boring us pupils to sleep. And these teachers accused us of being rude for doing so! E.G. If in english, we were expected to understand Chaucer and Shakespear, social history lessons should compliment english lessons where appropriate. Political history should compiment political geography etc. This occcured with only few teachers that were willing to fill in the gaps whilst studying literature in english. I teach seventh grade English for a living, and I try to add important science, philosophy, and history into my lessons when I can. I also think that students should be taught the law as a separate subject and class throughout their time in school. It is shameful and bizarre that people go to public school for 13 years and still have little idea about the laws that govern their lives. They should not have to speculate with their neighbors about their legal rights and responsibilities like they currently do in the United States. Do British public schools teach their students the law much? Similarly, I let slip an oppurtunity to bond with my dad more closely, on an intellectual level that I enjoyed only in the last couple of yearsof his life. Years previously, he'd asked me if I would take out Orwell's Animal Farm from the local library, as being self employed and having to travel long distances, his working hours were erratic. As kids do, they forget such things. Anyhow, my love of learning later on found me reading some of the books I saw him reading while I was a lad [some of which he recommended to me]. What conversations we could have held if I suggested a book swapping with him. Alas, life is lived forward but understood backward. Hindsight is 20/20. The three certainties you state echo Descartes concisely. I find it common in my reading that only our souls or higher selves are real and that everything else is illusion, even our lives.. That sounds a lot like Hinduism and Buddhism. However, as I understand it, most Hindus and Buddhists believe that our souls are also illusions because they are manifestations of Brahman (God). Only Brahman truly exists, and all is one. Do you agree with that assertion? I don't believe in souls, ghosts, or spirits. But I think that all might be part of God. Even if I am part of God, though, my experience of reality seems so individual and real that I will accept that it is individual and real. That we are in a computer similation fed by some complex CD Rom game. as in the Matrix movie. My response to these ideas is that if so, when we realize that we CAN take control of ourlives, this CD-Rom is but a sampler or guideline for earthly or other planetry life. If we are but an experiment in someone's[Yellow Submarine] test tube, then decide, are we enjoying this existance. If so, then does it matter if we are someone's experiment? It sounds like we agree here. : ) That we have imagined others to keep us company, it seems, is the feeling mutual with the Infinite Creator. Also matter being formed into things we can use in life are phyical manifestations of our collective minds, whether discovered or designed by individuals, the origonal idea existed somewhere. Another idea I like to believe; that needing to experience It's infinite Ideas about who Itself is,our Creator splintered Itself into infinite shards of a mirror in order to reflect upon these experiences, hence we are the Creator as well as the Creation. We've discussed this one before though. That's what the Kabbalists believe, right? Maybe you could explain this one on definitions. It involves the prefix IN to sane and sanity. Should it be OUT if we are not sane? Good point. That's true. Also, in the U.S. we say, "I have to take a crap." However, the truth is that we are leaving a crap. Furthermore, shouldn't blow jobs be called suck jobs? The English language is often illogical. If so, when did or how did the preffix obtain this paradoxy? There are similar examples of this I cannot at present remember, maybe you can. Until then, Live long and prosper, Steve Peace and long life, Jayson |
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Just catching up
To: defoedanielinfidel@hotmail.co.uk
Hi Steve,
The color of the day is pink.
--- On Sun, 5/22/11, Steven Stewart
From: Steven Stewart
Subject: RE: Just catching up
To: jayson@deism.com
Date: Sunday, May 22, 2011, 7:08 AM
Hi Jayson,
Thanks for the prompt reponse. Sadly, for Britain, ditto. This is what I have been asking teachers I meet along the way as well as others. According to those teachers and my nieces they are not taught anything about economics[except responsible banking in some schools], relevant politics or social studies, or how the law of their country works until university level, but that's only for those who choose to study. Have I mentioned, that when I picked up on Chaucer and Shakespear whilst researching english history for myself, I was in my mid twenties, I bought The Riverside Chaucer, a compendium of all his written work. The footnotes alone were a mindboggling insight into the medieval mindset which allowed me to appreciate the text all the more. Similarly with Shakespear, it took a n Open University T.V. programe to do likewise.
It A T.V. documentry once held an experiment of pupils swapping schools for a fortnight. Working class pupils found that the quality of teaching was no better in the Public schools,only they were less restricted, rule -wise, in their state schools. I surmise from this that not much in the way of politics ,law or economics are taught to the upper classes, especially considering the hash they make of the nation when they become M.P.s or House of Lords members. Maybe they are taught enough law to enable them to dodge paying their taxes, but we've discussed this before, haven't we?
I think that one of the biggest problems in American education is mainstreaming. Mainstreaming means that slow learners are put in the same classes as fast learners. The idea of this is that slow learners will learn more in classes with fast learners and the pace of instruction will not change. The reality is that many slow learners do not learn more and the pace of instruction actually slows down for the other students because the teachers have to spend much time reteaching simple concepts and managing poorly behaved students. Many slow learners are slow learners primarily because they are so busy misbehaving in class that they do not learn as much as they should.
I favor placement tests starting in fifth grade. At the end of the school year, each subject will have a placement test for the next school year--a test for math, civics (law, economics, government, geography, and history), science, reading, writing, and so on. The students who score in the top 10% in a subject will attend a fast class in that subject the next school year, the students who score in the bottom 10% will attend a slow class, and everyone in between will attend a middle class. This solution is fair, efficient, and motivating. Students get placed where they deserve with little hassle, and students know that their fate is in their hands. If they work hard, they are likely to be placed in a faster class. If they don't, they are likely to be placed in a slower class.
Another part of my proposed reform is to make certain that students are taught only things that they need to be successful in life beyond school with some exceptions, and they should be taught those important things thoroughly. The exceptions that I have in mind are a little exposure to art, music, drama, various sports, and classical works of literature. The purpose of this exposure is to make students aware of these things in case they want to pursue them outside of school.
The last part of my proposed reform is to generally support teachers and effectively discipline students. At least nine times out of ten, when a teacher says that a student misbehaved, that teacher should be believed and the students should be punished with something like detention or a spanking. That will keep the students in line and add order to the circus-like atmosphere of the current American public school system. Parents who find this approach too strict should be encouraged to find or establish a less strict private school.
Others gain their posts through nepotism and the "old school tie", no matter how dense they are. Am I right to assume this is same for U.S.A? Were G.W. Bush and Reagon really as stupid as they appeared in the media, or just willing, handsomely paid puppets serving corporate buisness and banking interests?
Sadly, I think that the United States is too much a plutocracy and not enough a meritocracy. However, even men like George W. Bush have to be smart in some ways to achieve the office of president. I suspect that Bush had excellent people skills and knew how to influence the common voter.
There is an excellent movie about him, called W; and in it Bush says after losing an election, "I will never be out-Christian-ed or out-Texan-ed again!" And he wasn't, and he was a very successful politician thereafter.
In hindsight, I believe Thatcher to be a very clever woman, who knew what she was doing, by paving the way to enslaving Britain to EU. Of course I despise her for it.
Being Scottish, what do you think about being part of Great Britain? What do you think about British royalty?
As an American who is very knowledgeable about history, I am glad that the United States achieved its independence through revolution and I hate the very concept of monarchy. No offense intended.
Yes, soul being an illusion of The Creator/Brahma, is how the Hindus and Buddhists believe. Those following Rig Veda have similar belief to modern astrophysists about the big bang, expansion and contraction of universe and consecutive big bangs, thus the three faces of Brahma as creator, sustainer and destroyer ad infinitum. Something exists that we are of as I stated yesterday with the infinite shards of a mirror explanation, which explains reincarnation as a purposeful concept. My only disagreement with the Hindu caste system, as I understand it, is the abuse of it by the upper castes, who misuse it to boost their egos. I believe in order to evolve to a higher caste the next life around is to aid the lower castes in their spiritual evolution, instead of degrading them further. Show them how to behave by "right" example.
If one is going to believe in reincarnation and karma, that is a good why to understand the caste system. However, I disbelieve in reincarnation and the caste system, and I say, "Even if reincarnation and karma are true, get rid of the caste system, establish a meritocracy, and let people prove where they belong in society by their abilities and actions rather than their parentage."
This for me, is serving Brahma as a SELF- EVOLVING CONCIOUS ENERGY t
I believe to accept the energy that comprises the Universe as well as being the essense of The Creator, as real,in the form of matter particles of all we experience tangibly, to be the sanist way, even though it be all ilusion.I find it intriguing that you rate the truth of reincarnation etc, higher than the existance of God.
I think that there has been a misunderstanding. I think that it is more likely that God exists than reincarnation happens. In fact, I believe in God and disbelieve in reincarnation.
Having read about the Khabbalah [ I know, there are many ways to spell it], I find khabbalists themselves like to limit The Creator in similar ways to the orthodox religons. There's something about humanity I can't put my finger on that needs rules to conform to. It can't accept that The Creator can be infinite.
Until next time,live long and prosper
Steve
Peace and long life,
Jayson
on
Date: Tue, 24 May 2011 20:08:37 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Just catching up
To: defoedanielinfidel@hotmail.co.uk
| Hi Steve, The color of the day is green. --- On Sun, 5/22/11, Steven Stewart From: S teven Stewart Subject: RE: Just catching up To: jayson@deism.com Date: Sunday, May 22, 2011, 11:05 AM
Hi Jason,
My apologies for negligence in misreading. "Howmuch faith does it take" for "How much of your faith is in reincarnation etc" Another misconception came to mind after sending you my last reply about being in Scotland. I'm travelling about Scotland seeking out a favourable community to live work and evolve in. Although I am quarter Scots on my dad's side I was born and have lived most my life in London. That's cool. Clarification is a wonderful thing.  Only London has proved to be rather STAGNANT as far as evolving past the money grubbing ethic to a life of quality rather than quantity. We all need money to live in society, but when money has become God for most people, a mixture of greed, apathy and complacency rules. The Anti-christ , I feel, is prospering in this modern society,very well. I have discovered by the amount of english people, I have met along the way, have left England to settle in Scotland over the payt decade, for the same reasons stated above.Something is rotten in the state of England and by common consent it is ridiculous restrictive E.U directives that swamp and prevent people from performing the services they wish to work for. If its not Scotland, its the former colonial countries unenslaved to E.U. Now, education. how many years have you got to discuss this? Again ,we are in much agreement here. I have my ideas also. We also have this system of throwng children into the same melting pot and expecting them to conform to a standard rate of learning as well as expecting the teachers to cope with unruly BORED kids, who play up because they're not inspired enough by the school system . They also have no respect for the teachers because they are supply teachers that are easier to employ, who are are here today and gone tomorrow. There is thus no continuity in their school life to bother or cope with. This I have from the children themselves. Obviously the more experienced teachers have emmigrated to those countries mentioned above , where red tape is minimal .I would also favour a system that allows puplis to learn at their own pace. But we must also squash the dibiltating concept of slow learners being thick which has persisted for too many centuries. This could be helped if pupils who are slow at maths but fast at literature or physical subjects such as art and craft skills may advance in those classes. I take it this is what you mean by a meritocracy. It is. I would also favour the grades to be awarded for their terms work over all than a crash test at terms end. Why? Because to pressurize them into remembering all they 've learned into an hour or two hour's exam can create a mental block in the most able pupils as wel as less able and so lead to inaccurate appraisal of their true capabilities. Learning should not be a competition but an increase of attrubition. I think that almost always students who learn the most do the best on tests, so well-designed tests are fair. I also think that doing poorly on a test because one is scared is almost always a rationalization which should be dismissed. Those who are intelligent, pay attention in class, and do their homework are generally not too scared of tests because they are well prepared for them. Besides, life has much more difficult things than placement tests before high school graduation. Learning to overcome one's fear and do as well as one can on a placement test should help prepare one for life's greater challenges in the working world. You don't preform well on a project at work, you might get fired. End of story. I would favour more time given to artistic subjects. In my school days art and drama were subsidary to teacher availability. Why shouldn't drama compliment english lit. after alll the darma we enjoy would not have come about with out a command of english as literature. That's not a bad idea. I have my students perform shortened versions of Shakespearean plays in modern English, and they enjoy doing it. Also learning dramatic skills would allow writers to better understand what pressures actors have to deal with whilst performing onstage, thus write appropriately to accomodate dialogue tophysical motion. Along with the subjects you list I would favour lessons in debate and rhetoric in order to understand the jargon politicians and legal legal bods spit out at us ,so we can dicsern how and whether they are duping us,and sucessfully argue our opinions on talk shows and in court, without allowing them to browbeat us into silence or evade the issues we demand to discuss and resolve. Learning logical thinking and logical fallacies should help students not be duped. I teach those things a little as part of my state-mandated curriculum. I agree, there is too much pandering to political correctness as far as discipline is concerned. In our youth, punishment meant being sent to your room without supper. Today that is a reward, unless you remove thair computors and T.V./audio equipment. So that's maybe what parents should do. A recent T.V. documentary involved sending a family back to the 70's and 80's as a coping experiment. Curiously the parents felt just as deprived without mobiles, computors and other visual entertainment equipment as the children. As for royalty, since many of your compatriots love the British royals , we should rent them out to you as a form of revenue. Then they will be worth their keep in taxes. Let Americans who can afford to, keep them in the obnoxious luxury they're accostomed to. If they are supposed to be models of citizenship, they should live amongst us, not aloof from us! Ha! I like your thinking, and I am ashamed of Americans who love royalty. Study the American Revolution, for cryin' out loud! If you love royalty, move to nation with royalty and kiss their arses! I think that many American women love royalty because they hope to be rescued by a prince, made the center of his life, and not have to work another day of their lives. The reality of royalty fuels their lazy, self-centered fantasy. Whenever I have asked Americans why ,since they love our royals so much ,they fought for independence, the answer has been ,in so many words, that they love them from afar. From what I've learned from the the time of America's Indepndance is that many preferred to stay British but with their own autonomy in legal and finaancial affairs. It was George III's obstinancy, that tipped the scales for total independance.What does your countries' lie say? My understanding is that about one-third of Americans were loyalists, one-third rebels, and one-third had no preference. The British and loyalist side had its way of thinking that sort of made sense: The American colonies are part of the British Empire and owe the Empire much, especially after the Empire saved them from being conquered by the French in the then-recent French and Indian War. Yet the rebel side made more sense. In the words of Thomas Paine, why should an island rule a continent? The American colonies were better off ruling themselves because they could do what they wanted without interference from Britain. As to caste system I feel the same way about the english class system. Despite what Mr. Blair has spouted about "middle englanders", is it not just playing with definitions? No way will the english middle and upper classes accept the working class on par. I've often parodied the "Eye of the needle " expression with " it is easier for an englishman to lose his possesions than his sense of superiority over another." But this is my jaundiced view of the class system. It's not just aquiring money, it's being born into a family with landed money that sets you apart. Many Amerians have bought knighthoods to discover they are still unacccepted by the english nobility,whereas, your senatorial class, who have to be in landed estate to become senators are accepted.Please correct me if I am wrong. Do you mean U.S. senators in Congress? I am aware that some rich Americans are strongly biased toward "Old Money" as opposed to "New Money." Those people are snobs, and should be ignored and fairly taxed. It is better if "Old Money" pays to help the poor than the poor pays to support "Old Money." Well I've run out of time, for now. As ever , live long and prosaper, and allow your reason to continue, Steve Cheers, mate! Jayson |
Date: Mon, 30 May 2011 09:11:54 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Just catching up
To: defoedanielinfidel@hotmail.co.ukn
Hi Stephen,
--- On Wed, 5/25/11, Steven Stewart
From: Steven Stewart
Subject: RE: Just catching up
To: jayson@deism.com
Date: Wednesday, May 25, 2011, 7:59 AM
Hi Jason,
I love what you say about American royalty arse-lockers and gold diggers. I believe I do mean the "old money"U.S. senators, but please educate me in this with congress. How do they influence American policy apart from their financial influence, for instance.
I love what you say about American royalty arse-lockers and gold diggers. I believe I do mean the "old money"U.S. senators, but please educate me in this with congress. How do they influence American policy apart from their financial influence, for instance.
Money is power. Billionaires can pay for political campaignes, bribe officials, and buy and spout propaganda through media. Except for bribes, I am certain that all those things often happen. As for bribes, if I had to put my money on it, I would bet that those things often happen too.
What is the situation with the British parliament? I know that you are not Scottish, but do you want Scotland to secede from Great Britain?
Also, is it really possible for anybody to become President so long as they have the financial backing from whereever? For instance, if a popular black community leader with no substantial financial backing was to be backed by donations from local communities from any States, have an equal chance, as opposed to Obama, whose family could afford to send him to college?
I think that Bill Clinton was lower-middle class, and I know that Obama was half black. So I think that any American can be elected president. However, most Americans prefer college-educated and Christian presidents. Thus, it would be unlikely for someone without a college degree or for an honest Atheist to be elected president.
Personally, I want my president to have a college degree too; but I would much rather have an Atheist for a president that an orthodox (small "o") Christian, because the Atheist bases all of his or her beliefs on reason while the orthodox Christian bases at least some of his or her beliefs on faith. To paraphrase Mark Twain, faith is being convinced that what you don't believe is true.
Forgive my ignorance, if I have the wrong end of the stick here.It appears from what I have gleaned from T.V. programs about Obama's popularity, is that many blacks do not feel he speaks for them. They say he is too white. Naturally, these are from poor black communities in the suburbs of e.g. Washington D.C and Philadephia.
I, for one, don't want a president who acts like a gansta rapper. I voted for Obama, and I will probably vote for him again. Those African Americans who complain about Obama not being black enough are probably fools who should be grateful that the majority of Americans are now so colorblind that they are willing to have a president who is genetically half African.
As to differing factions of independance, we had a similar situation at the end of our English Civil Wars. There were so many factions who could not agree with each other within their own factions, that Cromwell decided to take matters into his own hands to bring some kind of stability back to Britain since she had decided to kick royalty out. Of course he was a tad too, lets say enthusiastic for the liking of many and so, instead of agreeing still to some form of republican government, they cried for a return to monarchy. I wonder, if England had Thomas Paine then, he would have sucessfuly persuaded her to vote for a republic of moderation. Most probably, not as too many were still largely uneducated enough to see the sense of a republic. Either Voltaire or J.J. Russeau said that rebublics could only work successfuly in small countries. Do you think this so?
Thank you for the historical explanation. I do not know much about Cromwell and the English Civil Wars. I disagree with Voltaire and Rousseau because I think that democracy can work with any size population. If the population is a town or small city, it can have a direct democracy like ancient Athens; and if the population is a large nation like the United States, it can have a representative democracy.
Education is the key to a successful democracy. The average citizens need to be taught both their rights and responsibilities, and why their system of government deserves both their participation and their support. I think that the United States government should do much more to improve its public school education in these regards.
Well designed tests. Ithink you've hit on what I neglected to say .It appears to me that school curriculums have been designed around exam papers. I remember my teachers saying that the same questions pop up on a rotating basis in exam papers.Thus old exam papers are used for revision puposes. As I also stated, and you agree that subjects could be better complimented, and made more relevant to the world children are expected to cope with. There are discussions on going about returning to classical latin and greek studies. Now my opinion is that if this means teaching debating, rhetoric, positive criticism as from the example of the classical authours and philosophers, this would be great. If purely translating from english to latin/greek and back in rote grammatic fashion, then it shall be a waste of teacher and pupil's time.
Rhetoric and logic can and should be taught. However, there is no need to waste time learning how to translate Greek and Latin into English, and English into Greek and Latin. Thus, I think that we agree.
I heard a radio debate recently where a parent asked which alternate language she should recommend for her children. Japanese and russian being offered at the school. The guest panalist recommended chinese. I thiink this wise since China appears tobe one of the upcoming dominating financial powers in the 21st century, along with Korea and India, even. So korean, hindu and urdu .should be include, shouldn't they.? Well,since Indians from differing linguostic regions are quite happy to converse in english, maybe those languages are not so important to be taught in schools.
If I were the emperor of America, I would choose various public schools to focus teaching different languages. That way, the nation would have citizens who would know the basics of every major language in the world. Many of my citizens would learn Chinese for the reason that you said.
I still argue that the overall term and year's work should be merited. I've also considered an idea posited in Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenace,
What is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence? I've heard of the book.
that the pupils should merit each other's work, rather than the teacher only. Discussions on their own meriting being crucial to debating skills. I further this with dreaming sessions. Pupils are first taken by the teacher to a nature enviroment, a local park will do fine .Let them run around until they become bored, or tired, then get them to relax and day dream for half an hour. at the end of this session they should quickly jot down their dreaming or whatever they were thinking on, no matter what. Returning to class, they should then begin creating something from the session . This work shall be discussed at next session amongst themselves, the teacher duly paying attention and making notes. The session is then repeated, maybe grouping the pupils to discover whether they pick up on each others' day dreams, as I have learned with group meditation sessions. A differing configuration of the group on sucessive sesssions. Eventually, I feel, the teacher will be able to pick up on the pupil's individual strengths and weaknesses and so devise a suitable class project to expand on their interests, so remedying their weaknesses with encouragement, but still be within a subject curriculum. An example would be to design a house. Each group within the class choose a room each, then they regroup as a class to design how to join those rooms via hallways, landings, staicases etc. Then challenge them to redesign the house to be eco friendly. Suggest then, that a disabled grandparent is to live with them for example. How would they accommodate them. This I feel would be a much more relevant way to teach math, dmensional measurement in geometry and ratios etc and domestic sciences such as electric circuitry and plumping. And what about engineering and architecture. If we are to prepare children to ccpe with rebuilding cities and towns that are likely to be devasted by the increase in geological behaviour in the next decades, what better way to teach these relevant skills. But they should use past and existing as examples, not as the rigid rule of how to rebuild, not only in structures, but in helping them find their own sense of ethics, since we adults, from my experience, don't provide a very stable example in this.
I like your ideas so much that, as the emperor of education, I would say, "OK, try this method of education in two schools in different parts of the nation, one urban and one rural. Also, let the parents in those areas voluntarily choose to put their students in your schools as opposed to regular public schools. After about 20 years of running your schools, government officials will examine data to determine if your way of educating is worth supporting. Do your students score better or worse on national exams, and are your students happier and more successful in life after high school? If the answer to both questions is yes, I will probably expand your program. If the answer is no, I will probably end your program.
As I touched on previously, I feel history should be complimented, where relevant to other subjects, especially political history to political geography;, social history to literature;. agriculture to ecology; archeology and geology are also complimentry and are popular subjects with children in Britain as they are fascinated by their social and hisorical heritage. But histories should be taught on a debating/philosophical basis, not on the governments' lies that they have forced upon us. This I feel, is how the children of today can benefit from the mistakes and triumphs of the past by applying them to their lives in this century.
Children should be taught the most accurate and relevant historical facts possible. Otherwise, they would have nothing to debate.
This brings me to my blogsite The Voltarian Shines It's Light On.../ Mr. Blendings' Builds His New Society, where I lay open to discussion Enlightenment thought. as well as my own opinions It came to me last night that I should include our correspondences as a thread on this blog. Would you object to this?
No, of course not. I am not the deputy director of the World Union of Deists to hide my thinking. : )
It's no problem if you do.
I shall return with other thoughts later,
Let your reason prevail, live long and prosper etc,
Steve
I shall return with other thoughts later,
Let your reason prevail, live long and prosper etc,
Steve
Party on, dude!
Hi Steven,The color of the day is yellow.
--- On Wed, 6/1/11, Steven Stewart
From: Steven Stewart
Subject: RE: Just catching up
To: jayson@deism.com
Date: Wednesday, June 1, 2011, 1:27 PM
Hi Jayson,
Apologies for misspelling your name. I've noticed now I've done this frequently. It must be a tad irritating.
Not at all. Most people spell Jayson without the y.
Ive had it all my life with both names being misspelled or is it misspelt? The latter looks all wrong to me. I also have a problem with "Forty". It looks wrong without the "u". I've learned to be patient with people and state Steven with a "v" and Stewart with a"W" , or when people mistake Stewart for Steward. Both have the same origins, servant to Ssottish clan nobility. I've also discovered that the Scots make no difference between Stuart and Stewart whereas the english do.
As for Scotish parliament devolving more fully from England, I wouldn't like Scotland to become a foreign country like the Republic of Ireland, but I do support more independance if it benefits Scotland as a nation. Does that smack of double standards?
I guess you are saying that you want what is best for both England and Scotland. If being united is best, you want that. If it isn't, you don't. And right now, you believe that they are better off united. Is that what you mean?
Modern America has kind of made 18th cxentury perspective on republics obsolete. I just wanted your opinion.
I'm not sure what you mean. Please elaborate.
Thanks for allowing me to post our correspondences. I'm thinking of naming them Correspondences with Modern Deism. to be interspersed with my correspondences with Paine.
I agree, we have enough gangsters in European government, we don't need them to start rapping either,though some have made spectacles of themselves in the attempt. When Obama was elected my thoughts were on Booker T. Washington with his" Up From Slavery" and Martin Luther King and his dream, as the popular community leaders. Is it about to come to fruition, or is Obama as white as opinion suggests.
I think that most white Americans consider Obama more black than white, although he is a 50/50 mix.
Mind you, I haven't read "Up From Slavery" yet, But I imagine both would be proud that America has chosen Obama. I'm reading up on Booker T. as I write, to find he had many rich ,influential white financiers and entrepreneu supporting him. The financial support from black communities show me that it can be done $4.7m was raised to help construct new schools in the early 20th century, when the total population was approx 92m; black 9.8m. Are these the sort of facts you're talking about?
Sorry, I'm not sure what you are talking about here.
An honest aethiest. Do you mean someone uncorruptable who sticks to their principles?
I mean an Atheist who is honest about perceiving and thinking about the universe, and who tells the truth about his or her opinions.
[N.B.my use of "un" instead of "in"-corruptable] And a college degree cuts me out for president, too. What about advisor?
You're confusing me here. I believe that most (if not all) U.S. presidents have had college degrees.
You may have heard from your media that the English parliament has decided to raise college and university fees for english students, whereas Scotland and Wales do not charge. I for one, could not afford £9000 per year[triple the usual charge + Bank loan charges] to go back to school. I can afford council sponsered evening classes though. Now, I have been thinking, why doesn't the nation's parents unite to create their own university for their children to attend.This could be run similarly to The Open University, sponsered by The B.B.C, in that no expensive property need be bought, as it could be administered from parent- group homes over the www. The staff could be poached from the state universities , those who are sick of the mindless bureaucracy. Would it be financially possible to stick two fingers up at the Government and banker greed? Since this is Britain's national census renewal year, it would be interesting to discover how many parents of college age children there are and how much they would have to stump up to do so. It could be more than the £9000 per year per student, but then if they didn't have to payback the banks or government, seeking appropriate sponsership ,they would not be dictated to by either. Unless the E.U. stick their irritating bureaucratic boot in. Since many parents of college and university students were once students themselves [given that the politicians are also], the parents will be more responsible as well as student and tutor orientated than government, who wish to stick to their "traditional values".
Your idea sounds promising, but it is a little outside of my area of expertise.
But I'm steering off the track a little. as my purpose is that if students are educated sufficiently, we could have more responsible politicians in governments, elected by a politically, financially and legally wised-up population. Of course we are not likely to see it , but our grandchildren's generation may. I've noticed from history that it normally takes a generation for new ideas to become widely accepted.
Now history as fact. Whose facts is what I, along with Voltaire and others argue. For myself, I have decided to view history from the perspective of those living it , even if it be opinion or agreed fact. Taking all opinions into account has given me a more interesting take on our past.To debate about why this/these person/s thought this way or that on their contemporary issues has more value to me than 20th/21st century hindsight, even so, accurate statistics provided by modern research are helpful for an overview or background of the age being studied.
Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig, was written forty years ago and published in 1974, but has recently been re-published in Britain It was one of the books I saw my dad reading, as he was a classic motorcycle enthusiast. It has little to do with taking bikes apart though. It maintains that to keep your motorcycle regularly tuned, should be enough, the remainder deals with the methods of education and values I have related ,the fine tuning of people's minds being the main point. The title is a pun on a book entitled Zen And The Art of Archery by a german, Eugen Herrigal fascinated by japanese studies, published in 1948 and translated into english in 1953.inspiring a quantity of Zen And The Art of.....books. I found out previously that zen archery is not about hitting the bulls eye but whether the arrow looks as if it belongs in the target.
There is much wisdom in Zen philosophy, although I do not consider myself a Zen Buddhist. I get a nice natural buzz (slight intoxication), though, when I Zen literature.
A more multi-linguistic Britain we have, but as mentioned,these languages are not on the common curriculum They are usually kept within ethnically based schools.
Good for Britain! I wish that the United States would declare English its official language and print almost all government publications in English. English is not the best language in human history, but it is the language of the United States because of historical circumstances. A nation is united by a common language, and I am afraid that the United States might soon be divided linguistically like Canada.
Individual citizens and private corporations should be allowed to write in any language they want, but making almost all government publications in English should force many immigrants to learn English.
I also think that pupils should be given the choice of Tai Chi Chaun, Qi Gong and other oriental disciplines as an alternative form of physical education. Tai Chi Chuan and Qi Gong especially are healthy for mind and body and could be practiced before lessons instead of boring assembly.,. thus a more attentive and responsive class. Check this out for yourself if you doubt. Learning chinese calligraphy is also a mind discipline in itself that could be incorperated into art classes. thus, once more an attentive and responsive class.
I like that idea and would like to see it tried in a few public schools as a test-run.
Although I have practiced both, and prefer Qi Gong, I have not as yet tried Chinese calligraphy. I have been taught the basics in how and why the characters are formed, enough to keep the interest in mind. So much to interest myself in. I have the time but I lack the disccipline of prioritizing.
Thanks for the generous period of twenty years on my methods. Most governments would expect results within their four - five year terms of office. Mind you I have suggested M.P.'s should prove their worth with-in two years, but only on those issues they feel confident of fulfilling sucessfully.This to stop them promising results on projects they know they cannot fulfill .
I want to go on, but not waffle on irrelevantly
I believe I've mentioned my dream of creating a community of like-minded people in previous correspondence The reason for my being in Scotland, scouting for such a community to learn from is my present project. I spent last year surfing the net for these communities, but found only two, who reponded to my e-mails. One, Findhorn, being the oldest and most widely known has since changed their philosophy to a more business minded project. The other, I thought too religously orientated to accept me and so let them alone despite their philosophy being identical to mine in every other way. I recently discovered them to be ecumenical, claiming to accept aethiests
Why do you spell atheists with an extra "e"?
, so long as they don't cause disruption. So, will they accept a Deist? They call themselves L'Arche. They help people with learning difficulties find their respective fields of specialities and skills in an enviroment of encouragement with no pressure to conform to a specific rate of progress. Hence my ideas on education being unpressured match theirs. Their website info being a little dated, I have not been able to contact them by e-mail, but as they are based in Inverness I shall be making progress in that direction to discover whether they still have room for volunteers.
I hope that it works for you.
I've noticed other diest websites within the essays on your site. Are they as open to our ideas, or should I just check them out for myself?
I like the World Union of Deists and Unified Deism, so I recommend that you check them both out.
I've just noticed you're on facebook, world union of deists anyway.The thread is lengthy! I see. And there are new articles. Be hearing from me about these, to be sure.
Good! : )
May your open reason endure
Steve
May the Force be with you, always!
Jayson
|
Hi Steven,
I have not heard anything about the hadron collider in Texas. Texas might be too busy dabbling with Creationism to take on a new serious scientific enterprise.
Jayson
--- On Tue, 10/25/11, Steven stewart
From: Steven stewart
Subject: RE: Religious tolerance in U.S. Constitution
To: jayson@deism.com
Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2011, 7:46 AM
Hi Jayson,
Since the Scots spread themselves about the globe pretty liberally, I find many innovations/inventions have originated from the minds of Scotsmen, not only since the 17th century, but today also. There also happens to be a brain drain from U.S to Europe of physicists, as the money for research into the origins of the Creation, is heading that way. I wouldn't be surprised to find many from Scotland or Scottish Universities. I heard/read that Texas dismissed the oppurtunity of a Hadron Ccollider because politicians couldn't or wouldn't invest in such a project. What do think on this; has Texas more pressing projects to invest in, or politicians unsure of the returns on their personal dividends?
Again may your reason prevail
The Voltarian
>
Subject: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Saturday, July 21, 2012, 4:35 PM
Hi Jayson,
Long time no contact. How have you been?
Long time no contact. How have you been?
I am fine. My son and I are having a wonderful visit with my family in upstate New York.
I
returned from Scotland last September and have been back at work since
November, saving up to return for a longer stay, but have bogged myself
down with spending sprees on electrical goods. A new Digital T.V. to
turn off all those repeats I don't want to watch, a D.V.D/video
recorder, I haven't the time to record programs and films with because
i'm reading all the new books I just can't put down. So what does that
say about me?
You're busy. I'm reading The Communist Manifesto right
now.
I'm strongly
telling myself that the printed word and image means more to me than
electronically generated info. Which brings me to the impetus for
emailing you.
Some of these books have been revealing fascinating insights into how the Universe works that mainstream science forbids, such as time travel possibilities, levitation of huge stones using sound and mental focus of hundreds of people in Neolithic times, this also witnessed in 20th century by a Swedish aircraft designer in Tibet in the 90's, Henry Kjellson.
Some of these books have been revealing fascinating insights into how the Universe works that mainstream science forbids, such as time travel possibilities, levitation of huge stones using sound and mental focus of hundreds of people in Neolithic times, this also witnessed in 20th century by a Swedish aircraft designer in Tibet in the 90's, Henry Kjellson.
Scientifically verified phenomena are repeatable.
A
New Zealand researcher, Bruce Cathie wrote a detailed analysis of it in
a book called Anti-Gravity and The World Grid by David Hatcher
Childress.Others had heard of this before, but kjellson was the first
westerner to witness it. I could go into detail if you wish. How about
previously believed extinct species experiencing a come back, as well as
modern species regrowing limbs and organs of their extinct ancesters?
That reminds me of an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, when the crew of the USS Enterprise began to de-evolve. I believe that de-evolution is possible but unlikely, without scientific tinkering.
I
believe the latter to be more probable. Dormant D.N.A. within present
species awakening. I've also discovered pretty fascinating stuff about
the Maya and their enigmatic Tzolkin calender and many time cycles that
match other ancient civilizations' time
cycles.
Also that Johannes Kepler was correct in supposing the Earth's core to be an onion layered sequence of geometrical shapes. These shapes turn out to be the configurations of proton structure in the elements; each proton coresponds to a vortex of the geometry, cubic, octrahedron, icosahedron, dodecahedron (although tetrahedron is also one, two normally combine back to back to form an octahedron). The cube is the first shell of 8 protons-oxygen-62.55% of atoms comprising Earth's crust.Second, octahedron with 14 protons-silicon-21.22% which is just important to biological life as carbon on Earth. Icosahedron with 26 protons-iron-1.2% which still add upto 5% of total weight. Then dodecahedron with 46 protons-palladium (used in cold fusion another power source kiboshed by the greedy powers that be who falsified data to show cold fusion to be inaffectual)
Also that Johannes Kepler was correct in supposing the Earth's core to be an onion layered sequence of geometrical shapes. These shapes turn out to be the configurations of proton structure in the elements; each proton coresponds to a vortex of the geometry, cubic, octrahedron, icosahedron, dodecahedron (although tetrahedron is also one, two normally combine back to back to form an octahedron). The cube is the first shell of 8 protons-oxygen-62.55% of atoms comprising Earth's crust.Second, octahedron with 14 protons-silicon-21.22% which is just important to biological life as carbon on Earth. Icosahedron with 26 protons-iron-1.2% which still add upto 5% of total weight. Then dodecahedron with 46 protons-palladium (used in cold fusion another power source kiboshed by the greedy powers that be who falsified data to show cold fusion to be inaffectual)
I don't think that the majority of geologists agree with you and Kepler yet on that assertion.
Am I rambling on somewhat? Please excuse, it just fascinates me so. You are probably asking what credence have I for it all. Well anything kiboshed by the powers that be must have something they wish to hide from us. If not, then why go to the effort of coercing people to" clam up" and "wasting" those who won't?
Who
has been silenced or murdered for asserting that the "Earth's core . . .
[is] an onion layered sequence of geometrical shapes"?
Most
of it makes sense to me considering my understanding of quantum
physics. I'm pepared to think furthe rbut also prepared to retract and
rethink when
sufficient evidence proves correct to the contrary And there's more, if
you're interested ,but for no w
Live long and prosper,
Regards, The Voltarian
Live long and prosper,
Regards, The Voltarian
Peace and long life,
Jayson X
Deputy Director
World Union of Deists
From: Steven stewart
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Sunday, July 22, 2012, 9:03 AM
Hi Jayson,
Good to find you're doing fine.I haven't read The Communist Manifesto myself, but have read that Marx had strong issues concerning man's struggle with history, or something like that.My response is that is how he wanted to view history, a struggle of the proletariat against the bourgeois that could only be won by bloody revolutions. I differ, but then I'm writing with 21st century hindsight, so what the diddly sqwat do I know.
Good to find you're doing fine.I haven't read The Communist Manifesto myself, but have read that Marx had strong issues concerning man's struggle with history, or something like that.My response is that is how he wanted to view history, a struggle of the proletariat against the bourgeois that could only be won by bloody revolutions. I differ, but then I'm writing with 21st century hindsight, so what the diddly sqwat do I know.
Although
you have not read "The Communist Manifesto" and I am only about
two-thirds finished, I think that you understand it well.
Apart from scientific tinkering, if you are perpared to consider the possibility that The Infinite Creator Being is an infinite conciousness, and that It has many ways of evolving, that evolution occurs throughout the Universe/Multiverses, then I think we should wait and see rather than dismiss out of hand.Atomic behaviour at the quantum level is totally unpredictable to mainstream scientists, but if they are prepared to humble themselves to consider factors outside their normal paradigm, they may just find the answers a whole lot quicker and less expensive than building gigantic hadron colliders.and condemning minds that are prepared to reach further than analytical science allows. If it turns out to be rubbish, at least we'll have learned so through experience,for the mind is far more than we have been given to believe.
I
think that most scientists are aware of many answers to fundamental
questions. They just use tools like the large hadron collider to
determine which answer is correct. The problem is not so much a lack of
answers/hypotheses as it is a lack of empirical verification. One
should not believe anything without sufficient proof and/or logic.
Watching
a T.V. program last month on the brain, Neurosurgeons,Neurologists
,Neuro-psychologists, I discovered ,see the brain purely as a machine
instead of a living organ. The same goes for cardiologists, for them,
the heart,is merely a pump. Have they forgotten Einstein's words about
science without heart Here's a quote from a short chapter called The
laws of Science and the Laws of Ethics in his own Einstein Reader
chapter 15;
"There is something like the puritan's restraint in the scientis nwho seeks the truth: he keeps away from everything voluntaristic or emotional. Incidentally, this trait is the result of a slow development, peculiar to modern western thought." Next paragraph begins ">From this it might seem as if logical thinking were irrevelant for ethics.Scientific statements of facts and relations ,indeed ,cannot produce ethical directives.however,ethical directives can be made rational and coherent by logical thinking and empirical knowledge". Well, since the scientific world lords him to the skies, why not quote him back at them.
"There is something like the puritan's restraint in the scientis nwho seeks the truth: he keeps away from everything voluntaristic or emotional. Incidentally, this trait is the result of a slow development, peculiar to modern western thought." Next paragraph begins ">From this it might seem as if logical thinking were irrevelant for ethics.Scientific statements of facts and relations ,indeed ,cannot produce ethical directives.however,ethical directives can be made rational and coherent by logical thinking and empirical knowledge". Well, since the scientific world lords him to the skies, why not quote him back at them.
Different
types of thinking are helpful for different issues. Sometimes it is
helpful to limit one's thinking to that which is most obvious so that
one fully accepts what is obviously true and rejects that which is
likely to be false. For example, suppose a cardiologist wants to heal a
patient with a clogged artery. It is obviously true that the human
heart is a pump which does not work well when it is clogged. It is not
obviously true--in fact, it is likely to be false--that the human heart
contains the incorporeal spirit of
a human being. In this case, by focusing on obvious truths and
ignoring other assertions regarding the human heart, the cardiologist is
more likely to heal the patient, because in this case, the heart is
just an organic pump that needs to be fixed.
You ask who has been silenced or murdered for believing Kepler and his geometrical shapes within the earth's core. I did not say this. Scientists have only recently discovered this to be true, however ,many inventors, scientists and freethinkers have been silenced with threats of death or inpisonment if they revealed their work to the public, especially concerning flying craft and anti-gravity devices that do not deprend on expensive fossil or nuclear fuels. likewise in the medical world where any,medicine, nutritional diet or invention that cures cancer and other diseases without the need of extortionately priced pharmecuticals, is either scotched or ridiculed out of the practice of mainstream medicine.
Unfortunately,
these above assertions are likely to be true. People do all sorts of
evil deeds for money, and there are probably many technological
breakthroughs which are not generally known. However, I will not accept
such assertions as true without more proof. Extraordinary claims
require extraordinary proof.
I'll
give one example, an italian named Pere Leonardo Ighina, a student of
Marconi, harnessed the energy that passed between earth and the sun
applying it to rejuvenate diseased cells. He discovered that atoms do
not oscillate, but vibrate, which led toone of his most brilliant, if
curious inventions, the magnetic field oscillator. by changing the
vibrationary state of a group of particles, material itself
could transform. After several experiments, he tried larger species, an
apricot tree was exposed to his field oscillator,altering the atomic
vibration to that of an apple tree. After 16 days, yes, you've guessed
it the tree's apricots had transformed into apples. It doesn't stop
there. Experimenting with diseaed cells within rabbits , change of
vibrational rate healed the damaged tissue,so long as the vibrational
index was correctly calibrated .Simultaneously,other russian scientists
were experimenting with laser strobes ,transforming D.N.A. codes of
frogs eggs into salamander eggs. Is this the scientific tinkering you
mean? Of course all this was kept tightly under raps by the Soviet
authorites , yet allowed to continue whereas, Ighina's oscillator was
quietly scotched ,removed from hospitals, after his death in 1941. So
threse guys were not bumped off, but many have disappeared without trace
for refusing to "collaberate" with the
authorities.
I
wish that a qualified group of scientists would openly continue such
experiments to proof or disproof these assertions to the general public,
which includes me.
As to the monks and their levitations, it's a case of if first you don't succeed, try ,try again.Just as mainstream scientist have to when their experiments fail. It appears that Tibetan monks have more stamina than western scientists, or is it no pressure of funds, siince the instruments they use are probably centuries old, being no doubt hidden well from the Chinese authorities.
Have
you heard of The Amazing Randi Foundation's Million Dollar Challenge?
Basically, the foundation will pay anyone one
million dollars if he or she can do something miraculous (impressive,
mystifying, and scientifically unexplainable) under laboratory
conditions. See http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/1m-challenge.html
for details. One of those levitating monks should take the challenge,
win the million dollars, and give the money to the poor.
And yes mainstream geologists do despute it,but then why should the monks hurl pearls before swine?
Skepticism is wiser than credulity.
Live long and prosper,
The Voltarian
Be excellent to one another, and party on, dude!
Jayson X
Deputy Director
World Union of Deists
From: Steven stewart
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Monday, August 6, 2012, 5:07 PM
Hi Jayson,
Apologies for the tardy reply as internet connection has been poor this past week. Could be due to influx of visitors for the Olympics all wanting to use the net I'm not a keen sports fan but, I'm impressed with Britain's successes so far. My mum says it's because our teams have been adequately sponsored by lottery funds which were not forth coming from Blair's or previous governments. I hear U.S.A and China are out in the lead medal wise.
I don't believe laboratory conditions will sufffice, but if some top western scientists could observe acoustic levitation for themselves on Tibetan "turf" to discover whether or not any strings are attached, that would impress me as to their ready open mindedness. However I find Mr. Randi too skeptical,especially against homeothapy,water holding information even though the agent has been diluted out of existance, yet the healing potency has multiplied.I do know these things take a generation or two to be generally accepted, but two centuries! Has he read Masuri Emoto concerning the healing power of water that "reads" the vibration of human intent? But then each to his/her taste for incredulity. You may think me credulous, but as mentioned before,I prefer to keep possibilities open rather than closed until finality has proven either way.
I've been re-reading Leibnitz this past week to remind myself how advanced his view on the nature of the universe was. It is remarkably close to quantum physics. He also believed in multiverses; why should God create only one universe when he has the capacity to create many possibles each with its own laws of nature?, was his argument against his contemporaries of the 17th century. Until next email,
- Live long and prospe
The Voltarian
Hi Steven,
Yes, Britain is doing very well in the Olympics, especially when one considers its size compared to the United States and China.
Maybe God did create many universes. I think that God should have created at least four: This universe to teach and test rational creatures for the next life, Heaven to reward relatively good rational creatures, Reformatory to fix relatively evil rational creatures, and Other Place to teach and test rational creatures who were not adequately taught and tested in this universe. Other Place would probably be good for people who died when they were babies.
I've heard of Leibnitz, but I have not read much (if anything) written by him. This summer, I read There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind, written by Antony Flew with Roy Abraham Varghese. Are you familiar with it? Overall, it was a good book. Flew lived most of his life as an outspoken Atheist and died an outspoken Deist.
Go for the gold!
Jayson
From: Steven stewart
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Tuesday, August 7, 2012, 4:25 PM
Hi Jayson,
I believe all those Universes are what is normally refered to as the "Other Side". Being infinite and out of time there is room for it all and more .I've never heard of these authors
but they sound interesting. I have a notion that there is more chance for an atheist to reach heaven than a dogmatic religonist who inists on paving his/her own path to hell for sins imagined or impressed upon by their priesthoods. Of course we all sin but they are attoned for in one
of those Universes you've mentioned or the requisite area on the Other Side.
[Excuse this break in line continuity. my keyboard refuses to join them for some reason]
Live long and prosper
Steven
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2012 18:36:33 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: theswiftian1667@hotmail.co.uk
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2012, 4:14 PM
Hi Jayson,
Here, here! Just to add to multiverses you mentioned, I don't rule out your possibility either.
Peace and long lie to you also
Steven
Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2012 08:47:35 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: theswiftian1667@hotmail.co.uk
Hi Steven,
I agree with you that there will probably be a higher percentage of Atheists who go directly to Heaven than "Revealed" Religionists. I believe that Atheists tend to be more honest, reasonable, and generally virtuous people than "Revealed" Religionists.
Peace and long life,
Jayson
Jayson
To Steven stewart
From: Jayson (jayson@deism.com)
Sent: 09 August 2012 19:02:08
To: Steven stewart (theswiftian1667@hotmail.co.uk)
Hopefully, we will both end up in the best universe forever once we take a dirt nap
------------
IS THIS PART OF CORRESPONDENCE WITH JAYSON X ?
This maybe forgotten extract from previous correspondence session
Hi Jayson,
Having found time to retrieve those Opinions I told you about, I have discovered that those I copied were of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison only. I have discovered a different website called Religious Tolerance Org-Ontario consultants on Religious Tolerance ,says it all concerning Jefferson's defence of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in his Bill For Establishing Religious Freedom originally drafted 1777. for the state of Virginia. I could send you those I copied if you like. or wait until I have done further research from the books I have yet to read on the period .
The original essay /website I have now lost track of ,debated over who and how many of the co-signatures of the Constitution were deists.A lengthy forum discussion ,that at first I found intriguing, until it slid into a mudslinging contest for atheism vs. deism.. However, it appears officially, that only three were confessed deists, Jefferson, Madison and Franklin,World of Deism believes there were more, Washington included. Am I correct?
It appears that the majority; co-signers and general populace, favoured religious tolerance in that no one religon should enforce its doctrines upon the beliefs of others through the passing of illegal enactments against their consent.
This is what Washington himself quoted on the matter;
"If I could now conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution... [E]very man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity
according to the dictates of his own conscience." (Stokes, supra, p. 495.)
I shall continue my researches on these and other opinions, as I find your era of Independence as fascinating an aspect of the Age of Enlightenment ,as that of Europe. At present I'm studying the Scottish perspective, which as you know ,has much relevance to America's revolution as well as Europe's, then as now.
In Bob Johnson's essay Communism in the Bible, he does not acknowledge the Essenes who practised socialist principles of shared property without fear.
I can’t help but find it darkly humorous that people like Mohandas Gandhi, a mere human, could see and partake in selfless love against his enemies but our supposed “God” could not. Gandhi would directly contradict Yahweh’s teachings when he proclaimed “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” He knew that doing the right thing wasn’t always easy, and he still gladly died in order to do it. Yet according to the Bible, Gandhi (a Hindu unbeliever) is cast ablaze in hell to this day. The quote “Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker?” from the Book of Job seems particularly fitting.
Is the passage about Elisha ordering bears to tear forty-two children to shreds for calling him "Bald head" some mortal's hate mail/propaganda ?for this makes The Lord an extremely weak god, even by biblical standards.
Divine intervention is not needed for the workings in nature because God has already put all the gears in place to make the clock of the universe run. Is this meant metaphorically?Only I believe Creator and Creation to be organic life , not inanimate machine.
Atheists still have a way to offset God of course. They assert that if we can presuppose that God can exist outside of time and space then why can’t the same be said for random volatile energy. Indeed if a God can spark the big bang then can’t the unintelligible energy do so too? Yet this is effortlessly countered using the fine-tuned universe (universal constant) argument. Ah, God’s existence seems conclusive then doesn’t it? Well, in the field of experimental physics there dwells the fringiest of fringe theories dubbed the “Multiverse” theory. Under this entirely hypothetical theory (no hint of it has ever been tangibly validated) there exists billions upon billions of parallel universes. Granted, the chances of any life forming without God in one particular universe may be atomically miniscule, but if there’s billions then it becomes much more plausible. So it comes down to two choices then doesn’t it? Either I’m to believe that there are hundreds of billions of parallel universes all around us that just so happen that they can’t be observed, and that we are the by-products of random bits of mindless energy that just happened to be thrashing around in the right place, or I can take credence in a conscious entity. Using reason, I choose the God factor.
I choose the God factor that includes these multiverses as much within it's essence as the one we experience, comprised of concious energy
""To me it’s evident that our cosmic creator has some semblance of affection toward us, for if he was apathetic to us why did he create the universe in the first place? If he had bloodlust, why would he allow any modicum of happiness whatsoever in this realm, and not instead mould it into a festering breeding ground for torture and pain? Therefore, since I exist, have not seen or heard of any credible “miracles,” live in a world where love is possible, and all revealed religions are frauds, I then conclude that the Supreme Being is a loving entity that wishes the best for us, but cannot intervene lest he take away our freedom."
This I fully concur with
TO BE E-MAILED TO JAYSON THEN PASTED ONTO RELEVANT BLOG PAGE
BI-LOCALITY; SCIENTIFIC REASON FOR IT
Hello Jayson,
Again,long time, no correspondence. How are you and your world doing? I,ve been taking a cerebial sabbatical since last we corresponded, indulging in DVD's of 60's /70's T.V. drama and comedy as well as contemporary T.V. quiz shows ,the odd drama and comedy along with documentaries.We have a show here called Embarrassing Bodies. Paradoxically, people who are too embarrassed to consult their family G.P.'s on embarrassing health issues, appear on this show to bare all to the world. Do you find that amusing? I 'm also in the process of re-arranging and streamlining my library,i.e. chucking stuff out. Do you find it difficult to throw stuff out you believe you won't need but that nagging mind says "Don't be too sure you won't need it in future"?
Some time ago,you asked me whether I believed in bi-locality and if I had proof for it. My recent research into quantum particle physics that I previously presented to you concerning Tibetan acoustic levitation ceremonies and anti-gravity experiments by russian scientists in the 1940's and 50's had not I believe, entirely convinced you. What I have rececntly been reading may not do so either, but I felt I ought to inform you anyway.
I had been rereading a book entitled The Divine Matrix# by Gregg Braden;you may or may not know of him. Evenso, he reminded me of Padre Pio, the Italian theoolgian , who , during WWII, appeared before a squadron of U.S Airforce bombers on a mission to bomb his city, San Giovanni Rotondo, having come under the control of the Nazis., and so containing mliitary srongholds He appeared before them ,whilst in mid flight imploring them to cease their mission. Obviously bewildered and confused, they decided to turn back to base. Simultaneously, at ground level, Padre Pio was witnessed in his chapel at the altar, praying. This was verified by the timing of the mass and the time recorded by the aiforce crew upon witnessing Padre Pio "in the sky". So, how was this possible?
You may or may not of read/heard or remembered of a globally publicised experiment performed in 1997,under the leadership of Nicholas Gisin . This was an experiment previously undertaken by Einstein, Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen in 1935,only they didn't believe the results they recieved from the quantum realm, Einstein famously called it "Spooky action at a distance" Dividing a photon into two identical particles the Gisin team blasted them in totally opposite directions. Having reached a distance of 14 miles between them, forced to choose random pathways of continuance, they chose identical pathways in the direction each was travelling at 20,000 x speed of light [previous experiments of the same nature in the 1980's produced speeds 20x light.] Maybe this,is along with the apparent randomness of particles ,is what Einstein, also famous for his "God doesn't play dice " quotation, Podosky and Rosen could not accept. So what has this all to do with bi-location? Previously, you stated that verified experiments are repeatable. Now, what if on a successive experiment, the protons identically chose a different direction to the previous experiment.Would that render the whole experiment void, in your eyes?,
Considering the mind is of a greater capacity than our Newtonian based physical paradigm allows us to believe, and that mind is also composed of energy particles spinning at high frequencies and speeds some orthodox scientists are still unwilling to accept, I propose that a trained mind such as that of Padre Pio and other bi-locators can send or allow the force of Creation to send temporarily, a number of particles of themselves, clothing included, to other desired locations. This I believe works on the same principle as the Tibetan acoustic levitation.,thus flitting between other dimensions, modern scientists such as Michio Kaku call membranes or simply "branes", Padre Pio's prayers and intentions being the key sacrament for the bi-location to occur.
Excuse I being pedantic,yourself, having expressed to me that you prefer to believe in empirical science than mere philosophical supposition, do you believe we and the Universe are mere mechanical automatons as Newton's "theories" propose? Or are we an Infinite organic mind influenced by and influencing everything/one within an infinite ocean of fluctuating energy? Why do we hold onto Newtonian and Einsteinian theories and ideas as if they are God given testaments whilst Creation has been showing us a totally wider aspect to it's nature? I don't propose to throw Newton or Einstein out with the bath water, only realise that some of their impractical theories should be consigned to the history books whilst the still practical remain as valid science.The most elemental level of living things can no longer be considered as chemical reactions alone but as energy of which chemical reactions are a factor
#The Divine Matrix, mentioned above, as you are probably aware ,has gone by a plethoria of names by as many scientists and authors throughout history. The electro-magnetic theory of light considered as electro-magnetic vibration in the ether and that electro-magnetic and luminiferous ethers were the same ,proposed by James Clerk Maxwell, is the theory I prefer. although Nikola Tesla's ether is tempting; the Universe as a kinetic ether from which energies could be harnessed, including electricity.This of course upset the fossil fuel tycoons and their buddies in government and commerce who ,upon his death ,confiscated and classified as top secret all his papers,which remain so today.Remember , we discussed this also? So which ether do you prefer, if any?
Some would argue that the electro-magnetic ether could never work due to Bohr's belief that electrons can only lose energy when they jump from one orbit to another- electro-dynamics says so, yet an English physicist ,Timothy Boyer proposed and later, Hal Puthoff proved mathematically, that ths is not so, electrons are being refueled by tapping into fluctuations within the ether field, maintaining dynamic equilibrium, balanced at exactly the right orbit. .This could account for the temporary presence of Padre Pio in the sky until his mission suceeded in halting the airforce squadron's mission
Apparantly, Hal Puthoff has come up with a unified theory of physics to explain gravity and non-locality within this field..Recieving polite applause for his theory, it is obviously not warmly welcomed, upsetting ,as it does, the bedrock of 20th century physics . Using his field theory, he has invented mauch condensed charged technology, including flat screen T.V,. The Pentagon has only recently started to take him seriously.Two of his collaborators, Alfonso Rueda and Bernard Haisch during the 1990's produced two new papers which mathematically proved, using Einstein's relativistic physics,vs Newtonian physics, that the ancients were correct, that we are indeed all beings of light .Having typed all this, I have a nagging feeling that Newton was not altogether wrong, only has been misread by modern standards.He did after all propose that degrees of density are subject to ratios of space or void to matter. So I leave it here awaiting your response.
Having re-read my gnostic gospels recently I have decided to postpone sending a paragraph concerning Christ's teachings and "miracles" that sound more feasible in the light of recent quantum physics mentioned above , until I receive your response to this
Live long and prosper
The Voltarian
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jayson
To Steven stewart
From: Jayson (jayson@deism.com)
Sent: 09 August 2012 19:02:08
To: Steven stewart (theswiftian1667@hotmail.co.uk)
Hopefully, we will both end up in the best universe forever once we take a dirt nap.
--- On Wed, 8/8/12, Steven stewart
From: Steven stewart
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2012, 4:14 PM
Hi Jayson,
Here, here! Just to add to multiverses you mentioned, I don't rule out your possibility either.
Peace and long lie to you also
Steven
Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2012 08:47:35 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: theswiftian1667@hotmail.co.uk
Hi Steven,
I agree with you that there will probably be a higher percentage of Atheists who go directly to Heaven than "Revealed" Religionists. I believe that Atheists tend to be more honest, reasonable, and generally virtuous people than "Revealed" Religionists.
Peace and long life,
Jayson
--- On Tue, 8/7/12, Steven stewart
From: Steven stewart
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Tuesday, August 7, 2012, 4:25 PM
Hi Jayson,
I believe all those Universes are what is normally refered to as the "Other Side". Being infinite and out of time there is room for it all and more .I've never heard of these authors
but they sound interesting. I have a notion that there is more chance for an atheist to reach heaven than a dogmatic religonist who inists on paving his/her own path to hell for sins imagined or impressed upon by their priesthoods. Of course we all sin but they are attoned for in one
of those Universes you've mentioned or the requisite area on the Other Side.
[Excuse this break in line continuity. my keyboard refuses to join them for some reason]
Live long and prosper
Steven
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2012 18:36:33 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: theswiftian1667@hotmail.co.uk
Hi Steven,
Yes, Britain is doing very well in the Olympics, especially when one considers its size compared to the United States and China.
Maybe God did create many universes. I think that God should have created at least four: This universe to teach and test rational creatures for the next life, Heaven to reward relatively good rational creatures, Reformatory to fix relatively evil rational creatures, and Other Place to teach and test rational creatures who were not adequately taught and tested in this universe. Other Place would probably be good for people who died when they were babies.
I've heard of Leibnitz, but I have not read much (if anything) written by him. This summer, I read There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind, written by Antony Flew with Roy Abraham Varghese. Are you familiar with it? Overall, it was a good book. Flew lived most of his life as an outspoken Atheist and died an outspoken Deist.
Go for the gold!
Jayson
--- On Mon, 8/6/12, Steven stewart
From: Steven stewart
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Monday, August 6, 2012, 5:07 PM
Hi Jayson,
Apologies for the tardy reply as internet connection has been poor this past week. Could be due to influx of visitors for the Olympics all wanting to use the net I'm not a keen sports fan but, I'm impressed with Britain's successes so far. My mum says it's because our teams have been adequately sponsored by lottery funds which were not forth coming from Blair's or previous governments. I hear U.S.A and China are out in the lead medal wise.
I don't believe laboratory conditions will sufffice, but if some top western scientists could observe acoustic levitation for themselves on Tibetan "turf" to discover whether or not any strings are attached, that would impress me as to their ready open mindedness. However I find Mr. Randi too skeptical,especially against homeothapy,water holding information even though the agent has been diluted out of existance, yet the healing potency has multiplied.I do know these things take a generation or two to be generally accepted, but two centuries! Has he read Masuri Emoto concerning the healing power of water that "reads" the vibration of human intent? But then each to his/her taste for incredulity. You may think me credulous, but as mentioned before,I prefer to keep possibilities open rather than closed until finality has proven either way.
I've been re-reading Leibnitz this past week to remind myself how advanced his view on the nature of the universe was. It is remarkably close to quantum physics. He also believed in multiverses; why should God create only one universe when he has the capacity to create many possibles each with its own laws of nature?, was his argument against his contemporaries of the 17th century. Until next email,
Live long and prosper,
The Voltarian
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2012 05:24:09 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: theswiftian1667@hotmail.co.uk
Hi Steven,
The color of the day is pink.
--- On Sun, 7/22/12, Steven stewart
From: Steven stewart
Subject: RE: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Sunday, July 22, 2012, 9:03 AM
Hi Jayson,
Good to find you're doing fine.I haven't read The Communist Manifesto myself, but have read that Marx had strong issues concerning man's struggle with history, or something like that.My response is that is how he wanted to view history, a struggle of the proletariat against the bourgeois that could only be won by bloody revolutions. I differ, but then I'm writing with 21st century hindsight, so what the diddly sqwat do I know.
Although you have not read "The Communist Manifesto" and I am only about two-thirds finished, I think that you understand it well.
Apart from scientific tinkering, if you are perpared to consider the possibility that The Infinite Creator Being is an infinite conciousness, and that It has many ways of evolving, that evolution occurs throughout the Universe/Multiverses, then I think we should wait and see rather than dismiss out of hand.Atomic behaviour at the quantum level is totally unpredictable to mainstream scientists, but if they are prepared to humble themselves to consider factors outside their normal paradigm, they may just find the answers a whole lot quicker and less expensive than building gigantic hadron colliders.and condemning minds that are prepared to reach further than analytical science allows. If it turns out to be rubbish, at least we'll have learned so through experience,for the mind is far more than we have been given to believe.
I think that most scientists are aware of many answers to fundamental questions. They just use tools like the large hadron collider to determine which answer is correct. The problem is not so much a lack of answers/hypotheses as it is a lack of empirical verification. One should not believe anything without sufficient proof and/or logic.
Watching a T.V. program last month on the brain, Neurosurgeons,Neurologists ,Neuro-psychologists, I discovered ,see the brain purely as a machine instead of a living organ. The same goes for cardiologists, for them, the heart,is merely a pump. Have they forgotten Einstein's words about science without heart Here's a quote from a short chapter called The laws of Science and the Laws of Ethics in his own Einstein Reader chapter 15;
"There is something like the puritan's restraint in the scientis nwho seeks the truth: he keeps away from everything voluntaristic or emotional. Incidentally, this trait is the result of a slow development, peculiar to modern western thought." Next paragraph begins "From this it might seem as if logical thinking were irrevelant for ethics.Scientific statements of facts and relations ,indeed ,cannot produce ethical directives.however,ethical directives can be made rational and coherent by logical thinking and empirical knowledge". Well, since the scientific world lords him to the skies, why not quote him back at them.
Different types of thinking are helpful for different issues. Sometimes it is helpful to limit one's thinking to that which is most obvious so that one fully accepts what is obviously true and rejects that which is likely to be false. For example, suppose a cardiologist wants to heal a patient with a clogged artery. It is obviously true that the human heart is a pump which does not work well when it is clogged. It is not obviously true--in fact, it is likely to be false--that the human heart contains the incorporeal spirit of a human being. In this case, by focusing on obvious truths and ignoring other assertions regarding the human heart, the cardiologist is more likely to heal the patient, because in this case, the heart is just an organic pump that needs to be fixed.
You ask who has been silenced or murdered for believing Kepler and his geometrical shapes within the earth's core. I did not say this. Scientists have only recently discovered this to be true, however ,many inventors, scientists and freethinkers have been silenced with threats of death or inpisonment if they revealed their work to the public, especially concerning flying craft and anti-gravity devices that do not deprend on expensive fossil or nuclear fuels. likewise in the medical world where any,medicine, nutritional diet or invention that cures cancer and other diseases without the need of extortionately priced pharmecuticals, is either scotched or ridiculed out of the practice of mainstream medicine.
Unfortunately, these above assertions are likely to be true. People do all sorts of evil deeds for money, and there are probably many technological breakthroughs which are not generally known. However, I will not accept such assertions as true without more proof. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
I'll give one example, an italian named Pere Leonardo Ighina, a student of Marconi, harnessed the energy that passed between earth and the sun applying it to rejuvenate diseased cells. He discovered that atoms do not oscillate, but vibrate, which led toone of his most brilliant, if curious inventions, the magnetic field oscillator. by changing the vibrationary state of a group of particles, material itself could transform. After several experiments, he tried larger species, an apricot tree was exposed to his field oscillator,altering the atomic vibration to that of an apple tree. After 16 days, yes, you've guessed it the tree's apricots had transformed into apples. It doesn't stop there. Experimenting with diseaed cells within rabbits , change of vibrational rate healed the damaged tissue,so long as the vibrational index was correctly calibrated .Simultaneously,other russian scientists were experimenting with laser strobes ,transforming D.N.A. codes of frogs eggs into salamander eggs. Is this the scientific tinkering you mean? Of course all this was kept tightly under raps by the Soviet authorites , yet allowed to continue whereas, Ighina's oscillator was quietly scotched ,removed from hospitals, after his death in 1941. So threse guys were not bumped off, but many have disappeared without trace for refusing to "collaberate" with the authorities.
I wish that a qualified group of scientists would openly continue such experiments to proof or disproof these assertions to the general public, which includes me.
As to the monks and their levitations, it's a case of if first you don't succeed, try ,try again.Just as mainstream scientist have to when their experiments fail. It appears that Tibetan monks have more stamina than western scientists, or is it no pressure of funds, siince the instruments they use are probably centuries old, being no doubt hidden well from the Chinese authorities.
Have you heard of The Amazing Randi Foundation's Million Dollar Challenge? Basically, the foundation will pay anyone one million dollars if he or she can do something miraculous (impressive, mystifying, and scientifically unexplainable) under laboratory conditions. See http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/1m-challenge.html for details. One of those levitating monks should take the challenge, win the million dollars, and give the money to the poor.
And yes mainstream geologists do despute it,but then why should the monks hurl pearls before swine?
Skepticism is wiser than credulity.
Live long and prosper,
The Voltarian
Be excellent to one another, and party on, dude!
Jayson X
Deputy Director
World Union of Deists
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2012 21:30:08 -0700
From: jayson@deism.com
Subject: Re: Long time no contact
To: theswiftian1667@hotmail.co.uk
Hi Steven,
It's nice to hear from you again. I will respond to your email with yellow highlighted words like these below.
--- On Sat, 7/21/12, Steven stewart
From: Steven stewart
Subject: Long time no contact
To: "jayson@deism.com"
Date: Saturday, July 21, 2012, 4:35 PM
Hi Jayson,
Long time no contact. How have you been?
I am fine. My son and I are having a wonderful visit with my family in upstate New York.
I returned from Scotland last September and have been back at work since November, saving up to return for a longer stay, but have bogged myself down with spending sprees on electrical goods. A new Digital T.V. to turn off all those repeats I don't want to watch, a D.V.D/video recorder, I haven't the time to record programs and films with because i'm reading all the new books I just can't put down. So what does that say about me?
You're busy. I'm reading The Communist Manifesto right now.
I'm strongly telling myself that the printed word and image means more to me than electronically generated info. Which brings me to the impetus for emailing you.
Some of these books have been revealing fascinating insights into how the Universe works that mainstream science forbids, such as time travel possibilities, levitation of huge stones using sound and mental focus of hundreds of people in Neolithic times, this also witnessed in 20th century by a Swedish aircraft designer in Tibet in the 90's, Henry Kjellson.
Scientifically verified phenomena are repeatable.
A New Zealand researcher, Bruce Cathie wrote a detailed analysis of it in a book called Anti-Gravity and The World Grid by David Hatcher Childress.Others had heard of this before, but kjellson was the first westerner to witness it. I could go into detail if you wish. How about previously believed extinct species experiencing a come back, as well as modern species regrowing limbs and organs of their extinct ancesters?
That reminds me of an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, when the crew of the USS Enterprise began to de-evolve. I believe that de-evolution is possible but unlikely, without scientific tinkering.
I believe the latter to be more probable. Dormant D.N.A. within present species awakening. I've also discovered pretty fascinating stuff about the Maya and their enigmatic Tzolkin calender and many time cycles that match other ancient civilizations' time cycles.
Also that Johannes Kepler was correct in supposing the Earth's core to be an onion layered sequence of geometrical shapes. These shapes turn out to be the configurations of proton structure in the elements; each proton coresponds to a vortex of the geometry, cubic, octrahedron, icosahedron, dodecahedron (although tetrahedron is also one, two normally combine back to back to form an octahedron). The cube is the first shell of 8 protons-oxygen-62.55% of atoms comprising Earth's crust.Second, octahedron with 14 protons-silicon-21.22% which is just important to biological life as carbon on Earth. Icosahedron with 26 protons-iron-1.2% which still add upto 5% of total weight. Then dodecahedron with 46 protons-palladium (used in cold fusion another power source kiboshed by the greedy powers that be who falsified data to show cold fusion to be inaffectual)
I don't think that the majority of geologists agree with you and Kepler yet on that assertion.
Am I rambling on somewhat? Please excuse, it just fascinates me so. You are probably asking what credence have I for it all. Well anything kiboshed by the powers that be must have something they wish to hide from us. If not, then why go to the effort of coercing people to" clam up" and "wasting" those who won't?
Who has been silenced or murdered for asserting that the "Earth's core . . . [is] an onion layered sequence of geometrical shapes"?
Most of it makes sense to me considering my understanding of quantum physics. I'm pepared to think furthe rbut also prepared to retract and rethink when sufficient evidence proves correct to the contrary And there's more, if you're interested ,but for no w
Live long and prosper,
Regards, The Voltarian
Peace and long life,
Jayson X
Deputy Director
World Union of Deists
Hi Voltarian,
The color of the day is yellow.
From: Steven Stewart
To: Jayson
Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2013 8:12 AM
Subject: U.S.A a free country?
Hello Jayson,
Well it has been a long time, this interval. how are you doing?
I'm fine. How are you?
I've been busy looking into methods of creating an equal society without bloody revolutions as discussed in our last correspondences about Marx. An interesting book recently aquired, entiled The Spirit Level; Why Equality is Better for Everyone by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, is a huge survey detailing how countries who are more socially equal suffer less mental and physical health problems, have smarter, healthier children and a better quality of living standard. and life expectancy. These are countries that spend far less of their treasury resourses on warmongering and paying wanker bankers obscenely huge bonuses. Guess who comes bottom most of the time, followed closely by Portugal U.K and oher E.U. countries.
Vatican City?
Countries like Japan and the Scandanavian countries seem to be more prosperous. There are factors they have introduced that I disagree with and admit, a lot of thought should be put into the subject before dismissing or totally agreeing with all infomation given, but it has proved the point I have been pushing, egalitarianism is more healthy than greed and over consumption of world's resourses to feed profits at the expence of many.
I completely agree with you. Here is an article that I wrote on that subject this year.
"Utilitarianism Is Better Than Selfishness"
by Jayson X
Tim
believes that "We should derive our morality from the examples of Nature,
as Nature is all that we have and is explicit, differing from the anecdotes of
man’s mind. Good is doing what is best for me and mine without causing injury
to others, and evil is causing injury to others without just
compensation."
I mean no disrespect toward Tim
or any of those listening to this podcast. Tim is a friend of mine, and I am
convinced that he is an intelligent, knowledgeable, and kind person. That said,
I respond to Tim’s statement by saying that Nature's morality is brutal,
pain-filled, and full of short lives. Nature's morality has no "without causing injury to others” clause. It was Charles Darwin whose accurate understanding
contradicted the then-common public opinion of romanticized Nature. He realized that Nature's morality was survival of the fittest, which, in at least
many cases, is another way of saying exploitation of the weakest. Simply speaking, we humans created
civilization to escape the cruel law of the jungle. When we only follow
Nature's law, we
build something closer to Hell on
Earth, in which a few people prosper while most unnecessarily suffer. In
contrast, when we create societies with just laws and the necessary (although
not excessive) means to enforce those laws, we build something closer to Heaven
on Earth.
Simply speaking, there are only
two types of people
who want a Nature-based morality:
1) those who truly have the power to be strong in society and don’t mind exploiting the weak—such people
are likely to number fewer than the 1% we all have been hearing about—and 2)
those who have been so protected by the bits and pieces of
the non-Nature-based society we've created for
ourselves that they
delude themselves into believing
that they too have the power to be members of the socially powerful. The former
are greedy, evil, and lucky. The latter are greedy, evil, and foolish.
Our world run under a truly Nature-based morality would be a world of a few
masters ruling over a slave population controlled by a small set of slave
overseers. In contrast, Utilitarianism should at least guarantee that the
majority of people (if not all people) are relatively free and happy. A
Utilitarian world would probably be a world comprised of democratic republics,
whose citizens govern themselves by hiring and firing their leaders through
honest democratic elections. Everyone wants to be happy, so the leaders of a
Utilitarian world would generally do whatever made the majority of their
constituents happy. Otherwise, they would be out of a job. I, for one, would
rather be just an average citizen in a free, happy, and democratic society than
to be the king of an enslaved, miserable, and totalitarian society.
To the crux of my subject matter. I recently read a story from a man who was jailed for 5 years and fined $10,000! in 1942 for refusing to be drafted because of his religious conviction. Is this an act of a country that boasts freedom of conscience , or is it merely the prejudice of a meely minded Kansas magistrate ? I know there are many other examples, but I find $10,000 in 1942 extremely harsh and unwarranted. How do you feel about this? As it happens this guy is in his nineties now, I wonder if the judge is sill alive?
Unfortunately, both individuals and nations are forced by God and/or nature to fight to survive. A nation that doesn't have an effective military will soon (or at least relatively soon) be conquered. People should be allowed to protest their government's actions without fear of punishment. They should also be allowed to leave their nations as they see fit. However, people who choose to live in a nation should be willing to help defend that nation if the democratically elected government of that nation chooses to fight. If the war effort seems just, conscripts should be willing to kill enemy combatants. If the war effort seems unjust, conscripts should at least be willing to serve their nation's military in supporting roles such as clerks or medics. Even Gandhi served as a medic in the British army. Conscientious objectors in a democratic society should be given the choice of serving in a non-combat position, permanently immigrating to another nation, or staying in jail until the war is over. What do you think?
I have also been reading about G.W. Leibniz and his ideal society, which pretty much matches mine, only he wanted to keep the social heirarchy but posts should be filled by merit worthy members of society, not so called nobility and regals.
I, too, am pro-meritocracy.
Yes, a king should be a commoner.
I prefer a president to a king, and I prefer the rule of a democratically elected congress to a democratically elected autocrat.
I would prefer no hierarchy only government posts filled by worthy people who are truly accountable to the nation and can easily be dismissed by the nation if deemed unworthy at a future date. I believe I've discussed this before with you.
I actually just finished writing a constitution for the make-believe nation of Jasonia which is based on those premises. I will try to email it to you this week.
Also Karl popper has come to my notice via the physicist David Deutsch. I bought Popper's main work, The Open Society and it's Enemies but have yet to start on it as I've been urged to read Stendhal first. He appears to be protesting about he same issues I bang on about, snobbery, false education, hypocrisy of church and state.
Well i'll leave it there and await your response, if you are still interested in further correspondences
Yours
Wishing prodsperity and long life
The Voltarian
Joyous Festivus!
Jayson
From: Steven Stewart
To: Jayson
Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2013 6:17 PM
Subject: Re: U.S.A a free country?
To: Jayson
Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2013 6:17 PM
Subject: Re: U.S.A a free country?
Hi Jayson,
Thanks for the prompt reply. I'm O.K. only fuming at the increase in bureaucratic bullshitters who prefer us to die by the letter of the law instead of living by the spirit of it. Something David Icke warned of twenty years ago but the nation [most of it anyway] decided to scoff along with Sir Terry of The Wogan [a TV and Radio presenter who ridiculed David for his beliefs and opinions,most of which have proven true enough]. I ask these scoffers now, where is Wogan, [sitting pretty on his knighthood, thank you very much] and where are you? [Enslaved and strangled by the wanker bankers and greedy warmongering politicians].
The Nature your friend Tim believes in smacks pretty much like Thomas Hobbes' Leviathon where as our idea of society matches up fairly well with Jeremy Bentham's Utilitarianism
But do you believe we should move toward a utilitarian bartar of services and crafted goods as well as manufactures economy where money is obsolete,and manufactured goods on a smaller scale, or do we need money still, only on an holistic keel. The book I mentioned states that a happy medium salary for everyone would be approx $40,000 /£25,000 sterling. I discovered that the global G.D.P is approx $62 Trillion U.S. I calculated that down to approx £15,000-17,000 for every person on earth @ present population 7 billion. Now, if we asssume the children as dependent on parents does that equate to approx £25,000. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the percentage of population considered children or minors, maybe you do. Does my arithmatics square up?
I can see your point about non-combat service, but some still believe it is contributing to killing. When God tells you killing is wrong but the state and church are saying" it's o.k when WE sanction it", I believe it is up to the individual's conscience how far they wish to go with their objection. I don't trust politicians further than I could throw a 10 ton weight . Knowing that they and their warmongering chums are making a financial killing whilst safely hidden in their bunkers and chateaus whilst millions are facing real bullets and bombs whether soldiers or civilians, I don'think any of their claims to war are just, so I would opt for objection of anything that may help their profit mongering, but would volunteer to help the casualties in some capacity. If they were willing to come out and face the bullets and bombs they buy, i'd think a little differently.
I would prefer some kind of benevelant leader such as Gandhi who instills those Utilitarian virtues of self empowerment in service to their nation or society, but answerable to the nation or society as your congress [not necessarily U.S. congress].
Please do, I'd love to read your Jasonia. I started something similar on my blogsite a few years ago, entitled Mr.Blendings Creates His New Society, but have not got around to continuing it. He is a supply teacher discovering whether a class of children, dubbed slow learners by the school authorities ,truly have something valuable to contribute to bring about changes in education, given appropriate encouragement .
I still keep to my beleif in scientific enterprises that are dismissed by mainstream science ,especially since reading David Deutsch's Beginning of Infinity and Mikao kaku's books .He admits that he and many of his colleages have theories that go beyond the accepted norm but keep them out of the universities ,yet freely discuss them amongst themselves .
In his book, David Deutsch writes of a convoluted problem that has been wrankling on for over 200 years; the apportionment problem, of how many seats should be alloted to each state in the House of Representatives. From what I understand, it's all a question of rounding up or down and which way is fairest. Do you think it should be calculated upon population per state or ratio of productivity from each state? Are their other factors not fully realised? Deutsch believes possibly so and shall do so for many moons to come. Do you see a solution? I've started copying it for my blogsite which I'm amending at present.
I notice something about the Vatican. is it some link? I don't want to touch it now incase I wipe all I've just written, but if it is anything to respond to, I shall.
Joy to you
The Voltarian
From: Steven Stewart
To: Jayson
Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2013 6:17 PM
Subject: Re: U.S.A a free country?
From: Steven Stewart
To: Jayson
Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2013 6:17 PM
Subject: Re: U.S.A a free country?
Read Jaysonia, at last. Highly entertaining with excellent points made. Obviously tongue in cheek
Hi Jayson,
intented with some artistic licence so I shall pass over any criticism of historical inaccuracies.
Rather than refer to specific words or sentences I have decided to reference your page numbers to my comments. So here goes....
P.3 Exactly what I meant by Hobbesian ideals
P.4 The argument I put forth in a previous email discussion with you.
P.5/6 In some Islamic communities in Africa, the rattan across the backside in public is usually the accepted and preferred punishment of errant villagers; a short spell of embarrassment and all is forgiven. Whether Allah believes so is another matter.
Public executions in England ceased in,1868. The last execution at The Tower of London,15th August 1941 a German Luftwaffe pilot ,Josef Jakobs ,the charge as follows“Committing treachery in that you at Ramsey in Huntingdonshire on the night of 31 January 1941/1 February 1941 descended by parachute with intent to help the enemy.Although Jakobs argued that he had always intended to give himself up the verdict could hardly have been in doubt. The historic final death warrant was passed to the Constable of the Tower:
LD/SR A(s) 1 MOST SECRET
To: The Constable of H.M. Tower of London. 13th August 1941.
Sir,
I have the honour to acquaint you that JOSEF JAKOBS, an enemy alien, has been found guilty of an offence against the Treachery Act 1940 and has been sentenced to suffer death by being shot.
The said enemy alien has been attached to the Holding Battalion, Scots Guards for the purpose of punishment and the execution has been fixed to take place at H.M. Tower of London on Friday the 15th August 1941 at 7.15am.
Sgd. Sir Bertram N. Sergison-Brooke,
Lieutenant-General Commanding London District.
Most spies and traitors were hanged at Wandsworth Prison during the war. The decision to execute Jakobs by Firing Squad at the Tower appears to be because he was still suffering from his injuries – he could not stand up. He was blindfolded and placed in a chair for the execution – the officer in charge gave a silent signal to the Firing Squad and he was shot dead.
Anywhere in U.k. 1964;
The murder of John Alan West on 7 April 1964 was the crime which led to the last time a death sentence was executed in the United Kingdom. West was a 53-year-old van driver for a laundry when he was killed by Gwynne Evans and Peter Allen who had gone to rob him at his home in Seaton, Cumberland. Both murderers were unemployed and had a history of petty crime; they were arrested and charged within two days of the crime. At trial, each blamed the other, but the jury by its verdict found both responsible. Use of the death penalty had been declining and the decision not to reprieve the two came as a surprise.
P.7 I once had a project going myself. I was studying Anglo-Saxon economy from 6th century and so created lineages for 3 fictional saxon kings who vied for territorial supremacy over each other and so, raise taxes from the populations under their rule in orde tor fuel their campaigns for further conquests the following year. The populations obviously had little access to coinage or bullion and so had to surrender the equivalent in livestock or grain/vegetable produce.Using a pack of playing cards I transmuted their face values into cash or bullion e.g Red kings could be 50 s. or 50lb of silver Black kings 20s or 20lb of silver Red Jacks 5s Black Jacks 2/6d Numbered cards 2-10d Aces could either be 1s or 1d. The ratio of the difference of each kings coffers being blindly dealt out by the cards determined the ratio of population of England at that tme and territory available to them.
E.G. King A could be dealt 56% of territory and population to tax one year but only 34% next year.
My task then to commue that into livestock and grain/vegetable produce according to the true agricultural potential of that region at that time for each kingdom. A lengthy process but it taught me alot about unfair distribution of taxes and the hardships of the small farmers and villiens who had to raise their portion of taxes from posssibly poor soil or poor harvest due to many extraneous factors for overlords who only interested themselves in their power games.
P.9 A friend and I have been holding a discussion on whether income tax should be abolished in favour of purchase tax. We think the fairness is in that we pay tax only on the things we choose to buy or use but I think this could be detrimental concerning public transport in U.K. as it is heavily subsidized by government.On the other hand if it was managed more responsibly by government ministers who actually know what they're dong instead of ministers who are shuffled into that post by their Prime Minister's periodical re-shufflig of cabinet along with the transport bosses who appear to be more interested in their fat profits than providing a decent service.Maybe a few salary cuts and a budget tailored to the needs of the nation and their cities would put things aright with public taking responsibility. Unfortunately many would rather keep things the way they are and satisfy themselves by grumbling at the constant delays and cancellations to their services because of 'the wrong snow' or a 'pea on the track' and other ridiculous excuses they give for said inconvieniances.
Why can't they take the advice of nations used to adverse conditions so as to prepare for adverse weather that shall increase from now on ? Because it eats into their profits. Oh, they do go on fact finding jaunts/junketts to these countries, Scandanavia and upstate New York, for instance, but only to stuff their fat faces at he expense of other nations' taxes.
P.10 -12 What was Jasonia's population and life expectancy c.!000? Saxon England's piopulation was approx 2 or 3 million Saxon and Romano-Britains and life expectancy for the average person rarely exceeded 40,. Kings and nobles 50-60 so your King Jason was the right age for that era...Youths were considered adult at 12 for girls and 13 for boys,I expect life expectancy would rise and infant mortality fall as healthcare and medical knowledge evolved.
One of my wilderness musings whilst in Scotland came up with a scenario based on that Danny Devito film where he plays a teacher who allows his new pupils to continue chatting or reading comic books while he got on with his Shakespear until they one day asked what he was reading everyday. He replied something along he lines of " Oh, only the usual stuff, murder, robbery, incest, bigamy, treason. Nothing interesting. Of course that did interest the kids and so he could begin teaching them something useful for life, thus exercising the old chinese or buddhist sage's proverb of awaiting as when the pupil is ready he will to come to you.
Well, my musing found a boy reading Judge Dredd in class. Instead of reacting as normal, with outrage, I asked him how he would bring law and order to Megacity? Moreover how would he do it differently to Judge Dredd. I even suggested he create a comic strip of his method.I told him also that I would match his with mine. so what follows is mine based on what I've learned on how the Yellow Emperor sages of.China maintained law and order;
Lee Quo is a well seasoned magistrate of another Mega city who has been commissioned to bring law and orer to a larger Megacity whose previous magistrate has paid for his ineptitude with his life at the hands of one of the many bands of brigands and mobsters who truly rule this Megacity .
Taking stock of the situation his first act is to fortify the city walls with burly but responsible policeman/guardians then proclaims a blanket amnesty for all criminals within and outside the walls upon certain conditions. He grades criminals in three classes: 1] Hardened career criminals and violent thugs 2] Petty non violent criminals 3] errant youth although violent are just in need of correct education and civilizing
Now, those in class 1 who agree to abide by his jurisprudence when publicly proclaimed and agree to act civily will earn citizenship by becoming soldier-guardians protecting the city and lawful visitors from outside, against those who refuse civilization, choosing to remain violent criminals. These soldier-guardians shall have full protection of Quo's jurisprudence but shall remain OUTSIDE her city walls but in military camps of standard of any modern military camp in U.S and Europe. They have Quo's sanction to deal with these criminals as they feel fit but only if they offer violence, not if they behave.Outsiders who wish to visit shall have to provide papers to that effect or be treated as class1 criminals by Quo and subject to soldier-guardian discretion.Llike- wise for those choosing to leave however, temporarily.Class 2 criminals will be freed on condition that if they are caught commiting further criminal offences they wil be thrown out to take their chances with the class 1 criminals WITHOUT protection from Quo's jurisprudence Class 3 youths will be rehabilitated in Quo's schools.to become worthy valid citizens.Any that refuse will be thrown OUTSIDE with the class 1's until they change their minds, if they survive to do so.
This all may sound harsh, but as you know, Megacity has been harsh on decent citizens for far too long. But those who choose rehabilitation will have decent billets whilst they create their own town from scratch each choosing how they wish to serve and contribute.They will also be assured of employment upon graduation from rehabilitation. If they can't find employment anywhere in the city,they will be offered places as warders of other errant youths or as police officers if they wish so..
Those Soldier-guardians living OUTSIDE will prove their citizen worthiness by the standard of how well they maintain their base camp quarters. Quo will take time out to inspect them for himself, periodically and choose who is Citizen worthy and so qualify for living WITHIN city walls,if they so wish to..
Quo's aim is to gradually elevate the citizens of Megacity to the standard of living,and health and welfare he enjoys, thus eliminating the need for crime WITHIN the city Maybe then, he will consider inviting those still OUTSIDE interested but still skeptical to a police officer escorted tour allowing them to inspect any home or public establishment .If any are convinced and choose to rehabilitate their criminal records shall be expunged and recruitment and training as police officer or soldier- guardian shall commence.
As to democracy, Quo proposes that citizen's provide their own charter /manifesto of how they percieve law and order, legal rights and social services for their welfare.Meanwhile Quo will write up his own charter.Upon the citizens completing and submitting theirs, he will,submit his for public scrutiny and ask them to choose which they feel is the better. If he finds theirs wanting, he will say so but also ask what of his they would liked changed and why.If they are adamant in choosing theirs however flawed he believes it to be,he will allow them 2 years to prove him wrong. If however he is proven correct they will have to follow his charter and corresponding jurisprudence for 20 years, enough timespan for the children and infants to be of voting responsibilty according to his education program. If he believes their charter is equally valid as his,some comprimises here and there will be made and a People's Charter or Constitution shall be ratiified
Quo, along with his choice of magistrates either from the cityitself or from other Megacities if there is a paucity of qualified magistrates shall practice jurisprudence according to this Charter or Constitution [considering there are only Megacities ,no nations, can it possess a constituion? I'm assuming so, as the original constitution was created by the' will of the people 'not the will of the land] These magistrates will teach aspiring youths to the bar and to magistracy as well as teaching Megacity jurisprudence in all Quo's schools so every pupil shall, be electorally savvy at graduation if not legally trained for police,military or magisterial careers.
There shall be no heirarchy of government posts all are to be considered of equal importance Those that have been created purely to benefit 'grafters' and 'rubber stampers' will be dissolved
As to protection from class 1 criminals of invading Megacities, Quo shall put his scientists to work on creating a force field to repel them. This force field shall detect the negative energy eminating from violence and repel it whilst detecting poitive energy from peaceable people This will do away with documentation for visitors and citizens who wish to come and go as they please.There will be a customs portal for them to enter when their positive energy is detected and verified. But what if negative people sheild their bad vibrations?,you probably ask . Underlying negative energy will always be detected by aura emination. a devce within the portal shall display an entrants aura for negative colouration.This will enable the portal to remain intact over the entire city whilst allowing entrance and exit to valid citizens. I feel the taxes saved from buying weapons shall pay for it's maintainance
As to medicine; two branches 1] Preventative and healing 2] Curative and healing First shall be holistic medicines and practices second shall be allopathic as well as holistic. Spend less on expensive pharmecuticals and more on healing the mind and soul as a healthy mind sustains a healthy body to be more effficient at repelling and fighting off diseases already taken hold. I've learned that the potenial for disease hangs around the body's energy field waiting for a niche or tear to invade A positive mind set helps keep the energy field intact as I propose Quo's Megacity force field.This will also lead to less intrusive surgery.Money saved by not squandering it on war mongering shall pay for research into technological advances in unintrusive surgery. There is a surgical machine in use that can operate by remote control, so a surgeon from his master machine just directs a surgical prod at a specific organ or part of it so that the needle or scapel on a corresponding machine anywhere in the world can perform the physical surgery. Since we can't escape from bodily injuries due to ifinite acccidental or intended factors, we can at least open our minds to the posibilties of others' medical lore, however alien to western mindsets to heal broken limbs, failing organs and nervous systems.
P.14 Is there a specific reason for it being 40 days for ere-election of Senate, House of Representative and impeachmet ?
As to blind justice in the U.k this flounders as upper classs criminals are given ligher sentances by upper and middle class magistrates who are not so leniant with those lower class criminals who rob banks,yet do little for the pensioner that gets mugged and beat half to death if not killed outright. Although a lower class person may aspire to the bar I can well imagine their 'taking silk' being blocked by prejudice from within their own chambers. This from one time barrister and playwright John Mortimer famous for his Rumpole of The Bailey T.V.series Have you ever seen it?
Anyway, Lawyers' chambers in his day were riddled with class prejudice, so he created his righteous plain speaking barrister that worked to keep people out of prison if possible yet see that justice was done not just seen to be done.He believed a guilty person of minor offences should pay an appropriate fine or do public service instead of jail
P.15 My sentiments as to the law is a code of conduct and to live by the spirit of it. Magistrates should temper the law with heart rather than mind and reason alone, where necessary. This means taking account of family situations that would make things worse for a child's welfare if the parent or parents were jailed, not allowing criminal and violent thugs get away with murder.who deserve harsh sentances yet give them the opportunity to rehabilitate when they are ready, don't impoose it upon them. Do as Lee Quo with his Megacity.
As to magistrates, I suggest four as minimum positioned at the compass points around a circular court.at a level higher than the rest of court in order to watch over proceeding The centre stage used for enactments of witness statements and other enactments appropriate to case in session. and displaying evidence clearly to the Court Magistrates can make their notes from their perspective during the case and then refer with their colleages at summing up for sentencing or ruling .
Other judicial matters such as coroners inquiries and the like shall continue less formally as is normal.in U.K.
As to jurys, although I hold with the principle, A documentary has found them fallen in standards in recent years as those with criminal records have been selected as they are easier for the courts to track down and summons. Having looked it up,,only those convicted of crinmal offenss within past 10 years are exempt from jury service, so the documentary may have misleaded us, or I have forgotten tha it was mentioned After all everybody should be given the chance to go straight and not be continually harrassed by the police if it's a one off offence or a series of offences commited whilst a youth.
Further on educating children and adults on the law,it would prepare them to be more discerning of what is being said on all sides in court so as not to be conned by clever prosecutors as well as defenders presenting their cases to jury.It would also prepare employees to be aware of scams organised by their trade union bosses against them as they collude with corporate and industrial employers as well as governments, if it be so
Your Oath of Service to the nation is honorable in my eyes and a good premiss to dismiss corrupt or inept ministers from that service if warranted [mitigating circumstances may be apply to ineptitude due to illness or grieving, it takes people unawares if not resolved at time of death . Compassionate leave maybe warranted rather than dismissal]
Plain corruption can only mean instant dismissal and shame of irreversable bar to government posts and big business, not even as cleaner or canteen pigswil collector. DEFINITELY NOT Postboy! a very responsible job in government, do you agree? Are postboys valid in real life America as opposed to Hollywood's image of a loser, if over 30?
P.17 Benthamite principles
P.18 As mentioned above in Megacity, those adept shall keep these posts or fill vacancies until upcoming generation have been adequately educated to decide the nature of government and law for themselves and so make responsible changes they feel necessary
P.19 In medieval England everyone of both genders were required to practice archery at least once a week if not daily in service to he country
A Statue imposed by King Henry VIII and written by the King in the 6th year of his reign (1515) was an amended, more specifically detailed version to replace an earlier Royal Statute of 1363:
Item: Whether the Kinges subjectes, not lame nor having no lawfull impediment, and beinge within the age of XI yeares, excepte Spiritual men, Justices etc. and Barons of the Exchequer, use shoting on longe bowes, and have bowe continually in his house, to use himself and that fathers and governours of chyldren teache them to shote, and that bowes and arrowes be bought for chyldren under XVII and above VII yere, by him that has such a chylde in his house, and the Maister maye stoppe it againe of his wages, and after that age he to provideb them himselfe: and who that is founde in defaute, in not having bowes and arrowes by the space of a moneth, to forfayte xiid.. And boyers for everie bowe of ewe, to make two of Elme wiche or othere wood of meane price, and if thei be founde to doe the contrarie, to be committed to warde, by the space of viii daies or more.
And that buttes be made, in everie citie, towne and place accordinge to the law of auncient time used, and the inhabitantes and dwellers in everye of them to exercise themselfe with longe bowes in shotinge at the same, and elles wher on holy daies and other times conveniente.
. In wartime you were either conscripted into the militia or chose general logistics duties such as repaairing bridges, forts and castles or digging moats and ditches Usually 1 adult male from each family were conscripted .
P.22 Nowadays in U.K, the image of the Dark Ages is being revoked as more is learned through technological improvements of archeologists' and researchers'. tools. It has come to ligh that our ancestors were more astute and educated than hitherto believed 70+ years ago. Even 40 years ago, many archeologists still continued with the mindset of 70+ years ago. Thankfully we have some more openminded archeologiss and paleologists today. Have you ever seen the British T.V. program Meet The Ancestors and its recent spin-off History Cold Case? I find them far superior to Time Team, who are mainly sunday afternoon entertainment not serious archeology and there are rarely follow ups to the digs, unlike Meet The Ancestors, who do I also reccommend Rcihard Rudgley's work on Neolithic age and 'barbarians' of so-called dark ages. After all, barbarian was a term used by Romans for those who lived outside their Empire = uncivilized.not necessarily stupid or primative
How do you justify these distribution ratios of taxes. Why is science less valued than armed forces since they rely on science for technology. Why police and justice system uequally funded? Come on King Jason ,get your arse in gear! Should they not be equally funded or lumped in as one item and allotted 20% ? Lee Quo would do so and lump rescue and disaster relief together say wih 30% of budget or lumped in with medical and health welfare with 40%, having no need for amed forces re the force field which can be maintained by scientists and defended by soldier guardians who he considers policemen Science would have a different budget.How about science and education @ 20% each. A rough calculation because we haven't mentioned government running costs yet.nor transport or agriculture as Megacity has been existing on processed vitamin supplements since it ran ot of real food due to being ravished by those Class1 criminals .Get your arse in gear Lee Quo!
But how else would he do it? Naively he would calculate the revenue collected and distribute it equally amongst the governmental and social service posts .The ministers could be paid from this allocation, but this may not be feasible, He's still working on it. My belief is that all government services of any true worth to the nation should be equally valid and funded so. those posts created purely for and by 'grafters' and 'rubber stampers' would be abolished, as Quo proposes, nor shall there be jobs for the boys with the' correct school ties' or nepotism in any other guise.
Quo proposes that because higher education is a voluntary choice , those who deliberately flunk or drop out should pay for the whole course they should have studied for waste of tutorial time when they could have tutored someone else waiting for that course and maybe compensation to the student deprived of the course[s] .Those who pass thier exams and fully qualify will have their fees re-imbursed as a gesture of confidence that they will prove to be valued citizens Quo would support those actively seeking employment /service but not spongers. U.K. government presently is being very mean minded in its means testing for welfare support,expecting people with dibilitating physical handicaps and mental health problems to seek employment or they'll stop their benifits whilst experienced scrougers and spongers continually skip the net I mean the politicians who use tax loop holes to dodge taxes whilst expecting everyone else to tighten their economic belts George.OsbourneGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A campaign group in U.k. called 38 degrees asked its members two years ago, to send in suggestion for acampaign poster shaming tax dodging M.P.'s and corporate giants. My suggestion was an image of the U.K being dragged under the North Sea by the weight of crippling inflation and National Debt whilst the tax dodgers sail away to their Carribean tax havens in their cash laden luxury yachts. .An image of Osbourne as Dickens' Artful Dodger was favoured-Osbourne the cheeky scamp! I'm looking at a site called Taxation; where does my moey go, only it's too much to digest at present and copy over to this e-mail maybe another time
This means testing Quo would abolish in favour of supporting those with handicaps in actively seeking careers that somehow catered for and used their handicap to advantage for all concerned For this as well as any other career applicants Quo would encourage employers to take more consideration of a candidate's personal interests and hobbies as well as personalities and life ambitions, not work ambitions only,more than just the qualifications listed on their C.V. as you know many people fake them ,even denying their qualifications for fear of being considered too over qualified for a position that would tide them over whilst they sought more appropriate career choices
One argument to this has been that an employer woud be depriving someone needing of the less qualified position.In the normal world yes, but in Quo's Megacity menial jobs such as serving burgers or gas pump attendants for school children 15+ who want to earn more pocket money or gain work and life experience until they decide on a career or further education
But I've digressed somewhat
P.24 Clause 14 I'm not understanding as we have different sick pay and annual leave rules to you in the U.S.We have an average 5 day 40 hour week with 20 days holiday/vacation leave and seven Bank Holidays throughout the year Longer hours are paid at a rate discretion of employers but negotiable through unions Usually 1 1/2 x normal rate on week days 2x on weekends and Bank Holidays.Sick and maternity leave at discretion of employer
I and Quo have considred halving this to average 20 hour week so people can either persue other business or services to fellow citizens but be rewarded by other means than taxable wage. This would cut the unemployment figures considerably, by allowing two people to fill one employment position of 40 hr week.Both would preferably be friends or amicably suited colleages who both knew what the other is doing with the job in hand, ensuring the position flows smoothly, so long as both accept responsibility/culpability for any errors. This also allows for flexibility between themselves without having to beg the boss for time off or change of rota.
P.25 As to Right 7, I think those contemplating suicide should be given counselling to allow space to consider the full consequences to their families before allowing them legally to choose to do so, even if they choose not to inform their families of their intended action.
Right 10 In U.S.A. are those contemplaing leaving their nation aware that they have no legal protection any where in the world once they've broken away, unless they have secured it from their aoptive nation or state? I've presumed those who wish to leave he U.K. permanantly that they rescind all legal rights as British citizens when the red tape goes through. Having just checked , there are many clauses that protect you from being deprived of your rights as a British National or Citizen , if you schose to live in another contry but some countries require that you do give up your British or other nationality, if you canno gain nationality, British Immigration will find some way for you to keep your rights.For myself ,i'd rather keeep my legal rights as a British citizen even if I choose to leave it permanantly for New Zealand or elsewhere if i can't recieve Rights as a New Zealand citizen.
P.26 I do agree with self induced euhanasia if one's sound in mind but terminally ill and in inscrutiating pain.This is still ilegal in U.K. you must suffer despite the hypocratic oath of doctors, but then this is a government ruling not medical But I can see the government's fear in the light of Dr. Shipman. who secretly euthanised at least two of his lady patients after conning them into signing over the right to cash their pension cheques for them. but not all G.P.s are as evil as Drs.Shipman or Mengele Those who are advised by their G.P can travel to Netherlands, Belgium,Luxembourg or Switzerland where legally assisted euthanasia is practiced. I understand U.S. states of Washington,Oregan Montana,and Vermont also I question enforced euthanasia as we 'normal' folk can never truly know the state of conciousness of someone who cannot communicate effectively. Their motor neurons may be producing a state of bliss we may not be aware of dispite the contrary muscle spasms. A close living relative, not an astranged one should make the choice if the relative is in an obvious state of agony otherwise, if Stephen Hawking had no one to speak for him nor that machine he uses the world of science would have been bereft of a valuable mind.
P.28/9 How large is Jasonia? By boring do you mean having absolutely nothing to do or being forced to perform mind numbingly tedial tasks like moving a stack of bricks from one place to another and then back again or digging a hole only to refil it and dig it ad infinitum?
I would set them to work that would be menial but allow them to purchase tokens that would enable them to hire legal represenatives to help them settle legally and find decent work. If they co-operate it will go smoothly for them as they have shown willing. The spouse business I agree with you on Too many women get in to the U.K. on the marriage ticket after conning a gullible holiday maker looking for a bride or on dating websites and then scram when they've obtained a British passport or citizenship, or else weedle their spouse out of their property.
P.30 Would you favour a carefully worded questionaire for those who seem capable enough but is not certain they warrant sterilization?. Questions would ask " What would you do if...?" Or "How would you re-act to baby consistantly crying, coughing, choking and/or face changing to blue or red ,say?", to disern whether they truly are capable of rearing children.?
P.31 Land taxation I agree but would extend it to salary capping over a certain limit eg. £25,000/$40,000 I mentioned in my last email @ 1% per £/$ over base taxation @20% so $41,000 would mean 21% tax etc This guarentees none earning more than $36,000/£27,000 after tax..
P.32 Some mistaken idea that Jesus was celibate Where are the written evidences proving that he was? Church of England does not enforce celibacy, it encourages vicars to be family men and women which standst o reason since their parishioners are primarily of families. But who says Roman Catholicism has to be rational? The pope openly claims so, but does he really? Does he hide horns under that mitre of his?
P.38 Your Akkabar Ungestine sounds very much like England's Roger Bacon of the 13th cen.and Belliburst, George Orwell or the Fabians maybe , or do you have others in mind of which these names are anagrams? Foolish and lazy I agree should earn little or nothing, but unintelligent? Do you mean those who have a low I.Q. ? What about those who hold a high S.Q.? What's that, you ask? Spiritual Quota.People may be low on academic skills but high on other unqualifiable skills such as speaking their truth about people who they see as phoney.and discerning poor quality goods or noticing things that shouldn't be. These people are usually taken for simpletons and 'innocents' because the can't read or write because they have differently wired motor- neuron pathways.In Quo's Megacity there is employment for them as valued citizens.However, those who prefer to be unintelligent as theyt hink it an easy cop-out should and will suffer the same fate as the foolish and lazy.
P.39 see P.31. we appear to share the same idea about salary capping As for medical costs , is this $10,000 compound.? If a citizen had no need of medical care for five years, say, would he acredit $50,000 for himself? Jasonian healthcare sounds complicated. Why shouldn't the tax allocated ratio be used to care for all as does the N.H.S. in U.K., whilst those who prefer to pay private out of snobbery because they don't want to share a ward with Joe or Jill Bloggs should pay through the nose for healthcare.But then there are cases where people are in need of joint replacement due to arthritis and are in agony yet have to wait years on N.H.S, but are penalised if they go private to get a prompt operation as the N.H.S. will not accept them at a later date for another ailment . This gives the N.H.S. a bad name and grist to the mill of politicians who are eager to axe the N.H.S altogether After all the cost of keeping it going is preventing them from buying/producing more bombs to kill the babies and children of other nations whose politicians refuse to play ball with them.
P.40-46 Change patronomy for matronomy, but is this wise? I would choose double barrelled surname of both parents written with a slash between them rather than a hyphen leaving decision of whose name goes first to the parents, or either one as single barrelled. So long as birth certificates match marriage certificate for proof of parentage all should be legal.
As to possessions, if either partner have possessions they'd rather keep in their side of the family,or as you mention personally created pieces of art or craft, then this should be sorted and legally arranged before marriage. Some clause to the effect that future created items and family heirlooms that come into their possession after marriage belong to whomever and which to be shared.
Primary caregiver is a difficult subject when the father is a keen contributor to the children's upbringing. Father's who think they only have to bring home the bread and play with them now and again, but not when there's football on the telly, or even take an interest in their homework or other leisure activities, and shamefully there are still enough of them about, do not deserve custody rights but must surrender to the discretion of the mother of the children .As to step parenthood, I would say that the step parent that devotes equal interest in the adopted child is equally entitled to access and custody rights of the adopted or step child.
P.50 Whilst Aztec and Maya were sacrificing hearts to their 'make-believe gods' Christians were murdering TORTURING and imprisoning any one who refused to bow down to their 'make-believe god'.of dogmas they created, not God or Jesus, and I'm sure it was likewise with Aztec, Maya and other religions of that time and before.
North Americans were no less intelligent than their Neolithic counterparts in Europe.Different ways do not equal subordinate or inferior ways, not even in 15/16th cen. Maya technology was superior to European in many ways if you look closely at them instead of only seeing vegetation smothered ruins of cities that rivalled Rome, Athens and Contantinople in their prime Check out The Lost Secrets Of Maya Technology by James A. O'Kon.He discovered a suspension bridge that matched anything by Thomas Telford or I.K.Brunel.who were building 1000 years afer the Maya's golden age.Medicine in the New World was just as advanced as China. Innoculations were unheard of in Europe until he 1740's but not widely practiced until 40 years later and homeopathy is still derided by mainstream medicine 200 years after Samuel Hanneman first lectured on it,yet Native American on both continents had been practicing it in some form for centuries if not millenia.And as you state so plainly,it was Europeans that brought diseases they couldn't handle because of their unprepared immune systems just as their diseases done for us, But then if we didn't meddle, with our arrogant sense of superiority and learened from them instead of robbing them we could have had a much richer civilization today, which is the crux of one of my plays, Hunting The White Crow- Don't dismiss what you at first don't understand but exchange knowledge with others and expand in global conciousness.
P.58/9 It appears Jasonia hadn't evolved past her European neighbours in her thirst for territorial expansion in 15/16th cen.- still keeping up with the Jasononians.
P.60 By attacking with military action Jasonia appears to contradict her democracy, for so what if the Confederate states vote in a majority to remain seceeded from the Union states? Would an embargo on goods and materials that encouraged the maintenance of the slave trade from entering and exiting Confederate states be more peaceful method of demonstrating against slavery?
And furthermore, if the Confederate states have seceeded and gained independence from the Union, how can it be a civil war? More correctly an action against the continuation of slavery unless the Union states invaded with "police action" , which would then be properly termed a war-nation against nation. After all did the American people of 1776 care what the British Government had decided on how America should go about declaring Independence? Of course not,because the British Government wanted no such independence,Unofficially the British people were divided or did not care either way. Anyway, despite her abolition of slavery in 1807, British slave owners in the colonies and elsewhere were still able to keep their slaves but officially not buy anymore only, owning the offspring of their present slaves.until much later, when government had soughted some kind of compensation for owners if hey freed all their slaves.There are extensive records concerning the slave trade and its aboliiton post1807, which are too ponderous to include here.
Now, if we should treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves,would Jasonia expect Stupido to attack if Jasonia refused her independence?
As to education we have before agreed that we share the same principles and sentiments ,only differ in method as you stated your willingness to give my scheme a twenty year trial period
If healthcare as I and Lee Quo propose it above i.e. preventative based on positive mindset as well aseducating on consequence of bad diet, fast food 7 days a week.instead of once or twice, a week,balance of meat veg and fruit not total abstinance of either and then supplementing with vitamin pills and other pharmecuticals
P.76 I prefer the Jasonian pledge but please explain how a nation of many states with their own autonomous laws can be called indivisible, or have I missed a point somewhere? England has many counties that have their limited autonomy, but all abide by the same law. Are the States just the same, only on a larger scale?
If I or Quo were to institute national service, it would be part of rescue and disaster relief training rather than military, yet allow those who choose to do military service do so.
P.79/80 Jasonian Sex Act, is it amended for the 21st century?
P.82 For villians in this case, I rightly assume politicians, arms dealers and their financial backers. Now, who are these I wonder? Would it be our old friends, the wanker bankers,prehaps?
P.83 And if European politicians were not so jelly-spined or corrupt,they could have stopped Hitler before he got too big for his jackboots. And if Truman was not so dishonest,he would have warned Roosevelt of the Japanese intention of invading Pearl Harbour. But no,Truman wanted America in the war, maybe because he wanted to boost her economy with weapons deals, I don't know, but he kept his saff and himself stum about radio-telegraph messages sent from Japan a week in advance of the so-called surprise attack. But what would Roosevelt have done to prevent war with Japan who were adamant on declaring war anyway. Would a counter dedensive be of any use?.
What would King Jason do, if it were Jasonia being threatened?
Britain was not quite a democracy in 1914. She refused the vote to women, hence Emiline Pankhurst and her Sufferagetts, until 1919 then only for those over 30 and had certain properrty rights whilst males over 21 were enfrachised 1928 saw all women over 21 elegible to vote. The Reform Act of 1867,or as it was offfically called The Representation of The people Act enfranchised 2miilion of 5million males in England and Wales who before were only 1 million .So what of the male soldier, having survived the trenches for King and country ,yet still under 21 and working class? No,your too stupid to vote, only fit to be slaughtered by idiots of the aristocracy,stuffing their fat faces 50+ miles behind the front lines. But since you have the audacity to survive, you'd better get back to mucking out the stables and pig pens-serf! You should be used to wallowing in shit by now haw! haw! haw! You can tell I really have it in for the aristos,
And as for American army, they only gave the negro soldiers real guns an ammo minutes before going over the top as the white officer class were so scared the blacks would turn on them in open rebellion.An indication of how wrong they knew they were in their treatment of negroes, who had been legally free for half a century at that time.
Merchants and business men have been selling arms to all sides since time in memorium. Money talks, as Clapton sings.
Could the loss of so many U.S troops in Asian jungles in all conflicts be due to underestimation of thier enemy due mainly to U.S. Government's propoganda bullshit? Rommel and Monty repected each other in their desert campaigns.Pity Hitler was so short sighted that he refused to back Rommel with what he needed in fuel and tanks, and what good luck for Britain and her allies that he did so. Ooh Hitler, you traitor to your self and your Glorious Reich! You'd better go and blame everybody but yourself, as per usual.
P.85/86 Jasonia's opinion toward major warring nations of WWI summarised
1] Agree
2] Agree
3]Agree but should have done more to prevent profiteers from selling arms to both sides. Should they not have been done for treason? Considering U.S.A had intentions of entering the war at some point, and so make provision for prevention of arms being sold to potential enemies.
4]Agree .
P.89/90 Something odd I learned last week That Manhattan's "High Line" railway was built at he height of the depression in1930-32 at the vast sum of $150 million[more than $2billion in today's money] How! in such a state of global depression did someone stump up that much cash? I should have guessed J.P.Morgan & Chase financed many major building projects in U.S.A But has N.Y.C. been paying back ever since, although the line was dismantled in the early 1980's.I'm having difficulty finding web page detailing such transactions. This in light of your paragraph on the Great Depression. I find it difficult to get my head around millions of starving and unemployed americans ,while the likes of J.P.Morgan and his chums were rolling in $millions to invest in major railway or construction projects when few could afford the use of them??????
Did these overseas orders for armaments include Nazi Germany, I wonder?
P.91 Maybe the financial success of 21st century China is due to their choice of saving and building their national coffers during the post Mao years, rather than recklessly squandering as western nations have done. Whether this is truly so, I have yet to discover. It could be so for individual chinese entrepeneurs who now have the relevant quantities of cash to buy back their national heritage from the West that Mao so thoughtlessly threw away.
Maybe Jasonia could adopt an ancient chinese proverb "He who knows he has enough, is rich already"
P.92 Yes, french arrogance has outdone heself twice again!
Now we get the topography of Jasonia.Your poetic license re Copernicus gave me an inkling, but since much of Poland in his time was called Silesia and her eastern neighbour being Lithuania, which then stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea, I couldn't be sure. You're omitting Hitler's invasion of Poland clenched it for me.
P.94 Did Jasonia not know of the Monty Python sketch about the lethal joke? Anyone who read it died from laughter even its author. His wife found it clenched in his fist ,read it and died too. Well the war came along and some bright spark from the ministry suggested translating the joke into german and deliver it as dropped leaflets or via armed forces advancing with joke inhand shouting it at the germans, who after it sank in, all died of laughter, as intended. Whilst the joke was in translation at Bletchley Park a translator accidently caught sight of two words together and suffered a nervous breakdown, but six months in therapy cured him. Dare I reveal the joke?
Alright, but at your own risk
"Isay, I have a dog with no nose"
"How does it smell?"
"Terrible!"
P.96 Yes, but what did they then do? They ghettoed the Palestinians and treatedt hem no better than the Nazis treated them before the Final Solution commenced in 1941. After the war, some rabidly fanatical jews planned on poisoning the water of four German cities whose combined population totalled six million. Now they didn't consuider those fellow inmates who were liberated by the allies and returned to those cities and former homes , if they still existed, or the allied soldiers, who had after all liberated them and were sationed at or near those cities.So individuals can be just as STUPID as war mongering governments when hatred blinds their judgements. Fortunately, the culprit was caught with the poison on his return trip from America where he bought the poison.
P.98 Some believe God allows war and violence to show us how stupidly we are behaving, and that at some point,Jesus' power will wipe away all the unrighteous I argue that Jesus has been promising this for 2000 years, so how and when is soon? How many generations have been conned by soon, only to die on Earh as it is in Hell? But could it not be religion that has conned people , not Jesus and God? Conning them into being compliant slaves to Lucifer's dark satanic order forcing them from healthy agriculturial lives to satanic mills of death and disease. Here I go again!
Either we ourselves change and evolve beyond murder and robbery or go under "Homo Sapiens have outgrown their use, better make way for Homo Superior", as David Bowie sang in his Oh You Pretty Things,[ don't you know you're driving your mamas and papas insane] Do you remember that one fro the 70's?
The archeological evidence I mentioned earlier re Meet The Ancestors points to no evidence of a missing link, but a gradual transition. That we never evolved from apes but alongside apes as a seperately evolving species. We may have looked and behaved similar until a few million years ago, but our evolution of self awarely conciousness beings occured c. 40,000 years ago, about he time of the Lasceux cave paintings.And not so much survival of the fittest as in beat and kill your neighbour before he thinks of killing you [sound like our present political leaders?],but the most adept. Live and let live, but if your neighbour falls by the evoluionary wayside, then so be it.Neanderthals could be the prime example. But some proffer that we are a hybrid of both, or maybe they didn't all die out as we presume, as the bone structure of Neanderthals closely match those of well built American footballers, rugby players, wrestlers and atheletes, especially javelin throwers and shot putters.The D.N.A tests of several scientific institutes show counter-results. Mitochondrial D.N.A reveal a split from Homo Sapiens c. 370,000 years ago and 0% chance of admixture genome pool. Nuclear D.N.A tests revealed though chance small as believed Neanderthal population smaller than Homo Sapiens,inter- breeding cannot be ruled out as Neanderthals have more similarities with non African bone samples than with African ,according to Svante Paablo's team 2010 contributing 1-4% to the genomes of non african humans yet most of our genome derives from Africa Source:Smithsonian institute website :humanorigins.si.edu
Morally superior= Homo superior-"Oh You Pretty Things", don't you know you're driving your dull Homo Sapiens insane.?
P.100 I have been advocating this too, but few seem to get the point, I feel
"If it wasn't for military espionage we wouldn't have internet", they argue
"Someone one would have invented it a some point, sooner or later, as nobody would have the foersight to say " now why don't we invent this before it's invented", Is my answer to all arguments for modern technology Yet while in the inventors mind ,the idea of " let's get this patented before anyone else complete's their invention before me " is highly probable. The impetus has been with us since Charles Babbage and his calculating machine in he 19th cen for a computer of today's complexity and probably before with Leibniz and Newton and their calculuses [or calculusi?]
A digression here concerning the brilliant minds Britain has lost to other nations, U.S.A. partcularly over the past 200 years, and all because, Britsih government refused to finance development of inventions. It appears they prefer to buy the finished product than take pride and cofidence in the home grown product and the mind behind it. Do you agree ,or am I missing something here, since there are many great British inventors and innovators, only most Scottish ones sell abroad.
You don't need a war to be humane and courageous, it's human instinct, other wise people wouldn't chosoe to leave their cosy homes in the middle of a raging storm to help straggling survivors of a ship wreck, or help dig miners out of a fallen pit as in Peru, nor the miners have the stamina and courage to stay alive in pitch darkness until rescued, and then come out, not exhausted but invigorated wih the joy of being alive
P.101 What about peoples who differ in culture, yet share the same language. O.K. Division of cultural differences but what if one or more covet other[s] lands, percieving them as cultural enemies, England and Scotland being a prime example? The trade -off you propose is a sensible suggestion but obstinance usually prevents it coming to pass, especially when there are cultural and spiritual heritage issues attached to the land, as with Native American burial lands of their ancestors and Serbian and Croation ancestral land ownership, where the family house is not just stone or bricks and mortar any more than their town or village, but ancestral roots not to be trifled with.by modern politics, yet the politics has been the root of their idea of ancestral heritage from the start.
P.103 Yes, money talks louder than true Christianity, that can't be bought or sold for a handful of silver for some[unlike orthodox christians ,For others their homes they've lived in all their lives mean more to them than money compensation to relocate- sentiment is a strong emotion.
Step 2 Is that not how the U.N. operates anyway, and whose approval is not always morally induced? See above p.94-96. Korea and Veitnam come to mind here as well as Cambodia and Nicaragua yet we still continue fighting. Police Action= invasion sanctioned by U.N.in which civilians die or are left homeless because of their belligerant political leaders. my suggestion is no better though as some have to be killed in defending whilst rescuing civilian refugees who choose to escape the war zone to be accomodated in barracks of military standard of comfort an amenities to suit their needs, then create a force field to imprison the defaulting nation or state so that their weapons backfire on them until they realise that persistance is futile. Make them pay reperations for damage incurred but not so as to financially cripple them. I find that economic sanctions and embargoes tend to fester and harbour hatred and potential for future trouble. If they prevent the belligerant nation or state from stockpiling weapons and developing armed forces larger than reasonably expected for defense, as Europe should have done with Hitler as above mentioned,then yes.If they starve a nation of valid resourses as U.S.A have unsucessfully done to Cuba ,the result; instead of coaxing Cuba back into the capitalist fold ,Cubans stood by Castro and became allies of Soviet Russia. Only recently has Cuba embraced limited capitalism. If a citizen can obtain a licence to trade he/she can become their own boss. Cuba is still far from Jasonia, but at least she's trying.
P.105/6 I would argue that that depends on how well brainwashed people of the belligerant nation are by the propoganda spoonfed them by their government as well as the fear of government reprisals for freethinking.. For example, since Glasnost, the information the West has been told about communist East is largely true.I've witnessed a little of it myself when I managed to smuggle myself into the D.D.R in 1987. I was caught but able to convince customs and immigration that I believed I could obtain the necessary visa at any border crossing, and so after 3 hours allowed to proceed onto East Berlin on condition I report to a local police station for a formal visa. So for a week I had a little experience of being behind the Iron Curtain which looked as if the war had only ended the previous year and what you saw in the shop windows were usually the stock,not just the window display.
Step 4 The problem of Pakistan and India 1947/8 The people, whether muslim or hindu were not consulted. The British Viceroy of India, Lord Loius Mountbatten,was co-erced into a rash drawing up of the border,illl advised as he was by a lawyer, Cyril Radcliffe who knew little about iIndian customs and lore of that region and using obsolete map salo eager to avoid responsibilty for resulting ;bloodshed and chaos, exacerbated by Jinna's lack of control and organization Since the minority population in the Pakistan region were hindu they ,like the Palestinians ,had lived here for centuries before the muslims.I think misinformation and disorganizationand ignorance of the politicians' inentions by the populace led to the disaster and possibly present resentment of Indians toward Pakistanis., or vice-versa , as this rash partioning led to most industry remaining in India some 90% of sub-continent's taxable wealth,whilst poor agricultural lands ended up in Pakistan who inherited only 17.5% of financial assetsThe politicians and religious leaders should have arranged alternatve accomodation for the refugees until a proper settlement could be arranged as to where they could live.But no, they washed their hands of them,just like the British They are India's problem now.There's more entanglement involved but I'll leave it
Step 5 Visas are that contract, I've always believed, only for some nations they are non-negotiable, whilst others allow for extensions and mitigating circumstances. The non-negotiable ones, I find , are those who fear immigrants will free-load on their welfare systems. Jasonia obviously allows the immigrant a right of say in the contract as long as it is abided by once signed.
Step 6 Is this not as p.105/6?
Whilst writing this I considered killing off Joseph Blendings in favour of Lee Quo, but maybe Mr. Blendings has a crucial role to play in Quo's Schools for uncivilized and uneducated children.
Well Live long and prosper in 2014
The Voltarian signing off
Thanks for the prompt reply. I'm O.K. only fuming at the increase in bureaucratic bullshitters who prefer us to die by the letter of the law instead of living by the spirit of it. Something David Icke warned of twenty years ago but the nation [most of it anyway] decided to scoff along with Sir Terry of The Wogan [a TV and Radio presenter who ridiculed David for his beliefs and opinions,most of which have proven true enough]. I ask these scoffers now, where is Wogan, [sitting pretty on his knighthood, thank you very much] and where are you? [Enslaved and strangled by the wanker bankers and greedy warmongering politicians].
The Nature your friend Tim believes in smacks pretty much like Thomas Hobbes' Leviathon where as our idea of society matches up fairly well with Jeremy Bentham's Utilitarianism
But do you believe we should move toward a utilitarian bartar of services and crafted goods as well as manufactures economy where money is obsolete,and manufactured goods on a smaller scale, or do we need money still, only on an holistic keel. The book I mentioned states that a happy medium salary for everyone would be approx $40,000 /£25,000 sterling. I discovered that the global G.D.P is approx $62 Trillion U.S. I calculated that down to approx £15,000-17,000 for every person on earth @ present population 7 billion. Now, if we asssume the children as dependent on parents does that equate to approx £25,000. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the percentage of population considered children or minors, maybe you do. Does my arithmatics square up?
I can see your point about non-combat service, but some still believe it is contributing to killing. When God tells you killing is wrong but the state and church are saying" it's o.k when WE sanction it", I believe it is up to the individual's conscience how far they wish to go with their objection. I don't trust politicians further than I could throw a 10 ton weight . Knowing that they and their warmongering chums are making a financial killing whilst safely hidden in their bunkers and chateaus whilst millions are facing real bullets and bombs whether soldiers or civilians, I don'think any of their claims to war are just, so I would opt for objection of anything that may help their profit mongering, but would volunteer to help the casualties in some capacity. If they were willing to come out and face the bullets and bombs they buy, i'd think a little differently.
I would prefer some kind of benevelant leader such as Gandhi who instills those Utilitarian virtues of self empowerment in service to their nation or society, but answerable to the nation or society as your congress [not necessarily U.S. congress].
Please do, I'd love to read your Jasonia. I started something similar on my blogsite a few years ago, entitled Mr.Blendings Creates His New Society, but have not got around to continuing it. He is a supply teacher discovering whether a class of children, dubbed slow learners by the school authorities ,truly have something valuable to contribute to bring about changes in education, given appropriate encouragement .
I still keep to my beleif in scientific enterprises that are dismissed by mainstream science ,especially since reading David Deutsch's Beginning of Infinity and Mikao kaku's books .He admits that he and many of his colleages have theories that go beyond the accepted norm but keep them out of the universities ,yet freely discuss them amongst themselves .
In his book, David Deutsch writes of a convoluted problem that has been wrankling on for over 200 years; the apportionment problem, of how many seats should be alloted to each state in the House of Representatives. From what I understand, it's all a question of rounding up or down and which way is fairest. Do you think it should be calculated upon population per state or ratio of productivity from each state? Are their other factors not fully realised? Deutsch believes possibly so and shall do so for many moons to come. Do you see a solution? I've started copying it for my blogsite which I'm amending at present.
I notice something about the Vatican. is it some link? I don't want to touch it now incase I wipe all I've just written, but if it is anything to respond to, I shall.
Joy to you
The Voltarian
On 14/12/2 013 21:15, Jayson wrote:
Hi Voltarian,
The color of the day is yellow.
Hi
Voltarian,
The color of
the day is blue.
From: Steven Stewart
To: Jayson
Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2013 6:17 PM
Subject: Re: U.S.A a free country?
Hi Jayson,
Thanks for the prompt reply. I'm O.K. only fuming at the increase in bureaucratic bullshitters who prefer us to die by the letter of the law instead of living by the spirit of it. Something David Icke warned of twenty years ago but the nation [most of it anyway] decided to scoff along with Sir Terry of The Wogan [a TV and Radio presenter who ridiculed David for his beliefs and opinions,most of which have proven true enough]. I ask these scoffers now, where is Wogan, [sitting pretty on his knighthood, thank you very much] and where are you? [Enslaved and strangled by the wanker bankers and greedy warmongering politicians].
The Nature your friend Tim believes in smacks pretty much like Thomas Hobbes' Leviathon where as our idea of society matches up fairly well with Jeremy Bentham's Utilitarianism
Tim thinks that life with no social restriction is better than life in a society, or at least that what many of his utterances imply. My understanding is that Hobbes wanted people to work together in a society to make each other happier, because, as asserted by the famous quote below from Leviathon, life outside of society is very unpleasant, at least in most cases. Tim does not agree with Hobbes's thinking on this point. Tim seems to be one of those Libertarians who shout, "Death to the government!" on most days, but then cry, "Where is the government?!" in times of crisis.
"Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of Warre, where every man is Enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time, wherein men live without other security, than what their own strength, and their own invention shall furnish them withall. In such condition, there is no place for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain; and consequently no Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by Sea; no commodious Building; no Instruments of moving, and removing such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is worst of all, continuall feare, and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short" (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/254050.html).
But do you believe we should move toward a utilitarian bartar of services and crafted goods as well as manufactures economy where money is obsolete,and manufactured goods on a smaller scale, or do we need money still, only on an holistic keel.
Maybe we should get rid of all our dollar bills and coins, and only use debit cards. That would make tax collection easier. The government can take 10% of every transfer of money. That plus reasonable property taxes should pay for most government expenditures.
The book I mentioned states that a happy medium salary for everyone would be approx $40,000 /£25,000 sterling. I discovered that the global G.D.P is approx $62 Trillion U.S. I calculated that down to approx £15,000-17,000 for every person on earth @ present population 7 billion. Now, if we asssume the children as dependent on parents does that equate to approx £25,000. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the percentage of population considered children or minors, maybe you do. Does my arithmatics square up?
I won't argue with it.
I can see your point about non-combat service, but some still believe it is contributing to killing. When God tells you killing is wrong but the state and church are saying" it's o.k when WE sanction it", I believe it is up to the individual's conscience how far they wish to go with their objection. I don't trust politicians further than I could throw a 10 ton weight . Knowing that they and their warmongering chums are making a financial killing whilst safely hidden in their bunkers and chateaus whilst millions are facing real bullets and bombs whether soldiers or civilians, I don't think any of their claims to war are just, so I would opt for objection of anything that may help their profit mongering, but would volunteer to help the casualties in some capacity. If they were willing to come out and face the bullets and bombs they buy, i'd think a little differently.
I certainly believe that neither wealth nor social status should affect whether one is drafted or not.
I would prefer some kind of benevelant leader such as Gandhi who instills those Utilitarian virtues of self empowerment in service to their nation or society, but answerable to the nation or society as your congress [not necessarily U.S. congress].
Please do, I'd love to read your Jasonia. I started something similar on my blogsite a few years ago, entitled Mr.Blendings Creates His New Society, but have not got around to continuing it. He is a supply teacher discovering whether a class of children, dubbed slow learners by the school authorities ,truly have something valuable to contribute to bring about changes in education, given appropriate encouragement .
I will attach a copy of Jasonia to this email.
I still keep to my beleif in scientific enterprises that are dismissed by mainstream science ,especially since reading David Deutsch's Beginning of Infinity and Mikao kaku's books .He admits that he and many of his colleages have theories that go beyond the accepted norm but keep them out of the universities ,yet freely discuss them amongst themselves .
In his book, David Deutsch writes of a convoluted problem that has been wrankling on for over 200 years; the apportionment problem, of how many seats should be alloted to each state in the House of Representatives. From what I understand, it's all a question of rounding up or down and which way is fairest. Do you think it should be calculated upon population per state or ratio of productivity from each state? Are their other factors not fully realised? Deutsch believes possibly so and shall do so for many moons to come. Do you see a solution? I've started copying it for my blogsite which I'm amending at present.
I like the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. I got the following information from http://www.reporternews.com/news/2009/mar/31/each-us-congressman-represents-703709-people/:
I notice something about the Vatican. is it some link? I don't want to touch it now incase I wipe all I've just written, but if it is anything to respond to, I shall.
I don't know anything about a Vatican link, so, unfortunately, I don't have any advice for you.
Joy to you
The Voltarian
Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea. Joy to you and me.
Jayson
Thanks for the prompt reply. I'm O.K. only fuming at the increase in bureaucratic bullshitters who prefer us to die by the letter of the law instead of living by the spirit of it. Something David Icke warned of twenty years ago but the nation [most of it anyway] decided to scoff along with Sir Terry of The Wogan [a TV and Radio presenter who ridiculed David for his beliefs and opinions,most of which have proven true enough]. I ask these scoffers now, where is Wogan, [sitting pretty on his knighthood, thank you very much] and where are you? [Enslaved and strangled by the wanker bankers and greedy warmongering politicians].
The Nature your friend Tim believes in smacks pretty much like Thomas Hobbes' Leviathon where as our idea of society matches up fairly well with Jeremy Bentham's Utilitarianism
Tim thinks that life with no social restriction is better than life in a society, or at least that what many of his utterances imply. My understanding is that Hobbes wanted people to work together in a society to make each other happier, because, as asserted by the famous quote below from Leviathon, life outside of society is very unpleasant, at least in most cases. Tim does not agree with Hobbes's thinking on this point. Tim seems to be one of those Libertarians who shout, "Death to the government!" on most days, but then cry, "Where is the government?!" in times of crisis.
"Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of Warre, where every man is Enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time, wherein men live without other security, than what their own strength, and their own invention shall furnish them withall. In such condition, there is no place for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain; and consequently no Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by Sea; no commodious Building; no Instruments of moving, and removing such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is worst of all, continuall feare, and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short" (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/254050.html).
But do you believe we should move toward a utilitarian bartar of services and crafted goods as well as manufactures economy where money is obsolete,and manufactured goods on a smaller scale, or do we need money still, only on an holistic keel.
Maybe we should get rid of all our dollar bills and coins, and only use debit cards. That would make tax collection easier. The government can take 10% of every transfer of money. That plus reasonable property taxes should pay for most government expenditures.
The book I mentioned states that a happy medium salary for everyone would be approx $40,000 /£25,000 sterling. I discovered that the global G.D.P is approx $62 Trillion U.S. I calculated that down to approx £15,000-17,000 for every person on earth @ present population 7 billion. Now, if we asssume the children as dependent on parents does that equate to approx £25,000. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the percentage of population considered children or minors, maybe you do. Does my arithmatics square up?
I won't argue with it.
I can see your point about non-combat service, but some still believe it is contributing to killing. When God tells you killing is wrong but the state and church are saying" it's o.k when WE sanction it", I believe it is up to the individual's conscience how far they wish to go with their objection. I don't trust politicians further than I could throw a 10 ton weight . Knowing that they and their warmongering chums are making a financial killing whilst safely hidden in their bunkers and chateaus whilst millions are facing real bullets and bombs whether soldiers or civilians, I don't think any of their claims to war are just, so I would opt for objection of anything that may help their profit mongering, but would volunteer to help the casualties in some capacity. If they were willing to come out and face the bullets and bombs they buy, i'd think a little differently.
I certainly believe that neither wealth nor social status should affect whether one is drafted or not.
I would prefer some kind of benevelant leader such as Gandhi who instills those Utilitarian virtues of self empowerment in service to their nation or society, but answerable to the nation or society as your congress [not necessarily U.S. congress].
Please do, I'd love to read your Jasonia. I started something similar on my blogsite a few years ago, entitled Mr.Blendings Creates His New Society, but have not got around to continuing it. He is a supply teacher discovering whether a class of children, dubbed slow learners by the school authorities ,truly have something valuable to contribute to bring about changes in education, given appropriate encouragement .
I will attach a copy of Jasonia to this email.
I still keep to my beleif in scientific enterprises that are dismissed by mainstream science ,especially since reading David Deutsch's Beginning of Infinity and Mikao kaku's books .He admits that he and many of his colleages have theories that go beyond the accepted norm but keep them out of the universities ,yet freely discuss them amongst themselves .
In his book, David Deutsch writes of a convoluted problem that has been wrankling on for over 200 years; the apportionment problem, of how many seats should be alloted to each state in the House of Representatives. From what I understand, it's all a question of rounding up or down and which way is fairest. Do you think it should be calculated upon population per state or ratio of productivity from each state? Are their other factors not fully realised? Deutsch believes possibly so and shall do so for many moons to come. Do you see a solution? I've started copying it for my blogsite which I'm amending at present.
I like the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. I got the following information from http://www.reporternews.com/news/2009/mar/31/each-us-congressman-represents-703709-people/:
Q. How many people does each U.S. Congressman represent?
-- Abilene
A. As of 7:40 a.m. yesterday, that number is 703,709, if you divide
the population of 306,113,246 by 435 representatives. Of course, that
number isn't totally accurate, since the districts are decided by the
Census of 2000. Back then, it was based on 650,000 constituents per
district.
If
that information is true, I say round to the nearest 100 thousand.
Thus, 749 thousand people should have seven representatives, and 750
thousand people should have eight representatives.
I notice something about the Vatican. is it some link? I don't want to touch it now incase I wipe all I've just written, but if it is anything to respond to, I shall.
I don't know anything about a Vatican link, so, unfortunately, I don't have any advice for you.
Joy to you
The Voltarian
Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea. Joy to you and me.
Jayson
Hi
Voltarian,
The color of
the day is blue.
From: Steven Stewart
To: Jayson
Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2013 6:17 PM
Subject: Re: U.S.A a free country?
Hi Jayson,
Thanks for the prompt reply. I'm O.K. only fuming at the increase in bureaucratic bullshitters who prefer us to die by the letter of the law instead of living by the spirit of it. Something David Icke warned of twenty years ago but the nation [most of it anyway] decided to scoff along with Sir Terry of The Wogan [a TV and Radio presenter who ridiculed David for his beliefs and opinions,most of which have proven true enough]. I ask these scoffers now, where is Wogan, [sitting pretty on his knighthood, thank you very much] and where are you? [Enslaved and strangled by the wanker bankers and greedy warmongering politicians].
The Nature your friend Tim believes in smacks pretty much like Thomas Hobbes' Leviathon where as our idea of society matches up fairly well with Jeremy Bentham's Utilitarianism
Tim thinks that life with no social restriction is better than life in a society, or at least that what many of his utterances imply. My understanding is that Hobbes wanted people to work together in a society to make each other happier, because, as asserted by the famous quote below from Leviathon, life outside of society is very unpleasant, at least in most cases. Tim does not agree with Hobbes's thinking on this point. Tim seems to be one of those Libertarians who shout, "Death to the government!" on most days, but then cry, "Where is the government?!" in times of crisis.
"Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of Warre, where every man is Enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time, wherein men live without other security, than what their own strength, and their own invention shall furnish them withall. In such condition, there is no place for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain; and consequently no Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by Sea; no commodious Building; no Instruments of moving, and removing such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is worst of all, continuall feare, and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short" (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/254050.html).
But do you believe we should move toward a utilitarian bartar of services and crafted goods as well as manufactures economy where money is obsolete,and manufactured goods on a smaller scale, or do we need money still, only on an holistic keel.
Maybe we should get rid of all our dollar bills and coins, and only use debit cards. That would make tax collection easier. The government can take 10% of every transfer of money. That plus reasonable property taxes should pay for most government expenditures.
The book I mentioned states that a happy medium salary for everyone would be approx $40,000 /£25,000 sterling. I discovered that the global G.D.P is approx $62 Trillion U.S. I calculated that down to approx £15,000-17,000 for every person on earth @ present population 7 billion. Now, if we asssume the children as dependent on parents does that equate to approx £25,000. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the percentage of population considered children or minors, maybe you do. Does my arithmatics square up?
I won't argue with it.
I can see your point about non-combat service, but some still believe it is contributing to killing. When God tells you killing is wrong but the state and church are saying" it's o.k when WE sanction it", I believe it is up to the individual's conscience how far they wish to go with their objection. I don't trust politicians further than I could throw a 10 ton weight . Knowing that they and their warmongering chums are making a financial killing whilst safely hidden in their bunkers and chateaus whilst millions are facing real bullets and bombs whether soldiers or civilians, I don't think any of their claims to war are just, so I would opt for objection of anything that may help their profit mongering, but would volunteer to help the casualties in some capacity. If they were willing to come out and face the bullets and bombs they buy, i'd think a little differently.
I certainly believe that neither wealth nor social status should affect whether one is drafted or not.
I would prefer some kind of benevelant leader such as Gandhi who instills those Utilitarian virtues of self empowerment in service to their nation or society, but answerable to the nation or society as your congress [not necessarily U.S. congress].
Please do, I'd love to read your Jasonia. I started something similar on my blogsite a few years ago, entitled Mr.Blendings Creates His New Society, but have not got around to continuing it. He is a supply teacher discovering whether a class of children, dubbed slow learners by the school authorities ,truly have something valuable to contribute to bring about changes in education, given appropriate encouragement .
I will attach a copy of Jasonia to this email.
I still keep to my beleif in scientific enterprises that are dismissed by mainstream science ,especially since reading David Deutsch's Beginning of Infinity and Mikao kaku's books .He admits that he and many of his colleages have theories that go beyond the accepted norm but keep them out of the universities ,yet freely discuss them amongst themselves .
In his book, David Deutsch writes of a convoluted problem that has been wrankling on for over 200 years; the apportionment problem, of how many seats should be alloted to each state in the House of Representatives. From what I understand, it's all a question of rounding up or down and which way is fairest. Do you think it should be calculated upon population per state or ratio of productivity from each state? Are their other factors not fully realised? Deutsch believes possibly so and shall do so for many moons to come. Do you see a solution? I've started copying it for my blogsite which I'm amending at present.
I like the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. I got the following information from http://www.reporternews.com/news/2009/mar/31/each-us-congressman-represents-703709-people/:
I notice something about the Vatican. is it some link? I don't want to touch it now incase I wipe all I've just written, but if it is anything to respond to, I shall.
I don't know anything about a Vatican link, so, unfortunately, I don't have any advice for you.
Joy to you
The Voltarian
Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea. Joy to you and me.
Jayson
Thanks for the prompt reply. I'm O.K. only fuming at the increase in bureaucratic bullshitters who prefer us to die by the letter of the law instead of living by the spirit of it. Something David Icke warned of twenty years ago but the nation [most of it anyway] decided to scoff along with Sir Terry of The Wogan [a TV and Radio presenter who ridiculed David for his beliefs and opinions,most of which have proven true enough]. I ask these scoffers now, where is Wogan, [sitting pretty on his knighthood, thank you very much] and where are you? [Enslaved and strangled by the wanker bankers and greedy warmongering politicians].
The Nature your friend Tim believes in smacks pretty much like Thomas Hobbes' Leviathon where as our idea of society matches up fairly well with Jeremy Bentham's Utilitarianism
Tim thinks that life with no social restriction is better than life in a society, or at least that what many of his utterances imply. My understanding is that Hobbes wanted people to work together in a society to make each other happier, because, as asserted by the famous quote below from Leviathon, life outside of society is very unpleasant, at least in most cases. Tim does not agree with Hobbes's thinking on this point. Tim seems to be one of those Libertarians who shout, "Death to the government!" on most days, but then cry, "Where is the government?!" in times of crisis.
"Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of Warre, where every man is Enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time, wherein men live without other security, than what their own strength, and their own invention shall furnish them withall. In such condition, there is no place for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain; and consequently no Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by Sea; no commodious Building; no Instruments of moving, and removing such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is worst of all, continuall feare, and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short" (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/254050.html).
But do you believe we should move toward a utilitarian bartar of services and crafted goods as well as manufactures economy where money is obsolete,and manufactured goods on a smaller scale, or do we need money still, only on an holistic keel.
Maybe we should get rid of all our dollar bills and coins, and only use debit cards. That would make tax collection easier. The government can take 10% of every transfer of money. That plus reasonable property taxes should pay for most government expenditures.
The book I mentioned states that a happy medium salary for everyone would be approx $40,000 /£25,000 sterling. I discovered that the global G.D.P is approx $62 Trillion U.S. I calculated that down to approx £15,000-17,000 for every person on earth @ present population 7 billion. Now, if we asssume the children as dependent on parents does that equate to approx £25,000. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the percentage of population considered children or minors, maybe you do. Does my arithmatics square up?
I won't argue with it.
I can see your point about non-combat service, but some still believe it is contributing to killing. When God tells you killing is wrong but the state and church are saying" it's o.k when WE sanction it", I believe it is up to the individual's conscience how far they wish to go with their objection. I don't trust politicians further than I could throw a 10 ton weight . Knowing that they and their warmongering chums are making a financial killing whilst safely hidden in their bunkers and chateaus whilst millions are facing real bullets and bombs whether soldiers or civilians, I don't think any of their claims to war are just, so I would opt for objection of anything that may help their profit mongering, but would volunteer to help the casualties in some capacity. If they were willing to come out and face the bullets and bombs they buy, i'd think a little differently.
I certainly believe that neither wealth nor social status should affect whether one is drafted or not.
I would prefer some kind of benevelant leader such as Gandhi who instills those Utilitarian virtues of self empowerment in service to their nation or society, but answerable to the nation or society as your congress [not necessarily U.S. congress].
Please do, I'd love to read your Jasonia. I started something similar on my blogsite a few years ago, entitled Mr.Blendings Creates His New Society, but have not got around to continuing it. He is a supply teacher discovering whether a class of children, dubbed slow learners by the school authorities ,truly have something valuable to contribute to bring about changes in education, given appropriate encouragement .
I will attach a copy of Jasonia to this email.
I still keep to my beleif in scientific enterprises that are dismissed by mainstream science ,especially since reading David Deutsch's Beginning of Infinity and Mikao kaku's books .He admits that he and many of his colleages have theories that go beyond the accepted norm but keep them out of the universities ,yet freely discuss them amongst themselves .
In his book, David Deutsch writes of a convoluted problem that has been wrankling on for over 200 years; the apportionment problem, of how many seats should be alloted to each state in the House of Representatives. From what I understand, it's all a question of rounding up or down and which way is fairest. Do you think it should be calculated upon population per state or ratio of productivity from each state? Are their other factors not fully realised? Deutsch believes possibly so and shall do so for many moons to come. Do you see a solution? I've started copying it for my blogsite which I'm amending at present.
I like the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. I got the following information from http://www.reporternews.com/news/2009/mar/31/each-us-congressman-represents-703709-people/:
Q. How many people does each U.S. Congressman represent?
-- Abilene
A. As of 7:40 a.m. yesterday, that number is 703,709, if you divide
the population of 306,113,246 by 435 representatives. Of course, that
number isn't totally accurate, since the districts are decided by the
Census of 2000. Back then, it was based on 650,000 constituents per
district.
If
that information is true, I say round to the nearest 100 thousand.
Thus, 749 thousand people should have seven representatives, and 750
thousand people should have eight representatives.
I notice something about the Vatican. is it some link? I don't want to touch it now incase I wipe all I've just written, but if it is anything to respond to, I shall.
I don't know anything about a Vatican link, so, unfortunately, I don't have any advice for you.
Joy to you
The Voltarian
Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea. Joy to you and me.
Jayson
Jasonia
How a Nation
Could and Should Be
by Jayson X
© 2007
Chapter One: King Jason's Constitution
In the year 1000, a king died,
leaving behind an eighteen-year-old son, Prince Jason. Prince Jason was far
from perfect, but he always tried to be as perfect as reason permitted,
especially in the moral sense of perfection. At the age of fourteen, Jason had
given up his inherited religion for a personal philosophy which based all
beliefs and actions on reason, compassion, and hope, rather than superstition,
selfishness, and/or despair. Jason was convinced that this personal philosophy
would help him, or anyone else who freely chose to embrace it, be as good and
happy as possible.
Note
the word freely. Jason was not
power-hungry. He just wanted to be as good and happy as possible. If that meant
being a lowly peasant, so be it. If that meant being king, so be it.
As
often happens when a king died back in those days, a civil war ensued. Power-hungry
men (and sometimes women) would murder for the throne. Jason's younger brother,
Prince Marcus, was such man. Although Jason had been officially declared the
legitimate successor by the king before the king's death, and although the
eldest prince was almost always first in line to be king according to tradition,
Marcus was able to convince many nobles to support his cause. Marcus openly
accused Jason of weakness, incompetence, and—perhaps most scandalous of
all—apostasy. Privately, though, he bribed many of his supporters with promises
of more riches and power.
So
Jason had a choice: He could fight to be king or let Marcus be king. Reason,
compassion, and hope made the choice an easy one. Jason was the legitimate
successor, Jason wanted what was best for all his countrymen, and Jason hoped
to make the world a better place. Therefore, he soon rallied his supporters,
had himself crowned King Jason I, and led the fight against the forces of
Marcus, who now called himself King Marcus I.
The
civil war was long and bloody, but, eventually, King Jason's side prevailed and
Marcus surrendered. What was King Jason to do with his evil brother? On one
hand, Marcus had surrendered, so it seemed wrong to kill him because he was a
helpless prisoner. He was also King Jason's brother, and King Jason hated to
kill anyone, especially a close relative. But on the other hand, Marcus was a
threat to King Jason and the kingdom while he remained alive. Whether
imprisoned or exiled, Marcus could, and almost certainly would try to, take
over the kingdom again.
King
Jason solved the problem by issuing The Edict of Equality. This law proclaimed
that all human beings are of equal value, no matter what. The young are as
valuable as the old, the strong as the weak, the rich as the poor, the healthy
as the sick, the smart as the stupid, the female as the male, the innocent as
the guilty, et cetera. Thus, according to this law, all people should be
treated equally by the law. The established law of the land used to be that
most murderers should be tortured and executed. But King Jason had outlawed
almost all forms of torture during the civil war because torture was cruel and
often counterproductive. He even contemplated outlawing execution because he
valued all life and sometimes the wrong person was executed. A dead person
cannot be brought back to life, even after she or he is proven innocent.
The
one form of torture King Jason still allowed was called limited whipping. Limited
whipping was when a convicted criminal was struck on the back less than forty
times with a humane whip. A whip is a cord or strip made out of leather or a
similar substance, but sometimes things like spikes, knots, and glass are added
to a whip to cause more pain or damage. A humane whip lacks those added things.
The
purpose of limited whipping was to punish criminals when it was impractical to
adequately fine or imprison them. King Jason thought that limited whipping was
more just than not punishing criminals and more merciful than harsher
punishments, which were very common in other kingdoms back then.
As
for executions, King Jason was not yet convinced that all of them were evil,
especially when they were quick and relatively painless. It seemed reasonable
to him that murders should be killed, just like thieves should be robbed. That
was justice. Furthermore, the possibility of execution was a strong deterrent
for many potential murderers, and it was less expensive and perhaps more
merciful to quickly execute a murderer than imprison him or her for life. King
Jason hoped, however, that someday his kingdom would progress to the point
where capital punishment would be unnecessary. Murders would probably never
cease as long as there were people, but perhaps the kingdom would become so
rich that all murderers could easily be imprisoned in humane prisons. In that
case, life imprisonment would probably be better than execution.
So
Marcus was quickly executed without torture in front of a few witnesses. King
Jason outlawed executions and whippings in front of large crowds, because
executions and whippings were to promote justice, not to be spectator sports. He
had always been sickened and saddened by the carnival atmosphere of such
gatherings. "Someone is being hurt here!" he felt like yelling at the
many jeering spectators. "He or she might even be innocent! We can never be
completely sure! The least you could do is somberly watch! Better yet, don't
watch at all, and let the executioner or whipper do his work!" As a
prince, he used to think, If I become
king, I will do away with such gatherings. They promote cruel, violent, and
callous attitudes. King Jason obviously kept that resolve.
King Jason ruled wisely for many
years, and his kingdom prospered. Compared to many other kingdoms, there was
relative peace and justice. In fact, many people in and around his kingdom
referred to the ruler as King Jason the Just, and King Jason felt extremely
honored by the title. He used to say, "Justice promotes peace, and peace
promotes prosperity." His kingdom was living proof of that.
At
the age of fifty when his formerly all-black beard was now half white, King
Jason began to implement a radical plan. He assembled all the ruling lords and
ladies of the kingdom, or at least their official representatives, together in
a large meeting hall. They sat on comfortable wooden benches, listening
attentively to their king's words as he spoke slowly and clearly behind a
large, ornate podium atop a long wooden stage: "My fellow countrymen, I am
growing old, and the end of my reign is in sight. I could die today, tomorrow,
or ten years from now. Who knows? What I do know is that civil war often follows
the death of a king—not just in this kingdom, but in every kingdom I know of. This
is wrong. Government was made for people; people were not made for government. Therefore,
we need a better system of government.
"I
have thought long and hard on this matter, and have come up with a two-stage
plan. The first stage is to develop a great assembly called the Congress, which
will eventually rule the kingdom. This kingdom belongs to its people, so its
people should rule it. They do not rule it when one man or woman gets lucky
enough to seize the throne; they rule it when they can choose their government
by electing representatives. That is what the Congress will be, an assembly of
representatives elected by the adult citizens of the kingdom. The people will
rule Congress, and Congress will rule the people. Thus, the people will
actually rule themselves.
"Our
kingdom is currently comprised of 100 fiefdoms. I propose that the adult
citizens of each fiefdom elect two representatives to the Congress. That way,
each fiefdom will be equally represented."
A
burly nobleman interrupted: "Excuse me, Your Highness, but that does not
seem quite fair. I come from a fiefdom with a larger-than-average population. Why
should my fiefdom only have two representatives when fiefdoms with much smaller
populations also have two?"
"That
is an excellent question, Lord Hybiscus. The fact is that Congress will be
comprised of two distinct assemblies. One of the two will be called the Senate,
and the Senate will consist of only two representatives from each fiefdom—no
more and no less. This way, in at least one of the two assemblies, all fiefdoms
will have equal power, and this is fair for the fiefdoms with smaller
populations.
"The
other assembly—that is the other part of Congress—will simply be called the
Council, and it is in the Council that fiefdoms will have representation in
proportion to their population."
The
king gestured to a map of the kingdom, hanging on the wall behind him to his
left. The map was made of wood, painted completely white except for black lines
and writing covered by a red grid. Being the height and length of two tall men,
it could clearly be seen by the entire audience.
"Please
observe the map of our glorious kingdom and note that it is crisscrossed with a
grid. Each square of the grid represents a potential voting district. Based on
this grid pattern, voting districts must be square or as close to square as
possible to avoid cheating. Immoral politicians could potentially divide
eligible voters into irregularly-shaped districts to give an unfair advantage
to a candidate in an election.
"Every
ten years, a census and subsequent redistricting will occur. All districts will
have at least 20,000 eligible voters, and no district will have more than
39,999. Ideally—although it is very unlikely—all districts will have 20,000
eligible voters.
"All
districts will be completely contained within their fiefdom. In other words, no
single district will be in two fiefdoms. This way, everyone knows what fiefdom
a Councilor is supposed to represent.
"The
arrangement of Congress I have proposed is fair to everyone. Large fiefdoms
cannot bully small fiefdoms in the Senate, yet large fiefdoms have more power
in the Council. For a bill (which is a proposed law) to become a law, it must
receive the majority vote of both parts of Congress. This way, to run the
kingdom, all fiefdoms much work together and, at times, compromise for the
greater good. Either the Senate or the Council can propose a bill, but both
assemblies must pass it for it to become the law of the land.
"The
Egyptians built the great pyramids! The Romans built a great empire! But we
shall build the first truly just nation! It will be called a democratic
republic, because democracy is when citizens rule themselves, and a republic is
when citizens are selected to represent their region in a national
government."
At
first there was stunned silence. Then the lords and ladies began to murmur. Next
came the questions. King Jason calmly and thoroughly answered them all. Among
other things, King Jason explained that the Senate will have two
representatives from each fiefdom for several reasons: 1) Being far away from
one's home fiefdom can be very lonely, and the other Senator can help ease the
homesickness. 2) One Senator can help the other think through issues and
champion the fiefdom's cause in Congress. 3) The other Senator can vote for an
absent Senator, because, occasionally, Senators will miss important votes due
to illness, injury, death, or some other cause. 4) More than two is
unnecessary, and it is good to save government money as much as reason permits.
All government officials should be paid fairly, not too much and not too
little. The more officials, the more the government must pay. The more the
government must pay, the more the whole kingdom must be taxed; and everyone
hates paying taxes.
King
Jason explained the rest of his two-stage plan. During Stage One, he would
develop the Congress but still rule as the king. The Congress would, thus, act
as an assembly of advisors forwarding the wishes of the people to the king, and
King Jason would probably enforce any law passed by Congress which did not
blatantly contradict reason, compassion, or hope. Once King Jason died or
retired, Stage Two would begin: Congress would take his place, and there would
never be a king or queen again in the kingdom.
While
he still lived, Congress would get in the habit of operating as it would when
it truly governed the kingdom. Every five years, fiefdoms would elect new
Senators and Councilors. The fiefdoms would hold such elections on a rotating
basis for two reasons: 1) The Congress should always have more veteran Senators
and Councilors than rookies, and 2) the kingdom would not be so focused on
national elections that it ignored other important matters. Thus, every year on
the first of November, one-fifth of the fiefdoms would elect their Congressional
representatives. After five years, all the fiefdoms would have voted, and the
rotation would start over. Lots would be chosen to establish the order of the
rotation in the first place.
Congress
would elect a National Representative, Ministers, and National Judges in the
following way. The Senate would provide a list of three eligible candidates,
and the Council would have to choose one of those candidates for the job. Like
candidates for the Senate and Council, these candidates had to be eighteen
years old or older, citizens of the kingdom, and living.
The
whole process, in any case, was limited to 120 days of vacancy. If the Senate
failed to provide the list in forty days, then the Council had forty days to
pick its own candidate without the approval of the Senate. Whomever the Council
picked would do the job. But if the Senate provided the list within forty days
and the Council did not pick from that list after having the list for another
forty days, then the Senate had forty more days to pick its own candidate
without the approval of the Council. (So that is 40 + 40 + 40 days for the
candidate to be selected by the Senate alone.) Whomever the Senate picked would
do the job.
The
National Representative would be the closest thing the kingdom would have to a
king. Her or his job was twofold. One aspect of the National Representative's job
was to represent the will of Congress when it was impractical for Congress to
handle a particular issue. For example, Congress would always be out of session
during the months of September, October, and November for two reasons: one, so
that Senators and Councilors running for reelection could campaign and, if they
won, celebrate their victories in their districts; and, two, to give Senators
and Councilors a much needed vacation. Suppose that an enemy kingdom invaded
during that time. The will of Congress would clearly be to stop the invasion,
if not also to invade the attacking kingdom. The National Representative would
carry out these duties until Congress could assemble and work out its own
policies.
Congress
and ordinary citizens did not have much reason to fear that the National
Representative would abuse his or her power, because she or he was directly
elected by Congress for a term of only five years, and (like all other
government officials) Congress could fire the National Representative for any reason
at any time. To avoid the National Representative acquiring too much power, he
or she was limited to one term for life. So the most any person could serve as
National Representative was five years.
The
other aspect of the National Representative's job was to represent the kingdom
to itself and the world, so she or he was like the chief ambassador of the
kingdom. The National Representative, therefore, gets his or her title from the
fact that she or he represents both Congress and the kingdom.
Ministers were citizens selected by
Congress to run an important aspect of the government, and they kept their job
until they died, retired, or were dismissed by Congress.
The Minister of the Army was the head of the National
Army. The National Army was the military force that primarily fought on the
ground. The Minister of the Navy was the head of the National Navy. The
National Navy was the military force that primarily fought on water. The
Minister of Police was the head of the National Police. The National Police
enforced national laws throughout the kingdom.
The Minister of Postal Services was the head of the
National Postal Service. The National Postal Service delivered letters and
packages throughout the kingdom and beyond. The Minister of the Treasury was
the head of the Department of the Treasury. The Department of the Treasury
collected taxes, monitored and distributed national funds, and created and
destroyed legal tender. The Minister of Transportation was the head of the
Department of Transportation. The Department of Transportation regulated
transportation in the kingdom. It was also responsible for building and
maintaining national roads, ports, channels, and bridges.
The Minister of Education was the head of the Department
of Education. The Department of Education oversaw all governmental educational
endeavors and ensured that all citizens received a quality education. The
Minister of Health was the head of the Department of Health. The Department of
Health promoted health among all citizens. It ensured that all citizens had
adequate medical services, all water and food consumed in the nation was safe,
and all manufactured products were safe. The Minister of Welfare was the head
of the Department of Welfare. The Department of Welfare ensured that all
citizens had at least the basic necessities of life, namely adequate water,
food, clothing, shelter, and sanitation.
The
Minister of Science was the head of the Department of Science. The Department
of Science was responsible for any scientific endeavors that Congress gave it,
including (but not limited to) medical research and exploration. The Minister
of Parks and Monuments was the head of the Department of National Parks and
Monuments. The Department of National Parks and Monuments created and maintained
all national parks and monuments. The Minister of Justice was head of the
Department of Justice. The Department of Justice ensured that all government
officials (especially the highest-ranking ones) obeyed national law and all
trials were just.
The
Minister of Intelligence was head of the Department of Intelligence. The
Department of Intelligence gathered information important to the survival and
wellbeing of the kingdom, and it forwarded this information to the appropriate
people. The Minister of Fair Elections was head of the Department of Fair
Elections. The Department of Fair Elections ensured that all elections were
fair and in accordance with Jasonian law.
In case of the removal of the National Representative
from office or his or her death, resignation, or inability to discharge the
powers and duties of her or his office, the highest ranking civil servant who
was able to serve as the National Representative would take over until the Congress
elected a new National Representative. The civil servants were ranked in this
order, the first being the highest: the National Representative, the Minister
of the Army, the Minister of the Navy, the Minister of Police, the Minister of
Postal Services, the Minister of the Treasury, the Minister of Transportation,
the Minister of Education, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Welfare, the
Minister of Science, the Minister of Parks and Monuments, the Minister of
Justice, the Minister of Intelligence, the Minister of Fair Elections.
The seven Supreme Court
Judges were chosen by Congress like the National Representative and Ministers. Like
the Ministers, they could serve until they died or retired, and they could be
dismissed by Congress for any reason at any time. Supreme Court Judges received
the same pay as Senators, Councilors, the National Representative, and
Ministers; and they had a similar political status. The Supreme Court had
supreme judicial authority throughout the kingdom. Its duty was to decide
individual court cases and to veto any law passed by Congress or any other
government entity that contradicted previous national laws. This way, there
were less ambiguity and no contradictions in the nation's laws. When a law was
vetoed by the Supreme Court, it had no power and could not be implemented. Instead,
Congress had the right to change the vetoed law, or to change the earlier law
or laws so that there was no contradiction. Once all contradictions were
removed, the Supreme Court had to authorize the new law.
The trial of all crimes, except for Supreme Court
proceedings and impeachments, was by three judges, certified by the Department
of Justice. Impeachment was when a Senator or Councilor was removed from office
for being corrupt, incompetent, or otherwise unable to do his or her job; and
such trials were held in the following way. If the majority of Congress
declared one of its members to be unfit for duty, an Impeachment Vote would be
held. The adult citizens of the Senator or Councilor's area would vote whether
or not to impeach, meaning to remove the politician from office immediately. If
the majority voted yes, then she or he was impeached. If the majority voted no,
then he or she was not impeached. A Replacement Election would be held within
forty days of impeachment to elect another Senator or Councilor to replace the
impeached politician for the remainder of the five-year term.
Regular trials—the ones with three judges—were held in
the fiefdom where the supposed crime was committed; but when not committed
within any state, the trial was held at such place or places as Congress
directed. King Jason said that he had contemplated trial by jury, yet he
thought that would be "time-consuming and often unjust. It would take a
very long time to pick a jury and to complete a trial, and we want trials to be
quick. Also, being ordinary citizens, jurors would not be well-trained in law. Thus,
it would be easy for them to be influenced by non-legal considerations, such as
the appearance and social status of the defendant, plaintiff, or the
lawyers."
King Jason added, "Justice is blind, so a court of
law should not be influenced by appearance and social status. It should only be
influenced by the facts and the law. Judges should be honest, intelligent, and
well-trained adult citizens who only focus on the facts and the law when in a
court of law.
"There are a few reasons I advocate three judges
instead of more or less. One judge is likely to be inept or corrupt, and two
judges can easily lead to a split decision. A split decision is bad because it
leaves the issue of guilt or innocence undecided, which is unjust. But if there
are three judges, at least two of the three are likely to be competent and
honest, and there will not be a split decision.
"Four
or more judges are just unnecessary. Also, judges do not grow on trees. There
should be enough to justly enforce the law in a speedy manner. Obviously, if a
trial requires less than four judges, there should be more judges available for
other trials."
Before any judge, especially a Supreme Court Judge,
assumed her or his office, he or she took the following oath: “I have been
selected from among my fellow citizens to serve them. Therefore, I do solemnly
promise that I will faithfully execute my office, and will, to the best of my
ability, preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the kingdom. I shall
not try to create legislation or misinterpret laws according to my personal
bias. Instead, I shall interpret laws according to the intent they were
written, even if I disapprove of the laws or their intent.”
This oath was similar to the one taken by every other
government official, including police, soldiers, public school teachers, postal
workers, Senators, Councilors, the National Representative, and Ministers: “I
have been selected from among my fellow citizens to serve them. Therefore, I do
solemnly promise that I will faithfully execute my office, and will, to the
best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the kingdom.
I know that the Congress represents the citizens of the kingdom. Therefore, I
shall always obey the collective will of the Congress.”
Supreme Court Judges, of course, were not necessarily
supposed to obey the collective will of Congress; they were always supposed to
follow the logic of the existing laws.
Soon after King Jason explained the
General Oath of the Kingdom, a matronly noble, Lady Orgonna, stood up and spoke
the thought that was on most minds in that great hall: "But what about our
land, property, and power? This Constitution of yours will make us all unnecessary!"
Murmurs
of agreement filled the air.
The
king stepped from behind the podium with open hands raised palms outward: "My
friends, my countrymen, change can be difficult. But change is also often good
and necessary. Those of you who, like me, are old enough to remember the last
civil war should surely perceive some wisdom in a democratically elected
government. Besides, what makes us aristocrats and everyone else peasants? In
most cases, our ancestors got lucky or did some deed to get more land, wealth,
and power. It was not anything we
did. We could have easily been born peasants!"
Lady
Orgonna protested, "But we weren't! God made us born nobles, not the
filthy peasants who work for us! Begging your pardon, sire, your Constitution
is unheard of and unnatural!"
Fire
flashed behind King Jason's eyes, but otherwise he kept a calm, smiling facade.
"Please sit down, Lady Orgonna." She complied. "I am proposing a
democratic republic. Democracy is not unheard of. Athens reached the height of her glory under
a democracy! A republic is not unheard of. Rome built a mighty empire under a republic!
"I
don't know exactly what you mean by 'unnatural.' Do you mean 'contrary to the
way things normally happen'? If so, then yes. The form of government I am
proposing is unusual, at least at this time in history. But if you mean 'evil,'
then no. A democratic republic is not evil. It is good, because it will do the
most good for the most people in the kingdom."
Lord
Hybiscus raised his hand to speak, but King Jason just looked at him and said,
"Please hold your questions and comments for a little while longer. There
are two more things I want to tell you. The first thing is that I want to
reassure you. As long as I live, you will keep your land, property, and
power—that is as long as you remain my loyal subjects. If you are treasonous,
then you will suffer the consequences of treason.
"Yes,
you will keep your land, property, and power, or at least much of your power. I
need you—the kingdom needs you—to
continue managing the peasants. The peasants will have the right to vote,
beginning this year; but they will not have the experience to run the fiefdoms
yet. You have that experience, and I want you to use it wisely.
"For
the foreseeable future, little will change. The aristocrats will pretty much do
what they have always done, and so will the peasants. However, I insist that
you treat the peasants more justly than ever. You are no longer their rulers;
you are now their employers. They are free to come and go from your estates as
they wish, and you may hire and fire them as you wish. But those who work for
you must have just hours, just working conditions, and a just wage.
"The
second thing I want to tell you is that early this morning, just moments after
this meeting began, I sent 1,000 messengers throughout the kingdom. Each
messenger has a copy of the Constitution of the Kingdom which I have been
telling you about. They are instructed to go to every city, town, and village;
summon the populace; read it; and explain it. They are also instructed to tell
the people that it is the law of the land, and that any citizen who illegally
opposes it is guilty of treason. I am sure that the vast majority of our people
will approve of the changes outlined in the Constitution, and remember that
they are the ones who constitute the local militias.
"So
do not fear. Be happy and wise. Support the Constitution, and keep your titles
of nobility, land, property, and power. We will all be happier if you do."
Chapter Two: Jasonia 1052-1152
The aforementioned meeting lasted
three days, with breaks from sleeping, eating, and the like. Then the nobles
and their envoys returned to their fiefdoms. By that time, practically the
whole kingdom knew about the Constitution and were either dreading or excited
about the upcoming elections. Most, being peasants, were excited, and so were
many merchants and craftsmen and some enlightened nobles. There were some
attempts at rebellion and assassination, yet King Jason overcame them all,
largely because he controlled the kingdom's civilian military groups.
Twenty
years before the meeting, King Jason had established militias in every city,
town, and village throughout the kingdom, and the law was that every adult
citizen within three miles of a militia center had to report for duty once a
week. The only exceptions were those in prison and those with special dispensations
from the government. Most special dispensations were given to the infirm and
those who had to care for them, women with children less than three years old,
and certain government officials such as police, soldiers, and sailors. Some
people had to protect the kingdom while the kingdom was preparing to protect
itself.
Usually
the militias would meet in an area with a large open building, like a barn or
town hall, and an open field for military exercises. The original purpose of
the militias was to supplement the kingdom's army and navy, but, within two
years, it seemed like the army and navy were just the tip of a mountain of
well-trained troops.
The
women, men, and teenagers who were able and willing to wield a sword or shoot a
bow were armed, and brought their weapons and other equipment to militia
meetings every Wednesday. There, they would learn and practice for combat. Those
convicted of violent crimes were generally not allowed to be auxiliary
soldiers, auxiliary sailors, or teachers. Instead, they were generally allowed
to help supply the militias.
The
other adults and teenagers had one of two other functions. They either made
equipment for the militia or they taught the children. From ages five to twelve, all children were
taught reading, writing, and math. Their education was generally very
practical. They read and wrote about parenting, government, morality, law,
health, science, and history. Math included adding, subtracting, multiplying,
dividing, algebra, and geometry. Younger children were played with and taught
things like shapes and colors.
Thus
began the first public education system in the whole world, and in King Jason's
lifetime, the literacy rate rose from approximately 5% to 40%. King Jason
promoted education because he knew that education, done properly, increased
intelligence, compassion, and prosperity.
The
penalty for shirking militia duty was a fine big enough to be inconvenient, but
not big enough to impoverish a family—at least after the first offense. The
fine was seldom needed, though, because of two reasons. First of all, militia
duty made sense, because the people of the kingdom knew from experience that
their armed forces were often insufficient without the militias to stop evil
invaders. Those who shirked militia duty were often openly snubbed by their
fellow citizens.
Secondly,
it was a relatively fun break in the week. The auxiliary soldiers and sailors
felt stronger and more confident, the suppliers felt useful and enjoyed working
together, and the teachers and students generally liked school. Even children
who disliked school loved to play with their classmates before and after it. The
younger children were lucky enough to play during it.
Since
the militias were established, the kingdom has remained unconquered, unlike the
other nations on the continent. Nearby nations knew that they would not be
attacked by the kingdom, unless they attacked the kingdom first; and attacking
the kingdom meant facing a whole population of well-trained and determined
patriots. The reward of such a conquest was just not worth the effort, even if
it were possible.
King Jason lived for twenty more
years, ruling wisely until the end. During that time, the citizens of the
kingdom learned how to elect their own officials, and the Constitution was
followed to the letter, except when the king overruled Congress. King Jason and
the Congress thought that they had made enough radical changes for awhile, so
they did not change much else in the people's daily lives. The quality of
public services generally improved, though. Almost no one minded that!
One
new and long-lasting change was the Fair Tax Act, which required all citizens
to pay exactly 20% of the wealth they acquired that year to the government, no
more and no less. Those who made $1,000,000 worth had to pay $200,000 worth
that year, and those who made $1,000 worth had to pay $200 worth. Ironically,
the poorest citizens benefited the most from this system. The government used
the tax money to provide them adequate water, food, shelter, clothing, and
medical care. Within a couple of years, hunger and homelessness were eliminated
in the kingdom. And the poor generally received the same quality healthcare as
the rich, which, from our modern perspective, was often not very good. But hey,
that was the Dark Ages!
Another
new and long-lasting change was the Percentage Funding System, a formalization
of the way the monarchy used to distribute funds. Every year, Congress would
divide the tax money collected the year before by giving certain percentages of
it to various government programs. The following percentages were typical of
the kingdom until the twentieth century. The Army received 21%, the Navy 10%,
the Police 11%, the Postal Service 0% because it was self-sufficient, Treasury
operations 5%, Transportation 8%, Education 10%, Health 10%, Welfare 10%,
Science 5%, Parks and Monuments 1%, Justice 5%, Intelligence 1%, Fair Elections
1%, disaster relief 1%, and miscellaneous expenses 1%. So the government
agencies were essentially told by the Congress, "Here is your goal, and
here is your money. Do what it takes to accomplish your goal." Being
reasonable, those goals were almost always accomplished, and the kingdom's
budget was almost always balanced.
Soon after the king's death, some
nobles, called Monarchists, attempted to restore the monarchy. But none of King
Jason's surviving four children would cooperate, and Congress quickly squashed
the rebellion, humanely executing its leaders.
During
the next 100 years, Congress made only a handful of noteworthy changes. They
declared that the kingdom should always be called a nation because it no longer
had a king, and the fiefdoms should always be called states to counteract any
lingering feudal tendencies. In the same year, Congress renamed the nation
Jasonia in honor of the accomplishments of the dead king.
The
biggest change during that time was the adoption of "The Universal List of
Human Rights" and "The Exceptions to The Universal List of Human
Rights." These two proclamations eventually became the basis of all
Jasonian law and culture.
The Universal List of Human Rights
Rights are what
creatures deserve because they make creatures as good and happy as possible. Listed
below are 24 rights which all human beings have, with some noted exceptions. Therefore,
all Jasonians shall henceforth live according to the following rights and their
exceptions.
1.
The right to have the means to live and be
healthy.
2.
The right to keep one’s life, freedom,
property, and job unless these things are taken
away for a just and legal reason.
3.
The right to do
whatever one wants if one does not obviously hurt another creature.
4.
The right to think, feel, and believe
whatever one wants.
5.
The right to kill whoever is literally
enslaving one, if that is the only way one can be free.
6.
The right to use non-abortive birth-control.
7.
The right to kill oneself.
8.
The right to assemble with others peacefully.
9.
The right to privacy in one’s home and
correspondence, unless the government of the nation one lives in has much
reason to suspect that one is doing something illegal.
10.
The right to leave one’s nation.
11.
The right to raise one’s child, unless one
cannot or refuses to adequately provide
for
the physical and emotional needs of the child.
12.
The right to work where one wants, if one can
get the job.
13.
The right to employ whom one wants, as long as
one does not enslave, or discriminate on the basis of age,
gender, race, ethnicity, social status, religion, political affiliation, or sexual
orientation.
14.
The right to at least the following six
exemptions from work without being fired or
losing regular pay: 1) sixteen hours a day unless there is an emergency, 2) twelve hours a day if
there is an emergency, 3) one complete day each week, 4) ten personal
days each year for sickness and/or family emergencies, 5) two weeks each year for
vacation, and 6) forty days after one's child is born.
15.
The right to petition one’s government without
being threatened or punished.
16.
The right to have the government that one
wants, if the majority of adults living in one’s
nation also want it.
17.
The right to be treated equally and
respectfully by the law.
18.
The right to be considered innocent until
proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
19.
The right to not be arrested without
sufficient reason.
20.
The right to know why one is being arrested
and imprisoned.
21.
The right to free and adequate legal counsel.
22.
The right to have a just and speedy
trial.
23.
The right to not have to testify
against oneself.
24. The right to leave the military permanently
after one has served a total of five years.
It does not matter if one is a draftee or volunteer.
The
Exceptions to The Universal List of Human Rights
The following are the exceptions to
The Universal List of Human Rights. Unless specified in this article, the
members of the particular group mentioned have all the other Universal Human
Rights. Moreover, as much as reason permits, they should be given the rights
that they do not have.
Children
who are not yet adolescents do not have Right 6 because they should not have
sex with anyone, Right 7 because they are too inexperienced to make such an
important and irreversible choice as suicide, Right 10 because their parents or
guardians should determine where they live, Right 11 because children are not
qualified to care for children as parents should, and Rights 12 and 13 because
they are too inexperienced to make important job decisions.
Adolescents have
all the rights except Right 7. Like children, they are too inexperienced to
make such an important and irreversible choice as suicide.
Fulltime
military personnel do not have Right 10 because the military might need them to
stay in their nation, Right 11 because the military might need them to leave
their children, Rights 12 and 13 because the military might need them to do a
job that they do not want to do and/or employ someone whom they do not want to
employ, and Right 14 because the military might need them to skip some of their
required leisure time.
Mentally
handicapped humans are people who will probably be less intelligent than an
average thirteen-year-old child until they die. They do not have Right 7
because they are too unintelligent to make such an important and irreversible
choice as suicide, Right 10 because their parents or guardians should determine
where they live, Right 11 because they are not qualified to care for children
as parents should, and Rights 12 and 13 because they are not intelligent enough
to make important job decisions.
Criminals
currently being punished do not have Right 10 because the government should
determine where they can live, Right 11 because they might not be able to care
for their children properly, Right 12 because their punishment might prevent
them from working where they want, and part 6 of Right 14 because they might
not be able to properly care for their child or co-parent due to their
imprisonment.
The
criminally insane are those who are likely to hurt someone because they are
mentally ill. They do not have Right 7 because they are too crazy to make such
an important and irreversible choice as suicide, Right 10 because they should
be confined to a jail or mental health facility, Right 11 because they might
not be able to care for their children properly, Rights 12 and 13 because their
employment decisions might have to be restricted for the benefit of everyone,
and part 6 of Right 14 because they might not be able to properly care for
their child or co-parent due to their situation.
Those
who are in solitary confinement for a just reason obviously do not have Right 8
during that time.
A human does not
necessarily have the right to dwell or work in a nation that does not legally
permit him or her to dwell or work there. The purpose of this exception is to
protect a nation against overpopulation and fighting between citizens and
immigrants. However, whenever a nation restricts immigration, it must be very
careful that it is restricting because doing so is best for everyone. A nation
should not restrict immigration because its citizens are greedy.
Lastly, although
children, adolescents, mentally handicapped adults, and the criminally insane
do not have the right to commit suicide, in some extreme cases they should be
euthanized. Also called “mercy killing,” euthanasia is the act of inducing a
painless death because the creature would be better off dead. It is common for
people to euthanize animals who are suffering greatly with no hope of cure.
Yes, a human life
is more valuable than an animal life, but that does not mean that humans should
have to suffer more. If anything, humans should suffer less. Therefore, if a
child, adolescent, mentally handicapped adult, or criminally insane person
wants to commit suicide and an official government trial formally decrees that
they would be better off dead, then they will be euthanized.
When is the life
of a child, adolescent, mentally handicapped adult, or criminally insane person
so horrible and the suffering it causes so great that death is preferable to
life? This is a difficult question for such a victim to answer by him or
herself. Therefore, the government of a nation should set up a trial to
determine if euthanasia is most humane for her or him. If both the victim and
the court agree that the victim should be euthanized, then the victim should be
euthanized.
In the event that
the victim is unable to speak for him or herself, the closest relative who
meets the following criteria should speak for her or him. The relative must be
alive, an adult, mentally competent, sane, and able and willing to speak for
the victim. The following should be used to determine the order of the closest
relative, the first being considered the most close and the last being
considered the least close: spouse, eldest parent, eldest sibling, eldest
child, closest friend.
The Universal List of Human Rights
and The Exceptions both mention birth-control. Back when these documents were
written, there were three major forms of birth-control in Jasonia: coitus interruptus, condoms made of linen or
animal intestine, and male sterilization. Due to the inaccessibility of their
gonads, females were not sterilized at first.
Male
sterilization was practiced by first anesthetizing the patient with a potent
cocktail of black henbane, opium, and hemlock. Then the testicles were removed,
and the wound was cauterized and sewn up. The procedure itself was not very
painful, but full recovery took about one week. Infections were rare. Jasonian
surgeons cleaned both their surgical tools and open wounds with distilled
alcohol, believing it be cleaner than water, beer, or wine.
Immigration
was also mentioned in The Universal List of Human Rights and The Exceptions. As
Jasonia grew in prosperity and freedom, more and more people wanted to
immigrate to it. The Jasonian Congress, though, wanted to regulate immigration
so that Jasonia would not become overcrowded or invaded from within. The
lessons of the Roman Empire, which had let barbarians in as immigrants only to
be destroyed by those same barbarians, was not forgotten.
Shortly
after its inception, the Democratic Republic of Jasonia built several
immigration camps, which were like minimum security jails, near all its outer
borders. Once caught, illegal aliens were taken to a camp near the border where
they had crossed. The penalty for illegal immigration was to spend one boring
year at an immigration camp. Most Jasonians viewed that immigration policy as
fair, and it certainly was effective. Few foreigners wanted to live in a boring
camp for a year, only to be returned to their nation of origin.
Of
course, immigration is a tricky issue. Sometimes a citizen wants a non-citizen
to move in with him or her. Congress declared in 1078 that a Jasonian citizen
could officially marry a foreigner if the foreigner lived with the citizen for
at least one year, the thinking being that if the two did not marry for the
right reason, the foreign spouse would greatly aggravate the citizen, which would
be just. People should not marry to help someone immigrate or make a profit. Failure
to successfully live together for at least one year earned a year jail time for
the citizen, and a year camp time and then expulsion for the foreign spouse.
A
citizen of Jasonia could also buy citizenship for any foreigner by paying 1/10th
of her or his (that is the citizen's) income. Congress's thinking on this
matter was that such a fee would be both fair and a strong deterrent to
importing too many unwanted foreigners.
There
was one other way that people could legally enter Jasonia. They could go
through an Office of Immigration and Visitation. Such offices were set up on
Jasonia's borders, especially along major roads and rivers. All a foreigner had
to do was go to an Immigration Office and declare his or her intention: whether
to stay for a day, a week, a year, for life, or whatever; and why. An
immigration officer then had a choice: send the foreigner back to where she or
he came from, or issue a Permit of Immigration or a Permit of Visitation. A
Permit of Immigration was written permission to live in Jasonia for life. Usually,
such permission was only given to highly educated individuals, because of their
value to society. A Permit of Visitation was written permission to stay in
Jasonia only for a certain period of time, either to work or just visit. Both
educated and uneducated were often given this latter permit, especially when Congress
declared a short-term labor shortage.
In 1111, the Department of Science
declared certain sterilization procedures "safe, effective, and relatively
painless for both males and females," and indeed they were. This
declaration led Congress to add a new paragraph after the fifth paragraph of
The Exceptions to The Universal List of Human Rights: "It is best if
mentally handicapped humans are sterilized in a safe and relatively painless
way when they are adolescents. There are two reasons for this: Many of them are
very likely to conceive mentally handicapped children, and none of them is
qualified to care for children as parents should."
In 1133, Congress abolished all
capital punishment and whipping in Jasonia, unless the National Representative
or Congress declared a state of emergency. Such a state of emergency had to be
renewed by Congress once a year or it was automatically nullified.
In 1152, Congress passed the Land
Tax Act. Every ten years, the value of each plot of land was assessed for
taxation. The greater the value, the greater the tax. The main purpose of this
act was to gently encourage people who owned too much land to sell some of
their land to those who needed it more. Within ten years, there were almost no
more tenant farmers or vast land-owners left in Jasonia. Almost every farmer
owned his or her own land, and wealthy Jasonians preferred in invest their
money in non-reality assets.
Jasonians often viewed
their nation
as an island of sanity and prosperity in an ocean of lunacy and
deprivation. They
generally liked to keep the ocean off their shore, but occasionally,
like a
tidal wave, they could not ignore the ocean altogether. Such was the
case in
1095 when Pope Urban II called for a war against the Muslims in and
around what
Christians call the Holy Land. The result was
the First Crusade. Masses of peasantry, led by Peter the Hermit, flooded
into Constantinople, supposedly to aid their Eastern Orthodox
Christian brethren, whom they despised as effeminate heretics.
Unlike
most (if not all) other nations of that time, Jasonia did not have an official
state religion. Congress's often-quoted policy was, "There are many
opinions about God, life after death, salvation, and other religious matters;
and no one can completely prove or disprove any of them. Therefore, people
should be allowed to believe whatever they want." One result of this
religious tolerance was a religiously diverse population. There were many Roman
Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Jews, pagans, Deists, agnostics, and atheists; and
there were even some Muslims, Hindus, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, et cetera.
About
2,000 Jasonians—mostly Roman Catholics—responded to the Pope's plea. Their
fellow countrymen generally wagged their heads, thinking something like, This is evil. God (or the equivalent
thereof) is everywhere, so every land is a Holy Land.
Killing and conquering people of a different religion does not prove your
religion true and theirs false. It just proves that you can kill and conquer
them.
Yet
the First Crusade happened anyway, and the Turkish Muslims annihilated those
naive Christian peasants. In 1096, however, more organized Christian armies
invaded the Near East, working their way south
through Syria
and into Palestine,
taking Jerusalem
on July 15, 1099,
and massacring its inhabitants. The National Representative of the time, Wilma
Ofgeva, privately remarked, "Meet the new boss. Same as the old
boss." Publicly, she quoted Jesus to a joint session of Congress: "Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."
Before the invention of the
printing press and almost universal literacy, Jasonia used the following system
for voting. Every state was divided up into counties for the sake of state
governments, which were modeled after the federal government with a State
Representative, State Congress, and State Supreme Court. Each county was
divided into districts of approximately 1,000 citizens.
For
every 1,000 citizens, Congress tried to ensure that there were three judges,
four police officers, three doctors (general practitioners), four nurses, and
two public lawyers. One of these public lawyers was generally the prosecuting
attorney and the other was generally the defending attorney, in court cases.
On
average, of the 984 left, approximately 400 were farmers, 200 were children,
150 were housewives or the equivalent thereof, 70 were builders, 70 were
merchants and/or artists, 50 were retired or jobless adults, 15 were
professional soldiers or sailors, 10 were other government workers, and 19 were
something else.
During
the annual elections, the three district judges would sit at a table in a
soundproof room. The judge sitting in the center would have a paper, quill, and
ink. On the paper was a list of all those running for office and room for tally
marks. A police officer would let in one voter at a time, close the door, and
wait outside. The center judge would then ask the voter whom she or he wanted
to vote for and write a tally mark under that candidate's name. Next, the
center judge would wait for the other two judges to agree with the recording of
the vote. Once all the judges agreed, the voter would be dismissed, and a new
voter could come in and vote. The judges and police officer were sworn to
secrecy about who voted for whom (or in the case of a referendum, what), and
the breaking of this secret was likely to lead to loss of job and a year of
jail time.
Once
the printing press was invented over a century later and almost all Jasonian
adults were literate, the voting process became even more anonymous, with the voter
just checking a box by his or her preferred candidates and referendum choices. The
judges merely handed the blank ballot to the voter, checked the voter's name
off the voter list, put the ballot into a secure box once the voter was
finished voting, and counted the ballots after the polls closed.
Peter Abelard (1079-1142) was a
French philosopher and theologian who applied the principles of ancient Greek
logic to Roman Catholic dogma. As a result, he was very controversial and
charged with heresy. Peter was supposed to be a celibate cleric, but he
impregnated Heloise, one of his students, and then secretly married her after
she bore him a child. Heloise's uncle responded by having the famous and
charismatic teacher castrated. After that, Peter became a monk, and Heloise
became a nun.
Many
Jasonians were shocked by these incidents. They generally thought that reason
and religion should compliment each other, so they were baffled by the heresy
charges. They were even more confused by the odd sexual antics. Peter chose to
marry secretly because he was supposed to be a celibate cleric, but why should
clerics be celibate anyway? Becoming ordained does not take away one's sex
drive, and having sexual intercourse does not generally change one for the
worse. In fact, it usually does more good than evil. Then there was the issue
of the castration. That seemed very immoral. "Let the man keep his job,
his lover, and his genitals!" said more than one Jasonian. "And let
Heloise be a normal wife with a normal husband, and stay out of the
nunnery!" But such ideas were, and still aren't, universally accepted
outside of Jasonia.
Chapter Three: Jasonia 1153-1300
On June 15, 1215, King John I was forced by his
barons to sign the "Magna Carta" ("Great Charter"). This
document guaranteed the rights of nobles and freemen from the arbitrary power
of the English monarchy. Among other things, it stated that there would be no
taxation without the agreement of a council of barons, and that there would be
no arrests, imprisonments, or punishments without a trial. Almost all Jasonians
who learned of the "Magna Carta" and the attending events thought
they were a step in the right direction for England. These Jasonians hoped, one
day, that such steps would lead England
and all other nations to be much more like Jasonia.
Mongol armies swept through nations
like tidal waves in the thirteenth century. They conquered China, Korea, Persia, Russia, and
many other lands. No one had ever seen such swift attacks. Mongol soldiers
traveled on strong desert horses in separate groups through a territory that
had been thoroughly scouted. Then the soldiers all came together at the site of
battle, usually attacking long before the locals were ready and from an
unexpected direction. Local resistance usually turned into panic even before
blood was spilled. Knowing that the Mongols would slaughter any resister,
settlement after settlement surrendered without a fight.
The
Jasonian
Congress had been aware of the ever-growing threat for over a year. The
Mongol reputation preceded them, and the Mongols gave Jasonia the usual
ultimatum: Surrender or die. There was little talk of surrender, though.
For
its own sake, Jasonia was not willing to fall; and for the sake of the
rest of Europe, it was willing to fight. No other nation, not
even the Holy Roman Empire, could stop the
Golden Horde, as the Mongol army was fearfully called. Jasonians
generally
preferred to die on their feet than live on their knees. "Live free or
die!" was their battle cry.
The
militias were summoned, and trenches and new forts were created along the
vulnerable regions of the eastern and southern border. The plan was to fight a
war of attrition with the Mongols with few pitched battles.
On
March 3, 1241, the
Golden Horde reached Jasonia. The short, lean Asiatic nomads in leather, metal,
fur, and wool were a dreadful sight, but the well-trained Jasonian militias
held their ground. Several groups of Mongols tried to cross various trenches. Sometimes
they were successful and sometimes not. But always, Mongols died, killed by
Jasonian spears, arrows, and swords. The Golden Horde also faced a less
conventional weapon: gunpowder!
Through
the course of its explorations, the Department of Science learned of the
substance from the Chinese in 1144. In a top secret program, the first cannons
were developed out of bronze and iron. Each of these fired hundreds of iron
pellets at the oncoming horsemen with great success. It took about 200 more
years for anyone outside of Jasonia to develop their own cannons.
The
Mongols lost about one-tenth of their horde at the borders, but they still rode
westward, planning to attack the settlements therein. All along the way,
though, in plains, mountains, and forests, the militia units attacked them
guerrilla-style. This soon took about another tenth of Mongol forces and made
for many sleepless nights. Truly the Mongols hated Jasonia! They killed every
Jasonian they could get their hands on, but, unlike other nations, the
resistance continued.
Sometimes
settlements were abandoned to the Mongols, yet none surrendered; and the
high-walled cities with their cannons and other defenses frustrated the
invaders. Sieges of Jasonian cities were almost impossible to maintain because
the Jasonians had destroyed almost all food outside of them and constantly
harassed vulnerable Mongols.
After
about forty days, the Mongol general, Sabutai, said enough, and the Mongols
left Jasonia forever for easier conquests. Jasonia rejoiced, but there was much
work to do. The dead were buried, emergency food was imported and gathered from
the forests and sea, and buildings and defenses were rebuilt. Victory Over the
Mongols Day is still celebrated in Jasonia every April with fireworks and
parties.
By 1284, the Mongol invasion was a
distant memory to most Jasonians, and the stage was set for one of the most
important inventions in Western civilization. Akkabar Ungerstine, a Jasonian
scribe at a heterodox Roman Catholic monastery, built the first printing press
with moveable type in Europe, hoping to
publish the Bible and other theological writings in Jasonian on a massive scale
to influence public opinion.
The
reigning Pope of Rome was outraged that "a heretic would print Holy
Scripture in a vulgar, un-Biblical language," but there was little he
could do. He could not excommunicate a man twice, and it was nearly impossible
at that time to sustain a crusade against Jasonia. So, although the Pope and
many European monarchs hated democracy and freedom of speech and religion, they
had to tolerate these so-called sins in Jasonia, much to the amusement of most
Jasonians.
Jasonians,
though, were never much for proselytizing. They generally believed (and still
believe) that a good example was (and is) the best sermon for everything,
including religion, morals, and politics. This attitude served them well during
the Dark Ages because it prevented Jasonia's many religious and political
enemies from becoming more agitated. If Jasonia actively promoted its secular,
humanistic ways to neighboring countries, nobles and clerics would have
probably organized enormous armies and successfully eradicated the Jasonian
Democratic Republic.
Many
foreign peasants, craftsmen, and merchants were already jealous of Jasonians
for their prosperity, equality, and freedom; and many foreign nobles and
clerics were worried that they would lose their power and status someday as a
result. Although some foreign nobles and clerics admired Jasonia greatly and
would have reformed their own nations accordingly if they could, most would
have preferred to destroy Jasonia than compete with it or become like it. For
them, widespread, active Jasonian proselytizing would have been the flame that
lit the gasoline of war.
To
make a long story short, Ungerstine's invention did help spread his religion a
little, but its impact on civilization was much greater. Literacy increased;
new scientific, philosophical, and political opinions were spread; and the
world beyond Jasonia took a giant step toward the Enlightenment.
The
most noticeable immediate effect in Jasonia of the Ungerstine's printing press
was the spread and ultimate triumph of the economic theories of Bertha
Belliburst, who advocated Limited Capitalism through books and pamphlets, most
notably Limited Capitalism Good. Unlimited
Capitalism Bad. Belliburst noted that the prevailing economic system in
Jasonia was characterized by a free competitive market with private and
corporate ownership of production and distribution. This was generally good,
she argued, because it encouraged innovation, competition, productive work, and
financial reward. Innovation brought new and often improved products and
methodologies, competition generally brought lower prices and better goods for
consumers, productive work kept people busy doing good instead of evil, and
financial reward was often just. Simply speaking, those who were smart, wise,
and diligent deserved and would earn more money than those who were
unintelligent, foolish, and/or lazy.
However,
Belliburst also argued that unlimited capitalism often leads to injustice. Some
people become very wealthy, while others stay very poor; and the rich often
oppress the poor. Therefore, the government of a nation must do three things: 1)
enforce decent working conditions for poor and middle class people, 2) keep
competition fair between individuals and companies by doing things like
breaking up monopolies, and 3) enforce a salary cap so that citizens can become
rich but not too rich.
This
latter doctrine was touted as the other end of the economic reform of 1032. Jasonia
already had a floor below which no citizen could pass because of poverty,
namely death through inadequate water, food, shelter, clothing, or medical
care. Now Jasonia needed a ceiling through which no citizen could pass because
of wealth. No citizen would be allowed to become so wealthy that she or he
gained too much power.
By
1294, Congress had instituted all of Belliburst's reforms with much public
support. The poorest Jasonians who could work but didn't for whatever reason
were guaranteed an unpleasant but subsistent life. This encouraged them to work
without allowing them to die.
The
government gave such citizens a concrete cell that was warm in the winter, cool
in the summer, and rainproof. Such welfare huts, as they were called, were
often grouped around a public well in or near a large city. The government also
gave them three wholesome but bland meals a day. The most common meal was
beans, bread, and a vitamin. (The Department of Science had developed the first
decent vitamins in 1215.) This same meal would be repeated for breakfast,
lunch, and dinner, day after day.
For
clothing, the poorest Jasonians—both male and female—could wear a government
issued shirt, pants, underwear, socks, shoes, and belt. Such shirts, pants,
underwear, and socks were all gray wool or cotton, depending on the season; the
shoes brown leather; and the belt a hemp rope.
Under
the Jasonian Universal Health Plan, the Jasonian government would pay up to a
certain amount per year for each citizen. That amount was the equivalent of 10,000
U.S. dollars in the year 2000. If medical costs exceeded that amount, then the
individual was responsible for paying the rest. Jasonians who disliked this
arrangement, believing that it was unfair to citizens who could not pay, could
donate money to the Jasonian Extreme Medical Cases Fund. Money from this fund
was used to pay for the medical care of poor Jasonians who had exceeded their
yearly medical coverage. The Jasonian Congress wanted to strike the right
balance between taking good care of most of its citizens without going bankrupt
caring for citizens whose medical costs were too high.
Welfare
was more pleasant for citizens past retirement age (65) and those who could not
work because of disabilities (the blind, the lame, the deaf, the mentally
handicapped, et cetera). Congress had officially decided back in 1074 that a
government should not either encourage or discourage retired or disabled
citizens to seek or avoid employment. As a result, Tier Two Welfare recipients,
as they were called, were given better food. A typical day's menu was something
like eggs, bacon, toast, a vitamin, and orange juice for breakfast; a turkey
sandwich, pasta salad, and milk for lunch; and pizza, lettuce salad, apple pie,
and milk for dinner. Furthermore, there were different meals on different days,
a privilege Tier One Welfare recipients could only envy.
Congress
also did everything within reason to help those in the Tier Two Welfare
Program. The blind were often given seeing-eye dogs; the lame canes, wheel
chairs, and artificial limbs; the deaf were taught sign language and how to
read lips; and the mentally handicapped were given voluntary tasks, such as
arts and crafts, to keep them happy.
Enough
about the floor that no Jasonian could go below. The ceiling that no Jasonian
could go above was a certain amount of money each year, the equivalent of 10,000,000
U.S. dollars in the year 2000. The Jasonian Congress wanted to encourage people
to work hard and to let them give sizable inheritances to their loved ones,
without allowing certain citizens to become too rich and, thus, too powerful. Any
Jasonian who acquired more than $10,000,000 in one year would have to give the
excess to government charities. Thus, if a Jasonian earned and/or inherited
$10,000,001 in one year, he or she would have to pay $1. If she or he earned or
inherited $50,000,000,000 in one year, he or she would have to pay
$49,990,000,000.
Jasonia
has been a democratic republic with a limited capitalist economy and a secular
government to this day. Moreover, the government programs mentioned in this
chapter are still successfully implemented.
Chapter Four: Jasonia 1301-1650
In late October of 1517, Martin Luther, a royally pissed-off Roman Catholic
monk and professor, posted his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in
Wittenberg, Germany, and officially began the Protestant Reformation, so called
because many European Christians protested certain Roman Catholic doctrines and
practices, and wanted to reform the Church. The Roman Catholic Church responded
with the Counter-Reformation. Thus, Christians began to torture and murder each
other in the name of the one they call the Prince of Peace, even more than they
usually did before. Soon, Europe had six large competing groups of Christians: Roman
Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Reformed/Calvinist/Presbyterian,
Anabaptist, and Anglican.
Jasonians,
as can be expected, were horrified by all the pointless bloodshed. They knew
from centuries of experience that a logically organized, humane, secular
society can easily accomodate many religious and ethnic groups, and that such
diversity is often a strength. Most other Europeans disagreed, however, largely
because each of them was convinced that they possessed the one true faith and
that other religions somehow threatened this faith.
What
could Jasonia do? The National Representative and Jasonian Congress offerred to
broker peace between the warring factions, but were barely given a chance. So
Jasonia enjoyed peace while most of Europe experienced upheavals.
English king, Henry VIII,
ironically fought both for and against embattled Roman Catholicism. For the
first thirty years of his life, he showed so much zeal for the outward
practices of that religion that, in 1521, Pope Leo X gave him the title of
"Defender of the Faith." However, in 1536 Henry declared himself the
supreme ruler of the Church of England so that he could officially divorce and
remarry. He eventually wed six different women:
Name Married
to Henry Why
Marriage Ended
Catherine of Aragon 1509-1533 Divorced
Anne Boleyn 1533-1536 Executed
Jane Seymour 1536-1537 Died
Anne of Cleves 1540 Divorced
Kathryn Howard 1540-1542 Executed
Katherine Parr 1543-1547 Widowed
What a scandalous record! agreed most Jasonians. He divorced twice to beget a male heir! How
much better is democracy, which does not depend on some queen to conceive. King
Henry VIII executed two of his wives for adultery, one of whom was probably
innocent! That's not just evil; that's stupid! Divorce your spouse for
adultery; don't execute him or her.
Speaking
of divorce, concenting adults should be legally allowed to marry and divorce
whenever they wish. If the Pope doesn't like it, one should not have to form
one's own church. Government should stay out of marriage and only intervene after
a divorce if asked by one of the two former spouses. A court can help the
divorced couple determine who gets what possessions and how they will care for their
children.
Since we are on the topic of marriage and children, it should be mentioned
that by the fourteenth century the following customs became commonplace in
Jasonia and still are to this day. Both women and men retained their full names
after marriage. So, if Jane Smith married John Doe, the wife was still called
Jane Smith, not Jane Doe. Previously, a Jasonian woman used to replace her
maiden name with her husband's surname, while the husband retained his name
intact. The purpose of the new custom was mainly to emphasize that men and
women are equals. A woman does not become the property of a man after marriage.
What about the children of
such a marriage? you ask. What is their last name? Because women must endure
pregnancy and childbirth, and because it is generally easier to prove who is a
child's mother than who is a child's father, a child kept the last name of her
or his mother. Let us suppose that Jane Smith and John Doe begot two children,
a boy and a girl. They named the former Zack and the latter Serena. The
children would be named Zack Smith and Serena Smith, even though their father,
who was still married to their mother, was John Doe.
Both Jasonian law and
custom tried to be fair to mother, father, and children. If they were married
to each other, both the father and mother had equal power over all their
children, whether biologically related to them or not. They both could reward,
punish, and generally raise the children as they saw fit within the limits of
Jasonian law. Spouses also had equal ownership over all possessions acquired
during their marriage, unless otherwise stated in a prenuptual agreement or a
particular possession obviously belonged to one spouse more than the other.
Suppose that a wife
decided to buy a horse. That horse belonged equally to her husband. Suppose
that a husband decided to buy a plow. That plow belonged equally to his wife. However,
spouses had exclusive ownership over things like the clothes they bought and
the art they made. If they were separated, divorced, or never married to each
other, both parents had generous visitation rights in regard to their biological
children, unless one or both were judged by a court of law to be too dangerous
for the children.
Usually in the case of a
divorce, both parents were allowed by law to see and care for their child 50%
of the time. They also were encouraged by law to work together to raise their
child in a way they both agreed with. However, one of the two parents was
designated by a court of three judges to be the primary caregiver. The role of
the primary caregiver was to be the deciding vote in the divorced family, and
the court would try to designate the best parent as the primary caregiver
without regard to gender, social position, wealth, or any other consideration.
Suppose that Jane Smith
and John Doe got divorced when Zack was seven and Serena was ten, and that Jane
was designated the primary caregiver. Suppose further that Jane wanted Zack and
Serena to go see a chiropractor because she was convinced that proper spinal
alignment would help them grow better, but John believed chiropractic care was
usually quackery and might damage the young, developing bodies of his children.
They discussed the situation thoroughly but still disagreed. That is a tie, one
vote to one. However, Jasonian law and custom made the primary caregiver's vote
count more, so Jane would get her way.
If two adults adopted a
child together, then that child was considered equally theirs as if she or he
were their biological child. Yet, if two adults created a family through
marriage in which one spouse was biologically related to a child and the other
was not (that is the other was a step-parent), the biological parent retained
complete parential authority over the child after a divorce but the step-parent
had none. Marriage created the step relationship, and divorce ended it.
Perhaps the
greatest Jasonian scientist of his day was Nicolaus Copernicus. Copernicus was
born in Wisdom City, Jasonia, in 1473. Intrigued by
the inability of contemporary European astronomers to agree on certain
phenomena, such as the ordering of the planets, Copernicus began questioning
the foundations of their beliefs about the structure of the universe. For over
a thousand years, most Europeans blindly accepted the theory of the Greek
astronomer Ptolemy as fact: The Earth was at the center of the universe and all
the planets, including the sun and moon, were attached to invisible celestial
spheres that rotated around the Earth. Yet, Copernicus found that this theory
did not adequately correspond to observed data. Harmonizing the theory with
facts was too difficult to be realistic. .
Fortunately, Copernicus lived in
Jasonia rather than some other European nation. Jasonian law allowed all
citizens to do whatever they wanted as long as they did not obviously hurt
someone else. In contrast, other European nations were basically theocracies
that generally forced their citizens to conform to the literal assertions of
the Bible and the wishes of the Pope of Rome. The Bible indicates that the
Earth is flat (Psalms 19:4, 24:1-2; Matt. 4:8; Rev. 7:1), the sun and moon revolve
around the Earth (Josh. 10:12-14; Psalms 19:4-6, 93:1, 104:5; Eccl. 5:1), the
Earth is the most important heavenly body in the universe (Gen. 1:1-2:1), and humanity
is the most important species (Gen. 1:26-30, 6:5-7; John 1:14). Simply speaking,
the Bible taught these things, and the Pope insisted that everyone believe
them.
Copernicus, however,
was free to think for himself and propagate his ideas. He correctly reasoned
that the sun, not the Earth, was the center of the solar system, on the ground
that it was improbable that a large body such as the sun would revolve around a
small body like the Earth. Despite certain defects in his system, Copernicus's
theory easily explained the four seasons, equinoxes, and the peculiar motion of
some planets. In 1512, he published his theory in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, which was eventually banned by
the Roman Catholic Church for being dangerous and heretical. Copernicus went on
to write several other books, further justifying his heliocentric worldview and
mathematically proving the shape and approximate size of the Earth. He died a famous
and respected scientist and teacher.
Of course, not every great scientist of that time was born in
Jasonia. Some moved there. Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy,
in 1564. As a young man, he attracted attention by disproving Aristotle, like
Copernicus disproved Ptolemy. Then, by carefully observing the sky with a
telescope, which was a new device in Europe,
he revolutionized astronomy, discovering four moons around Jupiter. In 1613,
his book Historia e dimostrazioni intorno
alle macchie solari, which strongly asserted the Copernican theory over the
Ptolemaic belief, was officially condemned by the Roman Catholic Church. Fortunately,
Galileo had the good sense to relocate to Jasonia before its publication, thus
avoiding possible imprisonment, torture, and death. He died a free and happy
Jasonian in 1650, a most worthy successor to Copernicus.
On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail
from Spain
with three small ships, staffed with crews of convicts who were willing to risk
a dangerous voyage in return for being released from jail. His goal was a
quicker route to the Indies. He discovered new
continents inhabited by Native Americans, instead. Columbus claimed the land for Spain, but on April 22, 1500, the
Portuguese navigator, Pedro Alvares Cabral, encountered the westernmost bulge
of South America and claimed that for Portugal. Europe had now begun to conquer the Earth. Pope Alexander
VI (1431-1503) decreed the "Line of Demarcation," which ran from the
North Pole to the South Pole in the middle of the Atlantic
Ocean. All non-Christian lands to the west were to be owned by Spain, and all
non-Christian lands to the east were to be owned by Portugal.
The
Jasonian Congress thought that exploration, settlement, and trade were usually
wonderful endeavors; but it officially condemned the "Line of
Demarcation" as absurd, arrogant, and insensitive to the rights of
countless people. After all, Alexander VI did not bother to consult with the
Native Americans, Chinese, Subcontinental Indians, Arabs, Africans, or other affected
peoples before he gave away their freedom and lands to Spain and Portugal. To
quote the twentieth century writer, Isaac Asimov, "It was a sign of Europe's vaulting ambition, and of its calm assumption
that non-Christians (and Christian heretics, for that matter) had no human
rights."
The National
Representative, Sonny Bogus, was dispatched to Rome for a conference between him, the Pope,
and representatives from Portugal
and Spain. National Representative Bogus made Jasonia's
position clear: "When a group of people live on a land for generations,
that land belongs to them and so do its resources. To take that land or the
resources therein without honest trade or purchase is stealing. It is just as
wrong if a Christian steals from a non-Christian as it is if a non-Christian
steals from a Christian. As sure as God is just, all thieves will be properly
punished—Christian thieves, non-Christian thieves; rich thieves, poor thieves;
noble thieves and ordained thieves.
".
. . Jasonia reserves the right to explore and trade in the new lands. Whatever nation
attacks a Jasonian outpost, ship, or citizen will be declaring war on Jasonia;
and Jasonia will respond with its full force. ". . . On the positive side,
Jasonia will gladly share its geographical discoveries with the Holy See, Spain, and Portugal, so
your maps will be accurate and current. Thus, you have nothing to lose from
letting Jasonia explore and trade in the New World,
and much to gain."
Jasonia probably could
not defeat the combined forces of the Pope, Spain, and Portugal, but
it could hurt them greatly. Because of Jasonia's military might, its offer to
share cartographical information, and the fact that Jasonia was known for
honoring its treaties and for being courteous, generous, and peaceful, the Pope
and the representatives agreed to allow Jasonia "to explore and trade in
the new lands." The Line of Demarcation remained, though. Congress authorized
several expeditions to both North and South America.
Within fifty years, 100 small Jasonian outposts were established throughout the
New World, especially on the eastern coast,
although some outposts were deep in the interior. Jasonian scientists studied
and learned from the Native Americans, determining that there were
approximately 54 million Native Americans at the time of Columbus. They learned about new plants and
animals, medicines, calendar systems, and building techniques.
In the meantime, Jasonian
ambassadors and traders made alliances and exchanged goods. To be frank, there
were not many goods that Jasonians wanted from the natives. So the Jasonians
just traded harmless things like cloth and beads for gold and things of
scientific value, such as seeds, rare animal skeletons, and fossils.
Jasonian methods were in sharp contrast with those of the
Portuguese and Spanish, who often murdered, enslaved, forcibly converted, and
stole from the natives. Christian
Europeans considered Native Americans savages, and in many cases most Jasonians
would agree. After all, the Aztecs regularly cut out people's beating hearts to
appease non-existent gods, and the natives of North
America were still in the Stone Age. However, Jasonians also
pointed out the savagery of the Portuguese and Spanish, in an effort to
encourage them to be more humane. These efforts had some positive effect
overall, but they did not completely stop European abuses. Eventually, the
Inca, Maya, and many other tribes were wiped out. There
are two kinds of evil: voluntary and involuntary. In general, Jasonia was only guilty
of the latter, whereas other European nations were guilty of both, at least in
the New World. Jasonian scientists eventually
came to the conclusion that Native American populations were being devastated
by European diseases such as smallpox, typhus, measles, influenza, bubonic
plague, mumps, yellow fever, and whooping cough. Millions of Native Americans
were dying, over 90% of the population in the hardest hit areas—much worse than
even the dreaded Black Death of medieval Europe. Jasonians were horrified at
the evil they had accidentally done, and, as a result, their Congress spent
much time and treasure to help the natives. In particular, they focused on
curing, or at least slowing the spread, of the most lethal disease, smallpox. Smallpox
was an extremely contagious viral disease that came in two forms. Variola major and Variola minor. V. major was the
more deadly form, often killing approximately 20 to 40 percent of its victims. V.
minor only killed 1%. In either case, many survivors were left blind in one
or both eyes from corneal ulcerations, and almost all had ugly pockmarks for
life. Fortunately,
Jasonia was the most technologically advanced nation the world had yet known,
at least in terms of medicine, so it was aware of inoculations. Inoculations
were practiced in India as early as 1000 B.C. The Indians rubbed pus into skin
lesions, and, latter, the Chinese blew powdered smallpox scabs up the noses of
healthy people. In both cases, most patients would develop a mild case of the
disease and be immune from then on. Such inoculations could control smallpox,
but they were problematic. About 2% of those inoculated died, and inoculated
people had to be seculed to prevent them from transmitting the disease to others. In 1570, a
young Jasonian girl named Ursula Regurgitatas was inoculated and suffered from
smallpox for forty days. Although she recovered, she was determined to discover
a better way to prevent the dreaded disease. At age fourteen, Regurgitatas
realized that people who caught cowpox while working with cows did not catch
smallpox. Cowpox is closely related to, but much milder than, smallpox. Regurgitatas
kept this information in mind throughout her years in medical school. After
becoming a doctor, a smallpox epidemic struck Reasonton, her hometown. The
young doctor advised that the healthy population be innoculated with cowpox
rather than smallpox. All those thusly innoculated had only a mild case of
cowpox and did not contract smallpox. Regurgitatas soon became
a national hero, and her finding was quickly put into effect in the New World, Europe,
and parts of Africa and Asia. Jasonian doctors, nurses, and diplomats spread
the good news of cowpox innoculations with missionary zeal. Millions of
people's lives have been saved and improved as a result. The last known case of
smallpox was in 1910 in the Belgian Congo. Jasonian
doctors also helped the Native Americans cope with the other aformentioned
European diseases with some success. They taught the natives to avoid typhus
with personal hygene, general cleanliness, and clean drinking water; to
minimize the danger of measles with proper nutrition and healthcare; to combat
bubonic plague with cats which ate disease-carrying vermin; to minimize the symptoms
of mumps with painkillers; to avoid yellow fever by controlling mosquitos with
insect repellent and screening houses; and to treat whooping cough with a
medicinal tea made of Sundews, a type of carnivorous plant found around the
Earth. The
general reaction of the Native Americans toward the Jasonians was anger
followed by thankfulness. They were angry that the Jasonians had helped infect
them. But they realized it was an accident, and they knew that the Jasonians
were sincerely regretful and doing their best to make amends. Jasonians were
often saving Native American lives. In
fact, Native Americans generally came to view Jasonians as friends and most
other Europeans as enemies. The other Europeans not only gave them terrible
diseases, they often murdered, enslaved, raped, robbed, and forcibly converted
them—practices which the Jasonians abhored. Many Jasonians even risked their
lives to protect Native Americans when it was reasonable to do so, but the
small number of Jasonians in the New World was not enough to effectively police
much of it. Back when the link between
European diseases and Native American illness was first discovered by Jasonian
scientists and doctors, there was a movement in Jasonia to withdrawal all
Jasonians from isolated lands such as the North and South America. The idea was
that fewer Europeans in such lands would mean fewer native lives ruined or
lost. Through its ambassadors, the Jasonian Congress discussed this possible
policy and the reasons behind it with other seafaring European nations. Such
nations were not inclined to agree. They preferred gaining potential riches,
land, and power, and spreading their religions, over protecting primitive,
non-Christian, and supposedly ignorant peoples. Once
Jasonians realized that other Europeans would spread disease with or without
Jasonians, Jasonians almost unanimously agreed that Jasonia should continue to
interact with isolated populations. They reasoned that such populations were
doomed to be exposed to European diseases anyway, so Jasonian doctors should be
available to help.
A
similar rationale was applied to other European evils inflicted upon isolated
populations (murder, enslavement, etcetera). Jasonians knew that they weren't
perfect, but they would probably do more good being involved with than staying
away from isolated populations. They could warn such people, help them defend
themselves, and teach them Jasonian values and technology when appropriate. To
a great extent, this is what Jasonia did, much to the disapproval of colonizing
European nations.
Chapter Five: Jasonia 1651-1861
Spain and Portugal had founded
colonies in newly discovered lands, and later France, the Netherlands, and
Britain did too. Jasonia stuck with just trading posts, arguing that a nation
should not colonize a land that was currently inhabited by other people. This
argument pricked the conscience of many Europeans but not enough to alter the
general policy of the aforementioned nations. As
usual, problems tortured Europe, but now their
colonies were involved as well. Organized religion censored the press and
speech, opposed religious toleration, supported the divine right of kings to
rule, and endorsed slavery. Nation fought nation for land and riches in both
the Old and New Worlds. Jasonians, however, found much to rejoice in. The Enlightenment
that had begun in Jasonia with the reign of its last and greatest king had
finally spread to many other nations. France had Voltaire and Rousseau;
and Holland had
merchants exercising most political power. Holland also published books that could not
be printed in other nations. Great
Britain developed its own Enlightenment, led
by people like John Locke and David Hume. Jasonians,
in general, rejoiced in the American Revolution. At last another nation was born
"hold[ing] these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—That to secure
these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers
from the Consent of the Governed." Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, and
Paine became celebrities throughout Jasonia. If only Great Britain were a true democracy,
the average Jasonian thought, the
Thirteen Colonies could vote to be an independent nation, and there would not
have to be this horrible revolution. Heck, maybe Great Britain would be such a
wonderful nation if it were democratic, that the Thirteen Colonies would be
eager to remain a part of it. Most
Jasonians were less impressed in 1787 with the United States Constitution,
because it endorsed slavery, withheld voting rights from women, and was not
very democratic even for those men who could vote. American voters could not
even directly elect their own senators. It was apparent, though, that much of
the U.S. Constitution was modeled after the Jasonian Constitution. So Jasonians
were still generally very fond of and fascinated by the U.S. To
the Jasonian way of thinking, the president of the United States was like a king whose
power was limited by four-year terms of office and a Congress. This was not
ideal, but it was a step in the right direction. It was better to be ruled by a
Congress than one person, because that one person would easily become an evil
dictator.
The United States was justified to
fight the war of 1812 because it had a right to protect its citizens, in this
case, its sailors whom Great
Britain was kidnapping into its own navy. But
was the United States justified to fight Mexico later that century? Most
contemporary Jasonians would hesitatingly answer yes. At the time Mexico gained its
independence from Spain in 1821, its most northeastern part, Texas, was
sparsely populated. The new Mexican government wanted many Mexican citizens to
settle this region for at least two reasons. One, it was concerned about losing
Texas to a
foreign power such as the ever-expanding United States. And two, large parts
of Texas were ruled by Native Americans who were often hostile to both Mexican
citizens and the Mexican government. The problem was that there was a lack of Hispanic
Mexicans settlers, so the Mexican government invited Americans to live in Texas provided they
become law-abiding citizens of Mexico.
One Mexican law insisted that all Mexican citizens be Roman Catholic, and
another insisted that slavery be abolished. Both laws would prove to be
unpopular among the new American settlers, who were mainly Protestants from
slave states. By 1834, there were
20,000 Americans in Texas
and only 5,000 Mexicans. The Mexican government's settlement policy was
backfiring. Most of these Americans naturally wanted to be part of the United
States. Besides the issues of religious intolerance and slavery, they resented
the intrusive but ineffective Mexican government, and the loss of earlier
privileges such as exemption from import duties. The straw that broke the
camel's back was when the republic of Mexico became a dictatorship under Santa
Anna. To
determine if the United States was justified in fighting the Mexican-American
War, which was fought over America's annexation of Texas, Jasonians who closely
followed world events had to ask themselves if Texas had the right to secede
from Mexico. Although almost all Jasonians detested slavery, they cherished
"the right to have the government that one wants, if the majority of
adults living in one’s nation also want it." The nation in question could
be a state large enough to become a nation. Texas certainly was such a state. Therefore,
as the British government should have done for the American colonies, the
Mexican government should have allowed the adult citizens of Texas to vote on
independence. Such a vote was not permitted, so the only recourse to secession
was revolution. History has often proven that those who are not allowed to vote
with ballots will often vote with weapons.
Texas won its
independence in 1836 and was annexed by the United States in 1845, becoming the
28th state in that republic. Mexico, however, still
considered Texas its territory. In
January 1846, the president of the United States sent troops to the Rio
Grande River to secure the Texas border. The traditional border between
Texas and the
rest of Mexico
had been the Nueces
River, approximately 150
miles north of the Rio Grande
River. The United States
preferred the boundary established by the Treaties of Velasco, which
formally
ended the Texas Revolution. This issue should have been settled by
letting all
the adult inhabitants living in the disputed area vote to be part of
Mexico or
Texas, but, alas, it was not. So yet another war was fought.
The
war ended in 1848. The United
States had clearly defeated Mexico and
gained undisputed control of Texas,
California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Mexico received
$18,250,000 in return.
The Mexican-American War was about
gaining and losing territory, and Jasonia has both gained and lost entire
states. Jasonians were and are generally proud of the rational, democratic, and
peaceful means their nation has handled annexation and secession.
In
1413, a neighboring nation to the south invaded Jasonia to steal Jasonian land
and wealth. Jasonia responded by routing the invaders, capturing their king,
and conquering their nation. The Jasonian Congress then decreed that the
offending nation would be governed by a Jasonian general for ten years and
developed into a democratic republic. The captured king would have to live out
his days in a semi-pleasant prison on an island off the coast of Jasonia. His crime was unjustly inciting a war against a
peaceful nation.
Ten
years passed, and the conquered nation was transformed into a democratic
republic. Yet the people of that nation were suspicious of democracy because it
seemed contrary to Christian teaching. God, not ordinary people, gives power to
governments, they reasoned. The Roman
Catholic Church hierarchy and neighboring monarchs agreed with this
undemocratic line of thinking, and their plotting and intrigues did much to
destabilize the young government.
In
order to avert a civil war, the Jasonian Congress gave each state in the
conquered nation three votes. The first vote was to determine if the conquered
wanted to be a democratic republic or a monarchy. Only three states, each near
the Jasonian border, voted for a democratic republic. So the Jasonian Congress
invited a noble family from England
which had promised favorable relations with Jasonia to rule the majority of the
conquered nation.
The
second vote was held only in the three pro-democracy states. They were given the
choice to either join Jasonia or to not join Jasonia. If they chose the latter,
they would then vote to become an independent democratic republic or remain
part of their former nation. Two of the three joined Jasonia and have happily
remained part of the Jasonian union to this day.
All adult citizens of the third state were
allowed and encouraged to choose to rejoin their former nation under the new
monarch with some unique regional democratic institutions or to exist
independently as a democratic republic. The majority of them chose the latter, and
their democratic republic lasted less than twelve years. The monarchical nation
re-conquered it, using God and traditional territorial boundaries as excuses. Because
both the kingdom and democratic republic were sovereign nations unallied with
Jasonia, Jasonia did not interfere.
Jasonia shrunk in 1616 when one of
its states, Stupidia, wanted to declare itself an autonomous Protestant nation
of the Calvinist variety. Most Jasonians thought that such a political
arrangement was unnecessary, but they admitted that it was Stupidia's
constitutional right. Article 1, Section 2 of the Jasonian constitution states,
To secede
from Jasonia, a state must be and do the following. One, it must have been part of Jasonia for at least five years.
Two, the majority of its federal senators
and councilors combined must voluntarily sign a declaration of independence. The declaration must state that
they want their nation to be independent
and why independence is desirable. Three, with the approval of both their state senate and state council, they
must read their declaration of independence
to both the federal senate and federal council. Four, their state must encourage and allow all its adult
citizens to vote to secede from the union, and the majority of them must voluntarily decide in favor of
secession. Thereafter, that state
will not be part of Jasonia unless it joins the union again according to Section 1 of this article.
The issue of secession was
foremost in Jasonian minds after news of the American Civil War reached
Jasonia. In 1861 eleven Southern states seceded from the United States
to form the Confederate States of America. They seceded for many
reasons, foremost of which was slavery. Southern whites wanted to keep slavery
for at least three reasons: It provided very cheap labor, it made even the
poorest whites feel at least a little superior, and most Southern whites did
not want millions of free blacks settling in their lands. They generally saw
Abraham Lincoln as a great threat to their "peculiar institution," so
they seceded soon after his election to the presidency. What was the average
freedom-loving Jasonian to think? On one hand, she or he believed that states
should have the freedom to secede from a union that no longer served their best
interest. On the other hand, the Southern states were mainly seceding from
their union to keep millions of their own people from having freedom. What
should the Northern states do? In 1860, the Jasonian Congress
approved a letter entitled "Amicable Advice from a Fellow Democracy."
This letter was sent to every high-ranking American politician and major
American newspaper:
Dear Americans:
It grieves the nation of Jasonia to see the
United States of America on the verge of civil
war. We do not intend to interfere with your internal affairs, but we do feel obliged to offer our thoughts on your
current crisis in case they may be of assistance.
As a fellow democracy, we have a great fondness for your nation and only want to see it prosper.
Jasonia is
both for the right of a state to secede from a union and for the right of every person to be free. We cherish both
rights and even believe that both are worth
sacrificing for. We will not here argue whether one is more important than the other. Instead, we will suggest what we
believe is the ideal course of action at this
critical time in American history.
One, set
all the slaves in your nation free, granting them full and immediate citizenship.
Two, insist
that a proper vote be taken by a state before it secedes from the union. This vote will obviously include all
former slaves who are of voting age.
Three, if a
seceding state follows these steps properly, then do not attack it. If a seceding state does not follow these steps
properly, then do attack it. In the former
case, it has obeyed federal law and followed proper procedure. In the latter case, it has not. Instead, it has
acted undemocratically, unjustly, and rebelliously.
It has acted like a criminal in need of punishment. The military must provide that punishment.
The
question arises: What should the North do if a Southern state or states lawfully secede and reinstate
slavery? This is a very challenging question to answer. On one hand, the North and the seceding state or
states will have become separate
nations, and it is usually best not to interfere with the internal matters of a foreign nation unless the true government of
that nation officially requests such interference.
On the other hand, slavery is very evil and should be stopped. We should treat others the way we want to
be treated, and almost everyone would hate
to be a slave.
Slavery is
evil for at least three reasons. One, all humans are intrinsically equal, as your own Declaration of Independence
gloriously asserts in its own way. Therefore,
one human should not own another. Two, because humans are rational creatures, they require more freedom than
slavery permits to be as good and happy
as possible. And three, slavery promotes many evils such as dehumanization, inequality, torture,
murder, and rape.
Whatever
the North decides to do in such a case, it should make sure that its motives are pure. It should not invade
to punish or reclaim territory that has lawfully
seceded. It should only invade to stop an intolerable evil. Before it chooses such an invasion, it should honestly
ask itself if it would be willing to invade
other enslaving nations, assuming that such invasions would probably be successful. If the honest answer is yes, then
why hasn't the United States
of America
invaded many enslaving nations already?
We wish you
well and are willing to assist you as much as reason permits.
Sincerely,
The
People of Jasonia as
Represented by Their Congress
Jasonia's amicable advice became a small part of the
discussion in the United States about slavery, secession, and civil war; but it
had little impact. Americans and Jasonians simply had different ways of
thinking, in general. Americans thought that Jasonians were too idealistic and
simplistic. Jasonians were convinced that the goal of human life is to be as
good and happy as possible, and they preferred to die trying to accomplish that
goal rather than live with some kind of evil compromise. Besides, they
reasoned, ultimately doing what is good benefits oneself. Doing good is good
for everyone, even the one who sacrifices to do it. Most
Jasonians were saddened but not surprised that their advice was largely
unheeded. They too had a saying like "You can lead a horse to water, but
you can't make him drink." Jasonians greatly respected human free will and
realized that they were imperfect. Perhaps what they disapproved of was somehow
right and they were too ignorant to understand why. In any case, trying to
control adults in foreign nations usually did more evil than good. The effort
to help foreigners was important, though. It fulfilled moral obligation, and
there was always a chance, however small, that it would work.
Chapter Six: Jasonia 1862-1897
In 1865 the Jasonian Congress passed the National Education Act (NEA). NEA
established compulsory education for all Jasonian citizens from the ages of
five to fifteen. Students ages five through eight attended grades one through
four at primary schools, students ages nine through twelve attended grades five
through eight at secondary schools, and students ages thirteen through fifteen
attended grades nine through eleven at tertiary schools. After age fifteen,
citizens could enter the workforce, go to a college prepatory school, or go
directly to college.
Citizens of any age could attend a college
prepatory school for free, as long as they were well behaved. Resembling
primary, secondary, and tertiary public schools, these college prepatory
schools were often called quaternary schools.
Jasonian colleges were
designed to give Jasonian adults specific skills to accomplish specific jobs,
jobs such as farmer, teacher, carpenter, mechanic, nurse, doctor, lawyer,
merchant, journalist, and publisher. Jasonians were expected to master broad
skills, that is skills necessary to be a productive citizen and applicable to
almost all jobs, in primary, secondary, tertiary, and, in many cases,
quaternary schools. There were no such things as undeclared or liberal arts
majors in Jasonian colleges. If a Jasonian past the age of fifteen did not know
what career to strive for, he or she would probably take career placement
courses in a quaternary school.
NEA also established the Three-Group Educational System
(TGES) for all tertiary public schools with over 100 students in the same grade.
So if there was a tertiary public school with 100 ninth graders, 131 tenth
graders, and 99 eleventh graders, then grades nine and ten would definitely be
divided into three groups, whereas grade eleven might not. The three groups were
Fast Learners, Medium Learners, and Slow Learners. Fast, medium, and slow refer
to how quickly students master academic concepts.
Based
on placement tests from the previous spring, students in grades six through
eleven were placed in one of three groups for math, Jasonian (i.e. reading,
writing, and speaking the Jasonian language), science, and foreign language
classes. Jasonians chose only these four subjects, because they were the most
academically challenging of all subjects and Jasonians did not want to
completely separate students on the basis of intellectual ability. Students
with different intellectual abilities were mixed together in all the other
classes so that they could become friends, help each other, and get used to
people who were different than themselves.
Faster
Learners were students who got a high grade
on the placement test for the subject in question (generally the top 10%),
Medium Learners were students who got a medium grade, and Slow Learners
were students who got a low grade (generally the bottom 10%). This
solution allowed teachers to teach students at the fastest pace students could
learn. Faster Learners were taught at a faster pace than Medium and Slow
Learners, and Slow Learners were taught at a slower pace than Fast and Medium
Learners.
At
least in math, Jasonian, science, and foreign language classes, this division
avoided having too many students not learn everything they should. Without this
division, the pace would be too slow for many of them, so they would be able to
learn much more information than was being presented; or the pace would be too
fast for many of them, so they would not understand all the information that was
being presented. Furthermore, when students are too smart or not smart enough
for a class, they tend to misbehave more, which upsets teachers and makes
learning difficult for all the students in the class. Students who are too
smart get bored because they are not being challenged enough, and students who
are not smart enough get bored because they do not understand everything that
is being taught. No matter what the cause of boredom, bored students often
misbehave to entertain themselves.
NEA
also established fair and user-friendly rules with fair and user-friendly
consequences for breaking those rules. In Jasonian public schools, students
could not misbehave so much that they learned very little and even greatly disrupted
the education of their peers. Every public school told its teachers something
like this: “These are the rules that you are expected to enforce, and here is
how you are expected to enforce them.” That took away much guess-work involved
for both teachers and students concerning rules and consequences. The result
was almost no confusion, chaos, unease, frustration, and anger.
The
Jasonian government realized that there would be some bad parents and bad
students, but it worked hard to make its public school system good. Parents and
students who complained about the Jasonian public school system—perhaps because
they considered it too strict or perhaps because they considered it too
flexible—were politely told something to this effect: “You are allowed to try to
change the public school system by petitioning the government or running for a
government office. If you choose not to do that or are unable to get the result
you want despite your efforts, you can always place your child in a private
school. Have a wonderful day.”
Sixth grade was deemed best to transition from non-grouping to grouping
education. Students would have had four years of primary school plus one year
of secondary school up to that point to be as smart and knowledgeable as
possible. That is five years to advance to the "best" group. Furthermore,
students were ten years old by the time they reached sixth grade, so they
should already have been aware that some people are generally more academically
gifted than others.
TGES relied on one
test for each subject, and the numbers generally told the truth. In the event
that the student did unusually poorly testing that day for some reason, a
make-up test could easily be arranged with the principal of the school. If the
result of the first test and the second test were basically the same—and they
almost always were—then the student truly got the deserved placement.
Occasionally, a
parent or guardian would argue that her or his child was smarter than he or she
tested, because the format of the test was incompatible with the student or the
student got too nervous. Most adult Jasonians agreed, though, that a student
who could not figure out how to do a simple multiple-choice test was almost
certainly not smart, and a student needed to learn to relax during stressful
situations. Doing poorly on a placement test was not the end of the world, and
life had far greater tests than any school. It was best to start developing
equanimity in the face of adversity while one was young. If a Jasonian child
did poorly on a placement test, she or he was generally encouraged to say to
him or herself, Oh well, I did my best. Hopefully
I will do better next year, but, in any case, I am a valuable member of this
community.
And students did
often move from one group to another from year to year, depending on how they
did on the placement tests. Natural ability and social circumstances aside, all
things were equal in the Jasonian public education. It was a true meritocracy
which prepared children to contribute to the larger meritocracy of Jasonia as
adults.
Beginning in fifth grade, TGES
testing was done every year after students completed almost one full year of
school. July first through the fifth were often designated TGES testing days.
School was held
year-round, but the school year officially began on the first of September,
unless it was a Sunday. In that case, school began on September 2. Students had
classes three weeks in a row with Sundays and some holidays off, and then they
had a week break. At the end of every three weeks, a progress report, which was
basically a report card, was sent home. Jasonian society encouraged parents to
monitor their child's academic progress and assist as necessary, so that every
student would do her or his best in every subject.
Simply speaking,
if they were in sixth through eleventh grade or a quaternary school, students
who scored in the top ten percent in a subject placement test attended a fast
class in that subject the next school year, students who scored in the bottom
ten percent in a subject attended a slow class, and students who scored in between
attended a medium class. So a student potentially could attend a fast math
class, a medium science class, and a slow language class.
The
following is a typical tertiary student schedule:
8:00-8:55
A.M. Slow Math
9:00-9:55
A.M. Medium Science
10:00-10:55
A.M. Fast Jasonian
11:00-11:55
A.M. Medium Other Language: Russian
12:00-12:30 P.M. lunch
12:35-1:30 P.M. Fine Arts: Sculpting
1:35-2:30 P.M. Civics
2:35-3:30 P.M. Health
3:35-4:30 P.M. Life Skills
Students were
differentiated (put into different classes because of academic ability) for the
more academically rigorous classes—classes such as Math, Science, Jasonian, and
Other Language. They were not differentiated for the less academically rigorous
classes. Thus, lunch (which really wasn't a class), Fine Arts, Civics, Health,
and Life Skills generally had students from all three groups. This allowed
students from different groups to get to know each other better. After all,
they were expected to eventually work together to make Jasonia prosper once
they were adults.
In Math, students
learned mathematics, including algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus. In
Science, they learned to understand all aspects of life scientifically. They
studied anatomy, biology, geology, astronomy, sociology, psychology,
anthropology, archeology, paleontology, chemistry, and physics, among other
things.
Jasonian was the
name of the official language of Jasonia, so Jasonian students studied it like
British or American students study English. Other Language was a non-Jasonian
tongue. The most common foreign languages studied in Jasonian public school
were Russian, French, English, Spanish, and Latin. But many students studied
other languages, including Greek, Arabic, and Chinese.
Fine Arts was
actually a series of classes. In first grade, all students took drawing,
painting, and sculpting; in second, drama; in third, singing; in fourth,
orchestra; and every year after that, whatever Fine Arts class they wanted.
Students did not
take a formal history class, although history was generally valued by Jasonians.
Instead, they took a Civics class, which taught students what they needed to
know to function well in and contribute the most to society. Civics did include
some history and geography, so that students would know what Jasonia was and
would not be ignorant about the rest of the world. But the main thrust of Civics
was law and social responsibility. Jasonians believed it was foolish to expect
citizens to understand the law of a nation without schools formally teaching
it. In other advanced nations, most people did not understand the law well or
the exact consequences of breaking a law, because they were never formally
taught it.
Why should one
neighbor have to ask another neighbor if something is legal or not? And then,
if the act is illegal, why should one neighbor have to ask another neighbor
what would happen to him or her if she or he broke the law? "No one should
be ignorant of the law in the nation that he or she has lived in all of her or
his life! Where there is a decent public school system, ignorance of the law is
the fault of the government, not the citizen!" Or so argued famed Jasonian
educator, Zippy Postuli, who is often considered the father of the NEA reforms.
Health class often
began with a lesson and always included a physical activity. The lesson taught
students how to be healthy. For example, in the lower grades, the students were
taught how to brush their teeth, eat a balanced meal, and resolve simple
conflicts. In the upper grades, they were taught the complexities of nutrition,
exercise, childcare, first aid, and interpersonal communication. The physical
activity gave students at least thirty minutes of challenging exercise each
day. They played Jasonian rugby, soccer, tug-of-war, dodge ball, capture the
flag, and volleyball. They also did swimming, track and field, obstacle
courses, and rock climbing.
Besides the absence of
differentiation, there were many differences between primary school, and
secondary and tertiary schools. The primary school day was shorter, lasting
only from 9:00 A.M. to 3:15
P.M. The primary schools had Recess, because they gave the students thirty
minutes of unstructured playtime each day. The primary school classes were
fixed, meaning that every group of students stayed together throughout the
entire school day. If students X, Y, and Z were in Math together, they would
also be in Science and Recess together.
Lastly,
a teacher's aide would accompany each group of students to every class. The
purpose of this was to keep students from misbehaving in the hallways or
getting lost. Once in the classroom, the teacher's aide would assist the
instructor as needed. Like secondary and tertiary schools, each subject was
taught by a specialist.
The
following is a typical primary school schedule:
9:00-9:45
A.M. Math
9:45-10:30
A.M. Science
10:30-11:15 A.M. Reading and Speaking
Jasonian
11:15 A.M.-12:00 P.M. Other Language: Russian
12:00-12:30 P.M. Lunch
12:30-1:00 A.M. Recess
1:00-1:45 P.M. Singing
1:45-2:30 P.M. Civics
or Health[1]
2:30-3:15 P.M. Writing
Jasonian
Note that the primary schools had Reading and Speaking Jasonian
as well as Writing Jasonian. After primary school, these two courses were
combined into one class (Jasonian), and Life Skills was added to the curriculum.
The theory was that primary students needed to devout more time to learning the
basics of reading, speaking, and writing than older students. Once they mastered
the basics, a single native language class would suffice to improve their
abilities.
As for Life Skills,
it taught students about various careers and how to excel in them. For
instance, one week they might learn about an aspect of national defense, while
another week they might learn how to type on a keyboard. The purpose of Life
Skills was twofold: to teach students a variety of skills so that they could do
and respect many jobs in Jasonia, and to help the students evaluate the best
job for themselves.
A diploma is a certificate issued
by a school indicating that a certain course of study has been successfully
completed, and all levels of Jasonian education had diplomas. There were
primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary, and college diplomas. There were even
fast, medium, and slow versions of the secondary and tertiary diplomas, because
secondary and tertiary public schools were designed to accommodate almost all
students, regardless of intellectual ability and work ethic. Only the extremely
mentally or physically disabled could not attend a regular public school, but
there were one-on-one tutors and other types of schools for them. These tutors
and alternative schools were paid for by the government, either partially or
completely.
From
secondary and tertiary schools, a Jasonian could graduate with a fast, medium,
or slow diploma. The diploma's designation was based on the type of courses a
student successfully completed on average. If a student took a variety of
differentiated classes, then a mathematical equation was used to determine the
type of diploma. Fast = 5, Mostly Fast = 4, Medium = 3, Mostly Slow = 2, and
Slow = 1.
Suppose
a student passed the required 24 differentiated classes in tertiary school. If five
of those were fast classes, twelve medium, and seven slow, then the formula
would look like this: (5 x 5) + (12 x 3) + (7 x 1) = 68. 68 ÷ 24 = 2.8. 2.8
would be rounded up to three, so the student would graduate with a medium tertiary
diploma, assuming that he or she also passed the required non-differentiated
courses and met attendance standards.
How
did a student successfully complete a course? For fast and medium courses, a
student would first have to get into the course through placement testing. Then
she or he would have to finish the course with a grade point average of 70 or
above. To successfully complete a slow course, a student only had to attend at
least 70 percent of classes in that course during the school year. Most
Jasonians thought that students in the slow classes were lazy, apathetic,
and/or intellectually challenged, and they hoped that such students would at
least learn the basics and graduate from tertiary school on schedule.
What
happened if a student failed a fast or medium course? To receive credit, a
student had to attend at least 70 percent of classes in that course during the
school year. If the attendance criterion was met, a student would receive a
medium class credit instead of a fast class credit for failing a fast class,
and a student would receive a slow class credit instead of a medium class credit
for failing a medium class.
Two
advantages of this system were that students were rewarded for passing the
placement test and, in general, students did not have to repeat grades. Most
Jasonians believed that if a student was smart enough to pass a placement test
into a fast or medium class, then he or she deserved some kind of credit for
her or his academic ability; and the higher the placement score, the higher the
credit the student deserved. If a student failed a fast or medium class, it was
probably not the failure of the test to predict the student's academic ability.
Rather, it was because the student did not work hard enough or the student had
some kind of problem that detracted from his or her educational performance. Perhaps
the student was frequently sick or was grieving the loss of a loved one.
Jasonian
public school students were seldom encouraged to repeat a grade. Making a
student repeat a grade was generally viewed as humiliating, a waste of time,
and in some cases dangerous. It was humiliating to be much older than one's
peers because one failed to meet a certain academic standard. This
unnecessarily made a student appear lazy, apathetic, and/or mentally challenged
to her or his peers and, perhaps, to him or herself. At least in the Jasonian
public school system, students were of the same age in each grade and very
likely to graduate on time.
Repeating
a grade was a waste of time because, in most cases, if a student was lazy,
apathetic, and/or mentally challenged one year, she or he would probably be
lazy, apathetic, and/or mentally challenged the next year. The student could
fix his or her own laziness and/or apathy whether she or he repeated a year of
school or not, but, as American comedian Ron White said, "You can't fix
stupid." Mentally challenged is just a nice way of saying stupid.
As
for being dangerous, it was dangerous for students of widely different age
groups to go to the same school because of the difference in size and
disposition. A fifteen-year-old bully would probably hurt many of his or her
ten-year-old classmates. And Jasonians knew that children tend to have a stronger
sex drive during puberty, so it is not good to regularly expose naive eleven
years olds to a horny sixteen-year-old classmate.
Simply
speaking, the only time a Jasonian student repeated a grade in the public
school system was when she or he did not attend the required amount of school
days in a given school year.
How were Jasonian public schools
funded? They have been funded the same way since 1865. NEA standardized
government funding for public schools by providing the equivalent of 5,000 U.S.
dollars in 2000 each year for every student enrolled in a school. So if a
school had 200 students enrolled, it would receive the equivalent of $1,000,000
from the federal government for all its operating expenses. That government
money would be raised through taxes, not bake sales or bonds.
However,
people could freely donate and raise money for local schools. One or more
individuals could give enough money to a school to offer an extra class or
sports program, or to build a new facility, if the regular $5,000 per student
was not enough.
Not everyone was completely
satisfied with the Jasonian public school system, which is why many Jasonian
towns and cities had at least one private school. Often a parent would send his
or her child to a private school to receive religious indoctrination or to be
educated according to an unusual method, such as that used in modern Montessori
schools. In that case, the $5,000 went directly to the private school in which
the student was enrolled. The parents of a home-schooled child would receive a
$5,000 rebate on their taxes to educate the child at home, if they had paid
$5,000 in taxes that year. If they paid less, they would receive less. For
example, suppose that the two parents of a child paid a combined total of
$4,392.50 in taxes that year and chose to home-school her or him. In that case,
they would only receive $4,392.50 back in taxes to educate their child.
Jasonians
generally respected the right of parents to raise their children as they
desire, so Jasonians supported the right to private school education. However,
Jasonians also realized that children need to be protected from incompetent
parents and incompetent private schools. Thus, all students being educated in
private schools and at home were given the Minimum Competency Test (MCT)
sometime each year in July. The
MCT was a test that most public school students could pass. It focused on
reading, writing, mathematics, and simple facts such as King Jason I was the
last king of Jasonia. There was also an MCT for every age including and between
five and fifteen. So a home-schooled student who was thirteen years old on the
day of the test would take the MCT for Thirteen Year Olds. If a student failed
the MCT, the Jasonian government would investigate to determine whether or not
the student was receiving an adequate education. If the government determined
that the student was not receiving an adequate education, the student might be
forced to attend the closest public school.
This period of time in history gave
rise to another aspect of Jasonian public education, but one that was separate
from the sweeping NEA reforms. Most Jasonians were fascinated by news about the
United States of America,
so it is not surprising that they took great interest in American President
Benjamin Harrison's endorsement in 1892 of the American Pledge of Allegiance. Written
by socialist author and Baptist minister Francis Bellamy earlier that year, the
Pledge was marketed as a way to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of
the New World. The original Pledge was as
follows:
I
pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for
all.
The
Jasonian Congress thought that a pledge of allegiance was a good idea, because
it could be used to efficiently teach national virtues and promote Jasonian
unity. However, they tweaked the American Pledge, and thus was born the Jasonian
Pledge of Allegiance:
All people are of equal worth and
great value, so I promise to value other people and myself equally and greatly.
Everyone can do something, but no
one can do everything. So I promise to always do my best for everyone's sake.
Jasonians
were very conscious that their nation was just one of many nations, all of them
imperfect, although some more so than others. They also were very aware that,
depending on how they were born and raised, they might not be Jasonian. They
had a great chance of being Chinese, Egyptian, Mexican, or whatever. It was the
awareness of these things plus a love for all people that accounts for the
universal nature of the Jasonian Pledge.
Starting
in 1895, the Jasonian Pledge was being recited in all public schools in Jasonia
at the beginning of the school day. The United States soon followed
Jasonia's example, using its pledge in American public schools.
The educational system was not
the only thing reformed during this time in Jasonian history. The militia
system was also restructured. The Industrial Revolution had made most jobs much
more specialized. Most older adults had to focus on things like running
factories and research facilities, and more professional soldiers and sailors
were needed to operate complex military equipment. Therefore, Congress decreed
that all citizens of sound mind and
body had to serve in either the army or navy for two years, generally from the
week after their eighteenth birthday until the week after their twenthieth
birthday. This way, young adults had the opportunity to serve their nation in
the military, and older adults did not have to serve in the militias. The
militias were not totally disbanded, though. A strong national guard was
maintained to suppliment the regular army and navy in the event of a national
emergency. Some
people might suspect that the average Jasonian youth would hate this
arrangement. After all, the military is generally not the most enjoyable place
for eighteen and nineteen year olds. Such people are thinking about the
military of most nations, though. The military of Jasonia was less rigid
socially than other conventional Western militaries. For example, it had equal
numbers of men and women, and its members were free to date each other as they
pleased. There was no restriction on who could have a romantic relationship
with whom in the military, as long as the dating was respectful, age
appropriate, and off-duty. Most Jasonians wholeheartedly agreed with the goal
of the military too. It was a purely defensive and egalitarian institution. No
one could avoid the draft, unless they failed psychological or physical
requirements. One
invention that aided military life was the birth-control pill. Primarily
developed in 1866 by Jasonian scientist Buroni Burangus, the first
birth-control pill became widely available in Jasonia after five years of
careful government testing. It was soon offered for free to all female members
of the newly reformed military as a way to help them avoid pregnancy until their
two-year military commitment ended. The results were generally successful,
although the amount of hormone in the pill had to be lowered to avoid some
unpleasant side effects such as dizziness, severe nausea, vomiting, and stomach
pain. The revolutionary contraception was
not without its critics. The Pope of Rome declared it "a heretical
rejection of God's command to 'Be fruitful and multipy.'" Most Jasonians
generally dismissed the Pope's criticism as being ignorant and reactionary,
wondering why people should obey commands about sex and marriage from a man who
is supposedly never going to have sex or get married. They also ignored other
religious leaders with similar sentiments. The
Daily Umblra, the largest newspaper in Jasonia at the time, published a
well-received editorial, famously proclaiming, "Let them have their own
babies if they want! We won't have babies for them!" The Jasonian Congress
was farsighted enough, though, to realize that an oral contraceptive might
increase promiscuity and, thus, increase sexually transmitted diseases. Therefore,
it greatly expanded efforts to educate the general public about sex and VD. Below
is a pamphlet that was distributed by the Jasonian government to every
household in the nation in 1872.
A DECREE ON SEX BY THE JASONIAN CONGRESS
ISSUED ON APRIL 2, 1872
Extramarital sex means having sex with someone who is not
one’s spouse. One’s spouse is the person to whom one is married. Thus,
extramarital sex can be a form of fornication as well as adultery. Fornication
is sex between two people who are not married to anyone, and adultery is one of
two things: sex between a married and unmarried person, or sex between two
married people who are not married to each other.
Fornication and adultery are often
problematic, because they often cause unwanted pregnancy, spread venereal
disease, and hurt people emotionally. In fact, the Jasonian Congress believes
that adultery is evil. (Simply speaking, fornication is good if it avoids the
aforementioned problems, and it is evil if it does not.)
No matter
what a philosophy or religion teaches about fornication and adultery, many of
its adherents will do these deeds. Therefore, with the guidance of top ethicists,
physicians, and psychologists, the Jasonian Congress offers the following rules
to help fornicators and adulterers be the best people they can be.
1.
Only have sex with someone who agrees to have sex with
you and is an appropriate age for you.
2.
Make certain that you are using adequate and
non-abortive birth-control if pregnancy is likely.
3.
Tell your potential lover that you have a venereal
disease (if you know that you have one) before you do a major sexual deed with
him or her. A major sexual deed is coitus, sodomy, or oral sex.
4.
Be honest and straightforward about your expectations
for the relationship. For example, you should clearly state whether you expect
more than sexual gratification or not, and you should not lie about being
monogamous.
5.
If you are unfaithful to someone you said you would be
faithful to, you should tell her or him about your unfaithfulness within 24
hours of being unfaithful or as soon as possible.
6.
Know and trust your lover enough to reciprocate these
considerations. In other words, you should only have sex with someone whom you
have much reason to believe will use adequate and non-abortive birth-control if
pregnancy is likely, tell you that he or she has a venereal disease (if she or he
knows that he or she has one) before she or he does a major sexual deed with
you, is being honest and straightforward about his or her expectations for the
relationship, and is not lying and will not lie about being monogamous.
7.
Keep the number of sexual partners you have small. This
practice helps one avoid getting and spreading venereal diseases, having
unwanted pregnancies, and hurting people’s feelings. Hurt feelings, in sexual
matters, often destroy good relationships and lead to violence.
As can be expected, this
was a controversial decree. However, it was generally well received because
most Jasonians thought it timely, true, and helpful, and it showed that their Congressional
representatives cared enough about them to risk a political faux pas for the
public good. Only fourteen nationwide decrees have ever been issued by Congress
in all of Jasonian history, and only one other was about sex. The rest were
about a variety of other pressing national issues.
Chapter Seven: Jasonia 1898-1917
Chapter Seven: Jasonia 1898-1917
All mortal humans are a mixture
of good and evil to varying degrees, but most people do not want to believe they might be more evil than good overall.
Americans are no exception. Long before the beginning of the United States,
American colonists started stealing land from and murdering Native Americans,
justifying it as God's will; despite the fact that, if God exists, God always
(or almost always) remains hidden and silent. It seems impossible to determine
for certain God's will on any matter, including territorial conquest. They
also enslaved, beat, murdered, and raped African Americans, preaching from
their pulpits the Biblical justification of such heinous acts. The
justifications for enslavement and beating inadvertently promoted the murder and
rape as well, because it is much easier to murder and rape someone if one can
enslave and beat her or him. One has almost complete control over one's slave;
and beating, like murder, is a form of violence. A severe beating can even
cause murder. One
might expect Americans to become more much moral after they had established
reasonable national boundaries and emancipated their slaves. Sadly, this was
not the case, although most Americans still considered (and consider)
themselves morally superior to the rest of humanity. Most Jasonians were not surprised to
learn that the United States had declared war on Spain for supposedly blowing
up the American battleship, the USS Maine,
in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. It
shouldn't have been there in the first place, they thought. Obviously, it was a ploy so that the United
States could justify attacking Spain and taking Spanish land for itself. Certainly
the Cubans deserved an independent nation if that is what they desired, and
Spain had brutalized Cuba to keep it. But if the United States is determined to
liberate nations, it should completely liberate them, not make them U.S.
puppets or possessions. Jasonian
concerns were justified as the United States severely limited Cuban
independence and enslaved the Philipines. The Filipinos just exchanged one oppressive
foreign ruler for another. Greed for land, wealth, and prestige often seems to
motivate Americans more than the desire to help the less fortunate, although
the latter is usually the excuse Americans use to wage war. Most villains want
to believe they are relatively good people, and most fools want to believe they
are wise. So the villains get the fools to fight for a supposedly noble cause. "Remember
the Maine!"
Jasonians remembered the Maine in
1916 when the United States entered World War I on the side of the Allies. Historians
and politicians say that there were many causes for "the War to End All
War." Most Jasonians believed (and still believe) that the main causes
were greed and stupidity. England and France had large, lucrative empires, and
Germany and Austria-Hungary wanted the same. The former wanted to keep what
they had stolen, and the latter wanted to steal it for themselves. The other nations
involved in the war were secondary players who were sucked into the fighting
for various reasons such as treaties. As for stupidity, it was stupid to fight
for the greed and supposed honor of one's nation, but that is what millions of
men did on both sides of the conflict. The only reason a human should fight a
war is to promote the general happiness of all creatures, including all humans.
As the old Jasonian proverb says, "Doing good is doing what is best for
everyone, and doing evil is doing what is not best for everyone." The
wise nation was like Jasonia, which stayed out of the war and let the greedy
nations destroy each other. The United States was a foolish nation because it
entered the war on the Allied side, supposedly to "make the world safe for
democracy." The irony is that the United States helped the Allies win,
oppress Germany, and set the stage for the rise of fascism, which is exact
opposite of democracy! If the United
States stayed out of World War I, agreed most Jasonians, there probably would not have been a World
War II. The Allied and Central Powers
would have either fought each other to a stalemate or been too exhausted to be
very oppressive victors. The colonies of the combatants would also have been
freed a generation earlier, because the mother countries would have lacked the
means to keep them. Why
did the United States actually enter the war? Were England and France really
more virtuous than Germany and Austria-Hungary? England and France were
democracies, and Germany and Austria-Hungary were monarchies. But England and
France had vast overseas colonies where the inhabitants were oppressed,
exploited, and not allowed to govern themselves. Germany and Austria-Hungary
would have probably done the same if given the chance, but the facts still
remain: Simply speaking, England and France allowed democracy for their own
people and denied it to millions of foreigners; Germany and Austria-Hungary
only denied their own people democracy. The
United States also fought for the right of freedom of the seas. In practice,
this meant that rich Americans had the right to sell supplies to warring
nations and get richer, even if they put the lives of their poorer, ocean-going
workers in danger. In the beginning of World War I, American businessmen
happily profited from selling weapons to both sides of the conflict, yet the
British had a much more powerful navy than the Germans, at least above the
waves. So the British were able to effectively keep American ships from trading
with Germany. Americans did not complain much about freedom of the seas then! Germany
could not compete with Britain above the waves, but it could compete below. German
submarines sank ships coming to and from Britain, effectively hurting Britain's
war effort. This time, though, Americans did complain—a lot. They especially
howled when a German submarine sank the British—that's right, British—passenger liner, Lusitania, off the coast of Ireland, on
May 7, 1915. One thousand one hundred ninety-eight people were killed,
including 128 Americans. Oh, the Americans protested this supposed injustice,
even though there is strong evidence that the Lusitania was actually smuggling arms to Britain and the German
government had warned everyone, especially the people of the United States,
that it might sink any ships going to and from its enemy's homeland. What
was the average Jasonian to make of these facts? Well, being educated in
history, he or she concluded that most influential Americans were a greedy and
warlike people who hated to be left out of a fight that probably would profit
them in the end. They were also hypocrits who liked the soothe their consciences
by saying that they were fighting for liberty, democracy, morality, and the end
of war. What an irony! Don't
misunderstand Jasonia, now. It's not that the United States is morally inferior
than the average nation. It's just that the United States is about morally
equal to the average nation. Forget all the hoopla about "inalienable
rights," and the historical actions of the United States generally make much
more sense. The United States is just another imperfect nation made up of
imperfect people on an imperfect planet in an imperfect universe. The
famous twenthieth century Jasonian philosopher, Ashkabittle, summarized the
Jasonian thought toward the United States:
It's too bad that the United States
didn't just admit the truth to itself. It is about as good and evil as its enemies. Only then will the United States
live up to the best of its
magnificent principles and promote 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' for all people, because all
people—even foreigners—'are created equal.'
Then the American flag will truly represent 'liberty and justice for all.'
Jasonian opinion toward the major warring
nations of the first world war can be
thusly
summarized:
1. Britain and France were
wrong to have built large, overseas empires that exploited natives. They should have been content with just ruling
their homelands and practicing
fair trade and scientific exploration.
2. Germany and Austria-Hungary
were wrong to have started the conflict by declaring
war and attacking first. They also should have been content with just ruling their homelands and practicing
fair trade and scientific exploration.
3. The United States was wrong
to have entered the conflict. It should have been thankful that it could stay out of it. The American government
should have allowed its citizens to
trade and travel to and from warring nations, but it should not have guaranteed their safety. If someone
voluntarily chooses to enter a warzone,
then she or he must be willing to risk his or her life.
4. In short, every nation
involved in the conflict was neither completely right nor completely wrong. They were like animals
fighting for territory, power, a warped sense
of honor, and/or survival.
As the firestorm of war
swept around Jasonia, foreign diplomats from both factions repeatedly tried to
force Jasonia to enter the fight on their side. However, the Jasonian people
and their Congress just said, "No!" Jasonia wanted happiness and
justice, and that is what they got for themselves. Most of the rest of Europe,
though, got the exact opposite.
Trying
to goad the Jasonians into fighting, more than one foreign diplomat said
something to the effect that Jasonia could do more good by being more involved
in the war. To this, the Jasonian government replied that Jasonia could do the
most good by 1) providing a good example of how a nation should be, namely
peaceful unless truly forced to fight, and 2) being available to broker peace
between the warring sides.
1901 was an important year in Jasonian history. That was the year when the
Jasonian Congress finally passed a bill that had been debated periodically for
hundreds of years. This bill officially established the Jasonian Language
Council as a government entity. The J.L.C. began in the fourteenth century when
a group of Jasonian language scholars decided to make the first Jasonian
dictionary. Once the dictionary was finished, the J.L.C. decided to have only
ten permanent members who would improve the dictionary every year. If one of
those ten died, the other nine would select another scholar to take the
deceased's place, thus always maintaining the number of ten. Over time, the J.L.C. became the
authoritative source for everything regarding Jasonian. Grammar, punctuation,
spelling, vocabulary, and definitions were their domain. Every year they would
add new words, and every year they would subtract unnecessary words. They would
occasionally change other aspects of the language too. To keep Jasonian stable
and to avoid extreme changes, at least nine out of the ten J.L.C. members had
to agree on a change for it to become offical. The end result of these policies
was that Jasonian became the most logical, simple, and understandable language
ever spoken by an entire nation. In time, it even became an almost universal
language for business, philosophy, and science. The
J.L.C. members were not snobby, though. They realized that a living language
often changes naturally and that people like to develop and use slang. They
simply insisted that their version of Jasonian should be the Jasonian spoken on
official occasions, such as when the Jasonian Congress wrote a law, teachers
and politicians spoke as part of their job, or serious journalists reported
news. Sometimes, the J.L.C. even adopted changes introduced by unscholarly
Jasonians. The J.L.C. just strove to make Jasonian as perfect as possible,
regardless of the origin of linguistic changes. Starting
in 1901, the ten J.L.C. members were officially selected by the Jasonian Congress,
although the Congress always agreed with the recommendation of the majority of
the remaining J.L.C. members. The new J.L.C. worked all year round and were
paid the equivalent of 40,000 U.S. dollars in the year 2000 for their effort. This
change further refined and promoted Jasonian.
Chapter Eight: Jasonia 1918-1938
Chapter Eight: Jasonia 1918-1938
Russia did not do well, overall, in World War I. By mid-1915, most Russians
knew that their nation was losing because many of their leaders were
incompetent or treasonous. In March of 1917, the Czar's troops refused to stop
rioters in Petrograd (a.k.a. St. Petersburg), and the Czar abdicated. A
provisional democratic government was established, but it made one fatal
mistake: It wanted to stay loyal to the Allied cause and keep fighting in the
war. The Russian people only wanted food and peace, though, and the Communists,
then called the Bolsheviks, promised to give them just that. Communist leaders such
as Vladimir Lenin came close to successfully starting a Marxist revolution, but
in a surprising twist of events, the Russian people generally sided with the
Jasonovich Party. The Jasonovich Party wanted Russia to become more like its
neighbor, Jasonia. Instead of monarchy, it would promote democracy; instead of
socialism, it would embrace limited capitalism; and instead of exporting
revolution or getting entangled in unnecessary wars, it would mind its own
business. By
1919, Russia was well on its way to becoming its own distinct version of Jasonia,
and the Russian people generally very happy. Other nations followed Russia's
example over the course of the twentieth century, including Mongolia, China,
Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cuba, Venezuala, Serbia, Bulgaria, Hugary,
Czeckoslavakia, Germany, Angola, and Mozambique. Despite opposition from more capitalistic
nations, these often bloodless revolutions proved generally successful and are still
going on to this day. Jasonians
rejoiced. They believed that Jasonia had found what was close to being the best
economic and political system for a modern nation, so they were happy that
others were now as fortunate. Furthermore, they had closer allies than ever
before. Now more than ever, Jasonia could work with other nations to benefit
life on Earth. The world was finally figuring out after almost 1,000 years that
humans did not have to oppress and murder each other. They could happily live
in peace! Humans would always be imperfect, but they acted much better in a relatively
perfect polical and economic system.
World
War I ended in 1918 with a complete Allied victory and harsh penalties for
Germany. The United States soon returned to isolationism in which, according to
most Jasonians, it should have stayed. Then the stock market crashed in New
York in 1929, signaling the Great Depression.
The
Great Depression was an economic slump in North America, Europe, and other industrialized areas of the world
that began in 1929 and lasted until about
1939. It was the longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world. . . .
[B]y late 1932 . . . [stock prices] had dropped
to only about 20 percent of their value in 1929. Besides ruining many thousands of individual investors, this
precipitous decline in the value of assets greatly
strained banks and other financial institutions, particularly those holding stocks in their portfolios. Many banks were consequently forced into insolvency; by 1933, 11,000 of the United States'
25,000 banks had failed. The failure of so many
banks, combined with a general and nationwide loss of confidence in the economy, led to much-reduced levels of
spending and demand and hence of production,
thus aggravating the downward spiral. The result was drastically falling output and drastically rising
unemployment; by 1932, U.S.
manufacturing output had fallen to
54 percent of its 1929 level, and unemployment had risen to between 12 and 15 million workers, or
25-30 percent of the work force. The
Great Depression began in the United
States but quickly turned into a worldwide economic slump owing to the
special and intimate relationships that had
been forged between the United
States and European economies after World War I. The United States had emerged from the
war as the major creditor and financier
of postwar Europe, whose national economies
had been greatly weakened by the war
itself, by war debts, and, in the case of Germany and other defeated nations, by the need to pay war
reparations. So once the American economy
slumped and the flow of American investment credits to Europe
dried up, prosperity tended to collapse
there as well. The Depression hit hardest those nations that were most deeply indebted to the United States,
i.e., Germany
and Great Britain. In Germany,
unemployment rose sharply beginning in late 1929, and by early 1932 it had reached 6 million workers, or 25
percent of the work force. Britain was
less severely affected, but its industrial and export sectors remained seriously depressed until
World War II. Many other countries had been affected
by the slump by 1931. . . . The
Great Depression had important consequences in the political sphere. In the United States, economic distress
led to the election of the Democrat Franklin
D. Roosevelt to the presidency in late 1932. Roosevelt
introduced a number of major changes
in the structure of the American economy, using increased government regulation and massive public-works
projects to promote a recovery.
But despite this active intervention, mass unemployment and economic stagnation continued, though on a somewhat
reduced scale, with about 15 percent of
the work force still unemployed in 1939 at the outbreak of World War II. After that, unemployment dropped rapidly as
American factories were flooded with orders
from overseas for armaments and munitions. The depression ended completely soon after the United States'
entry into World War II in 1941. In [much
of] Europe, the Great Depression strengthened
extremist forces and lowered the
prestige of liberal democracy. In Germany,
economic distress directly
contributed to Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933. The Nazis' public- works projects and their rapid expansion
of munitions production ended the Depression
there by 1936. At least in part, the Great
Depression was caused by underlying weaknesses
and imbalances within the U.S.
economy that had been obscured by the
boom psychology and speculative euphoria of the 1920s. The Depression exposed those weaknesses, as it did the
inability of the nation's political and financial
institutions to cope with the vicious downward economic cycle that had set in by 1930 (www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/depression/about.htm
(12/5/06)).
Although
the Great Depression negatively affected Jasonia and the other Jasonian nation
at that time, Russia,
Jasonians did not suffer much and their economy quickly recovered. The same can
be said for the Russians. The reason for these benign effects is that the
limited capitalist economy is less connected to market forces. The richest
citizens have less money to buy and lose stocks. Thus, when they make poor
investment choices, perhaps by doing the equivalent of gambling on the stock
market, which was popular in the 1920s United States, they do less harm. The
wealth of Jasonian nations tends to steadily increase over time, neither
rapidly rising nor falling. The end result benefits all citizens. Every Jasonian citizen
can get rich, although most do not. But the poorest always have enough food,
shelter, and clothing. They also usually have adequate medical care. Such was
certainly not true with those nations hardest hit by the Great Depression,
where starvation, homelessness, and untreated medical problems greatly increased. The most affluent Jasonians
could never reach the level of individual wealth of, say, the wealthiest
Americans, but they happily accepted their lot in general. After all, they were
still rich, they realized that the system was fair and beneficial to all, and
they were actually thankful for the salary cap. It allowed them to become rich
without becoming super-greedy, which is a form of evil.
Chapter Nine: Jasonia 1939-1945
How foolish can people get? Perhaps the best answer to that question are
three words: The Maginot Line. A masterpiece of static defense, the Maginot
Line was a formidable barrier of concrete fortifications built by the French
along the German border. The French were rightly convinced that it would stop a
direct German invasion and allow them time to mobilize their army for a
counterattack. The problem was—and this is tragically hillarious—that the
Germans did not directly attack the Maginot Line with anything but a decoy
force. Instead, it swept through Belgium much like it did during World War I.,
except this time it quickly conquered France! How
foolish! Germany invaded Belgium on August 3, 1914, to avoid the heavily
defended Franco-German border; and then Germany invaded Belgium on September 1,
1939, to avoid the Maginot Line! Who would not have predicted that? The answer:
the French leadership of the 1930s. The
British attempted to help the French but were too late. The Germans drove the
bulk of British forces back to the Atlantic coast where only about half of them
were stealthily shipped back to England. The rest died or were captured. Germany was now free
to conquer most of Europe. With peace-loving Jasonia on its eastern border,
Germany could focus on the north, south, and east. In 1940, they conquered
Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania, and Hungary; in
1941, Sweden, Finland, Yugoslavia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Bessarabia; in 1942,
Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, and European Turkey. In 1943, Germany finally conquered
its greatest European enemy, England, along with the rest of the British Isles
and Iceland. Although large portions of the British Empire remained under
British control, the motherland was now ruled by the Nazis, and Hitler's goal
of ruling the entire world seemed closer than ever. The only nations in Europe
not ruled by the Nazis at this time were Italy, which was a fascist ally;
Albania, which was conquered by Italy in 1939; and Jasonia, Russia, Estonia,
Latvia, and Lithuania. The
first reaction of most Jasonians to World War II was, "Oh boy, here they
go again." Then Nazi Germany successfully conquered most of Europe, and
unlike Napoleonic France, was in a position to hold it indefinitely. The
Jasonian reaction changed to surprise: "Well, I guess one nation could
theoretically rule all of Europe. We had better watch out." This
surprise was slowly changed to disbelief and then extreme concern as rumors of
Nazi crimes against humanity reached Jasonia, which had a large population of
Jews, Gypsies, and other groups targeted by the Holocaust. There was even talk
of invading Nazi-occupied areas to stop the slaughter and free the victims. However,
Jasonia had outlived much European cruelty in its almost-1,000 year history by
being wise while its neighbors were foolish. Why intervene much to stop the
Holocaust when Jasonia did not intervene much during the Medieval witch hunts,
the Inquisition, the Native American genocide and land grab, and the African
slave trade? Most Jasonians believed that Christian Europe would always murder
and exploit one group or another, regardless of what Jasonia did. Besides, the
Holocaust remained rumors to most Jasonians, and the scale of murder was
unknown even to the tens of thousands of refugees fleeing Nazi tyranny, whom
Jasonia temporarilly welcomed with open arms. The debate about attacking the Third
Reich was abruptly ended.on August 8, 1944, when Axis troops blizkrieged across
the western border of Jasonia. In response, Jasonia initiated a secret,
long-idle plan which startled the world with a lesson on the advantages of
preparing for war in times of peace. During the 1920s, Jasonian scientists covertly
invented two revolutionary weapons: the atomic bomb and a long-range missile to
deliver it. Knowing Hitler's lust for conquest, Jasonia prepared a retaliatory
surprise if Germany invaded. On August 9, most of the
Axis army was obliterated within just twenty miles of the German border along
with the ten largest German cities, including Berlin. Hitler and most of the
highest-ranking Nazi leadership were instantly killed. Over the course of
the following week, Jasonian jet fighters and jet bombers (two more secret
weapons developed before World War II) dropped millions of leaflets over
Germany. The most common said the following in German: On one side, "Do
not attack Jasonia, because Jasonia will defend itself!" And on the other,
"Democracy is better than Fascism. Limited capitalism is better than
murder and slavery. No race is the master race."
The Germans were in no position to
oppose
the Jasonians. Native populations in German-controlled areas retook their
national governments, and Germany was in chaos. Thousands of Pro-Nazis murdered
thousands Anti-Nazis and vice versa. By November 1944, the starvation and
lawlessness were so extreme in Germany that the Jasonian Congress authorized an
unprecedented humanitarian military intervention. Two hundred thousand Jasonian
troops invaded Germany and set up a military dictatorship. Within ten years,
Jasonia rebuilt much of Germany and established a stable and benevolent
democracy. Two years after that, the last Jasonian forces withdrew. The Jasonian invasion proved beyond
any reasonable doubt the ugly truth of the Holocaust, as Jasonian forces discovered
many concentration camps full of dead bodies. The Allied and Jasonian nations
were terribly saddened by the plight of all the victims of the Holocaust,
especially the Jews; and the British were eager to give half of Palestine to
the Jews so that they could have a homeland. Jasonia remained unsupportive of
the British proposal, though, proclaiming that the Palestinians were the rightful
owners of all of Palestine, and neither the British nor the Jews should take
away their land. Many
Zionists countered that God had given Palestine to the Jews and that it had
been settled and ruled by Jews for hundreds of years. The Jasonian leadership
responded that there was virtually no evidence that God had given Palestine to
the Jews any more than that God had given it to the Palestinians. Just because the
Bible records the act does not make the act true. In any case, the Jews had
long settled elsewhere and the Palestinians had occupied Palestine for over
1,900 years. One thousand nine hundred years is enough time for one group to
rightfully take ownership of an area of land from another group. Given
Jasonian power and prestige at this time, the British eventually agreed not to
give part of Palestine to the Jews. Perhaps much trouble was averted involving
Jews, Arabs, and various nations. In any case, most of the surviving Jews
settled throughout the world, particularly in North America and receptive parts
of Europe, including Jasonia. Many Jews also emigrated to Palestine. Those who
tried to steal land from the Palestinians were killed, imprisoned, or deported.
But those who bought land and respected the locals were generally allowed to
stay. Jasonia officially supported the peaceful settlers, but it basically let
the Palestinians and Jews work out matters themselves. As the
Jasonian national representative, Percival Flabbergast, said at the time,
"Jasonia is officially a secular nation, not a Jewish, Christian, or
Muslim nation. This is just one more reason why it should not side with either
Jews, Christians, or Muslims on the issue of Palestine. We wish that those
peoples would learn to live according to the better tenents of their respective
religions and share the supposedly holy places fairly. Yet if they want to kill
each other over the land that they believe is holy, we will not stop
them."
World War II officially ended on August 14, 1945, when the Japanese Empire
unconditionally surrendered to the United States, following the nuclear
annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many Jasonians were upset and
frightened that a non-Jasonian nation could develop the then ultimate weapon. Yet
the Jasonian Congress declared that the Golden Rule applied even when it was
inconvenient. If Jasonia was willing to develop nuclear weapons, then it must
be willing to let other nations develop nuclear weapons too. Two
devastating world wars in less than forty years made the leading nations of Earth
eager for more peace and prosperity. To achieve these goals, the victorious
Allied and Jasonian powers established the United Nations (U.N.) in 1945. Perhaps
the greatest Jasonian contribution to the U.N. was the End of War Treaty
(E.W.T.). At first, the United States, Britain, and France refused to seriously
consider the idea because it would greatly restrict their imperialism. They
eventually agreed to accept the treaty, however, for both moral and practical
reasons. It
was moral because it promoted equality, justice, and respect between all
nations, and it was practical for two reasons. One, unless they accepted the E.W.T.
as part of the U.N. charter, they would obviously be hypocritial and imperialistic;
and, two, the Jasonian nations would not join the U.N., meaning that the U.N.
would be missing three major world powers: Jasonia, Russia, and (once it
regained its strength) Germany. The U.N. could not possibly claim to represent
practically the whole world without the Jasonian nations. The E.W.T. was developed
from a treatise called "How to Stop War Forever," which was the
brainchild of the Jasonian Peace Commission, a team of 25 Jasonian leaders,
intellectuals, and specialists. Here, in its original form, is the document:
How
to Basically Stop War Forever
by
the Jasonian Peace Commission
completed
on August 7, 1942
Perhaps the greatest evil to
afflict humanity is war. It forces good people to kill other good people;
wastes valuable resources; poisons land, water, and air; promotes rape,
robbery, mental illness, dehumanization, and slavery; and makes sad and angry
victims for generations to come. These victims usually want revenge, and the
desire for revenge often starts a new war.
Some
people will argue that war is the law of God and Nature. Humans have always
fought each other, and God does not stop it. Furthermore, Nature seems to be
based on survival of the fittest. Simply speaking, in war the fittest wins, and
the least fit loses.
We
believe, however, that if God exists, God does not stop war for a good reason: God
has given us humans the ability to stop war by ourselves. We are blessed with
the intelligence, compassion, and other resources necessary to stop murdering
each other.
The question
arises, though, Why does God not just stop us? After all, if God is our Divine
Parent, isn't it God's duty to stop us from killing each other? A human parent
should be punished for allowing one of her or his children to murder another. The
most likely answer is that God put us in this life to develop into morally
superior creatures. This universe is thus a factory for true heroes, saints if
you will. Forcing people to conform to morality will not produce saints. People
have to choose to be moral themselves. Then in the next life, God can joyfully
and justly reward the saints. (Please note that by the word "saint"
we mean people who choose to be relatively good rather than relatively evil.)
As for Nature, we
are convinced that human beings did evolve from animals and that animals do
operate according to the survival of the fittest—two doctrines that Charles Darwin
taught so well. Yet, though we came from animals, we are not just animals. Our
intellectual and emotional abilities are greater than any other species on this
planet. We have the ability to cure diseases; make computers, telephones,
rockets, and atomic energy; and grow abundant, healthy, and genetically
enhanced crops. We also have the ability to put those things to good use, as so
many saintly people throughout history have shown us.
We should go
beyond the animalistic version of survival of the fittest and should take
control of our own evolution. The animalistic version of survival of the
fittest—what Darwin
called natural selection—is a brutal and wasteful process. It often involves
enduring starvation, disease, pain, and killing. It always involves genetic
mutation, and most genetic mutations are unproductive. Only a small fraction of
naturally occurring genetic mutations actually help a species reproduce and
survive. Most make the mutated individual's life more difficult, if not
impossible.
We should embrace a
new version of survival of the fittest. With science, we should develop
healthier and happier people; and with education, we should develop morally
superior people. Instead of letting less fit humans die before they reproduce,
we can help them understand—in a gentle and respectful way—that they should
choose to not reproduce. We can even help them to succeed in not reproducing
once they have made their decision.
For example,
suppose that two mentally handicapped adults want to have sex. Who can blame
them? Practically everyone wants to have sex. However, mentally handicapped
people should not reproduce for two reasons: One, they are very likely to beget
a mentally handicapped child, or at least a child with mentally handicapped
genes which will probably manifest themselves in a future generation; and two,
they are not qualified to care for children as human parents should. Therefore,
the friends, family, or government of the mentally handicapped couple should
gently and respectfully encourage them to choose to not beget children. And
once the couple make that choice (assuming they do), then their friends, family,
or government should pay for their sterilization or birth-control, if the
couple cannot do so themselves.
Please realize
that we are not advocating forced sterilization. Forced sterilization would
probably cause more problems than it fixes. All people, even those who should
not procreate, should have the freedom to beget children. Taking away that
freedom will cause much resentment, because the urge to have children is very
strong in many people and practically everyone wants freedom.
Lastly, before we
explain our plan for stopping all war forever, we want to refute one final
argument for war. Some people actually argue that war is good for reasons other
than it determines the survival of the fittest. Such people argue that war
promotes the economy, scientific advances, and (believe it or not) virtue. Yet,
just like we humans can have survival of the fittest without war, we can have
these other things too.
Yes, war can
restart a stalled economy, as World War II did for the United States of America
during the Great Depression. However, so too can sensible government programs,
wise investing, and hard work. Surely we do not need war to do these things. Education
will do. Furthermore, war tends to destroy more economies than it helps. The U.S. economy
benefited from World War II, but the economies of Germany, Japan, France, England, the Netherlands, Greece, and Italy did not.
Yes, war often
encourages scientific advances. During war or when preparing for war, nations often
develop more deadly tanks, planes, guns, and bombs. But how do those things
directly benefit ordinary citizens? They usually only indirectly benefit them
by making their nation stronger militarily. More practical scientific advances
tend to be peaceful rather than militaristic endeavors. Telephones, cars,
computers, and most medicines were developed to help humanity, not to fight
wars. In fact, one could argue that they were developed despite wars.
What about the
virtues that war encourages in people: dedication, hard work, physical fitness,
mental toughness, loyalty, bravery, and self-sacrifice? These virtues can be
cultivated without killing people. They can even be cultivated with other
important virtues, such as compassion for all people, without war. With war, it
is almost impossible to cultivate them without teaching hatred for some people,
namely one's enemies.
Now that we have
firmly established the obvious—war is a great evil that should be stopped—allow
us to describe our plan for stopping war forever.
Step
One: Set proper political boundaries.
A respected,
international organization, such as a League of Nations that equally represents
every nation on Earth, should draw the permanent political boundaries between
all nations, because one frequent source of war is territorial disputes. The
organization should start with a map of the world that shows the dominant
languages of geographic areas. Since language usually indicates natural
cultural and patriotic compatibility, this is a good place to start. During
this initial phase, let the area where people speak German be called Germany,
English England, Polish Poland, Spanish Spain, Turkish Turkey, Arabic Arabia,
Kurdish Kurdistan, Chinese China, Japanese Japan, Swahili Swahililand, et
cetera.
This initial
division is obviously imperfect, although it is a good start. One of its flaws
is that, in some cases, it groups together large numbers of incompatible
people. For example, Americans do not want to be part of England even
though they speak English, and Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims probably do not
want to belong to the same nation even if both groups speak Arabic. Thus, the
initial divisions should be divided further to accommodate problematic
religious, political, and other cultural differences.
What is left is an
almost perfect division of nations. The main problem is the large pockets of
minority groups in majority lands, when the minorities and the majorities are
traditional enemies. If the arrangement is detrimental to either the minority
or the majority group, then a peaceful and unforced relocation should be
offered. If two nations border each other and are traditional enemies, and if
both these nations have large groups of each others' people in their
borders—which is often the case—then they should encourage a trade of land and
people. Notice we wrote encourage. Neither nation should force this trade.
Take the example
of Nation A and Nation B. The people of those two nations generally hate each
other, yet each has citizens that would be better off in the other nation. The
people of Nation A generally follow Religion A, and the people of Nation B
generally follow Religion B. But Nation A has thousands of people who practice
Religion B, and Nation B has thousands of people who practice Religion A. To
solve this problem, the governments of both nations should peacefully encourage
its problematic minorities to trade land with each other. The Religion B farmer
in Nation A should trade fields with a Religion A farmer in Nation B. The Religion
A homeowner in Nation B should trade houses with the Religion B homeowner in Nation
A.
What about a
situation in which two nations border each other but do not have an equal
amount of minority citizens or land to trade? The nations should trade what
minority citizens and land they can, until one nation has no more minority land
or citizens to trade. Then the nation with surplus minority citizens and land
should trade with its majority citizens where it borders on the other nation. For
example, suppose that there are more Serbian people and land in Croatia than
there are Croatian people and land in Serbia. The two nations should
trade their minority people and land until Croatia has no more Serbian people
or land to trade. That is when Croatia
shrinks until all the Serbs in Croatia
who are willing to relocate to Serbia
have done so. Obviously, Croatia's
shrinkage will be on its border with Serbia, because it is giving land
to Serbia
to accommodate the influx of Serbs.
What should a
government do with minority citizens if they refuse to relocate? First of all,
the government has to decide if it wants to encourage the minority citizens to
relocate or not. Many governments value their minority citizens. Second, a
government should respect the right of all its citizens to live where they
want, even its minority citizens. Yet, if a government wants a minority group
to relocate, it can do at least two nonviolent, respectful things. (Note that a
government should never be violent or disrespectful toward its law-abiding citizens,
even when they are problematic minorities.)
The first thing is
that the government can increase taxes on the minority group to a reasonable
but uncomfortable level. Muslim empires did this to their Christian subjects in
the past with much success. Some Christians kept their faith, but most
converted to Islam. They metaphorically moved from one religion to another.
The second thing
is that the government can pay for moving expenses and provide positive
incentives. These positive incentives might take the form of money. For
example, the government might pay a reluctant minority family a substantial sum
to relocate. In any case, though, the government should make sure that the
unwanted minority citizen has an appropriate place to relocate, because it would
not be fair to make him or her homeless.
Step
Two: Protect the borders at all cost.
Once
all political borders are as perfect as possible, the nations of the world must
protect them at all cost. The cardinal rule is that no nation may invade a
nation without the consent of the aforementioned international organization. Therefore,
if Germany
shoots a rocket into France,
France
may shoot a rocket into Germany;
but it may not send troops, unless it gets the international organization's
approval. If Germany does send troops, the rest of the world should defend
France, and the damage that German troops did to France during that war should
be done to Germany. Furthermore, the German leadership, in particular, should
be punished because the leaders made the decision and, in many cases, forced
the ones they led to invade. They might have even organized a military draft.
The
rule is that the retaliation should be roughly equal so that the conflict does
not escalate. This is the old principle of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a
tooth. The principle can be brutal, but it is just, because it punishes people
as they deserve, not too much and not too little. In this case, the people
being punished will be whole nations, and if this system is wisely and
consistently enforced, no nation will invade another. Thus, there will never be
another war between nations again.
One
important point to mention is that the international organization must be
extremely fair and wise. It must successfully prevent unjust situations happening
before one nation has a good reason to invade another, and it must seek just
and effective diplomatic solutions to crises or potential crises to avoid
giving nations rationales for invading. If the German government is not doing
enough to stop its people from launching rockets into France, then
the international organization can vote to impose economic sanctions or even
the removal of the German government. In the latter case, it can organize a
large army made up of a majority of nations to invade, occupy, and reconstruct Germany. It can
even establish a German government that is guaranteed to do what it should to
stop its people from attacking France.
Here is a hypothetical but probable
situation. Suppose that Nation C believes that Nation D is developing nuclear
weapons and wants to stop Nation D. What should happen is that Nation C should
bring its concern to the international organization. The international
organization should then investigate the charge. If proven true, the
international organization should do what is appropriate. Suppose that the
appropriate response is to insist that Nation D's government stop its nuclear
weapons program, and suppose further that Nation D's government refused to do
so. In that case, the international organization should probably authorize an
international invasion, occupation, and reconstruction of Nation D.
Some
might argue that the result of an invasion by Nation C and an invasion led by
the international organization would be the same, but they would not. Nation C
basically represents just its own interests, but the international organization
represents the whole world. If Nation C invades Nation D with just a few
allies, then the average citizen of Nation D is likely to believe that Nation C
is wrong and her or his nation is being victimized. But if the international
organization invades, the average citizen of Nation D is likely to believe that
his or her government is wrong and her or his nation is being fixed. Moreover,
what he or she believes is also likely to be what most others in the
international community will believe in this case.
Step
Three: Promote just representative government.
Human
beings will always find something to fight over. If it is not political
borders, it might be the distribution of wealth within a nation. In order to
avoid the need for civil war, the international organization should promote
just representative government.
Step
Four: Occasionally, the international organization
will
have to reorganize political borders.
People
are dynamic. They are always changing, and that means that the borders of one
century might not be best for the next century. Suppose, for instance, that a
new religious group becomes prominent in a nation, and they want to be separate
from that nation or the majority wants to be separated from them. In such a
case, the international organization should reorganize that nation into two
nations. The one nation will consist of traditional citizens, and the other
nation will consist of members of the new religion.
Any such political
changes should be determined through a democratic means. Let us just say that
if 51% or more of adult voters in a group want to be separated from the other
group and both groups are at least 10% of a nation's population, then the nation
should be divided into two, although not necessary two halves of equal size.
Of course, the
opposite could happen. The dividing factors between two nations could diminish
so much that the two nations want to become one. In such a case, both nations
should hold a vote. If the majority of adults in both nations vote to end their
separation, the two nations should become one. And, led by the international
organization, the whole world should recognize the new and enlarged nation.
Nations might
choose to merge for economic reasons. For example, one nation might have a
natural resource such as oil and another nation might have a geographic
resource such as ocean access. In that case, they might choose to become one
nation for convenience and profit.
Such a merger, of
course, would be accomplished through democratic means, and it could easily be
reversed through democratic means. There should be no need for a civil war. If
at least 10% of a nation's population wants to break off from a nation, then it
should be allowed to do so.
Step
Five: Restrict immigration.
Immigration
is when one person moves from one nation to another. A nation should guard its
borders so that unwanted immigrants cannot enter. Unwanted immigration could be
like an invasion, because unwanted immigrants might come to dominate an area
outside of their nation and, thus, claim it for their nation. A similar case
happened in Texas
in the nineteenth century. Mexico
encouraged Americans to settle the Texas
area, hoping that the Americans would become loyal Mexican citizens. However,
the American citizens eventually revolted against the Mexican government and
set up the Republic
of Texas. Then this
republic later joined the United
States.
Nations
can accept immigrants, but if they do, they must also accept the risk of
immigration. Therefore, if someone wants to immigrate to a nation, she or he
should sign a contract with the legitimate government of that nation. The
contract should state the rights, responsibilities, and time of stay. Perhaps
the rights and responsibilities will be those of a full citizen, or perhaps the
immigrant will not be allowed to participate in the political process. Perhaps
the time of stay will be indefinite, or perhaps it will be until a construction
project or university education is completed.
Illegal
immigrants and their children can always be forcefully returned to their
country of origin. So too can immigrants who break their contracts with the
government of the nation into which they moved.
Step
Six: Retaliate for weaker nations.
Not
all nations are of equal strength. Some have strong militaries, and others do
not. Some have nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons; and others do not. If
a stronger nation attacks a weaker nation without just cause, the nations of
the world, led by the international organization, should retaliate for the weaker
nation.
For
example, suppose that Jasonia dropped a nuclear bomb on the capital of Italy for an
unacceptable reason. The international organization should get another nation
with nuclear weapons to drop a nuclear bomb on the capital of Jasonia, because Italy does not
have nuclear weapons. That way, justice is served, and other nations are not
likely to attack as Jasonia did.
Chapter Nine: Jasonia 1946-The present
Since the E.W.T. and the founding of the U.N., there has been almost no war
between nations. Only three nations invaded three other nations on three
different continents during the ensuing years. In each case, an international
coalition of nations, directed by the U.N., repulsed the invaders and damaged the
invading nation approximately as much as it damaged the nation it invaded. Also,
in two out of those three cases, the U.N. coalition changed the leadership of
the invading nation, replacing it with a benign democracy. The former leaders
were imprisoned for life, convicted of multiple murders. Starting unjust wars
causes multiple murders.
Civil wars were much more
common than international wars, because the U.N. was usually reluctant to
intervene in an internal struggle. Sometimes, though, the U.N. would vote to
stop a civil war for humanitarian reasons. For instance, it stopped genocides
in Cambodia and Rwanda. Despite the relative commonality of civil wars compared
to international wars, the number of civil wars greatly dropped over the
decades, and peace became the rule on Earth rather than the exception.
Some people used to worry that humanity would stagnate or be bored without
war. Yet, the opposite happened. Humanity poured its wealth and effort into becoming
more good and happy. The result was a relatively virtuous and joyful world
society. Hunger, crime, disease, and depression were almost eliminated, and
humanity, in its new and improved form, began to settle its solar system and
beyond. Instead of bringing war and destruction to new worlds, it brought peace
and creation. King Jason's goal of building the first truly just nation
evolved into building the first truly just Earth. From there, his goal might
evolve into building the first truly just galaxy.
Read Jaysonia, at last. Highly entertaining with excellent points made. Obviously tongue in cheek
Hi Jayson,
intented with some artistic licence so I shall pass over any criticism of historical inaccuracies.
Rather than refer to specific words or sentences I have decided to reference your page numbers to my comments. So here goes....
P.3 Exactly what I meant by Hobbesian ideals
P.4 The argument I put forth in a previous email discussion with you.
P.5/6 In some Islamic communities in Africa, the rattan across the backside in public is usually the accepted and preferred punishment of errant villagers; a short spell of embarrassment and all is forgiven. Whether Allah believes so is another matter.
Public executions in England ceased in,1868. The last execution at The Tower of London,15th August 1941 a German Luftwaffe pilot ,Josef Jakobs ,the charge as follows“Committing treachery in that you at Ramsey in Huntingdonshire on the night of 31 January 1941/1 February 1941 descended by parachute with intent to help the enemy.Although Jakobs argued that he had always intended to give himself up the verdict could hardly have been in doubt. The historic final death warrant was passed to the Constable of the Tower:
LD/SR A(s) 1 MOST SECRET
To: The Constable of H.M. Tower of London. 13th August 1941.
Sir,
I have the honour to acquaint you that JOSEF JAKOBS, an enemy alien, has been found guilty of an offence against the Treachery Act 1940 and has been sentenced to suffer death by being shot.
The said enemy alien has been attached to the Holding Battalion, Scots Guards for the purpose of punishment and the execution has been fixed to take place at H.M. Tower of London on Friday the 15th August 1941 at 7.15am.
Sgd. Sir Bertram N. Sergison-Brooke,
Lieutenant-General Commanding London District.
Most spies and traitors were hanged at Wandsworth Prison during the war. The decision to execute Jakobs by Firing Squad at the Tower appears to be because he was still suffering from his injuries – he could not stand up. He was blindfolded and placed in a chair for the execution – the officer in charge gave a silent signal to the Firing Squad and he was shot dead.
Anywhere in U.k. 1964;
The murder of John Alan West on 7 April 1964 was the crime which led to the last time a death sentence was executed in the United Kingdom. West was a 53-year-old van driver for a laundry when he was killed by Gwynne Evans and Peter Allen who had gone to rob him at his home in Seaton, Cumberland. Both murderers were unemployed and had a history of petty crime; they were arrested and charged within two days of the crime. At trial, each blamed the other, but the jury by its verdict found both responsible. Use of the death penalty had been declining and the decision not to reprieve the two came as a surprise.
P.7 I once had a project going myself. I was studying Anglo-Saxon economy from 6th century and so created lineages for 3 fictional saxon kings who vied for territorial supremacy over each other and so, raise taxes from the populations under their rule in orde tor fuel their campaigns for further conquests the following year. The populations obviously had little access to coinage or bullion and so had to surrender the equivalent in livestock or grain/vegetable produce.Using a pack of playing cards I transmuted their face values into cash or bullion e.g Red kings could be 50 s. or 50lb of silver Black kings 20s or 20lb of silver Red Jacks 5s Black Jacks 2/6d Numbered cards 2-10d Aces could either be 1s or 1d. The ratio of the difference of each kings coffers being blindly dealt out by the cards determined the ratio of population of England at that tme and territory available to them.
E.G. King A could be dealt 56% of territory and population to tax one year but only 34% next year.
My task then to commue that into livestock and grain/vegetable produce according to the true agricultural potential of that region at that time for each kingdom. A lengthy process but it taught me alot about unfair distribution of taxes and the hardships of the small farmers and villiens who had to raise their portion of taxes from posssibly poor soil or poor harvest due to many extraneous factors for overlords who only interested themselves in their power games.
P.9 A friend and I have been holding a discussion on whether income tax should be abolished in favour of purchase tax. We think the fairness is in that we pay tax only on the things we choose to buy or use but I think this could be detrimental concerning public transport in U.K. as it is heavily subsidized by government.On the other hand if it was managed more responsibly by government ministers who actually know what they're dong instead of ministers who are shuffled into that post by their Prime Minister's periodical re-shufflig of cabinet along with the transport bosses who appear to be more interested in their fat profits than providing a decent service.Maybe a few salary cuts and a budget tailored to the needs of the nation and their cities would put things aright with public taking responsibility. Unfortunately many would rather keep things the way they are and satisfy themselves by grumbling at the constant delays and cancellations to their services because of 'the wrong snow' or a 'pea on the track' and other ridiculous excuses they give for said inconvieniances.
Why can't they take the advice of nations used to adverse conditions so as to prepare for adverse weather that shall increase from now on ? Because it eats into their profits. Oh, they do go on fact finding jaunts/junketts to these countries, Scandanavia and upstate New York, for instance, but only to stuff their fat faces at he expense of other nations' taxes.
P.10 -12 What was Jasonia's population and life expectancy c.!000? Saxon England's piopulation was approx 2 or 3 million Saxon and Romano-Britains and life expectancy for the average person rarely exceeded 40,. Kings and nobles 50-60 so your King Jason was the right age for that era...Youths were considered adult at 12 for girls and 13 for boys,I expect life expectancy would rise and infant mortality fall as healthcare and medical knowledge evolved.
One of my wilderness musings whilst in Scotland came up with a scenario based on that Danny Devito film where he plays a teacher who allows his new pupils to continue chatting or reading comic books while he got on with his Shakespear until they one day asked what he was reading everyday. He replied something along he lines of " Oh, only the usual stuff, murder, robbery, incest, bigamy, treason. Nothing interesting. Of course that did interest the kids and so he could begin teaching them something useful for life, thus exercising the old chinese or buddhist sage's proverb of awaiting as when the pupil is ready he will to come to you.
Well, my musing found a boy reading Judge Dredd in class. Instead of reacting as normal, with outrage, I asked him how he would bring law and order to Megacity? Moreover how would he do it differently to Judge Dredd. I even suggested he create a comic strip of his method.I told him also that I would match his with mine. so what follows is mine based on what I've learned on how the Yellow Emperor sages of.China maintained law and order;
Lee Quo is a well seasoned magistrate of another Mega city who has been commissioned to bring law and orer to a larger Megacity whose previous magistrate has paid for his ineptitude with his life at the hands of one of the many bands of brigands and mobsters who truly rule this Megacity .
Taking stock of the situation his first act is to fortify the city walls with burly but responsible policeman/guardians then proclaims a blanket amnesty for all criminals within and outside the walls upon certain conditions. He grades criminals in three classes: 1] Hardened career criminals and violent thugs 2] Petty non violent criminals 3] errant youth although violent are just in need of correct education and civilizing
Now, those in class 1 who agree to abide by his jurisprudence when publicly proclaimed and agree to act civily will earn citizenship by becoming soldier-guardians protecting the city and lawful visitors from outside, against those who refuse civilization, choosing to remain violent criminals. These soldier-guardians shall have full protection of Quo's jurisprudence but shall remain OUTSIDE her city walls but in military camps of standard of any modern military camp in U.S and Europe. They have Quo's sanction to deal with these criminals as they feel fit but only if they offer violence, not if they behave.Outsiders who wish to visit shall have to provide papers to that effect or be treated as class1 criminals by Quo and subject to soldier-guardian discretion.Llike- wise for those choosing to leave however, temporarily.Class 2 criminals will be freed on condition that if they are caught commiting further criminal offences they wil be thrown out to take their chances with the class 1 criminals WITHOUT protection from Quo's jurisprudence Class 3 youths will be rehabilitated in Quo's schools.to become worthy valid citizens.Any that refuse will be thrown OUTSIDE with the class 1's until they change their minds, if they survive to do so.
This all may sound harsh, but as you know, Megacity has been harsh on decent citizens for far too long. But those who choose rehabilitation will have decent billets whilst they create their own town from scratch each choosing how they wish to serve and contribute.They will also be assured of employment upon graduation from rehabilitation. If they can't find employment anywhere in the city,they will be offered places as warders of other errant youths or as police officers if they wish so..
Those Soldier-guardians living OUTSIDE will prove their citizen worthiness by the standard of how well they maintain their base camp quarters. Quo will take time out to inspect them for himself, periodically and choose who is Citizen worthy and so qualify for living WITHIN city walls,if they so wish to..
Quo's aim is to gradually elevate the citizens of Megacity to the standard of living,and health and welfare he enjoys, thus eliminating the need for crime WITHIN the city Maybe then, he will consider inviting those still OUTSIDE interested but still skeptical to a police officer escorted tour allowing them to inspect any home or public establishment .If any are convinced and choose to rehabilitate their criminal records shall be expunged and recruitment and training as police officer or soldier- guardian shall commence.
As to democracy, Quo proposes that citizen's provide their own charter /manifesto of how they percieve law and order, legal rights and social services for their welfare.Meanwhile Quo will write up his own charter.Upon the citizens completing and submitting theirs, he will,submit his for public scrutiny and ask them to choose which they feel is the better. If he finds theirs wanting, he will say so but also ask what of his they would liked changed and why.If they are adamant in choosing theirs however flawed he believes it to be,he will allow them 2 years to prove him wrong. If however he is proven correct they will have to follow his charter and corresponding jurisprudence for 20 years, enough timespan for the children and infants to be of voting responsibilty according to his education program. If he believes their charter is equally valid as his,some comprimises here and there will be made and a People's Charter or Constitution shall be ratiified
Quo, along with his choice of magistrates either from the cityitself or from other Megacities if there is a paucity of qualified magistrates shall practice jurisprudence according to this Charter or Constitution [considering there are only Megacities ,no nations, can it possess a constituion? I'm assuming so, as the original constitution was created by the' will of the people 'not the will of the land] These magistrates will teach aspiring youths to the bar and to magistracy as well as teaching Megacity jurisprudence in all Quo's schools so every pupil shall, be electorally savvy at graduation if not legally trained for police,military or magisterial careers.
There shall be no heirarchy of government posts all are to be considered of equal importance Those that have been created purely to benefit 'grafters' and 'rubber stampers' will be dissolved
As to protection from class 1 criminals of invading Megacities, Quo shall put his scientists to work on creating a force field to repel them. This force field shall detect the negative energy eminating from violence and repel it whilst detecting poitive energy from peaceable people This will do away with documentation for visitors and citizens who wish to come and go as they please.There will be a customs portal for them to enter when their positive energy is detected and verified. But what if negative people sheild their bad vibrations?,you probably ask . Underlying negative energy will always be detected by aura emination. a devce within the portal shall display an entrants aura for negative colouration.This will enable the portal to remain intact over the entire city whilst allowing entrance and exit to valid citizens. I feel the taxes saved from buying weapons shall pay for it's maintainance
As to medicine; two branches 1] Preventative and healing 2] Curative and healing First shall be holistic medicines and practices second shall be allopathic as well as holistic. Spend less on expensive pharmecuticals and more on healing the mind and soul as a healthy mind sustains a healthy body to be more effficient at repelling and fighting off diseases already taken hold. I've learned that the potenial for disease hangs around the body's energy field waiting for a niche or tear to invade A positive mind set helps keep the energy field intact as I propose Quo's Megacity force field.This will also lead to less intrusive surgery.Money saved by not squandering it on war mongering shall pay for research into technological advances in unintrusive surgery. There is a surgical machine in use that can operate by remote control, so a surgeon from his master machine just directs a surgical prod at a specific organ or part of it so that the needle or scapel on a corresponding machine anywhere in the world can perform the physical surgery. Since we can't escape from bodily injuries due to ifinite acccidental or intended factors, we can at least open our minds to the posibilties of others' medical lore, however alien to western mindsets to heal broken limbs, failing organs and nervous systems.
P.14 Is there a specific reason for it being 40 days for ere-election of Senate, House of Representative and impeachmet ?
As to blind justice in the U.k this flounders as upper classs criminals are given ligher sentances by upper and middle class magistrates who are not so leniant with those lower class criminals who rob banks,yet do little for the pensioner that gets mugged and beat half to death if not killed outright. Although a lower class person may aspire to the bar I can well imagine their 'taking silk' being blocked by prejudice from within their own chambers. This from one time barrister and playwright John Mortimer famous for his Rumpole of The Bailey T.V.series Have you ever seen it?
Anyway, Lawyers' chambers in his day were riddled with class prejudice, so he created his righteous plain speaking barrister that worked to keep people out of prison if possible yet see that justice was done not just seen to be done.He believed a guilty person of minor offences should pay an appropriate fine or do public service instead of jail
P.15 My sentiments as to the law is a code of conduct and to live by the spirit of it. Magistrates should temper the law with heart rather than mind and reason alone, where necessary. This means taking account of family situations that would make things worse for a child's welfare if the parent or parents were jailed, not allowing criminal and violent thugs get away with murder.who deserve harsh sentances yet give them the opportunity to rehabilitate when they are ready, don't impoose it upon them. Do as Lee Quo with his Megacity.
As to magistrates, I suggest four as minimum positioned at the compass points around a circular court.at a level higher than the rest of court in order to watch over proceeding The centre stage used for enactments of witness statements and other enactments appropriate to case in session. and displaying evidence clearly to the Court Magistrates can make their notes from their perspective during the case and then refer with their colleages at summing up for sentencing or ruling .
Other judicial matters such as coroners inquiries and the like shall continue less formally as is normal.in U.K.
As to jurys, although I hold with the principle, A documentary has found them fallen in standards in recent years as those with criminal records have been selected as they are easier for the courts to track down and summons. Having looked it up,,only those convicted of crinmal offenss within past 10 years are exempt from jury service, so the documentary may have misleaded us, or I have forgotten tha it was mentioned After all everybody should be given the chance to go straight and not be continually harrassed by the police if it's a one off offence or a series of offences commited whilst a youth.
Further on educating children and adults on the law,it would prepare them to be more discerning of what is being said on all sides in court so as not to be conned by clever prosecutors as well as defenders presenting their cases to jury.It would also prepare employees to be aware of scams organised by their trade union bosses against them as they collude with corporate and industrial employers as well as governments, if it be so
Your Oath of Service to the nation is honorable in my eyes and a good premiss to dismiss corrupt or inept ministers from that service if warranted [mitigating circumstances may be apply to ineptitude due to illness or grieving, it takes people unawares if not resolved at time of death . Compassionate leave maybe warranted rather than dismissal]
Plain corruption can only mean instant dismissal and shame of irreversable bar to government posts and big business, not even as cleaner or canteen pigswil collector. DEFINITELY NOT Postboy! a very responsible job in government, do you agree? Are postboys valid in real life America as opposed to Hollywood's image of a loser, if over 30?
P.17 Benthamite principles
P.18 As mentioned above in Megacity, those adept shall keep these posts or fill vacancies until upcoming generation have been adequately educated to decide the nature of government and law for themselves and so make responsible changes they feel necessary
P.19 In medieval England everyone of both genders were required to practice archery at least once a week if not daily in service to he country
A Statue imposed by King Henry VIII and written by the King in the 6th year of his reign (1515) was an amended, more specifically detailed version to replace an earlier Royal Statute of 1363:
Item: Whether the Kinges subjectes, not lame nor having no lawfull impediment, and beinge within the age of XI yeares, excepte Spiritual men, Justices etc. and Barons of the Exchequer, use shoting on longe bowes, and have bowe continually in his house, to use himself and that fathers and governours of chyldren teache them to shote, and that bowes and arrowes be bought for chyldren under XVII and above VII yere, by him that has such a chylde in his house, and the Maister maye stoppe it againe of his wages, and after that age he to provideb them himselfe: and who that is founde in defaute, in not having bowes and arrowes by the space of a moneth, to forfayte xiid.. And boyers for everie bowe of ewe, to make two of Elme wiche or othere wood of meane price, and if thei be founde to doe the contrarie, to be committed to warde, by the space of viii daies or more.
And that buttes be made, in everie citie, towne and place accordinge to the law of auncient time used, and the inhabitantes and dwellers in everye of them to exercise themselfe with longe bowes in shotinge at the same, and elles wher on holy daies and other times conveniente.
. In wartime you were either conscripted into the militia or chose general logistics duties such as repaairing bridges, forts and castles or digging moats and ditches Usually 1 adult male from each family were conscripted .
P.22 Nowadays in U.K, the image of the Dark Ages is being revoked as more is learned through technological improvements of archeologists' and researchers'. tools. It has come to ligh that our ancestors were more astute and educated than hitherto believed 70+ years ago. Even 40 years ago, many archeologists still continued with the mindset of 70+ years ago. Thankfully we have some more openminded archeologiss and paleologists today. Have you ever seen the British T.V. program Meet The Ancestors and its recent spin-off History Cold Case? I find them far superior to Time Team, who are mainly sunday afternoon entertainment not serious archeology and there are rarely follow ups to the digs, unlike Meet The Ancestors, who do I also reccommend Rcihard Rudgley's work on Neolithic age and 'barbarians' of so-called dark ages. After all, barbarian was a term used by Romans for those who lived outside their Empire = uncivilized.not necessarily stupid or primative
How do you justify these distribution ratios of taxes. Why is science less valued than armed forces since they rely on science for technology. Why police and justice system uequally funded? Come on King Jason ,get your arse in gear! Should they not be equally funded or lumped in as one item and allotted 20% ? Lee Quo would do so and lump rescue and disaster relief together say wih 30% of budget or lumped in with medical and health welfare with 40%, having no need for amed forces re the force field which can be maintained by scientists and defended by soldier guardians who he considers policemen Science would have a different budget.How about science and education @ 20% each. A rough calculation because we haven't mentioned government running costs yet.nor transport or agriculture as Megacity has been existing on processed vitamin supplements since it ran ot of real food due to being ravished by those Class1 criminals .Get your arse in gear Lee Quo!
But how else would he do it? Naively he would calculate the revenue collected and distribute it equally amongst the governmental and social service posts .The ministers could be paid from this allocation, but this may not be feasible, He's still working on it. My belief is that all government services of any true worth to the nation should be equally valid and funded so. those posts created purely for and by 'grafters' and 'rubber stampers' would be abolished, as Quo proposes, nor shall there be jobs for the boys with the' correct school ties' or nepotism in any other guise.
Quo proposes that because higher education is a voluntary choice , those who deliberately flunk or drop out should pay for the whole course they should have studied for waste of tutorial time when they could have tutored someone else waiting for that course and maybe compensation to the student deprived of the course[s] .Those who pass thier exams and fully qualify will have their fees re-imbursed as a gesture of confidence that they will prove to be valued citizens Quo would support those actively seeking employment /service but not spongers. U.K. government presently is being very mean minded in its means testing for welfare support,expecting people with dibilitating physical handicaps and mental health problems to seek employment or they'll stop their benifits whilst experienced scrougers and spongers continually skip the net I mean the politicians who use tax loop holes to dodge taxes whilst expecting everyone else to tighten their economic belts George.OsbourneGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A campaign group in U.k. called 38 degrees asked its members two years ago, to send in suggestion for acampaign poster shaming tax dodging M.P.'s and corporate giants. My suggestion was an image of the U.K being dragged under the North Sea by the weight of crippling inflation and National Debt whilst the tax dodgers sail away to their Carribean tax havens in their cash laden luxury yachts. .An image of Osbourne as Dickens' Artful Dodger was favoured-Osbourne the cheeky scamp! I'm looking at a site called Taxation; where does my moey go, only it's too much to digest at present and copy over to this e-mail maybe another time
This means testing Quo would abolish in favour of supporting those with handicaps in actively seeking careers that somehow catered for and used their handicap to advantage for all concerned For this as well as any other career applicants Quo would encourage employers to take more consideration of a candidate's personal interests and hobbies as well as personalities and life ambitions, not work ambitions only,more than just the qualifications listed on their C.V. as you know many people fake them ,even denying their qualifications for fear of being considered too over qualified for a position that would tide them over whilst they sought more appropriate career choices
One argument to this has been that an employer woud be depriving someone needing of the less qualified position.In the normal world yes, but in Quo's Megacity menial jobs such as serving burgers or gas pump attendants for school children 15+ who want to earn more pocket money or gain work and life experience until they decide on a career or further education
But I've digressed somewhat
P.24 Clause 14 I'm not understanding as we have different sick pay and annual leave rules to you in the U.S.We have an average 5 day 40 hour week with 20 days holiday/vacation leave and seven Bank Holidays throughout the year Longer hours are paid at a rate discretion of employers but negotiable through unions Usually 1 1/2 x normal rate on week days 2x on weekends and Bank Holidays.Sick and maternity leave at discretion of employer
I and Quo have considred halving this to average 20 hour week so people can either persue other business or services to fellow citizens but be rewarded by other means than taxable wage. This would cut the unemployment figures considerably, by allowing two people to fill one employment position of 40 hr week.Both would preferably be friends or amicably suited colleages who both knew what the other is doing with the job in hand, ensuring the position flows smoothly, so long as both accept responsibility/culpability for any errors. This also allows for flexibility between themselves without having to beg the boss for time off or change of rota.
P.25 As to Right 7, I think those contemplating suicide should be given counselling to allow space to consider the full consequences to their families before allowing them legally to choose to do so, even if they choose not to inform their families of their intended action.
Right 10 In U.S.A. are those contemplaing leaving their nation aware that they have no legal protection any where in the world once they've broken away, unless they have secured it from their aoptive nation or state? I've presumed those who wish to leave he U.K. permanantly that they rescind all legal rights as British citizens when the red tape goes through. Having just checked , there are many clauses that protect you from being deprived of your rights as a British National or Citizen , if you schose to live in another contry but some countries require that you do give up your British or other nationality, if you canno gain nationality, British Immigration will find some way for you to keep your rights.For myself ,i'd rather keeep my legal rights as a British citizen even if I choose to leave it permanantly for New Zealand or elsewhere if i can't recieve Rights as a New Zealand citizen.
P.26 I do agree with self induced euhanasia if one's sound in mind but terminally ill and in inscrutiating pain.This is still ilegal in U.K. you must suffer despite the hypocratic oath of doctors, but then this is a government ruling not medical But I can see the government's fear in the light of Dr. Shipman. who secretly euthanised at least two of his lady patients after conning them into signing over the right to cash their pension cheques for them. but not all G.P.s are as evil as Drs.Shipman or Mengele Those who are advised by their G.P can travel to Netherlands, Belgium,Luxembourg or Switzerland where legally assisted euthanasia is practiced. I understand U.S. states of Washington,Oregan Montana,and Vermont also I question enforced euthanasia as we 'normal' folk can never truly know the state of conciousness of someone who cannot communicate effectively. Their motor neurons may be producing a state of bliss we may not be aware of dispite the contrary muscle spasms. A close living relative, not an astranged one should make the choice if the relative is in an obvious state of agony otherwise, if Stephen Hawking had no one to speak for him nor that machine he uses the world of science would have been bereft of a valuable mind.
P.28/9 How large is Jasonia? By boring do you mean having absolutely nothing to do or being forced to perform mind numbingly tedial tasks like moving a stack of bricks from one place to another and then back again or digging a hole only to refil it and dig it ad infinitum?
I would set them to work that would be menial but allow them to purchase tokens that would enable them to hire legal represenatives to help them settle legally and find decent work. If they co-operate it will go smoothly for them as they have shown willing. The spouse business I agree with you on Too many women get in to the U.K. on the marriage ticket after conning a gullible holiday maker looking for a bride or on dating websites and then scram when they've obtained a British passport or citizenship, or else weedle their spouse out of their property.
P.30 Would you favour a carefully worded questionaire for those who seem capable enough but is not certain they warrant sterilization?. Questions would ask " What would you do if...?" Or "How would you re-act to baby consistantly crying, coughing, choking and/or face changing to blue or red ,say?", to disern whether they truly are capable of rearing children.?
P.31 Land taxation I agree but would extend it to salary capping over a certain limit eg. £25,000/$40,000 I mentioned in my last email @ 1% per £/$ over base taxation @20% so $41,000 would mean 21% tax etc This guarentees none earning more than $36,000/£27,000 after tax..
P.32 Some mistaken idea that Jesus was celibate Where are the written evidences proving that he was? Church of England does not enforce celibacy, it encourages vicars to be family men and women which standst o reason since their parishioners are primarily of families. But who says Roman Catholicism has to be rational? The pope openly claims so, but does he really? Does he hide horns under that mitre of his?
P.38 Your Akkabar Ungestine sounds very much like England's Roger Bacon of the 13th cen.and Belliburst, George Orwell or the Fabians maybe , or do you have others in mind of which these names are anagrams? Foolish and lazy I agree should earn little or nothing, but unintelligent? Do you mean those who have a low I.Q. ? What about those who hold a high S.Q.? What's that, you ask? Spiritual Quota.People may be low on academic skills but high on other unqualifiable skills such as speaking their truth about people who they see as phoney.and discerning poor quality goods or noticing things that shouldn't be. These people are usually taken for simpletons and 'innocents' because the can't read or write because they have differently wired motor- neuron pathways.In Quo's Megacity there is employment for them as valued citizens.However, those who prefer to be unintelligent as theyt hink it an easy cop-out should and will suffer the same fate as the foolish and lazy.
P.39 see P.31. we appear to share the same idea about salary capping As for medical costs , is this $10,000 compound.? If a citizen had no need of medical care for five years, say, would he acredit $50,000 for himself? Jasonian healthcare sounds complicated. Why shouldn't the tax allocated ratio be used to care for all as does the N.H.S. in U.K., whilst those who prefer to pay private out of snobbery because they don't want to share a ward with Joe or Jill Bloggs should pay through the nose for healthcare.But then there are cases where people are in need of joint replacement due to arthritis and are in agony yet have to wait years on N.H.S, but are penalised if they go private to get a prompt operation as the N.H.S. will not accept them at a later date for another ailment . This gives the N.H.S. a bad name and grist to the mill of politicians who are eager to axe the N.H.S altogether After all the cost of keeping it going is preventing them from buying/producing more bombs to kill the babies and children of other nations whose politicians refuse to play ball with them.
P.40-46 Change patronomy for matronomy, but is this wise? I would choose double barrelled surname of both parents written with a slash between them rather than a hyphen leaving decision of whose name goes first to the parents, or either one as single barrelled. So long as birth certificates match marriage certificate for proof of parentage all should be legal.
As to possessions, if either partner have possessions they'd rather keep in their side of the family,or as you mention personally created pieces of art or craft, then this should be sorted and legally arranged before marriage. Some clause to the effect that future created items and family heirlooms that come into their possession after marriage belong to whomever and which to be shared.
Primary caregiver is a difficult subject when the father is a keen contributor to the children's upbringing. Father's who think they only have to bring home the bread and play with them now and again, but not when there's football on the telly, or even take an interest in their homework or other leisure activities, and shamefully there are still enough of them about, do not deserve custody rights but must surrender to the discretion of the mother of the children .As to step parenthood, I would say that the step parent that devotes equal interest in the adopted child is equally entitled to access and custody rights of the adopted or step child.
P.50 Whilst Aztec and Maya were sacrificing hearts to their 'make-believe gods' Christians were murdering TORTURING and imprisoning any one who refused to bow down to their 'make-believe god'.of dogmas they created, not God or Jesus, and I'm sure it was likewise with Aztec, Maya and other religions of that time and before.
North Americans were no less intelligent than their Neolithic counterparts in Europe.Different ways do not equal subordinate or inferior ways, not even in 15/16th cen. Maya technology was superior to European in many ways if you look closely at them instead of only seeing vegetation smothered ruins of cities that rivalled Rome, Athens and Contantinople in their prime Check out The Lost Secrets Of Maya Technology by James A. O'Kon.He discovered a suspension bridge that matched anything by Thomas Telford or I.K.Brunel.who were building 1000 years afer the Maya's golden age.Medicine in the New World was just as advanced as China. Innoculations were unheard of in Europe until he 1740's but not widely practiced until 40 years later and homeopathy is still derided by mainstream medicine 200 years after Samuel Hanneman first lectured on it,yet Native American on both continents had been practicing it in some form for centuries if not millenia.And as you state so plainly,it was Europeans that brought diseases they couldn't handle because of their unprepared immune systems just as their diseases done for us, But then if we didn't meddle, with our arrogant sense of superiority and learened from them instead of robbing them we could have had a much richer civilization today, which is the crux of one of my plays, Hunting The White Crow- Don't dismiss what you at first don't understand but exchange knowledge with others and expand in global conciousness.
P.58/9 It appears Jasonia hadn't evolved past her European neighbours in her thirst for territorial expansion in 15/16th cen.- still keeping up with the Jasononians.
P.60 By attacking with military action Jasonia appears to contradict her democracy, for so what if the Confederate states vote in a majority to remain seceeded from the Union states? Would an embargo on goods and materials that encouraged the maintenance of the slave trade from entering and exiting Confederate states be more peaceful method of demonstrating against slavery?
And furthermore, if the Confederate states have seceeded and gained independence from the Union, how can it be a civil war? More correctly an action against the continuation of slavery unless the Union states invaded with "police action" , which would then be properly termed a war-nation against nation. After all did the American people of 1776 care what the British Government had decided on how America should go about declaring Independence? Of course not,because the British Government wanted no such independence,Unofficially the British people were divided or did not care either way. Anyway, despite her abolition of slavery in 1807, British slave owners in the colonies and elsewhere were still able to keep their slaves but officially not buy anymore only, owning the offspring of their present slaves.until much later, when government had soughted some kind of compensation for owners if hey freed all their slaves.There are extensive records concerning the slave trade and its aboliiton post1807, which are too ponderous to include here.
Now, if we should treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves,would Jasonia expect Stupido to attack if Jasonia refused her independence?
As to education we have before agreed that we share the same principles and sentiments ,only differ in method as you stated your willingness to give my scheme a twenty year trial period
If healthcare as I and Lee Quo propose it above i.e. preventative based on positive mindset as well aseducating on consequence of bad diet, fast food 7 days a week.instead of once or twice, a week,balance of meat veg and fruit not total abstinance of either and then supplementing with vitamin pills and other pharmecuticals
P.76 I prefer the Jasonian pledge but please explain how a nation of many states with their own autonomous laws can be called indivisible, or have I missed a point somewhere? England has many counties that have their limited autonomy, but all abide by the same law. Are the States just the same, only on a larger scale?
If I or Quo were to institute national service, it would be part of rescue and disaster relief training rather than military, yet allow those who choose to do military service do so.
P.79/80 Jasonian Sex Act, is it amended for the 21st century?
P.82 For villians in this case, I rightly assume politicians, arms dealers and their financial backers. Now, who are these I wonder? Would it be our old friends, the wanker bankers,prehaps?
P.83 And if European politicians were not so jelly-spined or corrupt,they could have stopped Hitler before he got too big for his jackboots. And if Truman was not so dishonest,he would have warned Roosevelt of the Japanese intention of invading Pearl Harbour. But no,Truman wanted America in the war, maybe because he wanted to boost her economy with weapons deals, I don't know, but he kept his saff and himself stum about radio-telegraph messages sent from Japan a week in advance of the so-called surprise attack. But what would Roosevelt have done to prevent war with Japan who were adamant on declaring war anyway. Would a counter dedensive be of any use?.
What would King Jason do, if it were Jasonia being threatened?
Britain was not quite a democracy in 1914. She refused the vote to women, hence Emiline Pankhurst and her Sufferagetts, until 1919 then only for those over 30 and had certain properrty rights whilst males over 21 were enfrachised 1928 saw all women over 21 elegible to vote. The Reform Act of 1867,or as it was offfically called The Representation of The people Act enfranchised 2miilion of 5million males in England and Wales who before were only 1 million .So what of the male soldier, having survived the trenches for King and country ,yet still under 21 and working class? No,your too stupid to vote, only fit to be slaughtered by idiots of the aristocracy,stuffing their fat faces 50+ miles behind the front lines. But since you have the audacity to survive, you'd better get back to mucking out the stables and pig pens-serf! You should be used to wallowing in shit by now haw! haw! haw! You can tell I really have it in for the aristos,
And as for American army, they only gave the negro soldiers real guns an ammo minutes before going over the top as the white officer class were so scared the blacks would turn on them in open rebellion.An indication of how wrong they knew they were in their treatment of negroes, who had been legally free for half a century at that time.
Merchants and business men have been selling arms to all sides since time in memorium. Money talks, as Clapton sings.
Could the loss of so many U.S troops in Asian jungles in all conflicts be due to underestimation of thier enemy due mainly to U.S. Government's propoganda bullshit? Rommel and Monty repected each other in their desert campaigns.Pity Hitler was so short sighted that he refused to back Rommel with what he needed in fuel and tanks, and what good luck for Britain and her allies that he did so. Ooh Hitler, you traitor to your self and your Glorious Reich! You'd better go and blame everybody but yourself, as per usual.
P.85/86 Jasonia's opinion toward major warring nations of WWI summarised
1] Agree
2] Agree
3]Agree but should have done more to prevent profiteers from selling arms to both sides. Should they not have been done for treason? Considering U.S.A had intentions of entering the war at some point, and so make provision for prevention of arms being sold to potential enemies.
4]Agree .
P.89/90 Something odd I learned last week That Manhattan's "High Line" railway was built at he height of the depression in1930-32 at the vast sum of $150 million[more than $2billion in today's money] How! in such a state of global depression did someone stump up that much cash? I should have guessed J.P.Morgan & Chase financed many major building projects in U.S.A But has N.Y.C. been paying back ever since, although the line was dismantled in the early 1980's.I'm having difficulty finding web page detailing such transactions. This in light of your paragraph on the Great Depression. I find it difficult to get my head around millions of starving and unemployed americans ,while the likes of J.P.Morgan and his chums were rolling in $millions to invest in major railway or construction projects when few could afford the use of them??????
Did these overseas orders for armaments include Nazi Germany, I wonder?
P.91 Maybe the financial success of 21st century China is due to their choice of saving and building their national coffers during the post Mao years, rather than recklessly squandering as western nations have done. Whether this is truly so, I have yet to discover. It could be so for individual chinese entrepeneurs who now have the relevant quantities of cash to buy back their national heritage from the West that Mao so thoughtlessly threw away.
Maybe Jasonia could adopt an ancient chinese proverb "He who knows he has enough, is rich already"
P.92 Yes, french arrogance has outdone heself twice again!
Now we get the topography of Jasonia.Your poetic license re Copernicus gave me an inkling, but since much of Poland in his time was called Silesia and her eastern neighbour being Lithuania, which then stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea, I couldn't be sure. You're omitting Hitler's invasion of Poland clenched it for me.
P.94 Did Jasonia not know of the Monty Python sketch about the lethal joke? Anyone who read it died from laughter even its author. His wife found it clenched in his fist ,read it and died too. Well the war came along and some bright spark from the ministry suggested translating the joke into german and deliver it as dropped leaflets or via armed forces advancing with joke inhand shouting it at the germans, who after it sank in, all died of laughter, as intended. Whilst the joke was in translation at Bletchley Park a translator accidently caught sight of two words together and suffered a nervous breakdown, but six months in therapy cured him. Dare I reveal the joke?
Alright, but at your own risk
"Isay, I have a dog with no nose"
"How does it smell?"
"Terrible!"
P.96 Yes, but what did they then do? They ghettoed the Palestinians and treatedt hem no better than the Nazis treated them before the Final Solution commenced in 1941. After the war, some rabidly fanatical jews planned on poisoning the water of four German cities whose combined population totalled six million. Now they didn't consuider those fellow inmates who were liberated by the allies and returned to those cities and former homes , if they still existed, or the allied soldiers, who had after all liberated them and were sationed at or near those cities.So individuals can be just as STUPID as war mongering governments when hatred blinds their judgements. Fortunately, the culprit was caught with the poison on his return trip from America where he bought the poison.
P.98 Some believe God allows war and violence to show us how stupidly we are behaving, and that at some point,Jesus' power will wipe away all the unrighteous I argue that Jesus has been promising this for 2000 years, so how and when is soon? How many generations have been conned by soon, only to die on Earh as it is in Hell? But could it not be religion that has conned people , not Jesus and God? Conning them into being compliant slaves to Lucifer's dark satanic order forcing them from healthy agriculturial lives to satanic mills of death and disease. Here I go again!
Either we ourselves change and evolve beyond murder and robbery or go under "Homo Sapiens have outgrown their use, better make way for Homo Superior", as David Bowie sang in his Oh You Pretty Things,[ don't you know you're driving your mamas and papas insane] Do you remember that one fro the 70's?
The archeological evidence I mentioned earlier re Meet The Ancestors points to no evidence of a missing link, but a gradual transition. That we never evolved from apes but alongside apes as a seperately evolving species. We may have looked and behaved similar until a few million years ago, but our evolution of self awarely conciousness beings occured c. 40,000 years ago, about he time of the Lasceux cave paintings.And not so much survival of the fittest as in beat and kill your neighbour before he thinks of killing you [sound like our present political leaders?],but the most adept. Live and let live, but if your neighbour falls by the evoluionary wayside, then so be it.Neanderthals could be the prime example. But some proffer that we are a hybrid of both, or maybe they didn't all die out as we presume, as the bone structure of Neanderthals closely match those of well built American footballers, rugby players, wrestlers and atheletes, especially javelin throwers and shot putters.The D.N.A tests of several scientific institutes show counter-results. Mitochondrial D.N.A reveal a split from Homo Sapiens c. 370,000 years ago and 0% chance of admixture genome pool. Nuclear D.N.A tests revealed though chance small as believed Neanderthal population smaller than Homo Sapiens,inter- breeding cannot be ruled out as Neanderthals have more similarities with non African bone samples than with African ,according to Svante Paablo's team 2010 contributing 1-4% to the genomes of non african humans yet most of our genome derives from Africa Source:Smithsonian institute website :humanorigins.si.edu
Morally superior= Homo superior-"Oh You Pretty Things", don't you know you're driving your dull Homo Sapiens insane.?
P.100 I have been advocating this too, but few seem to get the point, I feel
"If it wasn't for military espionage we wouldn't have internet", they argue
"Someone one would have invented it a some point, sooner or later, as nobody would have the foersight to say " now why don't we invent this before it's invented", Is my answer to all arguments for modern technology Yet while in the inventors mind ,the idea of " let's get this patented before anyone else complete's their invention before me " is highly probable. The impetus has been with us since Charles Babbage and his calculating machine in he 19th cen for a computer of today's complexity and probably before with Leibniz and Newton and their calculuses [or calculusi?]
A digression here concerning the brilliant minds Britain has lost to other nations, U.S.A. partcularly over the past 200 years, and all because, Britsih government refused to finance development of inventions. It appears they prefer to buy the finished product than take pride and cofidence in the home grown product and the mind behind it. Do you agree ,or am I missing something here, since there are many great British inventors and innovators, only most Scottish ones sell abroad.
You don't need a war to be humane and courageous, it's human instinct, other wise people wouldn't chosoe to leave their cosy homes in the middle of a raging storm to help straggling survivors of a ship wreck, or help dig miners out of a fallen pit as in Peru, nor the miners have the stamina and courage to stay alive in pitch darkness until rescued, and then come out, not exhausted but invigorated wih the joy of being alive
P.101 What about peoples who differ in culture, yet share the same language. O.K. Division of cultural differences but what if one or more covet other[s] lands, percieving them as cultural enemies, England and Scotland being a prime example? The trade -off you propose is a sensible suggestion but obstinance usually prevents it coming to pass, especially when there are cultural and spiritual heritage issues attached to the land, as with Native American burial lands of their ancestors and Serbian and Croation ancestral land ownership, where the family house is not just stone or bricks and mortar any more than their town or village, but ancestral roots not to be trifled with.by modern politics, yet the politics has been the root of their idea of ancestral heritage from the start.
P.103 Yes, money talks louder than true Christianity, that can't be bought or sold for a handful of silver for some[unlike orthodox christians ,For others their homes they've lived in all their lives mean more to them than money compensation to relocate- sentiment is a strong emotion.
Step 2 Is that not how the U.N. operates anyway, and whose approval is not always morally induced? See above p.94-96. Korea and Veitnam come to mind here as well as Cambodia and Nicaragua yet we still continue fighting. Police Action= invasion sanctioned by U.N.in which civilians die or are left homeless because of their belligerant political leaders. my suggestion is no better though as some have to be killed in defending whilst rescuing civilian refugees who choose to escape the war zone to be accomodated in barracks of military standard of comfort an amenities to suit their needs, then create a force field to imprison the defaulting nation or state so that their weapons backfire on them until they realise that persistance is futile. Make them pay reperations for damage incurred but not so as to financially cripple them. I find that economic sanctions and embargoes tend to fester and harbour hatred and potential for future trouble. If they prevent the belligerant nation or state from stockpiling weapons and developing armed forces larger than reasonably expected for defense, as Europe should have done with Hitler as above mentioned,then yes.If they starve a nation of valid resourses as U.S.A have unsucessfully done to Cuba ,the result; instead of coaxing Cuba back into the capitalist fold ,Cubans stood by Castro and became allies of Soviet Russia. Only recently has Cuba embraced limited capitalism. If a citizen can obtain a licence to trade he/she can become their own boss. Cuba is still far from Jasonia, but at least she's trying.
P.105/6 I would argue that that depends on how well brainwashed people of the belligerant nation are by the propoganda spoonfed them by their government as well as the fear of government reprisals for freethinking.. For example, since Glasnost, the information the West has been told about communist East is largely true.I've witnessed a little of it myself when I managed to smuggle myself into the D.D.R in 1987. I was caught but able to convince customs and immigration that I believed I could obtain the necessary visa at any border crossing, and so after 3 hours allowed to proceed onto East Berlin on condition I report to a local police station for a formal visa. So for a week I had a little experience of being behind the Iron Curtain which looked as if the war had only ended the previous year and what you saw in the shop windows were usually the stock,not just the window display.
Step 4 The problem of Pakistan and India 1947/8 The people, whether muslim or hindu were not consulted. The British Viceroy of India, Lord Loius Mountbatten,was co-erced into a rash drawing up of the border,illl advised as he was by a lawyer, Cyril Radcliffe who knew little about iIndian customs and lore of that region and using obsolete map salo eager to avoid responsibilty for resulting ;bloodshed and chaos, exacerbated by Jinna's lack of control and organization Since the minority population in the Pakistan region were hindu they ,like the Palestinians ,had lived here for centuries before the muslims.I think misinformation and disorganizationand ignorance of the politicians' inentions by the populace led to the disaster and possibly present resentment of Indians toward Pakistanis., or vice-versa , as this rash partioning led to most industry remaining in India some 90% of sub-continent's taxable wealth,whilst poor agricultural lands ended up in Pakistan who inherited only 17.5% of financial assetsThe politicians and religious leaders should have arranged alternatve accomodation for the refugees until a proper settlement could be arranged as to where they could live.But no, they washed their hands of them,just like the British They are India's problem now.There's more entanglement involved but I'll leave it
Step 5 Visas are that contract, I've always believed, only for some nations they are non-negotiable, whilst others allow for extensions and mitigating circumstances. The non-negotiable ones, I find , are those who fear immigrants will free-load on their welfare systems. Jasonia obviously allows the immigrant a right of say in the contract as long as it is abided by once signed.
Step 6 Is this not as p.105/6?
Whilst writing this I considered killing off Joseph Blendings in favour of Lee Quo, but maybe Mr. Blendings has a crucial role to play in Quo's Schools for uncivilized and uneducated children.
Well Live long and prosper in 2014
The Voltarian signing off
Hi Jayson,
Having found time to retrieve those Opinions I told you about, I have discovered that those I copied were of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison only. I have discovered a different website called Religious Tolerance Org-Ontario consultants on Religious Tolerance ,says it all concerning Jefferson's defence of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in his Bill For Establishing Religious Freedom originally drafted 1777. for the state of Virginia. I could send you those I copied if you like. or wait until I have done further research from the books I have yet to read on the period .
The original essay /website I have now lost track of ,debated over who and how many of the co-signatures of the Constitution were deists.A lengthy forum discussion ,that at first I found intriguing, until it slid into a mudslinging contest for atheism vs. deism.. However, it appears officially, that only three were confessed deists, Jefferson, Madison and Franklin,World of Deism believes there were more, Washington included. Am I correct?
It appears that the majority; co-signers and general populace, favoured religious tolerance in that no one religon should enforce its doctrines upon the beliefs of others through the passing of illegal enactments against their consent.
This is what Washington himself quoted on the matter;
"If I could now conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution... [E]very man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity
according to the dictates of his own conscience." (Stokes, supra, p. 495.)
I shall continue my researches on these and other opinions, as I find your era of Independance as fascinating an aspect of the Age of Enlightenment ,as that of Europe. At present I'm studying the Scottish perspective, which as you know ,has much relevance to America's revolution as well as Europe's, then as now.
In Bob Johnson's essay Communusm in the Bible, he does not acknowedge the Essenes who practiced socialist principles of shared property without fear.
I can’t help but find it darkly humorous that people like Mohandas Gandhi, a mere human, could see and partake in selfless love against his enemies but our supposed “God” could not. Gandhi would directly contradict Yahweh’s teachings when he proclaimed “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” He knew that doing the right thing wasn’t always easy, and he still gladly died in order to do it. Yet according to the Bible, Gandhi (a Hindu unbeliever) is cast ablaze in hell to this day. The quote “Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker?” from the Book of Job seems particularly fitting.
Is the passage about Elisha ordering bears to tear forty-two children to shreds for calling him "Bald head" some mortal's hatemail/propoganda ?for this makes The Lord an extremely weak god, even by biblical standards.
Divine intervention is not needed for the workings in nature because God has already put all the gears in place to make the clock of the universe run. Is this meant metaphorically?Only I believe Creator and Creation to be organic life , not inanimate machine.
Atheists still have a way to offset God of course. They assert that if we can presuppose that God can exist outside of time and space then why can’t the same be said for random volatile energy. Indeed if a God can spark the big bang then can’t the unintelligible energy do so too? Yet this is effortlessly countered using the fine-tuned universe (universal constant) argument. Ah, God’s existence seems conclusive then doesn’t it? Well, in the field of experimental physics there dwells the fringiest of fringe theories dubbed the “Multiverse” theory. Under this entirely hypothetical theory (no hint of it has ever been tangibly validated) there exists billions upon billions of parallel universes. Granted, the chances of any life forming without God in one particular universe may be atomically miniscule, but if there’s billions then it becomes much more plausible. So it comes down to two choices then doesn’t it? Either I’m to believe that there are hundreds of billions of parallel universes all around us that just so happen that they can’t be observed, and that we are the byproducts of random bits of mindless energy that just happened to be thrashing around in the right place, or I can take credence in a conscious entity. Using reason, I choose the God factor.
I choose the God factor that includes these multiverses as much within it's essence as the one we experience, comprised of concious energy
""To me it’s evident that our cosmic creator has some semblance of affection toward us, for if he was apathetic to us why did he create the universe in the first place? If he had bloodlust, why would he allow any modicum of happiness whatsoever in this realm, and not instead mold it into a festering breeding ground for torture and pain? Therefore, since I exist, have not seen or heard of any credible “miracles,” live in a world where love is possible, and all revealed religions are frauds, I then conclude that the Supreme Being is a loving entity that wishes the best for us, but cannot intervene lest he take away our freedom."
This I fully concur with
IS THIS PART OF CORRESPONDENCE WITH JAYSON X ??
TO BE E-MAILED TO JAYSON THEN PASTED ONTO RELEVANT BLOG PAGE
BI-LOCALITY; SCIENTIFIC REASON FOR IT
Hello Jayson,
Again,long time, no correspondence. How are you and your world doing? I,ve been taking a cerebial sabbatical since last we corresponded, indulging in DVD's of 60's /70's T.V. drama and comedy as well as contemporary T.V. quiz shows ,the odd drama and comedy along with documentaries.We have a show here called Embarrassing Bodies. Paradoxically, people who are too embarrassed to consult their family G.P.'s on embarrassing health issues, appear on this show to bare all to the world. Do you find that amusing? I 'm also in the process of re-arranging and streamlining my library,i.e. chucking stuff out. Do you find it difficult to throw stuff out you believe you won't need but that nagging mind says "Don't be too sure you won't need it in future"?
Some time ago,you asked me whether I believed in bi-locality and if I had proof for it. My recent research into quantum particle physics that I previously presented to you concerning Tibetan acoustic levitation ceremonies and anti-gravity experiments by russian scientists in the 1940's and 50's had not I believe, entirely convinced you. What I have rececntly been reading may not do so either, but I felt I ought to inform you anyway.
I had been rereading a book entitled The Divine Matrix# by Gregg Braden;you may or may not know of him. Evenso, he reminded me of Padre Pio, the Italian theolgian , who , during WWII, appeared before a squadron of U.S Airforce bombers on a mission to bomb his city, San Giovanni Rotondo, having come under the control of the Nazis., and so containing miitary srongholds He appeared before them ,whilst in mid flight imploring them to cease their mission. Obviously bewildered and confused, they decided to turn back to base. Simultaneously, at ground level, Padre Pio was witnessed in his chapel at the altar, praying. This was verified by the timing of the mass and the time recorded by the aiforce crew upon witnessing Padre Pio "in the sky". So, how was this possible?
You may or may not of read/heard or remembered of a globally publicised experiment performed in 1997,under the leadership of Nicholas Gisin . This was an experiment previously undertaken by Einstein, Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen in 1935,only they didn't believe the results they recieved from the quantum realm, Einstein famously called it "Spooky action at a distance" Dividing a photon into two identical particles the Gisin team blasted them in totally opposite directions. Having reached a distance of 14 miles between them, forced to choose random pathways of continuance, they chose identical pathways in the direction each was travelling at 20,000 x speed of light [previous experiments of the same nature in the 1980's produced speeds 20x light.] Maybe this,is along with the apparant randomness of particles ,is what Einstein, also famous for his "God doesn't play dice " quotation, Podosky and Rosen could not accept. So what has this all to do with bi-location? Previously, you stated that verified experiments are repeatable. Now, what if on a sucessive experiment, the protons identically chose a different direction to the previous experiment.Would that render the whole experiment void, in your eyes?,
Considering the mind is of a greater capacity than our Newtonian based physical paradigm allows us to believe, and that mind is also composed of energy particles spinning at high frequencies and speeds some orthodox scientists are still unwilling to accept, I propose that a trained mind such as that of Padre Pio and other bi-locators can send or allow the force of Creation to send temporarily, a number of particles of themselves, clothing included, to other desired locations. This I believe works on the same principle as the Tibetan acoustic levitation.,thus flitting between other dimensions, modern scientists such as Michio Kaku call membranes or simply "branes", Padre Pio's prayers and intentions being the key sacrament for the bi-location to occur.
Excuse I being pedantic,yourself, having expressed to me that you prefer to believe in empirical science than mere philosophical supposition, do you believe we and the Universe are mere mechanical automatons as Newton's "theories" propose? Or are we an Infinite organic mind influenced by and influencing everything/one within an infinite ocean of fluctuating energy? Why do we hold onto Newtonian and Einsteinian theories and ideas as if they are God given testaments whilst Creation has been showing us a totally wider aspect to it's nature? I don't propose to throw Newton or Einstein out with the bath water, only realise that some of their impractical theories should be consigned to the history books whilst the still practical remain as valid science.The most elemental level of living things can no longer be considered as chemical reactions alone but as energy of which chemical reactions are a factor
#The Divine Matrix, mentioned above, as you are probably aware ,has gone by a plethoria of names by as many scientists and authors throughout history. The electro-magnetic theory of light considered as electro-magnetic vibration in the ether and that electro-magnetic and luminiferous ethers were the same ,proposed by James Clerk Maxwell, is the theory I prefer. although Nikola Tesla's ether is tempting; the Universe as a kinetic ether from which energies could be harnesed, including electricity.This of course upset the fossil fuel tycoons and their buddies in government and commerce who ,upon his death ,confiscated and classified as top secret all his papers,which remain so today.Remember , we discussed this also? So which ether do you prefer, if any?
Some would argue that the electro-magnetic ether could never work due to Bohr's belief that electrons can only lose energy when they jump from one orbit to another- electro-dynamics says so, yet an English physicist ,Timothy Boyer proposed and later, Hal Puthoff proved mathematically, that ths is not so, electrons are being refueled by tapping into fluctuations within the ether field, maintaining dynamic equilibrium, balanced at exactly the right orbit. .This could account for the temporary presence of Padre Pio in the sky until his mission suceeded in halting the airforce squadron's mission
Apparantly, Hal Puthoff has come up with a unified theory of physics to explain gravity and non-locality within this field..Recieving polite applause for his theory, it is obviously not warmly welcomed, upsetting ,as it does, the bedrock of 20th century physics . Using his field theory, he has invented mauch condensed charged technology, including flat screen T.V,. The Pentagon has only recently started to take him seriously.Two of his collaborators, Alfonso Rueda and Bernard Haisch during the 1990's produced two new papers which mathematicaly proved, using Einstein's relativistic physics,vs Newtonian physics, that the ancients were correct, that we are indeed all beings of light .Having typed all this, I have a nagging feeling that Newton was not altogether wrong, only has been misread by modern standards.He did after all propose that degrees of densityare subject to ratios of space or void to matter. So I leave it here awaiting your response.
Having re-read my gnostic gospels recently I have decided to postpone sending a paragraph concerning Christ's teachings and "miracles" that sound more feasible in the light of recent quantum physics mentioned above , until I recieve your response to this
Live long and prosper
The Voltarian
MAYBE PASTE ONTO PAINE PAGE OF BLOG
On Deism and the Writings of Thomas Paine
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