KGET Community: Unanswered Threads

GO CONDORS!!!!

DRUMZ — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:09:32 GMT

GO CONDORS!!!!

disgruntled Vietnam Vet Contact

lumbermike — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:50:26 GMT

My E-mail might not be working so I felt it is important enough to leave my phone number and my correct E-mail address. I really hope someone out there understands and would contact me. I did research and found an article from 2007 that was a compliant about Dr. Wu under similiar circumstances. My phone number is 661-366-7599 and E-mail is okiemike007@yahoo.com. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks!!

Public foreclosure meeting

muuziclady — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:52:39 GMT

I am in need of finding out the name of the company that was here in town holding a public meeting on housing foreclosures about 2 months ago. It was advertised on channel 17 KGET. I would appreciate it if anyone out there remembers this and can give me a name and number to call.

Thank you.

Disgruntled Vietnam vet.

lumbermike — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:49:56 GMT

I have been in treatment at the Veteran's clinic for possible heart, carotoid artery, degenerative disc disease, osteoarthritis in my shoulders, COPD and other problems for about 2 months. I was admitted thru emergency to KMC on 9/25/09 for a possible heart attack and was there 4 days. KMC Dr's. would not sign a release to go back to work and referred me back to Dr. Yung Ping Wu at Veteran's. Dr. Wu would not sign a release to go back to work and would not give me a letter for my employment. He then made numerous appt's. to find out exactky what my health problems are. I have had labs, ultrasounds, cardiac appt's. etc.at Bks., Sepulveda and west L.A. I filled out SDI forms but Dr. Wu refused to sign them, KMC was suppose to. KMC said my primay care Dr. at Veteran's was suppose to. Dr. Wu has refused several times to sign them. Home Depot can't let me return to work until I have a release from my Dr. He still refuses to sign anything. I went to West L.A to have a angiogram done and was there 3 days. They won;t sign anything either, it has to be my Bks. primay care physician Dr. Wu I told him this several times and he still refuses. in the mean time I cannot return to work and cannot receive SDI because nobody will sign the paperwork. I now have not had any income for 6 weeks. I called Stacy at Bks. Veterans to ask if she faxed the SDI paperwork back to KMC the she said she would do last week and she stated that she "faxed it over to San Joaquin, KMC or one of those hospital maybe Memorial". I told her that I was not in those other hospitals and she KNEW I was in KMC. She said she would fax it again. So far she has not done so. I'm tired of being lied to. They are being in my opinion unprofessional, unethical and what they are doing may be illegal. There's much more to my story that I will post later. Has anyone experienced this kind of problem before? Any advice? Please HELP!!!!

Follow the loud drums and the mexican cat calls

zinwood — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:58:33 GMT

Woodbine Court and Austin Street along the Edison Hwy Canal between Oswell and Sterling 857pm November 7 2009 all the way till 4 am

More fighting on Woodbine

zinwood — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:30:32 GMT

Someone's out there on Woodbine Court fighting what sounds like a couple of dogs. They're playing loud music like they're trying to cover it up and I hear a couple of little kids crying. Can't tell which house it's at but it's somewhere in the backyards of that area. 130PM November 5, 2009

Fighting on Woodbine Court

zinwood — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:58:23 GMT

Near Austin St and the Edison Hwy Canal there is *** fighting going on Oct 31 2009 it's 957pm and there's talk that they'll be a dog fight later.

Taft Area Transit

Alvin Lee — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:28:12 GMT

I just received a copy of the paperwork that needs to be filled out to apply for riding Taft Area Transit Dial-A-Ride. While I think it is a good idea to make sure people qualify, I'm not sure that I like what they put on the back-side of the form. It is an identical application written in spanish. Man that really ticks me off. We speak and read in English. English is the language of the United States of America not friggin spanish. I wish agency's would get that information through their thick skulls and start standing up for this country.

Warning to Parents

Alvin Lee — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:34:12 GMT

Be careful parents and students. Taft City School District will hold it against you if you keep your child home sick. Even if your child takes a doctors note to school. So if the School Attendance Review Board (SARB) thinks your child has been home sick too often, they will require you to attend a meeting. During that meeting they will treat the parents with no respect and probably make the child cry. Roland Maier, the president of this board will not care if you have copies of the doctors notes or any other paperwork. He has an agenda and no-one else on the board will disagree with him. So once again I say be careful about keeping your kids home when they are sick. Taft City School District can't afford to have a child missing from class. Apparently someone on the SARB board can't make a luxury car payment if your child is absent.

Found Older Yellow Male Lab

stephsutton — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:06:14 GMT

We found an older yellow male lab this evening in the area of Stockdale and Jenkins. He seems to really miss his family. Please contact me to identify.

Contact information: stephsutton1011@yahoo.com

Found...Older yellow male lab

stephsutton — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:02:42 GMT

We found a yellow lab this evening in the area of Stockdale and Jenkins. He is older and really seems to miss his family. Please contact me to identify this loving guy.

Contact information: stephsutton1011@yahoo.com

Dogs to good home(s)

bakerscalif — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:05:59 GMT

Large black rottweiler female

and large brown pit bull female

On Zinnia St at the end of the cul-de-sac. just come and pick up in street.

One at home with fountain (rottweiler) and one at home with large windbreakers (pit bull).

day or night. gates open but please don't enter yard.

Monday Night Football

Alvin Lee — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:57:54 GMT

I was shocked while watching the Jets versus Dolphins football game when the first penalty was explained by the referee in spanish. Have the executives of MNF forgotten that this is the United States of America and we speak English. If I wanted to watch or hear the game in spanish I would have switched channels. I doubt any soccer games announced in spanish have ever had a referee explain a call in English. Then to add insult to injury they had commercials in spanish and sub-titled in English. Give me a break. Monday Night Football you screwed up.

BAKERSFIELD MUSIC NOW

pixiepoison — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:53:56 GMT

Music Forum

woodbinevarez — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:24:06 GMT

How come there isn't a music forum on here? I know there are a lot of local bands and I'd just love to discuss music with local people in general.

NetHaggler Saves Money While Shopping

manoj03 — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:53:34 GMT

NetHaggler recently launched an innovative shopping service using consumer-friendly shopping concepts and a browser applet. Using the concept of Tag, Nag and Haggle, consumers can monitor for price drops, bargain for discounts, and join up for volume discounts. To get started with the exciting new innovation, shoppers have to install a simple and secure bookmarklet on their browser. NetHaggler supports several popular online merchants and will be adding more. To learn more visit www.nethaggler.com.

Arvin at it again

amc3644 — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:22:59 GMT

Just a letter of information to the residents of Arvin. The City of Arvin and City Manager are being sued by Mission Linen Supply for breach of contract. Apparently, Mission has been doing had a contract with the city since at least 2004. In September of 2007, City Manager signed another and 6 months later quit paying Mission. Clause 6 in the contract states that the City could drop Mission for cause and only have to purchase the inventory the city had at the time, at used rates. Clause 7 states that if the City lets Mission go without cause, the city has to purchase the inventory and pay a liquidated damages amount. Well, the lawsuit is asking for $4400 inventory and $46000 damages (total of over $51000) I pulled the court papers to read through them, so I could try to see if we had a chance at winning the case. The City Attorney was arguing the fact that the contract is unenforceable because the City Manager isn't authorized to sign contracts, the contract wasn't put out to bid and it didn't go before the council for approval. The judge threw this argument out, which indicates to me that the case is valid. I have been requesting documents to see where we're at: 1. Copy of cancellation letter from Arvin to Mission (doesn't exist) 2. Copy of bid notice where bids were taken for new service (doesn't exist) 3. Copy of Council Agenda were new contract was approved (doesn't exist) 4. Copy of new contract (Sparkle, exists, but was signed by Finance Director, who by the way isn't authorized to sign contracts. Clause 4 in the new contract states that the City doesn't have an existing valid contract with any other company, well--how in the world can you sign this knowing we do???). 5. Amount of fees already charged by the City Attorneys ($13087). It gets even better--Grand Jury report comes out, they met in August 2008 with City Manager, Finance Director and City Clerk regarding bid procedures. Imagine my surprise to find out they totally misrepresented to the Grand Jury!! Ok folks!! My question to you all is simple, is this behavior acceptable to you for our representatives and is it ok with you that once again we are paying for the negligence of others (who by the way contribute NOTHING to our community, they all live outside of Avin)?. Here's my prediction of what is going to happen, especially now that the City knows I'm checking on this: The City is going to settle this matter finally, probably for a little less than what Mission is asking for, say $20000 to $30000. So, if they settle that's still going to be anywhere from $33087 to $43087 that comes from, you guessed it, US THE RESIDENTS, unless we fight to have the one responsible pay. He does have a bond that covers up to $75000, the clause in the bond is 'honesty' (give me a break!!). So, there you have it.. I can of course verify everything, I have the copies from City Hall to prove it. We need to take control again or still of our city and let those WE put into office know this IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!!

PS: I'm writing this letter to the editor on Friday September 4, 2009, before the council meeting on Tuesday. Don't be surprised to hear that my predictions are accurate. I think there's a settlement coming and coming soon.
I would LOVE to share any of this information with any skeptic out there. I know if you talk with any council/administration they'll try to downplay this. If you do, make them show you paperwork in black and white, that cannot be refuted. I know I can!!

Ange McNeill,
661-978-0707 feel free to call

arvin

amc3644 — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:22:20 GMT

Tehachapi Correctional , child support payments

Mamaof5 — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:16:17 GMT

So here it is September 2 and well over 80 of us still have not received our child support from August yet. Let me explain. The guards that work at the Tehachapi prison, who owe monthly child support got their paychecks so they can survive, but their ex-wifes who actually have the children and have to keep the roofs over their heads still have not received anything. The idiots that work at that prison decided last mont to try and save a couple of dollars and send the child support checks over to the state controller through the regular postal system instead of over nighting them like they are supposed to do. So when August 10th came around the state controllers office and the prison's payroll departments phone were ringing off the hooks. They both kept going back and forth blaming it on the other party. WHen in fact it is because the idiots at the prison did not sent them properly. So the state controllers office told the prison to make stop payments on these over 80 checks on August 14, 2009. The prison then started ignoring our phone calls, and not returning phone calls. I did finally get in contact with the payroll manager, who informed me they " were planning" on stopping the payment and redoing them. Well, he told me it was going to happen on August 21, and we should have money by August 26. Of course that didn't happen. Then on August 26 I called again, not the problem has been transfered to another person, and she is very rude and just says I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Sorry, what about how i can't pay my rent or feed my kids, but yet my ex husband who is over $6,000 behind still gets his money and gets to pay his rent. So now as of August 31 the lady in their payroll say that the state controller supposedly received the new check on August 28, and she has confirmation of that. Well I know for a fact she lied yet again, because the state controllers office is closed on Fridays for their furloughs. So now we come to today, we never received any money for August, and now the fathers that owe us money got their money again on Monday, and our September payments are not in either. So apparently this prison has no concern what so ever about how us mothers are going to take care of our children but their guards who owe us money get to take care of them selves. For the guards that are current in their child support orders and who are actually great fathers to their kids I commend you, but as for mine he does neither.

Have you gotten your rental deposit back ???

janedelmar — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 01:40:53 GMT

This is a FYI to anyone who rents from RTM Property Management, Inc here in Bakersfield. I moved into Hunter Glen Apt's on Hagaman 2 1/2 years ago with a small dog ( 3 pounds ). I put alarge deposit down and a large pet deposit down. I moved out a few weeks ago and cleaned on the Apt for over 50 logged hours of my time and workers time; cause you see I have ALLLLways gotten my deposit back and you know what I'm very proud of that. Yes there was some normal ware to the carpet but most of it was covered by rugs or all my furiture. Today I found out they are going to charge me approx $ 3,000.00 for the carpet. I know of 5 other people this Property management has done this to in my complex and others they manage. I wonder just how many people they have done this to ? I wonder how under the renters laws of this State thay are getting away with these outrages charges to hard working clean people ?? Who do we call ? How do we/I fight this ? Who is protecting the renters ?

Swine Flu H1N1

no bozo — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:08:00 GMT

With the rising number of swine flu or H1N1 case's that are being confirmed, And the concern of some of the quick test results being faulty, And the people with the swine flu that don't seek medical attenntion and just ride it out at home. How do we get an accurate number of actual case's of the swine flu or H1N1 virus? How do we get a ball park figure? Also is there any information on if a person can have this same swine flu virus more than once?

Ironic Complaint by Director Cheadle

trustthar — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:17:52 GMT

In the latest Kern county hearings over the county’s budget crisis, Kern County Department of Human Services Director, Pat Cheadle, says county department cuts are unfairly targeting her and the agency she leads.

For some prior Kern Child Protective Services staff that’s poetic justice.

In April 2000, commissioned by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), a report confirmed public opinion that California’s Child Welfare System is overburdened (see California’s SB 2030 Workload Study). It was found that the state’s Child Protective Services (CPS) staff is working roughly double the report’s recommended minimum standard and nearly triple its recommended optimum. The recommendations were never fully funded, caseload demands have continued to increase and California has fallen behind in addressing the overburdened system - mathematically, the work just cannot be done to the standard that's required of it.

Ms. Cheadle snubbed these facts.

In February 2009, at Civil Service Commission hearings, the new Director appeared to deflect the workload study with double-talking, explaining that when compared to like-sized California counties, Kern performed closer to those recommended standards. She seemed to ignore the obvious fact that it is still not performing to them - an ignorance that possibly comes from never having firsthand experience as a CPS social worker.

In this state-proven overburdened system where an error-rate would be anticipated, why then did Ms. Cheadle elect to fire hard-to-recruit-and-retain CPS staff for finding errors in their work - errors that her own staff has labeled as “overkill?” Were the errors excessive and flagrant and to what were they comparatively excessive and flagrant?

She can't answer that.

In fact, Ms, Cheadle’s decision was arbitrary. There is no mean, median, or mode for comparing error-rates found in unique, 6-month, “super audits” of CPS staff’s work that she ordered. Moreover, Ms. Cheadle painted those mistakes as “egregious” explaining they put children at more risk – playing off of an obvious fact in an overburdened system. Further, she did this despite that her CPS managers disagreed with her process – CPS managers, interestingly, who have had firsthand CPS experience.

Why the unique super audits in the first place?

With every child’s death, Kern CPS researches if it has had anything to do with that child’s family – regardless if the death was from abuse or neglect. Applicable past and/or present investigations are examined for CPS to learn what, if any, it could have done to possibly prevent the child’s death – a noble and needed practice. However, that practice became Ms. Cheadle’s exploit to penalize overburdened staff when inescapable mistakes were found. She targeted this staff arguing that she needed to hold them more accountable – regardless that it’s an accountability that is proven to be unreachable.

How “egregious” were the errors to her?

Not enough to go back and undo. To date, with the exception of one (which looks to be an accidental death, where no one was arrested and the children were returned to the parent), none of the other 102 mistakes found over a half-year’s time in fired CPS staff’s work have been horrible enough to correct. None of those “egregious” investigations have been re-opened or re-investigated.

Hence, her decision was short-lived. She stopped “super audits” despite that subsequent mistakes have been found in other CPS staff’s investigations where children have died. Probably to Ms. Cheadle’s realization, more “super audits” would mean virtually every CPS staff would be fired since mistakes are the standard in a broken system.

Is it fair, then, to those who have already been fired during her naive and anxious hunt for blame? Who protected those protectors?

That will probably be up to litigation that financially cannot be afforded by social workers and thus, may never happen. Ultimately, CPS staff and the families they work with suffer the most. As for Ms. Cheadle’s complaint of being singled-out with budget cuts, as is said in Spanish: El burro hablando de orejas ("The donkey talking about ears").

Harrison Trustt

PO Box 20475

Bakersfield, CA 93390-0475

(661) 496-8107

trustthar@aol.com

The Weedpatch Gazette

samheath — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:12:26 GMT

PsychoSearch: Since it is now common knowledge on the stock market, I admit to starting PsychoSearch some years ago. With my background in both science and the social sciences, especially psychology with an emphasis on the paranormal, I realized that regression to past lives held the promise of regression to lives that might have been lived. With the rapid progress of computers, this great dream of mine was finally realized and the classic study of Arnie Schmartzkoptfer is well known.
Arnie's case seemed ideal to me to test my hypothesis that a person cannot only be regressed like Shirley McClain to past lives, but with the computer power now available, could be regressed in such a manner as to predict what that person's life might have been had circumstances been different. The cause of Arnie becoming a mass murderer, killing over seven hundred elderly people in various nursing homes before being apprehended, was well publicized.
A few harping critics wondered how it took so long for Arnie to be apprehended. This was explained very satisfactorily when it became known that the homes in which Arnie was employed used the same methods and criteria for determining qualifications for employment as those of Social Services, particularly Child Protective Services.
As Arnie's trial dragged on with great publicity attached, it became clear to me that something had happened to Arnie as a child that caused him to act out this kind of antisocial behavior toward the elderly. Having honed my hypothesis with the customary rats, guinea pigs, and grad students, I was ready for Arnie.
My reputation was sufficient to gain me entrance to the poor fellow while in prison (the jury had found him guilty of mass murder but innocent by reason of insanity). Of course, the conditions for testing were ideal since he was confined to the psychiatric ward of the prison.
After days of testing, I discovered Arnie had come to this sad pass because of chalk dust. Or, rather say, the lack of chalk dust. Arnie's first grade teacher, a Miss Granola, was quite elderly and well past retirement. But she used dustless chalk for writing on the blackboard.
During Arnie's regression to that point of his life, I discovered that had Miss Granola not used dust free chalk, Arnie would have been chosen to shake out the erasers. Deprived of this special privilege of responsibility, Arnie had subconsciously known he was being cheated; and cheated by an elderly person. What Arnie did not understand was that he was being cheated of the life he might have lived had he been able to shake out those erasers.
With these facts in hand, it was no trouble at all for me to convince a fine lawyer to undertake for Arnie. A new jury acquitted him on the basis of my findings and an excellent defense by this fine lawyer. So it is that PsychoSearch came into being and is now available to all that have been unjustly incarcerated for having been deprived of the lives they should have lived had they not been cheated by those like Miss Granola and dust free chalk.
Where but in America would such a triumph of justice have prevailed? But being the sensitive soul that I am, I was grieved to the quick that some few would misunderstand and misconstrue the noble efforts of myself through PsychoSearch to the point of suggesting that I am a few feathers short of a full duck. Some even suggested, benighted souls they, that Arnie did not deserve to be set free. Fortunately for Arnie, cooler, and may I say more sensitive, heads prevailed. I notice that the willow flycatcher here locally in the Kern River Valley is being subjected to the same abuse as I have been by misguided people who think they are more important than birds.
It is too easy to get caught up in emotions, trivia and peripheral issues and miss the larger picture. After all, was it not for fine legislators, a Supreme Court that cares about America, and my friends like those of the ACLU, caring, knowledgeable and sensitive people just like me, where would America be today? Would the entertainment industry be free to tell children that perversion, gratuitous sex and violence are perfectly acceptable in our great society? Would our teachers be told to teach our children that homosexuality is a perfectly acceptable alternative to normal sexual behavior?
When well meaning but misguided adults and parents try to keep such things away from children, don't they understand that children know they are being cheated, deprived of the total experiences and realities of life? Such things will always lead to warped psyches and the poor Arnie's that engage in anti-social behavior.
Granted that a few eggs are broken in making an omelet, like the 700 plus elderly that Arnie dispatched (mercifully, by the way), how can it fail to grieve sensitive people that the real blame was that of a society that simplistically, even callously, failed to take his feelings into consideration? What can you say of a system that would fail poor Arnie in such a manner? This was a miscarriage of justice that cried out for amelioration!
Fortunately, most of the response to my being instrumental in freeing Arnie was quite positive. Not a few commented on the constructive action of his making so many beds available (which are becoming a premium) in nursing homes, savings in Medicare, SSI, etc. In fact, not a few suggested... but I digress.
I only regret that PsychoSearch and my services were not available for another poor misunderstood victim of society, Jeffery Dahmer. How that cruelly tormented man must have suffered! No one seemed to take his side. Imagine if you will, suffering the addiction of cannibalism. You develop a sweet tooth for something like this and few trouble themselves to understand the control it has over your life. But where was the compassionate understanding of our justice system in his case? Conspicuous by its absence!
In correspondence with President Obama, whom I found most interested in my efforts as he attempts to fix a badly broken health care system and was most sympathetic toward Arnie in particular, I have made it clear to this fine leader of the free world that he needs to take look at the death penalty. Far too many in Texas, for example, are being executed, innocent victims like Arnie, that if my talents and PsychoSearch were put to use, would be found to be stellar citizens if society had not failed them in the way it failed poor Arnie and Jeffrey.
But how many are inclined to think of such people as victims? We should beware of the labels given such people, labels like mass murderer, rapist, serial killer, labels that are strictly detrimental to justice and mental health, labels that deny the merits of the individuals and beat down their self-esteem. How can clear-headed people fail to see how this produces victims like Arnie? Regardless the slings and arrows of the misguided, PsychoSearch (with the continued help of the ACLU, Supreme Court, Alec Baldwin and Hollywood in general, and People for the American Way) will carry on in the cause of fair play and justice for all.

The Weedpatch Gazette

samheath — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:37:15 GMT

“Listen up, Adam; let me put it this way. If you don’t take a bite I’m cuttin’ you off’” A slanderous, vile canard, a calumny has been raised against me. I did not accuse Eve of threatening Adam with having to sleep on the couch if he did not cooperate with her and the Serpent in eating us out of house and home. I simply raised the possibility. A far greater possibility, to my mind, was a threat to Adam’s “manhood.” I think it far more likely that Eve appealed to Adam’s ego, his sense of “superiority” as the “High Mucky Muck” of the Garden. “What kind of wimp are you, anyhow, Adam? scairty cat, scairty cat, afraid of God. The Serpent and I aren’t afraid. I took a bite and nothing happened. Big man, afraid to do something to stand up to The Boss. The Serpent’s really got your number. If you were any kind of a ‘Real Man’ you wouldn’t have to let a woman go first!”
Ah, gentle reader, the possibilities are really there. You men, what would you have done in Adam’s place? Taken “Abiola’s“ advice and given Eve a punch in the mouth? Or, like Adam, possibly, let the “Real Man” in you feel threatened and “rise to the occasion?” Or, would you, as Adam should have done, as a truly Real Man would do, obey God and let Him handle the consequences?
Well, in any event the possibilities are fascinating but the bottom line is that Adam “hearkened” to Eve and we live with the results of his rebellion to God and his failure toward his wife. I do wonder if Adam became the first Wife-beater as a result. Perhaps this would account for their first son, Cain, becoming a murderer. Adam did try to blame God and Eve for his own failure. That was a poor beginning for a relationship. It may be the reason that God finally had to destroy the world by a flood and start over again with Noah. Unhappily, Jesus was correct in pointing out things weren’t going to get any better until God calls an end to this age.
Now if Eve had been smart she would have moved to California before all this took place. If poor, old Adam tried that “Rulership” nonsense here, then she would have divorced him and her lawyer would have made sure the “Mine” was “equitably divided” so she would have gotten the gold and he would have gotten the shaft. She would have wound up in Mink instead of “leaves and skins.” But, alas for poor Eve, there was no California at that time and lawyers hadn’t been invented back then unless you count this as one of Satan’s areas of expertise, something that comes readily to mind.
In any event, Adam could hardly have been looking for a suitable companion among the beasts of the field. So I think it possible the Serpent described as beautiful and intelligent may have been in the running; and if a female we know “Hell hath no fury…” So when God came up with Eve, the Serpent having been rejected by Adam may have laid plans for an ambush. She gained Eve’s confidence, invited her to Tupperware parties and so on, all the while plotting revenge. The Biblical account infers Eve was used to visiting with the Serpent so there was no surprise by the creature striking up a conversation with Eve when the Serpent felt the time was right to initiate her revenge.
Jewish theologians came up with a “first wife” of Adam called Lilith in an attempt to make sense of things. But I think the Genesis account has it right with the Serpent playing the hypotenuse in the Eternal Triangle. Whatever the truth of the matter, God’s curse fell most heavily upon Eve and the Serpent. The curse of sex and the ruler ship of men over them would be most harsh on women.
Since the curse of death took quite a while to come about for Adam and Eve, it may be the Serpent didn’t immediately start crawling on its belly but may have gone off to the land of Nod and waited for Cain’s arrival, the two of them producing children of the Devil leading to violence filling the earth. This may explain the commingling of the “sons of God and daughters of men, the further progeny of Adam and Eve and those of Cain and the Serpent. But things got so bad God was sorry He made man and he could only find Noah worth sparing. But there would be the perverted son of Noah, Ham, who would start the whole thing of violence all over again and we live with the results today.
Well, it isn’t to be wondered I have had more than a little difficulty finding a church “home” when I speculate about the things of the Bible.

The Weedpatch Gazette

samheath — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:37:36 GMT

In attempting to make any sense of what Obama and Congress are trying to say when they aren’t busy “explaining” what they are not trying to say I’m reminded of too many preachers I have known that fall into the same category.
Not long ago, I was in conversation with an old friend of nearly thirty years. We are good enough friends to love each other “warts and all.” I shared with him my concern that preaching, since we both are “men of the cloth,” does not meet the needs of people.
Grandad was an imminently practical man. It was practicality more than anything else that “ruined” me as a “professional educator” and preacher. In education, having earned an honest living as a machinist and mechanic for years before becoming a teacher, I faced the “fairy-tale” world of make believe that is inhabited by “Ivory tower” citizens, those without the haziest idea of the requirements of the real world and “teach” accordingly.
By far my most disillusioning experience in education was trying to teach a class of graduate students who were prospective teachers. They were incapable of writing a proper paper and had come through the “system” to graduate status, fresh B. A.’s in hand, and unable to do even adequate, undergraduate writing tasks. But their respective colleges had told them they were “well educated.” I shudder when I think of it.
But seminaries have not done any better in preparing those that “heed the call” to “divine service.” Is there life after Hebrew, Greek, Hermeneutics, systematic, and dogmatic theology? I’m afraid not in most cases.
The Bible is very practical. Much of it is in the category of “If you touch the stove, you will get burned!” variety. But the flowery obfuscation of erudition will cover a multitude of sins according to modern “exhorters.” No matter how thin you slice it, it still comes out “baloney.” Without application to real life, without the merit of real teaching (I am appalled by what even well-intentioned men have the nerve to call “teaching”) these so-called sermons are too often nothing but attempts to earn a paycheck at best and ego-inflators at worst.
“You know,” my brother told me on one occasion, “Stealing is wrong!” To fully appreciate this remarkable revelation of my brother’s you have to understand that it came to him at fully thirty years of age. I could hardly fault the soundness of his theology and had to agree with him.
Now my brother and I had been taught that stealing was wrong but it took events in our lives to take the “abstraction” and move it to where dear old J. Vernon McGee would say, “The rubber meets the road.” It does seem at times “abstraction” is what preachers, as with politicians, major in. But God deals in absolutes. We are supposed to teach our children not to steal. If they do steal, we are supposed to punish them. If they are obedient and do well, we are to reward them. Simple ethics. But somewhere along the line, sermons became “professional.” The minister pours over “notes and outlines,” reviews his commentaries on various “proof texts,” inserts his favorite “humorous story” and “current events” and he is ready to “minister to the flock.”
The fact that such “sermonizing” has little or no effect in the lives of either the preacher or congregation does not seem to faze the “professional soldier of the cross.” He is at his best when he can take today’s headlines and, with feeling and “Scripture,” convince his audience that they have done battle with the “powers of darkness” and learned something of value. What that “something” is, none can tell specifically. But the best of these “pulpiteers” leave the people feeling that something of worth, intangible as it may be, transpired.
My particular prejudice is that the professionals have never considered how God feels about all this. He is, after all, supposed to be the “Boss.” Maybe, it is as simple as most of them not really caring about how He feels about it.
I do believe that most people, the “leadership” included, have a completely erroneous concept about the very nature of God. The “party line” is that God is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. This is simply, by His own Word, The Bible, not true.
In sharing this with some people a while ago, I met the “party line.” In good, orthodox “religionese,” these people made the record quite clear; they have a solid church and school background and expect someone to accept a few, well chosen, religious terms to be accepted as explanation of a position when all that has been said is a parroting of meaningless gibberish, albeit perfectly acceptable gibberish unless an explanation is insisted upon, by the faithful.
The tragedy of this was the fact that they really believed they had actually “explained” something when, in fact, had said nothing. Now I love these folks but their egos would never allow of a “pagan” like me to contribute anything of substantive value that might disabuse them of their own cherished prejudices.
The “rightness” of their own “orthodox answers” to my “heterodoxy,” carefully cultivated by adhering to the party line, lo these many years, does not insist on answers to the really tough questions about the nature of God; much safer (and, seemingly, more intellectual) to parrot the “professionals” whether you really see the inconsistency in their apologetics or not.
Unhappily, the party line does not answer the really tough questions of life. Nor does it answer to the needs of people. And here is where the professionals fail. People need help; not religious platitudes, pious phrases and sanctimonious “holier than thou” pretense.
Perhaps it is my serious concern for children and young people that led me to some “unthinkable” conclusions about the nature of God. My grandparent’s little church in East Bakersfield was a happy place. It took organized religion and the “professionals” to teach me that God didn’t know how to have fun or appreciate a good joke. But after my years of being a good, orthodox “professional,” The Lord was kind enough to make a few things clear to me. Among these “new” lessons was the fact that He would like us to be able to include Him in our laughter and enjoyment of life.
Walt Kelly was one of my early teachers in political and religious humor. Being a “Pogo” aficionado, I am reminded, when I think of those “sober brows” that try to rob us of enjoying our relationship with The Lord, of a keen observation by “Seminole Sam.” He said: “Wonder what language the Romans used for the old 14 karat bamboozle?” This as a reaction to Owl’s use of Latin to attempt a “scam.”
In religious circles, the languages are Hebrew and Greek. But, too often, as in Law, the bamboozle is the same baloney. Of course, it helps, as Elmer Gantry learned, to use some of those 16 cylinder words like Eschatology and Supralapsarianism, etc. to accomplish the purpose.
No one who knows me would accuse me of denigrating the hard, honest work of God’s scholars. I consider them among the “Gifts” to His Church. I am speaking of the abuse of learning and scholarship by those that willingly or ignorantly, “twist” God’s clear intent.
It was a simple matter for me, as a shop teacher, to teach young people the value of being able to use a lathe or mill, of being able to overhaul an engine or build a radio. But they could see such skills as desirable things to acquire; these “Learnings” had relevancy.
The abstractions of math and language were more difficult. They are also more difficult to assess in terms of immediate benefit. As adults, we know how very badly such skills are needed for survival in a technological society; but how to make them as desirable as learning to do a valve or brake job? When the skills lack the incentive of easily seen desirability and relevancy, you are left with having your students accept yours and a society’s assessment of their value.
Preachers fail miserably in both cases. They not only fail to teach the necessary skills for living, they try to “bamboozle” people by religious clichés and “spiritual” nonsense.
But, these “colleagues” seem determined to “explain” things by religiosity and “mumbo-jumbo” that makes no sense to poor benighted souls like me. I suppose Walt Kelly could *** the balloons of these pompous asses without rancor but I have the disadvantage of having to have worked with too many of them personally, both in the churches and the schools.
As religious leaders have failed to impart real knowledge, have failed to call sin what it is, have failed to provide real, moral leadership and substituted situational ethics, Hollywood entertainment, their own peculiar theologies for the clear Word of God, they have led an entire nation to judgment.