The Sunday Rumble: 15.9.19

I just don't get it!   I am referring to this 'religion thing'!  Every Sunday morning the bells peal from the Church outside my front door and in ones and twos but rarely more, the worshippers stroll past on their way to the service.  And every Sunday morning I wonder why?  Well, of course, it's because they believe but, alas and alack, I do not.  Even worse (I suppose), neither do I want to believe!  I should hasten to add that even so, I am, on the whole, exceedingly grateful to the moral code laid down by Jesus Christ (allegedly) which I think is as fine a guide to life as anyone could wish for but beyond that, I cannot go.

 

I want a sort of "Beam me up, Scotty" device:   Not that I wish to go anywhere - although a flash trip to the 'Arkie' mountains would be good! - no, what I want is a sort of 'Fast Forward' button that will whizz me past all this hideously shameful (and 'sham full') Parliamentary pantomime.  Actually, it would be even better if it could whizz forward twenty years so that the true nature of the European monster will began to show its hideous nature even to the dim, dumb Troglodytes who worship at its feet!

 

Why do I 'lurve' Victoria Beckham?   No, no, it's not because she is a mega-rich, attractive lady, at least, not entirely!  I think it is because, above and beyond all else, she generally keeps a low profile and (so far!) has avoided the sewers of depravity which swirl past all 'slebs'.  She appears to be a hard-working Mum who runs her own business and, by and large, minds her own business!  Yes, I wish that she would smile a little more often, particularly when she receives yet another proposal from me, but even so, I do still 'lurve' her!

 

 

At least there's a laugh on the 'telly' tonight:   On one of the film Channels they are re-running that 'Jack Reacher' film with that well-known midget, Mr. Tom Cruise, playing the lead!  How he ever got the part I do not know because 'Jack Reacher' he was not!  Mind you, writing that reminds me of an exceedingly tough guy called 'Tony' Fleming' I met years ago in the army who was born and raised in an exceedingly rough part of Liverpool.  When it came to street/pub fighting he knew where-of he spoke having been at it since he was 14 years old!  When I once asked him if he was scared of anyone, he replied in the negative but added the warning that you always had to be careful of the little guys!

 

So what happened to the Trump mega-disaster?   I remember being warned by sundry media sources, well, most media sources, actually, that the inauguration of Donald Trump as President inevitably meant the end of the world.  To be fair, even without the, er, assistance of those wailers 'n' moaners, I must confess that 'back in the day' I was fairly nervous of the prospect.  Even so, here we are nearly three years on and I'm still waiting!  The only outstanding question is, if 'HillBilly' had won would I have had to wait so long?  Don't bother replying, I think I know the answer.

 

Damn right!   There is a story - alright, a 'flyer' - in The Sunday Mail today indicating that there are moves afoot to earmark the hitherto empty plinth in Trafalgar Square for a statue of Prince Phillip.  Actually, they rather wittily describe him as "Plinth Phillip"!  Off hand, I cannot think of anyone more deserving of the honour.

 

 

No more Rumbles

 

Comments

[AussieD]

She could do with a good feed.

[Whitewall]

AussieD, my thoughts exactly. Without a pillow to help, there is not much there to hug. But I would anyway. I am such a gentleman.

[Whitewall]

David, 20 years into the future SoD will be well into 'old man' territory too.

[Loz]

what I want is a sort of 'Fast Forward' button that will whizz me past all this hideously shameful (and 'sham full') Parliamentary pantomime.

You mean fast-forwarding past the following of due process in accordance with our democratic constitution?

I always said you Brexiteers were democratic phonies! The will of the people as expressed through parliament is is clearly not your game. Nor is the will of the people expressed through direct democracy anymore if the peeps might have changed their minds. All that really matters to you is your will.

SoD

[Wigner’s Friend]

SoD,

Here’s a towel, do please wipe the flecks of spittle off your chops.

[Bob]

Jesus didn't come up with anything original:

https://www.ancient.eu/Twelve_Tables/

See also The Code of Hammurabi and the many other ancient codes of conduct that predate his mythology.

It's also a mistake to think everyone who goes to church has faith in any particular. There's a movement called "Christian Atheism" in both the US and Europe. Think of it as a sort of dress-up party where people enjoy playing religion and singing hymns.

Of course some people try to believe because they want certainty more than they're willing to think for themselves. Such people also believe in philosophies; conservatism, liberalism, libertarianism, Marxism, and radical centrism, for example.

[Glesga]

It is not a bad thing to believe in the teachings of Jesus. Unfortunately and the same applies to Marx some genocidal maniacs have used their names to slaughter the human race.

[Bob]

Glesga,

I seem to remember some Europeans and American colonists died in a war over (classical) liberalism, monarchy, democracy, and some other concepts.

[Scrobs]

Like you, Squire Duff, Senora O'Blene and I were brought up with a plethora of religious instruction; there was chapel every day, a family steeped in church matters and a fear of ungodliness which has stayed with us to this day!

Once you've learned the rules, there is no real way to turn back - unless you want to of course...

[Glesga]

Bob, you seem to have changed the subject!

[Bob]

Glesga,

I agree with your point that on its own belief is harmless, but nearly any belief system can cause violence.

[Glesga]

Good point Bob even the UN administer violence.

[JK]

https://www.amazon.com/High-Mighty-Dangerous-Rise-Suv/dp/B000A176P6#customerReviews

Let us recall, the closest Bob comes to however "religion" he's ever admitted his absolute faith in, and lectured us as we, admittedly tell Bob he's stupid adhering to so blindfully.

"SUVs will hasten Climate Catastophe! the likes of Bob admonished us some years ago - plus as the UN and the IPCC told us back in '89 "It's too late now" so why bother.

[JK]

Victoria Beckham ain't got shit on hillbilly gals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtYTnV3nFeY

Probly buys her family's eatin' at Sainsbury's an' asides from thet don't know a catfish from a hal-i-butt.

Now I think onit probly ain't got no decipherable accent neither.

[Cuffleyburgers]

Oh Dear Duffers no sooner you made your comment I read in Zero Hedge (so it might be true) that Trump is locked and loaded to attack Iran in response to the attack on Saudi.

Not good.

[Jack the dog]

SoD seems you've missed the point (again).

The thing has been decided. Parliament couldn't and so handed the decision explicitly to the peeps who duly voted to leave.

With that simple instruction all parliament had to do was to leave.

THeir role is not to rethink, decide again and try to thwart the expressed will of the people.

Their authority derives from consent, and failing to obey the instruction they asked for and have been given they put at risk that consent besides the dmage they are doing to the constitution in general.

So I too could do with a time out, and hope but don't completely expect to wake up on November 1st as a non-member of that disgusting structure.

But obviously you know that, and are just being a mischievous troll.

You funny fellow.

[Whitewall]

In The Telegraph over the weekend:

DANIEL HANNAN: Our democracy is being overthrown by the EU’s Hideous Strength. “It’s not about Brexit any more, at least not primarily. It’s about whether we remain a democracy in the fullest sense. Our system depends on unwritten conventions and precedents. We expect winners to show restraint and losers to show consent. We expect our officials – including judges, civil servants and, not least, the Commons Speaker – to be impartial. We expect the electorate to be the final umpire. All these norms are coming under pressure as the campaign to reverse Brexit intensifies.”

[Loz]

With that simple instruction all parliament had to do was to leave.

But leave and do what? The only peeps thwarting Brexit are the Brexiteers who can't make up what passes for their minds as to what Brexit they want: No Deal, Canada++ through to Canada--, May's deal, Norway ++ through to Norway--.

As for Daniel Hannan and that "hideous strength" article, a load of piffle from the man who was pro-Norway - which you lot think is equivalent to Remain! He changes his story as needed to get a chance of power - like Amber Rudd and the rest of 'em.

The only person who's brushing with the law right now is BoJo - not once but twice! Once for lying about his proroguing reason (including lying to Her Maj) and twice for refusing to follow the constitution by not asking the EU for an extension of Article 50.

"These norms are coming under pressure" only from your main man, as demonstrated by the fact that in this whole sorry saga he's the only one up in front of the beak aside from Jo Cox's murderer - also one of yours, I believe?

SoD

[Bob]

JK,

You probably mean climate science is a religion. Competent scientists don't rely on faith at all. According to recent polls less than 20% of Americans don't want action on climate change, so that part of the political argument is probably over.

[JK]

There's round about three hunnert and thirty million of us (legal) American citizens Bob.

Reckon how many of us "they polled" to come to that 20%?

[JK]

It occurs to me Bob, you recall what Trump's likely voters polled the third of November 2016?

If'n I told you 20% would you say "That's about right"?

[Malcolm Pollack]

The religious impulse is like a bubble under a piece of shelf-paper: you can move it around, but there it is.

The mythos, from Genesis to Redemption, has been transplanted almost entirely without alteration:

In the beginning, there was only God.

From God arose Man.

Before his Fall, Man lived simply, and in perfect harmony with God. It was a Paradise on Earth.

Then a disaster happened. Man acquired a new kind of Knowledge: knowledge that he did not need, but that conferred upon him enormous temptation. In his unwisdom, and against God’s wishes, Man succumbed. His new Knowledge gave him great power, but at a terrible cost: he had turned his back on God, and his Paradise was lost. In his exile, he would wield his ill-gained power in prideful suffering and woe.

But then came a Messenger, offering the possibility of Redemption: if Man were to renounce his awful Knowledge, and learn once again to surrender himself to the love of God, he would be forgiven, and could find his way back to Paradise. It would not be easy ”” it would require that he make terrible sacrifices, atone for his many sins, and give up his worldly comforts and much that he had come to love ”” but if his faith was strong, his Salvation could become a reality, and he could once again live in Paradise, in sweet communion with God.

In order to move from the old religion to the new one, we need only substitute "Nature" for "God" in the passages above. That the two conceptions are almost perfectly isomorphic, and that both are manifestations of the same underlying impulse, should be plainly evident. But perhaps one must be a heretic oneself to notice it.

[David Duff]

But, Malcolm, the problem lies within your opening statement:

"In the beginning, there was only God".

Now, if an outside observer replies that that is a statement of faith, or a belief unsupported by evidence, then it can only be placed in the 'Pending' tray until some sort of confirmation occurs.

I am not saying it is wrong, merely that it is (so far) unprovable.

[Bob]

JK,

Actually, polls did give Trump a chance to win via the upper Midwest. And he did get the minority of popular votes as nearly all polls predicted.

[Malcolm Pollack]

Well, right, David. And so, in the new religion, we just replace it with another act of faith, and say "In the beginning, there was only Nature".

The point here is that you can move from the old religion to the new one just by flattening the hierarchy of transcendence, shooting Heaven down from the sky, and replacing God with some new referent, like "the planet". But everything else stays exactly the same: the beginning of Man's story in Paradise, followed by the acquisition of dangerous knowledge, Original Sin against the source of all holiness, and the need for (ostentatious and conspicuous) atonement as the only path to salvation.

Today's secular, naturalistic virtue-signaling is absolutely no different from the flamboyant pieties of the Puritans, and is motivated by exactly the same thing. (Indeed, it is a direct cultural descendant, with a supernatural God gradually washing away in favor of our current earthly crop of sacred objects; one could fairly say that Massachusetts has at this point conquered the world.) The same can be said for the self-abnegation of Western civilization in the postwar era; it is nothing more or less than an attempt at salvation-through-atonement for what it imagines to be its racial and cultural Original Sin.

[Malcolm Pollack]

...just my two cents, of course.

[Loz]

Today's the day (or at least the first day of two days) - BoJo's up in front of the beak!

What can I say?

Book 'im Danno!

https://youtu.be/psRzzT4U0-c

SoD

[Loz]

Or maybe,

"Lock 'im up, lock 'im up,
Lock 'im up, lock 'im up!"

SoD

[backofanenvelope]

I read the other day that a start has been made in California (and other States) at removing inactive voters. It is estimated that there are 1.5 million in LA alone.

[Whitewall]

BOE, quite possible. Democrats have found it too time consuming to count all the needed votes from outlying cemeteries.

[Malcolm Pollack]

OK, I'll belabor this point a little longer:

Rajendra Pachauri, the former director of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (he had to step down a while back due to sexual harassment charges) made it abundantly and explicitly clear that the climate-change movement fills a God-shaped hole in modern secular life:

"[T]he protection of planet earth, the survival of all species and sustainability of our ecosystems is more than a mission. It is my religion and my dharma."

And so it is in all of formerly Protestant Christendom. The communitarian covenant of Puritan towns -- their explicit "mission into the wilderness" to create God's Kingdom on Earth -- has become, in a process of direct historical descent, the collectivist soteriology of the secular West.

[JK]

For whatever any of us regulars might adjudge, that seems Bob's mission too.

[JK]

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/09/exposing-junk-climate-science.php

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