With apologies to Stephen Foster M.D., here's to Mountain Dew Live Wire, a parody

*With apologies to “Camptown Races” by Stephen Foster M.D.,
here’s a guzzle-drinking parody for Mountain Dew,
all flavors, especially Live Wire:

Drinktown Cases

By Stephen Foster, M.D.;-)

O the Mountain men sing this song,
Dew-da, Dew-da

The Drinktown caseback’s 5 miles long,
Oh Dew-da day

Goin’ to drink all right
Goin’ drink all day
I bet my money on a Live-Wired Dew
Somebody bet on hooray.

I went down tired with my hat caved in,
Dew-da, Dew-da
I come back Wired with a jacket-stuffed win
Oh Dew-da day

Goin' drink all right,
Goin' drink all day

I bet my money on a Live-Wired Dew
Somebody bet on hooray.


In the Light-hearted,

Daniel Wilcox

Walls and Border Fences

Walls
“American didn’t bring democracy. It brought walls.” Yousif al-Timimi in National Geographic July 2011


There’s something in man, uh human
‘That loves a wall’…
Jerusalem
China
Istanbul
Hadrian
Mellah
Venice
Pale
Richmond…well,
An upside-down
Walled trench;

Speaking of
‘Somme’
Others…
Warsaw
Berlin
Panmunjom
Ben Hai…a river wall,
Selma
BelfastKashmir
Baghdad
Gaza
Yuma…ah finally a rime,

Aleppo,
El Pas--
‘Add’ nauseam
And
Two kinds of mortars
Bricks ‘unmortified’

Mortgaging tomorrow for yesterday;
Good ‘fencing’, uh yes, ‘know’…


In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

*First published in The New Verse News
in different form
*Robert Frost

Deporting Illegal Children

Deporting Illegal Children in Texas and the Rich Man and Lazarus

From Roger Olson's blog, "Illegal Immigration of Children..."--

"The problem is often framed as “those bad Latin Americans who want to come and take what we have” rather than as “we rich Americans who show off our luxury and want to keep it all to ourselves.”

As a Christian, I ask my fellow Texans and others (many of who consider themselves Christians) to consider Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Who are we, America, in the parable? Who are the Central American children standing or sitting on one side of our border or the other?

Recently a Christian man in my town, very well known, a “pillar of the community,” purchased a partially built mansion on the edge of town with twenty-three thousand square feet of living space. He is finishing it. By all accounts he’s a very good man, a respected family man, church members and philanthropist. But twenty-three thousand square feet? When not far away is a camp now inhabited by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Central American children being held indefinitely because they crossed our border without permission looking for a tiny bit of that affluence—just enough to live a human life.

But the solution is not just individual charity; the only real, long-term solution can only be a massive rededication of our American ingenuity and productivity to solve Central America’s economic problems. Over the last century and a half we, the United States of America, have directly or indirectly invaded Central American countries numerous times (look it up using Google or any internet search engine!) to protect our economic interests.

What if we instead “invaded” them to enhance their economic interests? What if we cut back our extremely bloated “defense” budget and devoted the savings to creating a corps of young men and women to go to Central America for only one purpose—to build schools, housing, medical facilities, etc.?"

Jews and Arabs Who Refuse To Be Enemies

BAN HAMAS, and all other religious and political thugs...

BAN HAMAS, and all other religious and political thugs who treat humans as cannon fodder!


Gazing on Gaza

Like Samuel, Vonnegut gets called up from the grave

to say—
Judge for yourself,
No one’s got eyes
To see, no one with a Kingly, Martin sort of vision/dream;
Only strident martinets
Now heaving/hurling—ethically sick,
While UN diplomats ‘jawbone’ us to death
With nice resolutions; Samsonlite…

Where has their gaze gone
(I mean gaza)?
Samson’s at it again
Bringing the building down

Because he’s lost his gaze or gaza;
Only covered women (and children)
Walking wounded,
Or buried, burned, abandoned

Like the 4 youths (3 versus 1),
Or cowering from the rockets
In Tel Aviv and Gaza City

No Delilah here;
Just Philistine rage and Samson’s might,
And many less hairs,( er heirs)...


Judges 15-16
--


Side note:

As you can imagine, since I lived there, knowing both
Palestinians and Israelis, this tragedy gets to me and
brings out the sarcastic.


Brief Bio:

Daniel Wilcox's wandering lines have appeared in many magazines
including Word Riot, Write Room, Camel Saloon, Dead Snakes,
and Unlikely Stories IV. Three large collections of his published
poetry are in print.


Before that, he hiked through Nebraska, Cal State University Long Beach
(Creative Writing), Montana, Pennsylvania, Europe, Palestine/Israel,
Arizona...Now he resides with his wife on the central coast of California.

Posted by Daniel Wilcox at 1:30 PM

Go to http://lightwaveseeker.blogspot.com/ for next post.

Because the InfiniteOcean site is not working correctly, I'm moving my blog, at least for the next few days, to lightwaveseeker.blogspot.com.

Whose Land?

Whose Land Is Palestine/Israel? Who Does It Belong To? This Land Is Mine

This Land Is Mine from Nina Paley on Vimeo.

Please check out the very important political/historical animation by Nina Paley.

On Gaza and Israel--IMAGINE by World Vision!

"Imagine if nations and societies took a more holistic approach that involved the business and educational sectors...

"Imagine if the conference's opening address is delivers by two boys, one from Palestine and one from Israel, friends of the four who were murdered.

And they, in turn, reiterated the statement issued by Naftali's family: 'There is no difference between blood and blood. Murder is murder, whatever the nationality and age.'

And finally, imagine if those children, as future leaders in their communities, could lead us all forward to regain our humanity together."

by Alex Snary and Bill Forbes

Alex Snary leads the operations...in Jerusalem, West Bank, and Gaza
Bill Forbes is the Director of Child Protection for World Vision globally.

The Pull-Out Coyote

Last September 2013 on our vacation in Yosemite, we saw this lone coyote standing by the side of the road, still as a statue...

The Pull-Out Coyote

Seven cars full of gawkers, so touristy,
Surrouded a rather chubby coyote
Standing still in forested Yosemite.

The excited travelers near Glacier Point
Grouped in the crowded National Park pull-out
Yanked up their cameras and cellphones for shots.

Such roving animals very seldom pause
In attention for us curious humans;
I wondered if this solo wild one here was

Wounded, rabid, dazed and confused, or sicker
But later when we stopped to ask a Ranger,
He said, "No, not likely--that's the sly trickster

Who stands like a furred statue for large handouts.
He's smarter than your average human huckster;
You know, the demanding ones by red stop lights

At busy road spots mooching for more money.
In contrast, this very cunning coyote
Has picked his eat-stop with parking a plenty,

Lots of room for his so friendly attendants
To pull off the highway with scrumptious treats."
If this master of the show doffed a Stetson,

We watchers wouldn't have been at all startled,
But surely have expected it from this coyot.
Ever see a critter pull tourists from his hat?



:-)

In the Light-Heart,

Daniel Wilcox

The Worded Confusion of Those Who Deny Free Will

Sometimes advertising totally confuses an individual, especially if the ad commentary is contradictory.

Take a look:

"Public Meeting: "The Illusion of Free Will & its Impact on Moral Responsibility"*
May 18, 1:00 PM
Ramsey County Library, Roseville, Minnesota

August Berkshire speaking on 'The Illusion of Free Will and its Impact on Moral Responsibility'

If free will is an illusion, what does this say about praise, blame, responsibility, ethics, justice, revenge, punishment, rehabilitation, cooperation, and altruism? Is life worth living? Should we be optimistic or pessimistic about the future?"
--

HUH?

If "free will" is an "illusion," then we won't be able to decide whether "life is worth living." If we have no choice, can't make alternative decisions, then we are passive objects/beings and can't choose to be either "optimistic or pessimistic" about our future.

There can be no "moral responsibility" if we are incapable of choosing between right and wrong.

Each of us will instead be done to--

Our body will do whatever has been cosmically determined by the universe or fate or whatever.

In philosophical determinism, there can be no "should" which, contradictorily, the presentation blurb seems to advocate.

But the strange ad continues:
--
"Our speaker, August Berkshire, will discuss the ramifications of a natural universe without gods or free will, in which evolution shapes our thoughts and actions."
--

Oops! So evolution has "shaped" some humans to think there is free will but shaped Berkshire to think there is no free will?

Also, how can evolution "shape" anything? Evolution, according to most scientists, is "purposeless and meaningless." Natural selection is an action that doesn't shape, it only moves forward in time and space.

Do I detect a little personification here?

--
Then the blurb says: "He will conclude that it's a good thing that we don't have free will!"
--

Huh, again?

How can not having any choice be "good"? That's a judgment, a choice. How can anyone make a judgment if they don't have free will? Calling something good, can only happen if one has the ability to choose to do so.
--

"August Berkshire is past president of Minnesota Atheists and a past vice president of Atheist Alliance International. He has been a atheist activist since 1984 and is the author of numerous pamphlets. He is the owner of the ATHEIST car license plate for Minnesota and is proud to be listed in the reference book "Who's Who in Hell."
--

Wait a minute! If Berkshire has no choice, how can he choose to be proud of his accomplishments?

Besides, he isn't capable of accomplishments, if he has no free will. Merriam-Webster: "something done, achieved..."

If Berkshire thinks no one, himself included, has free will, then he hasn't been capable of "achieving" any accomplishments.

How can he even choose to believe he can't choose?

How can he choose to be an "atheist activist"?

If there is no freewill, he didn't have any say in whether or not to be an atheist, and theists didn't have any say how they are either.

Also, how can one choose to be an "activist" if there is no free will?

In determinism, humans are DONE TO-- We never get to make our own choices. In fact the famous determinist Sam Harris even claims our sense of "i" our identity is an illusion.

But the advertisement continues about Berkshire:
--
"His following the trail of reason and evidence has led him to the conclusion that neither gods nor free will exist, and that we can live happy, fulfilled lives without either one."
__

Reasoning, NOT!

If everything is determined, then we, illusions, live whatever has been determined, whether happy or despairing.

There can be no "fulfilled" because we have no choice. If it's destined that we be impoverished,destitute, and unfulfilled,then that's the breaks, whatever the cards of the cosmos will.

What a mangled weave such an advertisement makes of the English language. I hate it when speakers twerk the normal meaning of words, the dictionary definitions.

It drives this former English teacher to drink--where's my Mountain Dew Live Wire?:-)

In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox


*www.meetup.com/minnesota-atheists/events/18237502/

The Mystery of Religious Delusion--Miracles

Deeply embedded into my childhood was the Christian belief in miracles. We never saw any supernatural miracles or knew any others who had, but we believed with all our hearts that miracles occurred and that miracles had happened many times in the Bible.

What a wonderful story about how Jesus who was walking across the surface of the Sea of Galilee, stopped, and helped Peter the disciple. How could any of the Bible be true if it's alleged miraculous narratives weren't?

I remember the wonder of hearing about modern miracles even somewhat minor ones. Josh McDowell, (the famous Campus Crusade speaker at hundreds of college campuses), personally told us, a group of teens, that he had witnessed God cause a car engine to break down.

Another speaker told us how a devout person had been able to move a mountain!

We read of resurrections in other countries such as the Philippines like Lazarus.

And that humans had been swallowed by whales like Jonah.

And of documented evidence in Texas that dinosaurs walked with Adam.

Etc.

Amazingly, we read of reports that a computer at NASA in Texas had discovered proof of the missing day from when Joshua told the sun to stand still!

We were so astounded. So encouraged. So deceived.

No one had ever moved a mountain miraculously. Deceptive advertising!

No one had been dead in a tomb for 3 days and then been resurrected to life.

The NASA report turned out to be a complete lie, fabricated by a Christian speaker.
The intentionally dishonest story then got multiplied and passed on to millions of the faithful.

Finally, years later a research group did a thorough background study and found there was no truth to the claim at all.

Other alleged miracles were NOT true either as evidence later showed.

Needless to say, when all of these miraculous proofs were shown to be untrue, we were devastated.

But then Christian leaders countered the growing doubt by emphasizing to us if there are so many counterfeit dollar bills, surely there must be genuine dollars bills, so we kept believing and searching for evidence to prove it.

A Christian medical doctor did an in depth study of a number of alleged healing miracles but, sadly, discovered not a single supernatural miracle there either, not one! Instead, all of the alleged miracles turned out to be misdiagnosis, placebo, hearsay, and fraud.

Yet I so wanted to believe. There must be a few real miracles somewhere, otherwise why else do millions of brilliant Christian leaders say so?

And in my worst moments of doubt, I was held back from disbelief, finally, because how could a Christian not believe in miracles?

But over 55 years have passed. Much study and searching. Yet no supernatural miracles have turned up in the news, in any scientific study, or in the lives of anyone I know, or in my own life--not even a very little one.

Forget the huge miracles. No one has come back alive from the dead after 3 days like Lazarus. No one has verified anyone walking on water. No scientist has ever found a human born blind who was miraculously cured to see normally.

No human being born crippled has ever suddenly been healed and got up, able to run and leap. No ocean has suddenly divided with dry land for millions to cross through. No one has been miraculously cured of disease by touching a cloth from a Christian leader like the Apostle Paul.

And there is no evidence for small miracles either. Again, when checked, they prove to be hearsay, placebo, or downright lies.

Tragically, the truth is out. Miracles don't happen, They are a delusion.

When I reflect back on my lifetime and my devotion to belief in miracles, I'm baffled that it took me over 55 years to overcome such a deep delusion, to accept the overwhelming lack of evidence.


Thankfully, unlike the miraculous, some other aspects of spirituality are real, do have evidence, and are demonstrable.


To be continued--


In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox