Pot Halloween-Scare is a Monstrous Lie

What better than a good scare for Halloween 2016? We’ve got it in Orlando. Never mind Halloween Horror Nights at Universal, SeaWorld’s Halloween Spooktacular, the Spooky Empire Horror Convention, or even Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom. Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demmings held a news conference on Monday October 24^th with the express purpose of frightening the wits out of Central Floridians with the alarm that “Marijuana-laced candy might”…MIGHT…”be put in trick-or-treat bags for Halloween”. Not that they would, just that they might. And here’s the really neat trick. It’s all because medical marijuana could be legalized on November 8^th, fully a week after Halloween.

So a proposed constitutional amendment that hasn’t passed yet, although it's pretty certain it will, is the cause for all the alarm by Sheriff Demmings. When politely asked for examples of when and where children had received marijuana-laced candies…even in states where marijuana is legal, Demmings couldn’t offer any. He admitted that “even though the potential for the marijuana edibles appearing this year may be somewhat minimal, it is still a threat in our community.” Yes, just like the threat to our community of being gunned down by rogue police officers or having an engine fall off of an airliner on the approach to OIA and killing someone. Possibility equals actuality in Demmings playbook. But is Sheriff Demmings going to protect us from either of those two possibilities, as well? Of course not!  

It's better to scare the voters with fictional pot-laced candy horror stories.

            Demmings also added this dire warning “I believe the passage of the amendment could be problematic and would negatively impact the overall public safety of our community.” How will its passage on November 8^th harm the kids on October 31^st? Do the pot candy pushers have a time machine to go back over a week from when medical marijuana is legalized on November 8^th, or sometime thereafter, with reams of the now-legal pot-infused candy to foist on unsuspecting kids?

But drug warriors like Demmings insist it's better this way.

            Tellingly, this whole Chicken Little press conference was hosted by the anti-medical marijuana group “Don’t Let Florida Go to Pot”, a sky-is-falling local group from Pine Hills that claims, without any evidence, that people in other states are putting edible marijuana in packages that look appealing to children. Demmings called these phantasms that are packaging the pot candies in other states “mean-spirited people” who are just trying to “create confusion and injure our children.” Demmings finally made the claim that Colorado is where kids might have gotten the pot edibles while trick-or-treating. The Associated Press had reported on an incident in 2014…yes, two years ago…where eight kids in Colorado ate some pot brownies, but it turned out to be a case of bad parenting at an adult party where the brownies were left right where the kids in the house could find them. None of the kids got them while going door to door. That was the only incident the Associated Press found. Marijuana was legalized in the state in 2012. If it was such a danger, one would think there would be hundreds of stories like that by now. There are not.

The HELL with saving him...we've got to defend the kids who are not being offered pot.

            But why let the facts get in the way? It serves Sheriff Demmings anti-drug agenda, (where Orange County is enriched by continuing its drug war efforts) better by scaring everyone with an imaginary monster than to admit his concerns are baseless.

God Abandons Holy Land

God has abandoned the Holy Land!

On the front page of the July 20, 2016 edition of the Orlando Sentinel is an article entitled “Holy Land will sell off Items amid financial troubles”. I wonder, why don’t the employees and even TBN honchos who still own the park pray away the debt?  Christians always insist that God listens to, and answers, all prayers…then quickly add the caveat that maybe “God’s answer is no”. But why would the biblical God ignore any appeal to keep Holy Land financially lucrative, especially when the whole purpose of the park is to lend legitimacy to the claim that the Bible is the word of God, that He is the one true heavenly father of Jesus and the actual universe-creating deity? Either the Holy Land promotes the wrong god, or He doesn’t exist.

Begging for dollars

While it may be presumptive to claim God has forsaken his flock at the Disneyesque biblical theme park in Florida’s capital for slightly tacky, money-fleecing pseudo-entertainment venues, the Sentinel reports the Holy Land is drowning in a sea of red ink. And it’s getting worse year by year. 

Jesus and the Holy Land...both are bleeding to death.

One would think Christians, who get hard ons over watching a mock flogging and execution, would flock to the place by the millions and money would never be an issue…on the debit side, that is.

The wisdom of the Profits...uh, Prophets.

The park is being forced to sell off gaudy furniture, costumes, ornate statues, even a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. (I think in the Holy Land Experience version, Jesus arrives in Jerusalem on a bike, not an ass.) And TBN is also closing retail stores selling cheap Holy Land trinkets in Tennessee and California. In the coming months, I suspect they'll have to further auction off anything that's not nailed down. So don't worry, Jesus on the cross is safe for now.

Where the hell did all our money go?

But reading between the lines it’s apparent that, with the death of Jan Crouch last May, the big-haired, gasping gargoyle who was the theme park’s major financial backer, the Holy Land just can’t stay on its feet no matter what they do. There is only so much bullshit you can force on people before they reject it. Just ask the former Soviet Union.  

The rat hole near the mouse hole, south of Orlando.

Paul and Jan Crouch bought the theme park with TBN money in 2007 and propped it up with their cheesy and tasteless telethons until 2012. But even they had to finally admit the park was just a huge vacuum cleaner that sucked away all their money.

Paul Crouch signals his feelings on further financial backing for the Holy Land Experience

So they left it up to God and Jesus to keep it open. In Their infinite wisdom, They had this to say...

...To you too, Paul...and Jan.

Satan Goes to School

         The stupidity factor climbs higher in Central Florida. Thanks to our ever-vigilant religious fundamentalists and their demands on area learning institutions, the administration for the Orange County Public Schools is entertaining the idea of distributing material promoting Satanism. The schools previously allowed bibles and books promoting Christianity to be passed around, and the chickens have now come home to roost. I think it’s ridiculous to counter one mythology with another but I understand why the Satanic Temple is doing it. If Christianity is allowed, then why not that religion’s nemesis, since he is a necessary part of that mythology. Showing an astounding degree of ignorance, the mother of one student huffed “This only proves why we need God back in our schools.” She means Jehovah, the Christian god…the only god allowed in schools.

          Ah, Christian outrage. Where would we be without it? All this fuss was generated when the Satanic Temple submitted a coloring book and two fact sheets regarding Satanism to the Orange County School Board to hand out to Elementary School students starting in January 2015. There is nothing spellbinding in it. The book looks like the kind of stuff that would appeal to any 5 to 8 year old. These are typical pages.

Nothing evil or revolting. Only the emblems give any hint regarding Satanism.

But fundamentalists think its influence will create this kind of child.

      It should never have come to this. Our schools are meant for learning, not proselytizing. If you want your kids to learn about religion, take them to church. But don't force the mystical and supernatural on the schools.
Christians don’t like it but this is a secular country, and as such, the kids are to be free of religious influence in public school teaching. But many faith-based organizations feel that’s just a small road bump that they are commanded to ignore, jump over, or break down. The head of the Florida Family Policy Council openly told the Orlando Sentinel that their Bible-distribution program in the school is intended "as a way to expose children to Christianity" in hopes that it will "lead to a fundamental change in the condition of a student's heart." God can’t do it by, say, answering a prayer, or just placing the desire in children’s minds. He is so inept and weak; he must call on imperfect and admittedly wicked humans to present his case and hope the kids will crack open His holy book. This is where the Satanists saw an opening. The Satanists are simply saying, if there's religious heart-changing allowed in public schools, all religious heart-changers should get an equal shot at the students: "If our materials are consistent with their standards, they can't simply deny our literature because of its religious viewpoint," said a Satanic Temple spokesman.

Guess which book contains more violence and divisiveness?     
     

                If the Satanists succeed, expect to see Islamic groups submitting the Koran and Muslim information next, followed by the Mormons, the Hindus, the Sikhs, the Zoroastrians, and eventually documents about Native American beliefs. They all have just as much right. It will take up the entire school day just to name all the different religions and the various factions of each.

     So that mother who was upset over the Satanic Temple handing out material better be prepared for a religious rush on the area schools. This is the end result of ignoring the Constitutional separation of church and state. 

     How about you? Do you want today’s school kids to waste any more time on religion and NOT learn science, math, history, reading, biology, spelling, physics, chemistry, astronomy, geography, social studies…etc.?  

     One particular response was so stunning, I quote it in full: “These monsters peddling their book full of murder, incest, human bondage and exploitation to school children must be stopped. It's a good thing that the Satanists are doing something about it.”