Indigo Incarnates

I was very excited yesterday that the citizens of Baltimore managed to pull together to make our city #1 in something. Alas, my excitement ebbed when I realized that we are now #1 in homocide. Yeah, we beat Detroit. That is no small accomplishment. Apparently the recent batch of shootings pushed us slightly ahead of the Detroit in terms of muders per 100,000 people.

For those of you not familiar with Charm City, lemme tell you what the city is like.

Baltimore is a city with a post-apocalyptic feel. Once upon a time, in the 1980s, the city had nearly a million residents. But then crack cocaine addiction spread through the city like a wildfire ouut of control. People moved out as fast as the U-Hauls could take them. The city government taxed the business to the point that they left the city too. When the jobs left, even more people abandoned the city. So in 2009, we have slightly more than 550,000 people who live here.

The city is falling apart. You can drive through some neighborhoods that are just block after block of empty, boarded-up, crumbling rowhomes. Broken glass hangs from empty window frames like dirty jagged teeth clinging to an ossified skull. Broken glass litters the streets, and the only mystery is which is more plentiful: shattered glass or shattered dreams. But the rats are in ascendency here. they are as large as cats and fear not man nor fire.

During the day, the panhandlers camp out on nearly ever intersection, waving crude cardboard signs that promise God's blessing in exchange for a dollar or two. But by evening, these beggars are passed out on the sidewalks after purchasing their daily dose of opiate poisons that they ram into their veins. They looks flat, like dead birds.

Then, too, you can see the junkie-bums staggering about like zombies. they move slowly, soullessly. Their eyes are sunken and the soul's light is gone from their visage. Toothless prostitutes proffer their shabby wares and curse loudly into dilapidated prepaid cellular phones. They can be seen bedewing the pavement with their coagulated yellow-green spittle.

Most of the businesses are gone. Nobody works. The only stores that remain are liquor/lotto/pawn shops where the denizens of the city trade their welfare pittance for scratch-off chances to lose and for their cheap rotgut.

And the feral teens – they hunt in packs in the twilight. Their social skills are demonstrated through the barrel of the gun. Heroin is the secondary currency of the city. The teens cannot read, but instead only know how to breed. They deal their poisons through the windows of cars with stolen tags and tinted windshields. Rap music blares a staccato beat that threatens to deafen all around. And the playgrounds are always empty. Always.

In spring, it rains a lot. But it never rains heavily enough or long enough to wash away the filth and detritus that clings to everything here. The sun comes out and the rats and beggars return as if nothing had happened..

For T-Mobile to be #1 in customer service, it tells me that the telecommunications industry is in pretty bad shape. I seem to keep having this ongoing fight with T-Mobile at the beginning of each month. My "unlimited use" plaan keeps getting cut off after 10 Gb of data transfer. When I call up, they say "Well, it's unlimited from the handset but not unlimited as a tethered modem". However, that's not what the website says.

The other drama is they don't like my phone. Apparently there are a couple different flavors of 3G data service. T-Mobile uses UMTS (~384 Kbps) but my Sony phone is a HSPDA device (~720 Kbps). Last night around 9:00 PM, T-Mobile pushed an update into my phone that caused the tethering feature to be permenantly disabled. Nice.

So... they're making me buy a new phone.

Yeah.

Granted, it's only $40. But in principle, I find it outrageous that they purposefully crippled my phone because it's too fast for their network. Why can't they just restrict the phone to the 384 Kbps channel instead of ruining a perfectly good phone? Of course, no one in customer care had an answer for that question.

I'm really not happy about this.

Indigo Incarnates

I did another ten miles on my bike after work today. The NCR trail is just so pleasant this time of year. There are so many birds twittering and the trees are green. It's nice riding through alternating sun and shade. In the evening, the bike trail is nearly empty. I like the solitude sometimes.

It's nice being able to sense the presence of life. Willow's ability to feel the life force of trees is greater than mine, but I have some of that ability. I am glad for that. There are perks to being a changeling. :)

Since it was really sunny, Thistle got to fly. This is a good time of year for him. Sunlight is important for both him and me.

I'm watching a dreadful MST3K movie called "Future Wars". It's like the whole movie has a dissociative disorder, har har. I haven't figured out if it's a space movie, a time travel movie, a dinosaur movie, or a post-apocalyptic movie. But it's all happening at the same time, har har! The characters include a killer robot, a nun who used to be a junkie-prostitute, and small dinosaurs with goth chains. Egads! The storyline? Well, I've been watching it for an hour and I still couldn't tell ya!

I was disappointed but not surprised that a person on my case book got off Scott-free for a crime he should have gotten 20 years for. This jerk beat the crap out of his 7-year-old nephew and then rammed his head into a radiator. He got a Nollo Proscitu verdict, which meant that the prosecutor didn't even feel like prosecuting the case. Yeah. About 80% of my cases end up with a NP verdict. And you wonder why there's no crime deterrence in Baltimore?! Ashen was not amused.

Indigo Incarnates

Man! It was awful today. I have a pair of dress shoes for work that are only a year old, but I suspect they must have the same quality control as Chrysler. The whole sole of my right shoe came off during my lunch break. Egads! It's a good thing that I keep a tube of krazy-glue in my desk. I used about half a tube putting my shoe back together to get me through the remainder of my work day. What a drag!

I got next to no sleep last night. My mind was racing. It just happens sometimes. But it's a real drag. I usually write better than but I'm just freakin' tired.

Indigo Incarnates

While the Ten Commandments as written in Exodus 20 makes a fine blueprint for a civilized nation, it seems to be a bit outdated in the context of modern-day Christianity. I figure that the next version of the Bible should be updated to reflect the values that Christians *actually* hold dear:

Now, I'm not saying that ALL Christians are hate-mongering, science-condemning, right-wing homophobes. I firmly believe there is a small kernel of the faithful (maybe 5% of the overall membership of Christianity) that actually worships Jesus Christ. The other 95% seems to worship the Angry Desert God of the Old Testament and pay only scant lip-service to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Why is that? My guess is because Jesus has no hate in Him. The Holy Spirit has no hate in Her. But modern-day American Christians need validation for their racism, bigotry, fear, and homophobia. That, in my opinion, is why they refuse to accept that Jesus and the Holy Spirit forged a new way for people to live.

I've met some real Christians: Nick, Doris, Clint, Ed, Joan, and Nancy. I just wish there weren't so few of them. Heck, if mainstream Christianity actually followed the teachings of Christ, I might still be a Christian. But I didn't leave the faith. The faith turned its back on me by declaring war on homosexuals.

Maybe the American Christianity should call themselves "Religious Right Believers in YHVH" or something to that effect.


The Observed Ten Commandments:

- ONE: Thou shalt hate homosexuals with all your mind and spirit.
- TWO: Thou shalt disown one's offspring once they are known as homosexual.
- THREE: Thou shalt not respect the faiths of others, but instead thou shalt bear false witness against them as chance provides.
- FOUR: Thou shalt vote Republican in all matters of political discourse.
- FIVE: Thou shalt hold ecology and the environment in withering contempt. Thou needest not leave a prosperous Earth for thine offspring.
- SIX: Thou shalt trust in God's forgiveness for thine own faults whilest holding the faults of others in public contempt and ridicule.
- SEVEN: A man shalt have a Mistress half his age, lo' many wives if desired. A woman, however, shalt be subservient to her husband through infidelity, violence, and even death.
- EIGHT: Thou shalt blame homosexuals and witches for all manner of flood, fire, tempest, and natural disaster of any kind.
- NINE: Thou shalt withhold charity from homosexuals, witches, Democrats, liberals, and those of other faiths.
- TEN: Thou shalt not interpret the Bible in any way other than literal. Thou shalt not pay heed to contradictions in holy writ. Thou shalt not accept as valid any interpretation of Deity than this one, but instead hold in contempt all those who dare speak of it.

Indigo Incarnates

This was my first extended bike ride of the summer. Usually I build up to doing a full 42 miles. Today I started with 30 miles. Whooo-hoo!

One of the perks of not being human is being able to push this body beyond the usual limitations. It helps that it was sunny and Thistle was able to fly.

I had a really nice ride. Although there were lots of people in the first few miles, the crowds thinned out a lot after mile 7. The trees are very green now and the trail was dotted with little white flowers. I saw several chipmonks and other tiny rodents. I also saw a few cardinals.

I'm hoping I'll be able to work up to 42 miles soon. That's the distance between Cockeyesville and the Pennsylvania line and back.

All in all, it was a fun ride. I'm kinda tired now.

I talked to me friend Ed today and he's pissed off at his church. He's a part time assistant pastor at an Assemblies of God church. He got told this week by his head pastor that unless he starts including anti-gay messages in his sermons, he'll have to find a different church. The head pastor also wants Ed to register as a Republican since he feels that Democrats can't be "real" Christians.

Ed's a real Christian -- and one of the few. He doesn't hate gays and he thinks that the Bible is an interpreted document and not a literal one. I'm afraid his days at the Assemblies of God are numbered. He should consider becoming an Episcopal priest.

Indigo Incarnates

So... My portable hard drive bit the dust and I wanted to back up my netbook since it's just a dinky 2 pound machine and therefore fragile. But hey, I have over 100 Gb of unused space on my domain account so I figured I'd just back up the hard drive to a hidden ftp directory on my domain.

Well... It is working... Slowly. My internet connection is my tethered cell phone. I've been running the backup since Sunday. It's 83% complete now (and it's Friday!)

What they don't tell you about wireless broadband is that the upload speed is a small fraction of the download speed. On the bright side, once it's finished, the next time won't take nearly as long since it will only have to upload changed files.

It's a good think I'm patient, eh?

Indigo Incarnates

One of the effects of the Christofascist Prop 8 tragedy is that it serves as a stunning reminder of how Christianity is a wolf in sheep's clothing. In fact, it's an apex super-predator in sheep's clothing. While this religion prides itself as being a standard-bearer and source of light to the world, what it actually does is bring darkness, suffering, division, and misery wherever it operates unopposed. While the Christian faith may stand for goodness and peace, all you have to do is examine its actions to determine what Christianity *really* stands for.

The *real* Christian moral code:
-- All gays are inherently evil, are unforgivable, and shall be damned to burn in hell for all eternity. However, a murderer or rapist need only say "I'm sorry" to be forgiven by God.
-- It's a Hate Crime if a Christian is murdered by someone of a different faith, but when a Christian murders a homosexual, then it is simply God's will being done.
-- God periodically sends hurricanes to the Gulf Coast to punish Christians for not murdering enough gays. If only there could be a ballot initiative permitting Christians to slay homosexuals then bad weather would stop.
-- It's "persecution" when Christians don't get to put Nativity displays on school grounds. But it's not persecution when the Christians file suit to suppress Harry Potter books at school since the Christians think it promotes Wicca.
-- Christians think it's preferable to have a murderer as a next-door neighbor than to have a homosexual neighbor. Christians can understand and forgive murderers fairly easily but gays are abominations.
-- While same-sex couples are abominations in God's eyes, ordained priests who rape 10-year-old boys must be protected at all cost.
-- When covering up the crimes of Christian pedophile-priests, excommunication of the plaintiffs is a morally justifiable tool.
-- Because being an ordained Christian priest is so vital to the survival of the faith, it's a moral good when priests are relocated outside the limits of extradition when the police try to serve arrest warrants for child molestation crimes.
-- Christians believe that the murder of Matthew Shepard was a fine example of God's will being done.
-- Abortion is a sin but it's okay when Christians drown their kids in bath tubs or lock them into a car and then push the car into a lake.
-- Abortion is a sin, so it's okay to excommunicate a 9-year-old incest victim who has an abortion. Since the stepfather/rapist apologized to his priest, he was not excommunicated.
-- It's okay for Christian parents to withhold essential medical treatment for their children as long as they read the Bible and pray regularly. The death of an 11-year-old girl from being denied insulin is apparently God's will.
-- It's a moral imperative to disown one's gay children. It's also doing God's will when Christian parents kick their 14-year-old gay kids out into the streets.
-- Since many Pagan faiths value ecology and environmental responsibility, it's a moral imperative for Christians to destroy the environment as quickly as possible. If the ecology gets sufficiently ruined, then Jesus will come back and kill all the gays and witches.
-- Driving hybrid vehicles is doing the devil's work.
-- Jesus was a rich, white Republican.
-- Voting Republican is part of the Christian statement of faith.
-- It's okay to spread lies, hate, and rumor about unpopular minorities (such as gays and Pagans) if it gets one's theofascist agenda passed.
-- It's God's will that church funds be used to sponsor secular legislation that takes basic human rights away from unpopular minorities.
-- Some Christian sects believe in polygamy. It's a moral good that a 50-year-old man have two or three teen-age "brides in spirit", but it's unacceptable that same-sex couples have access to health insurance.
-- Because Christianity frowns on divorce, it's a wife's duty to tolerate being beaten by her husband since the Bible says she is to be submissive. The Church excommunicates women who divorce even if her husband beats her or her children.

Christianity is such a wonderful religion. Isn't it?

Indigo Incarnates

I suppose that Christians nationwide must be dancing a jig after the California Supreme Court effectively ruled that Christian dogma concerning same-sex unions must be upheld as the law of the land. As of yesterday, California is officially a Christian Theocracy, not a secular democracy.

I find it to be a very dangerous outcome that the Supreme Court upheld. The precident it sets is simple: from now on, the majority of people can decide in what ways members of very small minorities can conduct their lives. The majority now has the power to strip members of unpopular minorities of their civil rights entirely.

Consider this: hatred of homosexuals has become an integrated component in the Christian declaration of faith. According to Christian dogma, homosexuals are forever cut off from Heaven and are hated by the Angry Desert God. The holy book of the Desert War God (aka the Bible) clearly states that God approves of the murder of homosexuals. Thus, how long will it be before Christians take to the ballot box again with more punitive ballot initiatives to cow and humiliate the people they decry as "perverts" and "abominations"?

I foresee the Christian community taking ever greater steps to punish gays. They will likely push for a ballot initiative to criminalize sodomy (for gays only, off course. Sodomy between a lawfully married man aand wife will be excluded from punishment). Once homosexual behavior is criminalized, it's only a matter of time before the Christians present a ballot initiative concerning how we gays should be punished.

They will, of course, recommend nothing less than death. It's in the Bible, therefore they will consider themselves to be failing in their obediance to the Angry Desert God if they don't find a way to craft legislation that will bring gays to the extermination camps.

If you think that can't happen, you should think again. In the 1930s and 1940s, Germany was (and still is) a primarily Christian nation. These family-values Lutherans willingly turned a blind eye when the SS came at 2:00AM to collect all the known homosexuals. Yes, the Christians saw fit to kill off the gays before they went after the Jews. It could so easily happen in this country. The Far Right would declare our destruction as an example of democracy in action. They would pride themselves on doing God's will.

It just terrifies me that people who know nothing about me can, from the secrecy of a ballot box, make laws to hurt me. It's a scary thing to understand that people like me are only two ballot initiatives away from being put in a death camp.

Christianity is a dangerous, hateful religion populated by dangerous, hateful people that serve a dangerous, hateful god.

Indigo Incarnates

It is a really cool visit so far. I am so glad that Doris got her new car so she could drive up to see me. She is such a nice friend. :)

Yesterday was a pretty low-impact day. We did some shoe shopping. We both hate shopping but Doris got lucky and found a pair she liked on the second try. Yay! Then I tortured her with bad cinema. One of my favorite movies is a B-rated sci-fi/horror movie called "Syngenor". It's a movie about killer lizard-men that were cooked up by a military defense contractor seeking to make the "perfect soldier", har har.

Today I made waffles for breakfast, which Doris liked very much. I got my bicycle cleaned up and ready for the summer season. I did 5 miles of bike riding. Doris had a college paper to write, so I played some Sacred II tonight. Yay!

I'm contemplating putting in "The Fog" for tonight's low-budget entertainment. :)

It is so nice having my friend visit. It's a really fun weekend!