God's views on killing

As I understand it, The Sixth Commandment condemns the act of murder but not killing in and of itself, giving exceptions for self defense, defense of another, war, et al.

I've been considering this lately, because I'm not sure that it reflects that a state of war must exist between nations rather than between groups of like minded individuals. The Mafia wars within its ranks, as do tribes in primitive parts of the world, and there are civil wars and undeclared wars between nations. Also, one can have paramilitary actions against another nation, warlike behavior during a period that is otherwise peaceful, and may other things besides.

Here's the question:

Do privately declared wars - whether between families (feuds), businesses, organized crime families, tribes, or other subset that does not reflect a national organization - count as wars in the Biblical sense that the killing within the scope of said war is 'allowable'?

I mean, it's a virtual certainty in a mob war that you are killing in self defense, because sure as rain is wet, the other guy intends to kill you. Also - if you kill him before he sees you or even knows you're there, it's still defensive, because he fully intends to kill you. Furthermore - it is defensive if you kill him even before the war is declared between the families, because he'll surely be gunning for you in a few short hours/days/weeks, right?

So - is a war a war, or does it require a country and an official declaration of war?

/Bart

It's a beautiful world we live in...

It's a beautiful world we live in...

...it's not for me.

How is it that such ugliness can live in such a beautiful world?

How is it that such beauty can live in such an ugly world?

The dichotomy of evil within a shell that radiates goodness and morality has me stumped right now. How can evil have a beautiful side? It's insidious, and it draws you in, while you believe that you are with someone good and right.

Then you see the corruption. The under-side. The filth.

We all have our quirks, peccadillos, and demons that haunt us through our day to day lives. It is acting upon them that makes the difference between being good and being evil. How is it that an otherwise nice person can do such horrible things - to children, the elderly, the helpless, or to those who are not smart enough to be able to protect themselves against the predators in the world?

Also - why is it that otherwise ordinary human beings wish harm and death upon those who have done evil? Is there no room for hope that this person may repent what they have done? Is there no forgiveness for those who are genuinely sorrowful for what they have done? I hear people that call themselves Christian calling out for the deaths of others for the crimes they have committed, and all too often, I do not hear the voice calling out to help them when their punishment is complete.

I have to battle and struggle to forgive my niece and nephew every day. I know that I can forgive them someday if I try hard enough; I have a hard time though - these beautiful children deserved better than what they got. Heck, they deserve better than me.

With that said; I hope I can forgive my niece and nephew someday. I hope I can forgive Steve Decker for his predations. I hope I can someday forgive those who have wronged me, much in the same way God has forgiven me.

It became clear to me how far from righteousness that I was when my brother told me in no uncertain terms that God was sick of me. I've been trying of late - mostly working on forgiveness and giving to others. I think I've gotten better, and though I know I'll never be good enough for Him, His forgiveness can help me.

Sorry for the stream of consciousness posting, but I've got a lot on my mind.

/Bart

Wonderful...

This is absolutely horrible - I used to work with this guy and griped and told my stories of the horrible time I was having because of my kids, and now I find this:

http://www.kokomotribune.com/local/local_story_230141916.html

Man sentenced for child porn
By MIKE FLETCHER
Tribune staff writer

A Kokomo man was sentenced in federal court Friday to more than 10 years for distributing child pornography over the Internet.On March 13, 2005, Steven M. Decker, 31, became a target of a federal probe after he distributed computer images of child pornography to undercover agents through an Internet file server he configured and operated, said Susan W. Brooks, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.

In May of last year, federal officials with assistance from Kokomo police seized computer equipment from First National Bank & Trust building in downtown Kokomo, where Decker had worked, and from his Kokomo residence, Lt. Donald Whitehead of the Kokomo Police Department said.

The probe was headed by agents of Immigration Customs Enforcement, which is under the direction of Homeland Security.

U.S. District Judge Larry J. McKinney sentenced Decker to 151 months imprisonment after Decker pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography.

This case resulted from an investigation by the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Indiana State Police, the Kokomo Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, following a lead from the German National Police (BKA).

According to Brooks, Decker distributed the images in an Internet Relay Chat channel used by offenders to distribute images showing the sexual abuse of very young children as well as older children.

Forensic examination of his computer showed that 754 persons visited Decker’s file server and could access his large collection of child pornography. During a search of his Kokomo residence, law enforcement officers recovered 341 image files identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as showing actual known victims of sexual exploitation.

Steven D. DeBrota, an assistant U.S. attorney, and Jill Trumbull-Harris, a Trial Attorney with the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice, prosecuted the case for the government. Judge McKinney also imposed a life term of supervised release following Decker’s imprisonment.

Decker also must register as a sex offender, must seek treatment in a sex offender program, and must not have unsupervised contact with minors. His use of any computer will also be subject to monitoring while he is on supervised release, Brooks added.

I worked with this jerk...I thought he was a great guy...I talked to him, liked him, and thought he was about the safest person in our entire department next to our managers, and now I find this! It's great that he was caught and stopped - but terrible that it ever happened in the first place!

What is the world coming to?

*sigh*

/Bart

Still more evidence of the MSM bias

It is almost hilarious when one looks at the lengths that the MSM is willing to reach to make Israel look bad. Luckily, they were caught again. I admit though, that it could be just a complete bungle combined with an absolute liar/camera whore.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3288406,00.html#n

The woman below has been used in two different stories with photos taken two weeks apart at different locations for the same "tragedy" - namely, her house was destroyed.

Here's the first photo:



...and here's the second one...

Doesn't she look just a bit familiar? See the scar on her cheek? Well, it's on the same photo above as well. She could be a camera whore, but I think that she is really a person trying to make Israel look bad. Apparently there are many instances of this - here's the truth about the 'bombed ambulance' - apparently it's horseshit too...

http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2006/08/more_propaganda.html

There are other gaffes as well...more lies...



The above photo was reported to show an airplane shooting missiles. In reality it's dropping chaff and flares to EVADE a missile (presumably fired by Hezbollah). Not only that, but the top piece of chaff is identical to the bottom piece. Isn't that interesting? Yep - the same guy as before - Adnan Hajj got caught again.

So - these news companies are not only putting forth unbalanced 'news' - showing tons of pictures of Lebanese suffering while not even talking about the fact that Hezbollah started this fight, and showing darned few images of Israeli suffering - as if Hezbollah is not STILL firing rockets at Israeli civilians.

Scumbags.

/Bart

Happy Birthday Dad...

Happy Birthday Dad.

It's been 22 years now. Maybe you'll want to talk to me soon.

Bart

No bias in the MSM?

Umm...there's no bias in the MSM? Yeah - right. I'm a bit late in the game on this one, but this is deliberate alteration of 'news' to further an agendum. Here's a before and after pic of a Reuter's photo:


This photo is before...


This photo is after...



...after they got caught that is.

Do you see a difference? In the first one, more buildings are burning, there's more smoke, and the area appears to have suffered more devastation than in the second. They deliberately sensationalize the damage to Lebanon, while ignoring the damage to Israel, despite the fact that Israel didn't start this fight!

A second point to make: how many images of Israeli buildings are ever shown? How many images of the deaths caused by Hezbollah? How often is it reported that Hezbollah has been shooting rockets into Israel before Israel fights back?

How horrified does the MSM sound when they talk about Israeli deaths? How often do they speak of the terror of rocket bombardment by those scumbag terrorists? How often do they speak of the Israeli children dying?

Honestly - those Hezbollah scumbags are lucky I am not the prime minister of Israel. I'd have bombed them into the freaking stone age years ago!

-Bart

Innocent deaths in Lebanon

All over the media these days, you will see photographs of dead civilians that have been killed by Israeli attacks against Lebanon. In many cases, the pictures will include captions that implicitly or explicitly blame Israel for these deaths.

I am dumbfounded by this position. It is Hezbollah that is actively selecting civilian targets. It is Hezbollah that is using 'Operation: Human Shield' as their prime method of fighting. It is Hezbollah that picked this fight. It is Hezbollah that chooses to hide in civilian buildings.

Also - many (if not all) of these 'civilian' buildings are owned, controlled, funded, or storage facilities of Hezbollah. Sorry Charlie, but if you decide to store weapons in a hospital, don't be surprised when said hostpital becomes a target!

I for one am sick and tired of the media's slant showing Israel as being evil. They write stories and print pictures talking about how horrible Israel is, and then they become very neutral or slanted toward praise when describing terrorist organizations. They go from being terrorists to 'government supporting militants' or 'resistance fighters'. HEZBOLLAH AND HAMAS TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS - STOP ACTING AS IF THEY ARE NOT!

Also - it is sickening how so many terrorist apologists say that Hezbollah is not *entirely* terrorist...that it has political and charitable arms. What in the world can they POSSIBLY be thinking? If you link yourself to a terrorist group, YOU ARE A TERRORIST! Consider - if you're an accountant for the Mafia, does that mean that you're not guilty of the crimes you've supported?

I can see it now: "Well, I'm a member of Islamic Jihad, but I'm a nice member! I don't blow anyone up! I just handle the books! The other guys in my building are the guys who blow up buses and schools!"

Sorry - it doesn't fly - if you ally yourself with terrorists, you're a terrorist.

Worse - if you ally yourself with france - they rub off on you too.

-Bartleby