The Most Controversial Subjects of Discussion

I think racism, in all of it's manifestations, is such a stupid, barbaric, and out-dated concept that I almost hesitate to expound upon it. I have traveled extensively throughout our great country, from California to New York, Detroit to Miami and have been both pleased and disturbed by what I have seen and experienced.

Whether people really realize it or not, most of the cities in our nation are still greatly segregated with only minimal amounts of integration within. Most major cities have a good ethnic mixture, but cities and towns outside metropolitan areas are split to the extent that African-Americans have their areas, Latinos have their areas, Asians have theirs, Native-Americans have their reservations, Middle Easterners have their small communities, and Caucasians pretty much encompass the rest with small scatterings of the "others" in between.

For instance, the East and West sides of Detroit are predominantly Black with the Whites living in the suburbs beyond. The Latinos live in an area called "Mexican Town" , and the Middle Easterners, who are referred to as Arabs, live in and around the area called Dearborn.
In Miami, the Haitians live around Liberty City and Little Haiti.Carroll City is predominantly Black Americans and Caribbean Islanders from Jamaica, Trinidad, Antigua, and other surrounding Islands. The Mexicans live in Homestead, the Cubans dominate Hialeah, and other parts of South Miami, while the Whites live in and around Coral Gables, Miami Lakes, South Beach, and to the North.
In Los Angeles, cities like Norwalk, Whittier, and East L.A., among many others, are predominantly Latino. Much of South Central, Watts, Compton, and Inglewood are predominantly Black. The Whites dominate West L.A., Beverly Hills, much of the suburbs of the San Fernando Valley, and of course all of the Beach cities. The Asians are represented in force also, having the city of Carson, which is predominantly Philipino, then there is China Town, Korea Town, Japan Town, Thai Town, and Little Saigon, and don't even get me started on Orange County or Northern California.
This is just a little tinkle in all that I have seen. Even the city I grew up in, called Tarzana, which was named for the author of the Tarzan books, was dominantly Jewish. I think my family stuck out like a sore body in our neighborhood.

You may say that this is more a segregation of nationalism, but skin color plays a prevalent role. Add to this socio-economic class structure and you've got yourself a cocktail made with prejudice, racism, and segregation, with a heavy dose of ignorance mixed in for good measure. Even though I have used the word RACISM in this lens, I believe it is our ignorance, mine included in the past, which has us use this term. You see, there is only one race, which is the human race. If it is not human, then we would be talking about a plant, an animal, or a thing. We have multiple ethnicities, nationalities, religions, and skin colors, but I would hope that we, as people, are a part of the same race.

As you may have noticed, I do differentiate between drugs and marijuana. I truly believe that these two beasts are utterly different animals.

It is true that some of the side effects of pot smoking are somewhat harmful, but I think it is absurd to compare it to cocaine , crack, heroin, crystal meth, opium, uppers, downers, and the multitude of varieties under just as extensive a list of nicknames which they are known by. As a cancer survivor, I can still remember the army of pills and other pharmaceutical "life saving" and "pain relieving" drugs which my already chemo-ravaged body was introduced to. Let me see, there was Valium, Vicodin, Morphine, Zanaflex, Codeine, and a couple of others including muscle relaxers and sleeping aids. Many of these can be highly addictive and can cause a great deal more damage to your internal system than some of Cheech and Chong's Maui Waui or Colombian Gold.

Even compared to the mayhem caused by alcohol, pot is fairly tame. I think if more people were to partake of this delectable herb there would be more unity and peace in the world. Yes, we may gain a few pounds from indulging our munchie madness, but at least we would be getting fat together. If our government were intelligent enough to legalize, regulate, and tax it, we would not have to worry about another Reagan or Bush size deficit.

The usually cynical may find some enlightenment, the usually dull may find some creative inspiration, the usually dour may find a smile and laughter, the usually lazy may....forget about that one.

Oh boy, the ever controversial subject of religion. I believe that religion on its own is a phenomenal thing. People should have something that they have faith and belief in. Why not God or the idea of a higher being?

I tend to have a problem with "organized religion." It is so often in the name of religion that Man sheds blood on a daily basis. It is religion that subjugated women to a lowly status for untold centuries. It is religion that made sex a bad thing, left-handed people evil, and was the cause of the bad luck associated with Friday the Thirteenth through the murders of coutless "Knights Templars" at the hands of an envious Catholic King and a greedy Pope.

I am highly cynical when it comes to ministers and evangelists who expound on the teachings of Jesus Christ while driving luxury cars, wearing $2,000 suits, and having ATM machines in the lobby of their church. Jesus was a man who lived humbly as a carpenter, although he was a King in his own right with the blue blood of King David and King Solomon running through his veins. Yes, I said a MAN, because that is what he was. The rules and guidelines and the very divinity of Jesus Christ was fabricated and invented by Roman Emperor Constantine, Eusebius the Bishop of Caesarea, and other members of The Council of Nicaea in the 4th century. Even many of the venerated holy symbols of Christianity were stolen and varied from millenia old symbols from ancient Pagan religions.

Then we come to my view of the Vatican and the Holy Roman Catholic Church. You know, that all powerful, multi-national conglomerate. I believe more blood has been shed and more innocent people slaughtered at their hands than all the wars of the world put together. At one time they even had their own group of elite assassins called the "Assassini." Of course the nature of their missions involved the permanent silencing of any who posed a danger to their teachings or standings, whether real or imagined. Their culpability is plain if you were to read about the Knights Templars or the victims of the Spanish Inquisition among other examples. Then, there was their involvement with the Nazis during World War II. Money, and lots of it, was needed by fleeing Nazi criminals of war who were escaping to Africa (Afrikanners), Brazil, and other South American countries. The Vatican acted as merchandise agents, selling off much of the valuables stolen from the Jews in order to finance the war criminal's needs. All for a handsome commission, of course. I would bet money that many of those stolen valuables remain in the Vatican's vaults today.

I consider myself to be more spiritual than religious. I think that as long as a person works hard to be a wholly good and decent human being, they are doing what God and Jesus intended for us. Those who cavort around spitting words like hellfire and brimstone are a throw back to the dark ages and may be in desperate need of a swift kick to the back side. I think Jesus might agree and dish out a kick or two himself.

I think it goes without saying that almost all politicians are absolutely deluded by the quest for money and power, living with delusions of grandeur, and pretty much full of crap. Then they take craps on the people, including the ones who voted them into their offices, and then they wipe their backsides with toilet paper made of your tax dollars.

I am most definitely on the side of the ideological Democrats and fail to see the value of the Republican Party. Why do we as a nation constantly vote these mentally deficient, self-serving hypocrites into high office?! It's like constantly banging your head against a wall and then turning around and crying for an aspirin. Most of the best and most prosperous times in our nations history was when a Democrat held the oval office. It seems like every time a Republican weasels his way in we ultimately head into a recession and war.

It has been said that a wise man not only learns from their own mistakes, but from the mistakes of others and that it is a fool that makes the same mistakes over and over again. If this holds true, then you do the math people. And then we wonder why other countries look upon us with disdain. What a joke.