In and Around the Lake...

..marlins come out of the sky, and they stand theeeeeere!

I think those are the lyrics to Roundabout. I think. I can't really understand what those guys are saying but I like what I have because that damn well SHOULD be the lyrics.

This is why I'm not a musical superstar.

Jimmy Carter spoke at Brandeis last night. I know that this invites flames but I think the man has a point. Sort of.

Despite being raised in a Jewish household, I do not particularly identify with the religion. I don't really identify with ANY religion at this point to be totally honest. Buddhism and Taoism I like, but I don't really practice anything. So when people ask me what I think about the Israel-Palestine issue, I tend to say things most people don't either like to or want to hear.

I think that the actions of both side at this point are nothing short of abominable. The Israeli settlers have set up a system in the West Bank that is exclusionary and discriminatory towards the Palestinians, although I also tend to refer to them as Arabs to be a tad general, and the Palestinian government is affiliated with terrorist groups that spout nothing short of hatred while they claim to espouse peace.

The region is very different from the West. Islam is a religion of peace, and so is nearly every other religion I have heard of. The problem that I have seen in religion is that it inspires people to commit heinous acts in the name of Allah, Adonai, Jesus Christ, Amaterasu, and countless other gods or names for a One True God.

Who are we to say to anyone else that their religion is baseless and blasphemous? We are just as blasphemous to them at times. The Christians have persecuted the Muslims who waged war on the Hindus and the Buddhists who fought the Shinto. The Jews fought the pagans in Canaan and Egypt and fight Muslims today. I didn't mean to put Islam in there twice, I just had to tie it back to the present.

In the end what are we to believe more than any other? That the world was made from mud dripping off a sword according to Shinto? That God spoke to Moses and the Jews through a burning bush? That Jesus Christ proved his to divinity to millions of unborn Christians by resurrection after lying dead for three days? That the supreme force of creativity is a flying spaghetti monster?

It's personal in the end. We have no right to tell others how to live their lives. As for me... in and around a lake some marlins fell out of the sky and then just stood there. It makes just as much sense as anything else.