Religion’s Fruitless Journey

A Ranelli Rumination
BY FRANK J. RANELLI

Written Monday, September 29, 2008


All religions, by their very nature, are illogical, fruitless journeys for the weak of mind. Faith is a deceptive and disingenuous path that is a stark dichotomy of danger and delusion. I see faith as a poor attempt to bridge the unknown—a lazy one, barren and hostile toward science and reason, intellect and progression. It requires no evidence, or even credibility, but merely faith itself—which is simply an irrational endeavor into self-delusion out of an innate need, perhaps to assuage one’s own internal doubts about life. I find these ideas personally astonishing and crippling—I see them as a hollow crutch for people who have doubts, fears, and struggle with mortality. Denial of man’s own mortality is the sole purpose he clings to an Iron Age creed and a nonexistent supernatural deity. Ignorance plays a part, but it is more about temporal rejection and acceptance of our own fate and fears. Blindly obedient faith—the uncritical view that fantasy trumps fact—is the indisputable and unpardonable transgression of humanity; it is the wedge that divides our universal commonality into a chasm of intolerable intolerance. Accordingly, proclaiming piousness and quoting apocryphal scripture does not give one the privilege to make a statement of fact sans sufficient and irrefutable evidence, of which, in regards to religion or God, there simply is none.

Bush’s Great Bailout is Merely Fear Du Jour

BY FRANK J. RANELLI


Bush’s bail out of Wall Street is a leap into Robber Baron-style tyranny. Congress must reject this absolutist, radical proposal outright. Rewarding bad behavior on Wall Street, by theft of money obtained through taxpayers on Main Street, is more than perverse it is an insidious act of vile turpitude.

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Unfortunately, President Bush has once again fiendishly wielded fear as a bludgeon to subjugate and savagely browbeat Congress into handing him a blank check – a $700 billion blank check. In the fall of 2003, it was for the now unmitigated debacle in Iraq. Today, it is a diabolic attempt to seal the deal of The Treasury Department’s proposed bail out, which is a naked and obscene nod toward the largest transfer of wealth in human history.

As Americans, we have a diseased nation. It is sick with avarice and struck down by false flag fears. Today’s “fear du jour” is the transparent canard presented by President Bush and Treasury Secretary Paulson – that our economy will collapse if we, as a nation, do not act with enormous haste and waste billions of taxpayer’s dollars – immediately. This “me first” malignancy has infected everything over the past eight years from science and religion, to common sense and dignity, and now, fiscal restraint and legislative prudence. It is akin to a malignant cancer that grows exponentially until it kills off the host – society itself.

The revised bill Congress is crafting is simple another product built on a propagandist platform put forth by another breathtaking power grab by Bush – this time to aid Wall Street after it has plundered America; it is a distinction without a difference. This plan is not a $700 billion bail out for Wall Street, and it does little, if anything, for Main Street. It is an outright heist borne of an ostensible, yet untrue, exigent initiative that is purely a measure to exploit a coerced, stressed Congress and to extort American’s of our money and our future.

This is a dangerous, plenary power grab by the Executive Branch and would simply be legislative-approved despotism if passed in any form or fashion of its current incarnation. Congress must reject this absolutist, radical proposal outright, regardless of how it is larded up or whittled down. True patriotism and real reform must begin with each of us understanding we must help one another for the greater good of the nation. It is not bailing out irresponsible and reckless, colossal-sized corporate institutions that have insatiability fed at the trough of unregulated greed and avarice over the last eight years of Bush imperatives. Rewarding shocking and irresponsible behavior – to the tune of $700 billion – is a formula that emboldens, not condemns, more of the same financial plunder and excessive negligence.

We have seen this act before when America was wrongfully handcuffed into Bush’s war of choice in Iraq – a now six-year old, trillion-dollar abyss. The last time Congress rushed recklessly headlong into a dire demand from this administration, we were saddled with the Iraq war and false claims of total annihilation by a Third World, tin pot dictator who was thoroughly contained and never an imminent threat. This time, however, the smoking gun is purported to be an economic disintegration of America’s financial market, and the foreboding smoking gun will come in the form of another Great Depression.

The same eerie similarities between Bush’s run up to the Iraq war in 2003 – and the alleged 2008 meltdown on Wall Street are uncanny – the evidence is thin and the lies are obvious. The mushroom cloud never appeared, no weapons of mass destruction were ever found, and Saddam was never in cahoots with Al Qaeda. In fact, the fuzzy logic behind this proposed blatant money grab for the rich can be summed up by what a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com last Tuesday: “It’s not based on any particular data point, we just wanted to choose a really large number.”

As evidence of the preposterous notion behind this ruse has caught the attention of many, the Washington Post reported on Friday, almost 200 academic economists "have signed a petition organized by a University of Chicago professor objecting to the plan on the grounds that it could create perverse incentives.”

Moreover, clarion calls from many notable experts are sounding the alarm and asking Congress to reject this bailout bill. To wit, NYU's Nouriel Roubini, the prophetic thinker who forecasted this meltdown, says “The Treasury plan (even in its current version agreed with Congress) is very poorly conceived and does not contain many of the key elements of a sound and efficient and fair rescue plan.” Harvard's Ken Rogoff, a Former Federal Rerserve and IMF official, insists that the prospect of this bailout is, unto itself, taking a manageable problem and making it into “a more intense crisis.”

It took us years to get this deep into our now-financial abyss; hence, we must be vigilant and exercise sound judgment in getting out. This is not a time for rapid-fire, extemporaneous reactions to a boiling-over pot that has been slowly simmering unwatched and headed toward disaster for years.

This cannot stand or America will certainly fall into the hands of further greed for a few, while the continuing diminishment of the prospect for a better future ahead for most will suffer dire, if not deadly, consequences. Therefore, we are all equally under attack and must not stand alone, but together in unanimity against Bush’s socialism for the rich at the expense of the American taxpayer.

It’s time we, as a nation, put people over profits and bail out the real victims – homeowners and families – and not the wealthy moguls on Wall Street.

Paulson's Plenary Proposal Must be Rejected!

Frank J. Ranelli


This is not the time for petty partisanship, nor is the time for rushed decisions. The Treasury Department’s proposed bail out is an obscene nod toward the largest transfer of wealth in human history; it is also a leap into Robber Baron-style tyranny. Rewarding bad behavior on Wall Street, by theft of money obtained through taxpayers on Main Street, is more than perverse it is an insidious act of vile turpitude.

I refer you to these extreme portions of Treasury Department’s proposed bail out:

SEC. 2. PURCHASES OF MORTGAGE-RELATED ASSETS

"(b) Necessary Actions.--The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation”

SEC. 8. REVIEW

“Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”

NO ONE in our government should be allowed this much power with this little oversight.

This is a dangerous power grab by the Executive Branch and simply legislative-approved despotism. Congress must reject this absolutist, radical proposal outright. True patriotism and real humanity must begin with each of us helping one another for the greater good of the nation. It is not bailing out irresponsible and reckless, colossal-sized corporate institutions that have insatiability fed at the trough of unregulated greed and avarice.

Rewarding shocking and irresponsible behavior is a formula that emboldens, not condemns, more of the same financial plunder and excessive negligence.

I implore every American to reject this dangerous, plenary proposal – to slow the legislative process down – and to invoke prudence, not haste, during this economic crisis. It took us years to get this deep into our now-financial abyss; hence, we must be vigilant and exercise sound judgment getting out.

This is not a time for rapid-fire, extemporaneous reactions to a boiling-over pot that has been slowly simmering toward disaster for years.

It’s time we, as a people and a nation, put people, and our nation, over the profits of Wall Street moguls and plutocrats. This enormous theft of taxpayer’s dollars is an unparalleled sinister crime, with real victims – homeowners and working-class families.

Why America Will Falter

A Ranelli Rumination
BY FRANK J. RANELLI

Thursday, September 18, 2008


My own conclusions are rather nihilistic, but history and historians support this theory (See Kevin Phillip’s; American Theocracy). All governments historically – from the ancient Roman Empire to the modern American hegemonic State – always end up expanding until they collapse. This is ubiquitously brought about by over-reaching imperialism, jingoism, exploitation of religion and economic overreach. It is further precipitated by hyperinflation, uncontrollable debt and deficits, combined with reckless leveraging and borrowing. Inevitably, and thusly, leading to an economic crisis and collapse, causing an entropic decay and demise of the nation state. It is akin to a malignant cancer that grows exponentially until it kills off the host – society itself.

Quote of the Day!

Frank J. Ranelli


“Privatized profits, socialized losses—it’s the Republican way; socialism for the rich.” – Frank J. Ranelli, Wednesday, September 18, 2008

Quote of the Day!

Frank J. Ranelli

“Unfortunately, they (Republicans) fiendishly wield religion as a bludgeon to subjugate or silence dissent while they eviscerate any force or form of an egalitarian society that puts people first. Ergo, the unmitigated debacle we now have in Washington that is as dysfunctional as it is diabolic. Democrats are inept and weak, while Republicans are corrupt and nefarious.” – Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Sarah Palin: A Heartbeat Away

Palin, radical right, radically anti-American!

Watch it!



Palin Cheered On the Alaskan Independence Party. Six months ago, Palin “told members of the Alaskan Independence Party” — who advocate for a vote on secession from the union — to “keep up the good work” and “wished the party luck on what she called its ‘inspiring convention.’” Palin and her husband attended the party’s convention in 2000, and “for all but two months from 1995 to 2002, the governor’s husband was registered as an Alaskan Independence Party member.” George Clark, the vice chair of the party, claims that Palin was a member of the party “before she got the job as a mayor of a small town.”

Why Palin is Fair Game

BY FRANK J. RANELLI

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In principle, I have always agreed with the basic tenets of society’s plea for civility and decorum in politics toward the kids of candidates. However, while the children, as individuals should be held harmless – as they are just merely adolescents – the larger narrative about Sarah Palin is germane and should be out front in the public sphere to debate.

I was at the Dublin, Ohio Obama rally on August 30, 2008, a mere 10 feet away from Obama while he spoke and reiterated what is at stake is the very core principles of this nation. Prior to Obama speaking, I circulated in the midst of the VIP section and spoke to a litany of women. They not only panned Palin, they felt betrayed and insulted; that McCain’s attitude was one of ungainly sexism whereas women are interchangeable parts – that one is just as good as the next.

The near ubiquitous “drip, drip, drip” that spills over daily into another scandal, another tabloidesque story, is evidence either Sarah Palin was an exercise in extremely poor judgment by John McCain or Palin is a pure gimmick –a gambit to court and woo Hillary Clinton supporters.

The overarching viewpoint is the judgment – or lack thereof – of Palin, her duplicitous actions and double standard, faux Christian values, the exploitation of her infant (and now unwed pregnant daughter) for political expediency; her own failed abstinence only teachings – that clearly does not work, even amongst her own children – and the sum total of her (Palin’s) actions that definitively leads one to conclude she is inept, unwise, reckless, and is unfit to be a heartbeat away from governing this nation as President.

It’s not about the children, but it is about her inability to govern and make sound, rational choices – that she believes in Creationism and not science. These flaws need to be exposed and she – as a candidate – needs to be eviscerated for her utter lack of credibility, inexperience, lack of common sense and the extreme fringe values she holds.

As one reader of the local newspaper in Wasilla summed her up in a comment to a reporter, “she is a kook.”

Palin may have set ablaze the benighted crowd of sheeple evangelists into a gesticulating frenzy of jubilation, but she is dangerous to this nation, dangerous to a progressive America, and cannot be allowed to become the next VP of this nation, or be a hairs breath away from the presidency.

Everything from “Troopergate” to “Babygate” is in play when she accepted the nomination as McCain’s VP. Palin could have declined the invitation, but she did not. She could have shielded her family from public scrutiny and spared them the overt embarrassment of her hypocritical stances and statements, but she opted to stand in the national spotlight and allow her disastrous, failed conservative values to be illuminated.

And for that reason alone, America has the right and the civic responsibility to vet this woman, leave no stone unturned, for in politics, as it has been said, is a contact sport.

Quote of the Day!

FRANK J. RANELLI

“When compared to Greek and Roman mythology, the contemporaneous tripartite Abrahamic-based religions are no less bizarre; they are only the ephemerally accepted folklore of yore – the zeitgeist of our time.” –Frank J. Ranelli, Wednesday, September 03, 2008