ticktick's space

In honor of the Pope's visit, I'll post my thoughts on religion:

 

I was raised Catholic, but I'm not a religious person. Basically, I have no faith. Not only do I not know if there is a God or not, I don't care. When it comes to spiritual matters, I just don't feel much of anything. I've been accused of not having any emotions, and I have to admit there's some truth in that.

 

As for Christ's message, I've never forgiven anyone anything, nor have I ever asked for forgiveness. I don't even like the idea of washing away sins. Everything I've done, right or wrong, is mine, and no one can take that away. As for loving your neighbor as yourself, I can barely tolerate my friends and family, and loving everyone equally debases that love.

 

So it might sound strange when I say that I intend to raise my (hypothetical) kids in the Church. One reason is that everyone I know raised by atheist or leftist parents is a mess. Even the people who later on abandon religion are more grounded than people who never went to church, at least a real one, in the first place.

 

The second is that most people need religion, or it's equivalent. I don't, and never did, but I know that I'm different than most people (a fact that I'm grateful for; Hell, I wouldn't want to live in a world made in my image). If they don't have a code to live by, most people will turn to just about anything for clarity, often the more dominating the better. Look at who converts to Islam and other cults: people whose parents never laid down the law.

 

Religion offers people solace and certainty, and an incentive to do the right thing even when no one is looking. That last is very important. Look at the difference between honor/guilt and face/shame cultures. If you don't believe in divine reward and punishment, why should you do something not in your best intersets, especially if no one will ever know what you did? Look at the internet. Do you think most people would say the things they post online to someone's face? I've never hesitated to call it like I see it, in person or online. Look up my worst comments on the internet, and I guarantee I've said worse in person.

 

My pride and personal code keep my darker impulses in check. I don't need the thought of someone looking over my shoulder to keep me honest. But, as I've often been told, I'm not like most people. Every now and then, someone will add, "...except for ticticboom," to a sentence, as in, "I don't know anyone who could blow up a building, except for ttb," or "I don't know anyone who would like living in the Middle Ages, except for ttb."

 

Actually, in that last, I said I'd miss plumbing, medicine, and hygene. She replied, "Yeah, but you'd still love to go looting and pillaging." I didn't have a good answer to that.

 

Getting back on topic, I'll raise my kids Catholic because the alternative is worse. I'd rather they deal with Catholic guilt than Islamic rage or Progressive angst. I guess choosing your kids religion is really choosing what neuroses they'll have. Unlike Leftists, I've never had a problem choosing between bad and worse (not that I'm saying religion is bad, mind you).

Probably should've done this post while everything was fresh in my mind, but what the hell.

 

On Monday, April 7th, Gathering of Eagles raided Congressional offices in D.C. Bev of Band of Mothers secured our rear. Many a liberal intern was shocked to find out that knuckle dragging Rethuglicans were capable of writing a position paper and finding their way through the maze of the Hill's office buildings. We kept the pillaging to a minimum, and the only burning was of tobacco (I think...).

 

We met up by the steps of the Capitol (Chris Hill actually looked respectable), got our spirits up, distributed materials, and made our way through the congressional offices buildings. I, in the company of two lovely ladies, went through sections of the Rayburn and Cannon buildings. Among our stops were Pelosi's office, where I could not resist having photographic evidence of my feelings for her taken. Capt. Bailey was a little more polite.

 

We also stopped by Peter King's office, probably my favorite Congressman. His staff was great, and offered to take my picture at his desk. That was probably the highlight of the day for me. I also stopped by my own Congresswoman's office, where I was not greeted so warmly. She worries more about tampon safety than the threat of becoming radioactive ash.

 

We then met up in front of the Cannon Building, where Band of Mothers had been holding down the fort. We took over for them so they could go inside for a bit. Far more people came up to thank or encourage us than to start trouble.

 

Once everyone met back up. we went over to the recruiting station to show our support. Captain Larry Bailey held court with the Navy guys. Chris Hill told them that if they needed anything, the Eagles would be there.

 

Then we met back up at the Thunder Grill in Union Station. Sadly, I wasn't feeling great and couldn't celebrate in my usual manner. I was among the first to leave, which is rare. It normally takes a crowbar to get me away from a good party. I took a train back home, downed half a bottle of Nyquil, and crawled under the covers.

 

On the bright side, I didn't get sunburned this time.

I've noticed that when evil, warmongering, Gaia-ravaging, neo-cons stage a protest, it is somehow clean, orderly, and peaceful. The cops barely show up. Rarely is anyone arrested or given a summons. Once everything is packed up and they disperse, you'd never know we were there.

 

Yet when peace-loving, Mother Earth-worshipping, tolerant, understanding, compassionate, social justice-agitating, anti-war hippies stage a protest, it is chaotic, violent, filthy, loud, smelly, utterly disorganized, and all too often becomes a minor riot. They block traffic, attack businesses, scream at passers-by, and confront the cops. Sometimes there are almost as many cops as protestors. They'll smash windows, set fires, overturn cars, throw rocks at police, and assault people they think are 'neo-con fascist pigs'.

 

Yet they boldy state that they are peaceful and we are violent.

 

At times, I can't make up my mind about something. I'll be torn between two theories or options. Over time, I've changed my mind on many subjects, from little things to big. But I've never held two mutually contradictory beliefs and believed in both of them at the same time, switching from one to the other at the drop of a hat. I mean what I say and say what I mean, and I back up my rhetoric with actions.

 

They say they care about the environment, but leave litter everywhere they go. They say they abhor violence, but physically assault those who disagree with them. They say they support the troops, but accuse them of being raping, murdering, mercenaries. They say they hate war, but advocate invading Sudan. They say they hate corporations, but most of them seem to work for Starbucks or McDonalds. They say that life is precious, but support infanticide. They say that freedom of speech is a right, but only for speech they agree with. They say defending marriage is wrong, but defending pedophila is right. They claim to be tolerant in one breath, and impose zero tolerance on any activity they don't like the next.

 

I've come to the conclusion that millions of Americans are undiagnosed schitzophrenics.

On 9/11, I was walking down 2nd Ave with a buddy from work to get breakfast. A firetruck came roaring out of the Queens-Midtown tunnel and turned south so fast that the right side lifted off the pavement at least a foot. I said it was probably a terrorist attack, because that was the only thing I could think of big enough to bring in companies from other boroughs. I am not, by nature, an optimistic man. I hate being right all the time.

 

I walked into the diner, saw everyone staring at the TV, to see the tower burning. When the second plane hit, I knew (I had strongly suspected terrorism the second I saw the video) that this was a terrorist strike, and that they were muslim terrorists, since it was obviously a suicide attack. Almost everyone around be was in shock. They couldn't believe what was happening. I was in a rage. I didn't feel any disbelief or fear or horror. All I felt was cold fury and pure, clean hate.

 

People say hate is wrong. They are fools. Hate is good. It gives the strength to do what needs to be done, and the fortitude to endure what must be endured. Forgiving your enemies is condoning their actions. Forgiveness is something I've never asked for or given. Redemption is overrated. Nothing can change the past, and it's a waste of time to try. Deal with it and move on.

 

I didn't start screaming or throwing furniture like an animal. I was icily composed, for the most part. I think I paraphrased Halsey when I said, "The Arabic language will be spoken only in Hell." Some dumbshit asked how I knew it was the arabs, and I said, "Who else? If it was one guy, well, everyone's got their lone nuts. But the only place you'll find enough maniacs to pull this off is the arabs." I remember saying something like, "First, we bomb Afghanistan flat, and move on from there." I knew Bin Laden did it. I'd been paying attention to Islamic terrorism since high school. A terrorist attack didn't surprise me. The scale and effectiveness is what caught me off guard.

 

Two things stick out about the reactions of those around me: First, most of the people were utterly incapable of dealing with the cold, hard reality that had smashed their comfortable world to pieces. They were paralyzed by shock and fear. I didn't see any anger. They just had a dazed, "This isn't happening" look. They were sheep.

Second, the staff. The wetback motherfuckers didn't give a shit. They were pissed they were losing business. One of them tried to turn it off because nobody was ordering anything, as if we'd just forget and go back to normal. I said if he touched the TV I'd fucking kill him.

 

I meant it. The normal restraints on my temper were not functioning that day. I need reasons NOT to do horrible things. Deep down, I'm a very bad person. Certain things bring that out. Watching thousands of my countrymen die in seconds is one of them.

 

Me and my buddy, who was quiet for the first time since I met him, wound up going back to the office. I had called in to say I was getting the fuck out of dodge, and this piece of shit who wasn't even a manager told me to go to the jobsite, which was next to the goddamn Empire State Building.

After I did a good impression of someone with Tourette's, he said to come back to the office. We did, sat around while everyone trickled in because they wanted to account for everyone, then we left.

 

I took a train that had been sitting in mothballs for thirty years out of Grand Central. Once we went from the tunnels to the El I stood in the open doorway and looked south. I could see the cloud of smoke until we were well past the Tappan Zee Bridge. I did not sleep that night.

 

I started getting back into shape, intending to enlist. Then, I wrapped my Blazer around a tree, and that ended that idea. If I end up in combat, something went horribly wrong.

 

I've given some thought on how things in Iraq are headed, and here are a few of my conclusions.

I think, or rather hope, Iraq will end up much more federalized, much like the United States in the early days. The central government controlling the military, foreign policy, oil production and distributing the profits; the provinces handling much of their affairs and security.

That way everyone can, for the most part, run their town or province the way they see fit, instead of an all-or-nothing game where one group grinds all the others into the dust, until they're overthrown and another group does the same thing. That's how much of the Middle East and Third World have (dis)functioned for the last half century. A democratic system that can change any law with merely 50% +1 of the legislature is inherently unstable and prone to abuse, compared to a republic. Especially a Federal one (of which the US is the prime example), where local governments have much more autonomy, instead of a one size fits all approach where the central government issues directives from the capital that may work perfectly in one province but lead to disaster in another.

They really should've followed the American model of government, not the European one. Ours is much better suited for running a heterogeneous country. Vermont isn't the same as Texas, and Anbar isn't the same as Basra. I think most Iraqis can see that now, especially the Kurds, who always got it, and the Sunnis, who've learned from bitter experience. If the Shi'a can get the idea that since they have the largest population they should be able to impose their will on everyone else out of their heads, Iraq will be well on it's way to stability.

Of course, it might be equally likely that Iraq will fall back into the zero-sum game school of politics, especially if we pull out. The partition of Iraq and a regional war become highly likely, then. Iran would take the Shi'a areas in the south, as well as Baghdad. They'd probably allow the Sunnis in the west to join Syria, since there isn't much oil there, while exiling or killing any remaining Sunnis in areas they control, all while the Sunnis do the same to the Shi'a.

The Kurds, though, aren't going down without a fight. I bet that if given air support, they could keep the Iranians and the Syrians out of their mountains until the second coming, although it'd play hell with oil production. The real danger is if Turkey gets involved, either out of fear of a Greater Kurdistan or Greater Persia. They have no love for either. That might embolden the Saudis to jump in from the south, too. Who knows what might happen with all the WMDs in the region, War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death spreading outward from the cradle of civilization? It's far from certain this would happen, but it's a definite possibility.

Is it any wonder clear minded Iraqis of all sects are clinging to the American military, religion be damned? There is nothing to cool ideological fervor as the prospect of everyone and everything you care about being destroyed by your own bad decisions.

I have hope for Iraq. The reason for that hope is simple: I have heard, time and again, that Iraqis love their children. You might wonder why that matters. After all, doesn't everyone love their children? Unfortunately, no. In many places, especially Muslim cultures, children are a seen as a burden or resource. Palestinians are so poisoned by Islam that they feel babies are born just to die. Imagine being raised by parents who constantly tell you your only reason to exist is to kill and be killed. When your friends and relatives die, everyone celebrates and hands out candy. Instead of, "When are you getting married?" it's "When are you killing yourself?"

In other places, children are sold into slavery by their own parents, forced to work almost as soon as they can walk and talk, and even used to clear landmines. The Iranians had children walk in front of tanks during the Iran-Iraq war, giving them cheap, plastic keys to open the gates of paradise. To this day, Shi'a cut open the heads of their children and whip themselves bloody to mourn the death of the Imam Hussein over a thousand years ago.

But for most Iraqis, they love their children as much as we do. It was Al Qaeda in Iraq murdering children that seems to have really pushed the Sunnis over the edge. I can understand a man fighting an occupying army, and even against those who collaborate with the perceived enemy. But when the choice becomes siding with foreigners or with people who will cook and serve a child to his own parents, any decent human being will swallow his pride and stand with his former enemy against his former ally. No one with honor (the real kind, not the 'murder my daughter because she doesn't want to wear a burqa' kind) can do less.

Now, if we can just get them to abandon Islam, a lasting peace becomes not just possible, but probable. Otherwise, their children, who won't have seen the horrors of Shari’ a, will make the same mistake so many other generations have made and embrace their 'heritage'. There's a reason those in the know call this the Long War, or Our Children's Children's War. On the other hand, if jihadis start setting off nukes in western (and Oriental) cities, I doubt there'd be anyone left to fight very quickly.

In the long term, Islam is doomed. Either the Muslims who are themselves it's greatest victims will wake up, as is starting to happen in Iran and Iraq, or it's other victims, the 'infidels', will have no choice but to kill the disease by killing the carriers. The only real question is how many will die before it is purged from this world.