We Sweden

Another blog at The Local
Share

Archive for January, 2012

The unexpected: since last November : the continuing saga of Jihad Jane

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

When she first appeared as hot news, the figure of Jihad Jane piqued everyone’s imagination as a sort of dangerous female terrorist & sympathetic to the Islamic terrorist cause. She loomed large in our imagination as a femme fatale – a dangerous woman armed with possible sexual charm & special Mohammedan perfumes, a sort of Mata Hari / Baader-Meinhof / Modesty Blaise, but much larger than fiction, because she was in town…Perhaps Sebastian Dangerfield should have paid her a courtesy call to find out if she was

really real

In this respect how I miss Trowbridge H. Ford ! Whether it was about what he surmised had happened to Raoul Wallenberg or the villainy behind the assassination of Olof Palme, in the Local his intelligence always contributed a great deal of excitement (as in the gradual denouement of a John le Carré plot ) promoted discussion, controversy, stimulated even greater curiosity, caused aversion in some local buddies and anti-buddies who have tended to take him with an extra shoveload of salt, fulfilled the cause of conspiracy theory paranoia in others…….

The Local : Jihad Jane

In the Local’s search engine, please type : JIHAD JANE

Just a while ago Jihad Jane was big news here in Sweden and T.H.Ford was saying that Jihad Jane had tried to entrap him here in Sweden – causing the usual sceptics to believe that this too was a figment of his imagination……left me wondering did she really bed him? Or did he manage to escape, unscathed?

The biggest news of all was the news of Jihad Jane and the plot to murder Lars Vilks

Then this news about Jihad Jane broke in November last year: Jihad Jane Was A CIA Actor Working For The FBI To Generate Internet Terror Fear

Wondering what Trowbridge H has to say about  Jihad Jane today….

P.S. The last time I talked to Dangerfield he told me that he had been invited by the Queen of the Gypsies ( special invitation)

Report abuse »

Good news: The holy three: Israel, Finland and Sweden are seen as leading the way

Monday, January 30th, 2012

Israel, Finland and Sweden (the gospel according to the BBC)

Yeah, there’s the holy three and there’s GWB’s “axis of evil”

More good news to follow shortly (only good news) :

1. Reinfeldt says Swedish interests secured in euro pact

2.  City Trader Denies £1.5bn Bank Fraud

3. Pentagon Seeks Mightier Bomb vs. Iran

4.  Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi: Islamic Law Should Be Implemented Gradually; There Should Be No Chopping Off of Hands in the First Five Years

5. Mel Gibson’s Russian ex-girlfriend pregnant again

Report abuse »

With Stefan Löfven a new leader and hopefully a new era for Sweden’s Social Democrats.

Friday, January 27th, 2012

With Stefan Löfven a new leader and hopefully a new era for Sweden’s Social Democrats. CONGRATULATIONS!

The Social Democrat Party ( Sweden)

The Social Democratic Party of Sweden

It’s all smiles. Everybody in the party is smiling

A brief introduction to the man :This is Stefan Löfven

Some of the older generation of Social Democrats are very happy that he is a Trade Union Man because of what was once upon a time the strong traditional alliance between trade unionism and Social Democracy.

His immediate background is that of a Trade Union Man in the Metal Industry – so the “man of steel” translates as Superman, as he is labelled in today’s Metro: Superman’s new mission: To save the Social Democrats.

Since most of the SAAB workers belong to his Trade Union ( Metal workers) it’s an interesting speculation, what Prime Minister Stefan Löfven would / could have done to save SAAB, if he were/ had been at the helm of affairs. Maud Olofsson after all saved Volvo!

Having saved the Social Democrats, his next mission could be to save Sweden, should it happen (God forbid) that Sweden /the ship of state would be sinking. Now, if he were to be capable of doing that, saving Sweden, who would object to him doing so?

But Sweden is not sinking and we should thank the Almighty that Sweden is not sinking and that in fact Anders Borg, Sweden’s Minister of Finance was being beamed as Europe’s best Minister of Finance, just a few weeks ago. An expert on the Social Democrats (Christer Isaksson) suggests that Mr. Borg must be challenged and that Mr. Löfven should launch an attack on Anders Borg. At this stage, fortunately or unfortunately, Mr. Löfven is not yet a member of Parliament and a by-election to create that possibility for him is unlikely, so even if he wanted to, Mr. Löfven would have to launch such an attack from outside of the Swedish parliament .In my humble opinion Mr. Löfven had better only do that if and when he is more familiar with the terrain, is feeling battle-ready and confident that the outcome of such a battle would be in his favour and add to his merits.

Stefan Löfven as the man of the moment is heralded as the redeemer of a faltering, some say moribund Social Democrat Party which has seen better days and was Sweden’s governing party for most of the last century.

The announcement of Stefan Löfven as the new leader has been met with great enthusiasm in some quarters and with cautious optimism in other quarters – cautious optimism from those who are not ecstatic about him being pro-nuclear power or pro-setting some limits to how long a person can receive A-kassa or unemployment benefits in Sweden. Here are some facts from this morning’s Dagens Nyheter, about where the new leader stands on some issues

From Expressen only praise for Stefan Löfven

More praise for Stefan Löfven from Aftonbladet ( owned by the same guys who own Expressen – although Aftonbladet is/ has been considered “ a Social Democrat newspaper.”

What the Swedish papers say about Stefan Löfven

More media reports on Stefan Löfven

Long way to go till  the next Swedish elections in 2014

Meanwhile, in France, this is the question:

Can François Hollande beat Sarkozy?

Report abuse »

26.1.2012

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

World Leaders Must Use Holocaust Memorial Day to Condemn Tehran’s Holocaust Denial Campaign | Simon.

Minnesdagen över förintelsens offer

Kofi Annan :

Holocaust remembrance focuses on Raoul Wallenberg – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

Report abuse »

Re- “Religion is far more of a choice than homosexuality”

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

(Holy Stewart)

Compassion and compassionate are always prominent in the counsellor’s lexicon.

That slice of statement is open to all sorts of interpretations. That preamble is either on its way to some decisive/ definitive conclusions or it’s to a cul-de-sac which terminates short of a conclusion. Inconclusive. Some kind of diplomatic neutrality. This does not give the American politician immunity from persecution from the gay right or from the homophobes. The public and its electorate want nothing short of a definitive position, you must take a stand – as George W. Bush said, “ Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists” – and as Bob Dylan made even more concise and clear;

“Now there’s spiritual warfare and flesh and blood breaking down
Ya either got faith or ya got unbelief and there ain’t no neutral ground “

It’s a very sensitive subject and we are talking about marriage choices here.

Beyond tolerance to acceptance.

If Latter-Day Saint Mitt Romney were to say exactly what Holy Stewart has just said, then America’s political commentators would pounce on him, saying that the Mormon had become a moron, and just because of such a statement the Mormons presidential hopeful – hopeful as in “faith, hope and charity” – would have to kiss goodbye to his dreams of occupying the White House. Such a simple issue becoming a single issue to the extent that people talk about nothing else but that. Talk judgementally. And on judgement day deliver their verdict via the ballot, into the boxes…..

and the clowns have all gone to bed

Of course if Mitt Romney were to make such a statement during the first presidential debate with Brother Obama, I’m afraid that Brother Obama might feel impelled to wipe the floor with Romney’s e$$ , just as in a similar kind of debate, just before the Swedish elections of 1976, Olof Palme wiped the floor with Thorbjörn Fälldin the farmer. Palme was överlägsen – and like the Englishman, the average Swede/Svensson in the grip of  the Jante, therefore tends to be in sympathy with the underdog, especially when that underdog is his countryman. So Fälldin lost the debate but won the election and became prime minister. Slight difference between Sweden and the US here: in the US especially, everybody likes the winner, preferably by knockout.

True – we protect religion, build walls and fences around religion and around ourselves and our communities in order to separate ourselves from evil.

Some religions outlaw and condemn to death anyone who practices love in a homosexual sort of way and this too whether you are born into homosexuality or you are not born into it, as long as you do it…..

Indeed if copy-me-ism has been granted religious status by the Swedish government – on the basis that “information is holy” – even bogus information then why would the same government be dragging its feet in recognising homosexuality as a religion ? They could only be dragging their feet because they do not regard homosexuality as holy activity – since sin is the opposite of holiness, unless you want to re-define what is meant by holy.

In the department of holy information we have to consider the opinion that even the typewriter is holy. Some would say so is the cow and the camera….

Visceral?

Some terrorists are born into terrorism whilst others choose to be terrorists in which case it’s a deliberate choice and not necessarily one that is imposed on them by whatever religion they may happen to be born in/ into or the political exigencies of the moment. It’s sad that some children have no choice and are brainwashed into becoming terrorists at a very early age – and that’s why it can be said that they have no choice……

Report abuse »

The US & the world have eyes riveted on the Republican primaries. In Sweden we await The Announcement!

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

United With Israel

Daily Alert########

J T A

News and Information

Israelinsider

FrontPage Magazine

Atlas Shrugs

Swedish news

CAMERA : Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting

MEMRI

So much has happened since the beginning of this momentous year 2012 , the year in which some forecasters say the world will end, on 21st December to be precise.

But some of the same kinds of people had already moved to Jerusalem in expectation of welcoming Jesus of Nazareth back home at the start of the 2000 Millennium.

The optimists who pray, “World without end, Amen” are confident that he will return before the world is blown up or goes up in flames.

Good News: It’s the Chinese New Year too, the year of the Dragon (good luck) and we wish all our friends in China & worldwide, a year of Good Health, Happiness and Prosperity.

Real Clear Politics

In the US the selection process of party leader is quite different from the various  systems by which a party leader is chosen in Sweden – in the US the on-going campaign is from state to state, with the whole world watching the process called the primaries which goes on for a couple of months. A serious consideration is money: must have the cash-flow to advertise on TV and to buy all those flags, balloons, buntings and confetti. Just now Newt Gingrich’s fire-power has given him the upper-hand in South Carolina but Romney and the sun should be smiling over Florida, the next port of call. If the sun does not smile down on him then it should be a downcast and dejected Romney that doesn’t take Florida. As an Obama supporter yours truly will be happier if Romney takes Florida because the ferocious Gingrich ( a cross between the British bulldog  & a rottweiler, a little larger than medium sized) would give Brother Obama a tougher time in the presidential debates. A flustered Romney will bluster and blush and rant on about “taking his country back” about “Great America“ etc. etc. and that’s where his buck stops. I have great difficult imagining him as the next president of the United States of America – and if he gets angry or blows up during the final debates, then he will only have himself to blame.

I’m reminded of Joel Osteen’s little story at the start of one of his latest preachments: A new pastor has just got to town, doesn’t know his way around, asks a boy who is  passing by, “Son, can you please show me the way to the post office?”

The boy shows him the way,  the pastor tells the boy, “ Son, I’m the new pastor in town, come to the service on  Sunday and I’ll show you how to get to heaven!”

The boy tells him, “You don’t even know the way to the post office and you’re telling me you can show me the way to heaven?”

Ditto, Romney who probably knows the way to the post office and thinks that just because he can run his little company (by hook and not by crook) that qualifies him to be the CEO of the United States of America. That that’s all it takes. That and perhaps a little inspiration from Joseph Smith (not to be confused with Adam Smith)

US politics is compounded by issues which spell out American values : views on sex, marriage, religion, gay rights, same sex marriage, abortion, not to mention the economy, colour and race, and foreign affairs

However, it seems to me that the Republican party has already made a significant pre-emptive strike in its bid to capture the support of the Jewish lobby with this smart move and although Brother Obama & the Democrats still have some options open as to how to take care of Iran just before the elections, I think that they will have to improve upon this latest spiel by the Republicans:

“ The Republican National Committee passed a resolution rejecting a two state solution. This is the key paragraph;

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the members of this body support Israel in their natural and God-given right of self-governance and self-defense upon their own lands, recognizing that Israel is neither an attacking force nor an occupier of the lands of others; and that peace can be afforded the region only through a united Israel governed under one law for all people.”

    This takes some looking into : The GOP formally supports a one-state plan

Meanwhile, back home in Sweden, as one my savvy friends – a Lefty – tells me, the Social Democrat Party is “a Party that has been on the decline since the assassination of Olof Palme.”. I try to reassure him, tell him that I’m sure that he’ll agree with me that it was certainly on the ascendancy during the reign of the great Göran Persson, “He who decides Everything” and that by the way the Great Göran is going to be honoured in the Great Synagogue  of Stockholm on Thursday.

The great Göran was responsible for giving out this – to be taught in Swedish Schools: Tell ye your children

On Thursday 26th January there will be a special Memorial Service for victims of the Holocaust

It’s unbearable excitement and expectation as Sweden waits for the announcement of who is to be the new leader of the Social Democrats – Sweden’s biggest and most organised political party.

It’s expected that the announcement will be made on Friday and the media already agog will then go haywire over the weekend. The media (press and TV) has already gone haywire and the on-going Social Democrat deliberations is prime news. The front-liners are now household names as all eyes, all attention is on the Social Democrat party and speculations about who it will be, who will wear the crown has been raised almost to the level of prophecy by the political pundits and nondescript commentators alike. They all hope that they are right. The ruling Alliance has a wait-and-see attitude. They’re not saying much. Ponytail Chief Anders Borg the doctor of the Swedish economy and The Alliance are sitting tight. It’s really not their business who the Social Democrats choose, but should a young, dynamic leader pop up, it should be some cause for concern, especially since the director of the World bank says that it’s make or break for the EU’s economy and Europe could be heading for a deep recession. The main issue in Europe and the US will continue to be it’s the economy stupid and should the economy ever take even a slight down-turn we would then have the Social Democrats on fire and  preaching from their pulpits the gospel of Social Welfare – preaching as powerfully as I heard Göran Persson preach on the 1st of May at Norra Bantorget during his last days as Sweden’s Prime Minister.

Leading the Social Democrats is a challenging job and one that has to be done under the full glare of the media’s publicity lights during all of 2012, 2013, 2014 – election year….

They have their pros and cons: Margot Wallström, Sven-Erik Österberg, Pär Nuder, Mikael Damberg,Thomas Östros, Thomas Bodström, but the new leader could well turn out to be none of the aforementioned, and if it’s untainted new blood that they are after there’s still Stefan Löfven, Veronica Palm and other young, worthy & capable ones who have no skeletons in the cupboard. The conservative press must be holding their breath and praying, getting ready with their knives and forks to go on the attack/rampage again as they did with the chubby Håkan Juholt. They probably did not like his moustache because it reminded them of Stalin.

Events have been rapid fast forward since Håkan Juholt’s dramatic resignation – why – he was only elected party chairman ten moths ago, some five months after the Social Democrats  last  elections disaster and then too, there was considerable excitement about the Social Democrats extraordinary congress convened to review their lack of elections success and to choose a new party leader capable of leading the party back to election glory in 2014.

The news is constantly being updated at The Local , sometimes, several times a day. On Friday the media will be ablaze with the revelation of who is the New Redeemer of Social Democracy in Sweden….

That’s orderly and smooth running, wonderful Sweden for you. No political violence, at least not physical violence, although some of the hurt inflicted by the vicious witch-hunts conducted by the press could be more than physical in their overall effect……..that’s Sweden for you, non-violent, legalistic, law abiding…..

This morning’s

Dagens Nyheter

Svenska Dagbladet

Today’s star article from the Swedish press: “A Developed mixed economy is the answer to the global crisis” (By Bror Perjus)

Report abuse »

The 419 scam goes Italian. 419 could go Swedish too. Beware!

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012

Forewarned is forearmed.

The hip Swede is streetwise and ever on the alert. The hip Swede is so well aware of the 419 scam whereas the more innocent and trusting Swede bites the bait and waits – in vain – until he/ she realises that he she just got burned.

Someone thought this was worthy of mention , unfortunately, my response didn’t get through to where it came from and all I was trying to do was to sound the alarm: goodhearted people please be careful .

Here the scam goes Italian, no doubt it has also gone or will be going Swedish too, so no matter what the kind and compassionate language could be, be careful with for example this, a specimen of the thing:

PLEASE READ AND REPLY TO ME VERY URGENTLY FROM MISS GRACE………SI PREGA DI LEGGERE E RISPONDERE A ME MOLTO URGENTEMENTE DA MISS GRACE

A good and workable idea such as the 419 scam will always be put into operation and will pay off, as long as there are some innocent but greedy little suckers who want to get a little bit of something by investing next to nothing.

It is only narrow mindedness which could believe that the scam should be confined to the English-speaking world and that other languages of rich people are to be exempt from such criminal attempts.

Fortunately, for some of us who like Shakespeare ( he knew little Latin and less Greek) although the Italian is immediately comprehensible, we are to suppose that such a politely worded request and improbable story from a lady purportedly in distress and writing from a refugee camp will be directed to Italians and not to others, because comprehension is the very essence of the game and there would be no excitement without the immediate understanding that out of the blue a dream is about to come true and you, yes you, especially you are the one chosen to make so much money for next to nothing and with the expenditure of  no sweat at all.

The question that often remains unresolved is WHY ME? Once that psychological hurdle/threshold is passed you will find an unsuspecting and hope-full Jimmy Bangura running to the bank to make his 5% deposit and then the long wait (all in vain) to deposit the big profit…..

Report abuse »

In Sweden not the Middle East : Behold the birth of a New World Religion! (2)

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012

There’s every reason to rejoice at the birth of this non-violent religion, which is founded on the egalitarian principle of share and share alike and is not antagonistic to other religions and does not lay any exclusive claims to any territory of Holy Sweden – knowing as we all know that Stockholmo is Moder Svea’s undivided and indivisible capital (and we are never going to share it with the Philistines)

It’s still a little weak in its theology though and Isaac the founding father still has a lot to do in that department, because Copy-me-ism theology will have to be developed as time goes by. Perhaps a good starting point could be John 1.1 – ”In the beginning was the word and the word was with God – and – the word WAS GOD!”. They can work on it from here.

What else to expect since it shares the same religious category as spare time activities such as gardening….

( a few other loose ends to be tied up….to be continued

Report abuse »

In Sweden not the Middle East : Behold the birth of a New World Religion!

Saturday, January 21st, 2012

The Muslim will scoff at the idea of course, since their belief is that Muhammad (SAW) is THE LAST PROPHET. This means that should anybody else jump up after that and say that he or she is a prophet, that would have to be left to others to believe such a spurious claim, but not the Muslim, because for the Muslim, “last” means last and nothing comes after last, not even second to last or Karl Marx  – or Chairman Mao

There are other (non-Muslim) opinions that it’s possible to train for prophecy. That could be the religion of the more ambitious, far from the sainthoods and beatifications that abound in the Roman Catholic Church, and in the eyes of the humble laity, something much more exalted than mere saint hood: Prophecy, my dear fellow, prophecy!

“He must continue and diligently train himself not to have any thoughts whatsoever about fruitless things or the vanities and intrigues of the times.

Instead, his mind should constantly be directed upward, bound beneath [God's] throne [of Glory, striving] to comprehend the holy and pure forms and gazing at the wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, in its entirety, [in its manifold manifestations] from the most elevated [spiritual] form until the navel of the earth, appreciating His greatness from them. [After these preparations,] the divine spirit will immediately rest upon him.”

the  rung of cleanliness:

Rabbi Pinchas ben Ya’ir says:


“Zeal leads to cleanliness
And cleanliness leads to purity
And purity leads to self-restraint
And self-restraint leads to holiness
And holiness leads to humility
And humility leads to fear of sin
And fear of sin leads to piety
And piety leads to the Holy Spirit
And the Holy Spirit leads to the revival of the dead
And the revival of the dead comes because of Elijah, whose memory is a blessing.” Amen. (M. Sotah 9:15)

Otherwise stated :

R. Pinhas b. Yair says,”Heedfulness leads to(hygienic) cleanliness, cleanliness leads to cultic cleanness, cultic cleanness leads to abstinence, abstinence leads to holiness, holiness leads to modesty, modesty leads to the fear of sin, the fear of sin leads to piety, piety leads to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit leads to the resurrection of the dead, and the resurrection of the dead comes through Elijah, blessed be his memory. Amen.» (Mishnah-Tractate Sotah 9:15).

Here  are some tips for the spiritually ambitious:

How to become a Prophet

But this new Swedish-born world religion has nothing to do with prophecy in the Abrahamic sense of the word and did not take birth through any strenuous religious discipline, such as ethical living, much fasting and prayer.

Will this new religion be strong enough to offset some people’s nightmare, namely the Muslim dream of an eventual Eurabia which like in the days of the Emperor Constantine, aims at nothing less than the total conversion of Europe.

Only time will tell who’s right and who’s going to hell.

The not so good news is that in this post-enlightenment age of science and technology in Europe, church attendance has been dropping gradually and most constantly, whilst the number of European adherents to al-Islam is ever on the increase. In fact churches that have fallen into desuetude have been purchased by acceptable amounts of petrodollars far in excess of the symbolic 20 pieces of silver and transformed – converted into mosques. Church steeples are doing a disappearing act fast and more and more, mosque minarets are coming into fashion and taking over as the new prominent landmarks giving a new face to 21st century European cities. This is no exaggeration.

And as for the new Swedish religion, it’s assisted by science and technology as part of the new reality

Jesus of Nazareth himself is reported to have said, “A prophet hath no honour in his own country”. You wonder which country he was talking about?

Ask this sort  of mufti.

Ask my mentor and he will tell you about the wrongness of the “land for peace“ formula:

“All have failed or have refused to understand that the Land of Israel belongs to God. “The Land shall not be sold forever; for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me” (Leviticus 25:23). It is in this light that we should perceive Ahmadinejad’s vow to “wipe Israel off the map.” (Paul Eidelberg)

So Jesus had no honour in his own country?

In the same way, less known in Sweden and much better known and celebrated outside of Sweden is Emanuel Swedenborg , for his religiosity and the new church that he inspired. Much of what he described in his Heaven and Hell corresponds with some of the kinds of phenomena experienced in the earlier stages of Kundalini Yoga mediation – although some of this phenomena is somewhat culture-dependent – so in some of the upper regions/ loka of the Hindu heavens you are more likely to encounter elephants, especially if you had spent a lot of time conditioning a very receptive mind that had been studying the Hindu Scriptures….

No more beating about the bush by extending the ramble/ preamble that’s chewing at your patience: the new Swedish-born religion was reported on Monday, 16th of January 2012: New Swedish religion spread all over the worldand here are some details:

One of their cardinal beliefs is that information is holy and they have been finally recognised by the Swedish State as a bona fide religious community.

The Pope/ Chief Rabbi/ Supreme Leader/ “Mission Director and chief spiritual leader of the community” is one Isaac Gerson and the aim of his church is the information must get out, be shared.

Now if you feed those words “New Swedish religion spread over the world” into the search engine, you may be be presented with something else. The once upon a time Swedish sexual revolution as religion etc….

With the right search terms you can find yourself reading about them here : The First Church of Pirate Bay

The name of the new religion : Kopimism

Although there’s talk about its “first church” the main tenet of the glad tidings is not the arduous task of “take up your cross and follow me”, the main tenet is “Copy me!”. Something about reproducing another type of image and likeness, legally in this information age. It wlll probably attract a lot of atheists too, since it does not have the Almighty as the centrepiece.

The declaration of this kind of religion would only be possible in an advanced country like Sweden, you can be sure that they wouldn’t get a permit for establishing that kind of religion in Iran or Saudi Arabia and wouldn’t dare try that kind of nonsense there for the effrontery of the effort ( of applying to be recognised as a religion) they’d probably have been given the hangman’s noose and achieved martyrdom instead of recognition. But there is no ruling out the possibility that Kopimism could soon gain many disciples in the Maghreb and in the countries surrounding the Hijaz.

As the bard sang,

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Make everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It’s easy to see without looking too far
That not much is really sacred
.”

Granting Kopimism permission has extended the definition of religion considerably and raises many interesting questions. Even with science playing such a dominant role in this era of European civilisation Rudolph Otto’s idea of the holy as the key to defining religion would come under scrutiny with regard to Kopimism.

Kopimism, dispensing with controversial scientific propositions such as the virgin birth or “ Jesus died for your sins” or “Jesus ascended into heaven” would not come under the purview of Antony Flew’s fatwa that religious statements that are not falsifiable in terms of sense experience are meaningless. Kopimism is much more materialistic and concrete, far from the nebulous and other notions of the numinous, but could be a little closer to “An empiricist’s view of the nature of religious belief” and I can imagine Isaac Gerson, Kopimism’s first pope or original founder preaching that information should be freely available “and the truth shall set you free” as part of his ethical commitment to the spiritual health of the global community. Furthermore, we could be sharing the smorgasbord of the scriptural files as part of the body of information transmitted by all the world’s religions, in the service of mankind., and the sum total of that information could be what’s known as he body of the church……

But censorship of their holy writ/ holy information is bound to soon show its ugly face … and the truth is that we need to be protected from certain kinds of information and opinions…..even in this our Open Society

Report abuse »

Ruminating about Biblical originals: Brother Moses, Brother Jesus, Prophet Muhammad and his followers (1)

Sunday, January 15th, 2012

Shemot

United With Israel

J T A

News and Information

Israelinsider

FrontPage Magazine

Atlas Shrugs

Swedish news

CAMERA : Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting

MEMRI

Saturday night : Mood I’m in, just back home with Better Half, from Kent Ekberg’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night – into 13 dags afton at Teater Reflex in Kärrtorp – mostly a musical adaptation set in the 60’s Stockholm of the last century, so there was a lot of Aretha Franklin, some Beatles, some Percy Sledge – and as Mr. Ekeberg said, his was a work of love and love is the best that man can give – or receive…..

Friday night, also experienced such peace and love and harmony at the blessed Kabbalat Shabbat service conducted by Rabbi David Lazar, here in Stockholm.

A must read:  Friendship

Tomorrow: Wondering where is Joe Frans who instituted the Martin Luther King Prize in Sweden – in the spirit of Dr. King’s work and ambition as tomorrow January 15, is the Rev Dr Martin Luther King’s birthday and we all wish him “Happy Birthday!” with this song

January 11th was also the birthday of another great man who marched side by side with Dr. King in Selma, and his name is Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Well, there was The Enlightenment

We haven’t got to heaven yet and that’s why we are still in the post-enlightenment world.

Brother Moses, Brother Jesus, Prophet Muhammad and his followers among which number there ’s one DD

We must all admit that religion, oil and politics is a powerful combination.

In today’s world it’s

Christians: 2.2 Billion

Muslims, 1.6 Billion and rising

despite more decimations and slaughter and ignoble urination on the dead in Afghanistan, bombs still going off in Iraq and remote control murder by drone in Pakistan. And you all know how tragic the situation is in Syria.

Post-Holocaust Jews: 14 Million in number

and all those living in the heartland Israel, facing extinction any time now by a thermo-nuclear Armageddon which could originate in Haman’s Iran….

IAEA Inspectors Say Iran Is Enriching Uranium at Mountain Site

Former UN Nuclear Inspector: Iran Will Have Enough Enriched Uranium for 4-5 Nukes by End of 2012

Fortunately, Sharansky: Obama’s New Chief of Staff “Staunch Israel Supporter”

For the time being Sweden is in the Christian sector of Western Democracy & Civilisation, but what the world will look like by the year 2,200 is uncertain as uncertain as whether Jesus is going to come back before the expected Jewish Messiah and the Mahdi (alaihi salaam) of al-Islam, not to forget the Maitreya of Buddhism – all before the projected Armageddon takes us all to the paradise of the 72 virgins even before some have time to begin to enjoy their pension – the fruits of some four and a half decades of the eight-hour day of earning the daily bread for which we all pray…

There’s also Stephen Hawking and his predictions that if we don’t blow ourselves all up like the suicide bomber today, we are likely to do so a little  later. One more reason which he advances for the colonisation of space. Naturally, if blowing the earth up is inevitable we pray that it will be postponed and not occur during our life time or the lifetime of our great grandchildren. It’s not funny. Of course, they (our descendants) will also be saying the same prayer of delay and a reprieve, petitioning the Almighty for a postponement of His wrath which could signal THE VERY END.

For which reason, some people make hay while the sun shines.

Where did it all begin ? Where will it end and when?

Whereas you would think that with everybody claiming to worship the same loving and merciful Father of Creation, there would be peace and love reigning among all his children living in his various mansions, tragically, this is not the case.

Today, we can speak of the geopolitics of religion and begin with one of the hottest spots on earth, the root of a contention : Israel’s Bible Belt

Report abuse »