Pray For Israel...

Please- Pray That Israel Regains Their Conscience!

They have bombed Palestinian civilians in their apartments, schools and hospitals. They have shot them in the streets as they chase them from so called safe zone to 'safe zone.' They shoot them with drones, with tanks and in predesignated target areas where they tempt them with morsels of food. They've grown so utterly bored with shooting so many Palestinian men, women and children... that they now make a game of it! 

And as if shooting and blowing them up is not enough, they are now literally starving them! Pictures are now disseminating, documenting skeletal infants reminiscent of those from Biafra and Bangladesh at the peak of their famines. There is a word for this, for this carefully planned, duly implemented and progressively expanding slaughter on every front imaginable; a word that should not be used lightly or prematurely, but when made blatantly clear and obvious- Shouted and condemned the world over! Israel, once the victim, and now perpetrator of... GENOCIDE!

The Chinese/MAGA Bible!

Made in... "Gina" (pronounced in classic truncated Trumpian misspeak), complete with: Faux leather, tissue thin paper and an abbreviated US Constitution!

Truth Is Stranger Than...

Photo: © Stan Banos

I'm hardly the expert on anything Judaic, period. But having grown up in NY, I knew enough about the belief system (at least as it pertains to particular sects of Hasidism), that would make such a scene (as pictured above) possible. Still, the seeming incongruity of it all remained a bit of a shock back on an early summer day in 2019 as I stumbled upon it by sheer circumstance. These days, that shock factor increases... exponentially! I don't exactly know how or to what extent that particular belief (that a Jewish state cannot officially exist until the coming of the Messiah*) has shifted under present circumstances (if at all), but I did see a report that for the first time, a certain percentage of Hasidic males have, in fact, volunteered for military duty in Israel (the latter being exempt from mandatory military service).

*Again, the person above does not support a free Palestine because of some enlightened humane or humanistic world view, his belief is completely based on strict religious dogma independent of any belief(s) based on the personal dignity of freedom loving people. Just as evangelical Christians that fervently support Israel do so not to further Judeo-Christian brotherhood and cooperation, but to bring about the culmination of their ultra conservative belief system concerning Christ's second coming which has them raptured into paradise while everyone else (incl Jews) meet their dastardly, well deserved demise...

Jesus Christ!

 

Rare image of Nordic Warrior Jesus sans his AR-15 seated next to his hero, Donald J. Trump! Despite the usual flowing robe uniform, seems pretty obvious that Jesus H. Christ is not skipping shoulder, back and chest days at his local gym- just like his svelte, 215lb. earthly counterpart!

Think Quick...

Photo: © Stan Banos

Catholicism has this particularly peculiar practice called "confession" where one proclaims your sins to a priest in a darkened booth, and he, representing The Almighty himself, then absolves you of said sins- until you show up the next time with a brand new batch of more, worse or same. I was standing in line waiting to go into the confessional once, maybe around fifth grade, desperately trying to figure out exactly what to proclaim I was guilty of. I finally, somewhat hesitantly, copped to having impure thoughts,* even though I wasn't quite sure exactly what the hell that entailed, just thought it sounded all encompassing enough, yet somehow, vaguely specific enough, so that the priest would accept it at face value without questioning further- questions concerning the details of which I would have absolutely no idea of... Fortunately, it worked, I think we both fully realized we were in a no win situation which could only get tragically, or at best comically worse should one enquire further. 

As a matter of protocol, priests are not allowed to divulge our transgressions to the authorities, not even if you're a serial killer, not even if you're a fellow priest buggering little boys. Wonder what the penance is for those two "Mortal" Sins? Gotta be a helluva lot more than the coupla Hail Mary's and Our Father's that my "Venial" Sins usually garnered. 

*DISCLAIMER: I do not by any means mean to imply that I originated that oft used pre/pubescent phrase, it was, as I now recall, the most ubiquitous of go to avoidance terms.

FREEDOM!!!

Photo: © Stan Banos

We're movin' on up; think of it- Latin X children throughout our great land can finally dream of being Neo-Nazis! If that ain't progress in the US of A, I don't know what is- America really doesn't see race after all! Nick Fuentes never got the memo that he couldn't be a Neo-Nazi simply because he's Hispanic. I mean even a dark skinned "mulatto" the likes of Enrique Tarrio can be a full fledged White Supremacist now. And if that don't top all, Yeezus freakin' himself is a self professed Hitler acolyte! No way I could aspire to such lofty possibilities back in the day.

Been thinking on this for a while now and this whole Mauricio Garcia mass shooting really set things off, I mean, I had to go see what the guy looked like (upon writing this very paragraph) cause he most definitely comes off like some blonde haired, blue eyed Nazi in good standing- and, uhhh, surprise... let's just say he would have indubitably been on the receiving end of any OG SS officer's Luger. 

Seriously, I don't know what to make of this, then again if you can pervert the teachings of a Jesus Christ, an ideology of complete compassion and pacificism, into... "White Christian Nationalism" just to suit your needs- hey, sky's-the-limit! If you can do that in your own head, then believing yourself some form of mythological White super being no matter what shade of Brown, Black, or "non-White" you may be... piece o' cake! And shooting up a bunch of innocent men, women and children to justify it- easy fuckin' peasy.

Actually...

4/22/2023 6pm PDT         Photo: © Stan Banos

Over the years, I've come to firmly believe in reincarnation, which was part of Judeo/Christian beliefs back in the day (way back in the day) before both religions became more commodified to suit their more earthly needs. FWIW- reincarnation is in complete and total harmony with Christ's "live forever" teachings.

My belief in reincarnation stems (in part) from NDE recountings, which are often slagged off by doctors and scientists alike as mere drug induced, oxygen depleted hallucinations- fair enough, until some patients also started recalling individual details that happened (during their quasi brain dead state) in the operating room by the surgeon and his crew as the former "float" overhead and watch said goings* while also experiencing some combination of a life review and a short introduction to the secrets of the universe (including the role of reincarnation), all in short order. Eventually, in this time relevant/irrelevant scenario, the person is persuaded to reunite with their broken bodies after first pleading to stay in the far better realm (a realm often inconsistent with their own religious or atheistic beliefs). The individual details differ but the basic scenario remains- we're here to experience, learn and thereby graduate to the next level. 

Religion is basically the politicalization of spiritualty (never a good thing), and our fledgling science is limited by its own arrogance and pitifully limited resources and technology- just look at the trauma inflicted on age old scientific theories by the Webb. We confidently stroll about thinking we got it all straight about our creator(s) and his, her, their ultimate plan- just ask any acolyte of any major religion (or cult), or just as confidently amble forward in our indomitable armor of science... despite not knowing what 96% of the physical universe is made of, or even where it is! Yeah, and you're calling me crazy...

*or you can choose to believe debunker Woerlee's swamp gas alternative facts!

The Holy Trinity!

Space Jesus-  OK, OK, a triptych, not...  a Trinity!

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know... it doesn't take 12 years of Catholic childhood academia to know this post features only one of the ever iconic trio, namely- The Son (minus The Old Man and the ever lovin' Holy Ghost). Dad had the entire Old Testament to himself, then sonny came along and got his own book, but I don't have the slightest idea what the Holy Ghost was or is, frankly, I don't think any of the priests, brothers or sisters in all those 12 years knew either. It always seemed the lackluster afterthought of what was essentially a two man tag team- was it just a feeling, an amorphous non-corporeal entity, or a white dove that flew around and... and? We never found out, no one ever spoke of "The Ghost," we did speak of the name change however, the "Holy Spirit" was a decidedly better term for that which we couldn't define, describe or identify- it also sounded a tad less spooky and helped delineate it from the other character, the uhhh... Friendly Ghost.

Action "PEEPS" Jesus!    All Photos © Stan Banos 

But then, I could never make sense of "the soul" as a kid either- no idea. For a good while I thought it actually resembled a conch shell and was an actual human organ (physical, spiritual or some miraculous combination thereof) that made its home deep within our chest (where people usually indicated when they spoke of it), somewhere around our heart- or more practically, actually encasing the heart to provide the latter some amount of protection. Now, that made sense! I think my confused and conflated religious imagery may have come from all the depictions of Christ's after burner of a Sacred Heart. I couldn't make sense of his internal combustion engine of a heart with all the fixin's, and for the sake of my prepubescent sanity probably just decided they were rather badly rendered depictions of the more pedestrian, seaside conch shell.

Could never make sense of that triangular women's reproductive system thingie either. It would always appear at the weirdest times and places and had no idea if it represented a demon's head, some stylistic set of moose antlers, or... or? Literally could not make head or tails of the damn thing- was it possible that they were mistakenly depicting it upside down? But even that wouldn't help, seems there was always a bit of artistic license on that one. But I digress, not that there was a point to be made in any of this in the first place.

Get on the Cross Jesus- he makes me smile the most!

He Is Risen!

 

 Posted a tad late, but... what the hey- Rejoice!      Photos:  © Stan Banos

Actually, believe I've written this post before, maybe even more than once... which (at least in this case) kinda speaks to its validity. Whenever I go to an event or visit a famous site, I always check the sides and rear, or just turn around and do a 180 (see below), cause... ya never know. Sometimes, even the event or site itself is a complete fizzle, but ya get lucky and grab the shot on the way there, or on the way back home...

How many Christians condemn our homeless while supposedly worshiping a god... born one?

Irish Dancers

The foot movement on both of these = Poetry x Lightning. It's my understanding that the female dancer is not doing traditional Irish dance for the simple fact that... she's moving her arms! Clearly verboten back in the day when arm movement would sway innocent, Catholic lads into demonic, primal urges on the Emerald Isle. I suppose the foot movement evolved to such a wonderfully (and insanely) manic level to compensate for the lack of said upper body movement- view true, traditional Irish dance and the female dancer's arms are rod straight, leaden, vestigial appendages. 

PS- I was in awe of Riverdance at first... until it got so over the top Disney/Hollywood.

 

For Chrissakes!

Yup, often wondered the same... The Guy coulda said something, anything- at least dropped a hint all the same. If anyone- the all knowing, all seeing, unlimited Power Supreme is certainly not just your Average Joe limited by the constraints of...'his time.'

Of Biblical Proportions...

This one's got a whole lotta truth to it... 

Photos: © Stan Banos

Can't say I've ever been much of a Bible thumper, it is one curious book though- if only for the way so many choose to claim it their own and twist, bend and pervert it to whatever suits their immediate needs, no matter how trivial or grandiose. The South swore it blessed and supported slavery, more recently, Little Beauregard claimed it backed him up 110%! There's just no end to what this book can: denounce, justify, support and condemn...

The Good Book is nevertheless filled with some pretty good stories designed to teach your average Joe a thing or two- if ya don't take it too seriously (eg- talking snakes, Adam and Eve and dinosaurs walking around together 6,000 yrs ago). I'm not much into the fire and damnation stuff, but I am pretty partial to that community organizer, Jesus fellow- a real Lefty Radical long hair if ever there was, and inexplicably usurped by just about every single authoritarian blowhard who ever did live! Go figure...

There is a bone or two that I do have to pick even with Jesus though. For instance, there's Matthew 6:26 where he tells us "don't worry, be happy," just look at the birds who his father so amply provides for. Now, I've done just that on many an occasion, and lemme tell ya- from the lowliest pigeon to the mightiest eagle... those guys are constantly at each other's throats for the smallest tidbits imaginable. Really bad, piss poor example! Gotta come up with something, anything better than that left over loser of a yarn if ya wanna sell utopia. Personally, I'm thinking he musta been distracted from his original script on that one, perhaps a certain someone in the crowd caught his eye, lost concentration and decided to wing it (and not very well)- the guilt of which which led him to...

The all time winner in my book, Matthew 5:28; which pretty much flat out asserts that if one just looks at another woman- automatic... adultery! DANG!!! Double DANG!!! I mean C'mon... if anyone should know- that doesn't exactly provide a whole lotta incentive NOT to do something. I mean (and I certainly don't think I'm the first to say it) if you're gonna burn in hell for just admiring the scenery, ya might as well do the deed and burn with a few fond memories...