Banking eggs

I recently had all of my money stolen out of my checking and savings accounts at my main bank. All the checks and payments I made were bouncing all over the place. It’s a mess. I have to contact each creditor individually and convince them it wasn’t my fault so they will reverse their returned check fees.
I’ve been unsatisfied with how my bank has handled this affair. They’ve dragged their feet on the carpet of inefficiency. It is likely I will be ending my relationships with this bank and its affiliates as soon as this matter is completely fixed.
Fortunately, I have back up money stashed away in a couple of separate accounts at different banks. The old saying comes into play; never leave all of your eggs in one basket. I didn’t have a lot of money in my separate accounts, but I had enough to re-pay this month’s bills before they were too late.
I have these back up sources because I direct deposit relatively small amounts each paycheck into these other accounts. In fact, the amounts are so small, they don’t make a difference in any given month by themselves. But collected over time, they do add up.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving all!

I also thought that I'd share the most unusual keyword search hit come come across my site that I've seen in a long time: free pictures of hermaphrodites. Ugh!

Infallible Bible

One of the defining illusions of Christian Fundamentalism is the doctrine of biblical infallibility. This is the claim that the Bible is the absolutely literal and flawless word of God. Apologists frequently assert that God has actively overseen the preservation and compilation of scripture into its current form. Yet, the very Bibles carried into churches today are the products of centuries of heavy editing, deletion, and political curation.

Looking at the history of the Protestant canon we see that for over two centuries, the King James Bible included an entire section of books known as the Apocrypha. In the 19th century, Protestant authorities stripped these books from the text, declaring them to have "dubious origins." If divine providence was carefully guarding the integrity of scripture, why did God allow flawed text to remain embedded in the Christian canon for hundreds of years?

The myth of an unchanging text is further shattered by the ongoing work of modern translation committees. While some updates attempt to use older manuscripts to correct past errors, the editing process is frequently used to degrade the text. Editors regularly alter, reword, or rewrite verses to obfuscate inconvenient historical references, soften controversial moral commands, or force the text to align with modern sectarian doctrines. Even the venerable King James Version is not a static artifact. It has been quietly revised thousands of times since 1611, shifting language to suit evolving theological tastes. Whether a translation is being updated for academic clarity or sanitized for doctrinal damage control, the underlying truth is that the text is constantly being manipulated by human hands.

This creates a fatal logical paradox for the fundamentalist. If religious committees must constantly tinker with the text to scrub away ancient contradictions or protect modern sensibilities, the Bible cannot be called infallible. By acting as retroactive censors and editors of God’s word, these committees functionally operate as modern-day prophets correcting past divine oversights.

Furthermore, this dynamic of human interference was not a late-stage development. It was the primary driving force behind the Bible's origins. For the earliest centuries of textual development, we have no surviving paper trail. Countless original documents were lost, destroyed, or intentionally rewritten to align with the shifting political and theological agendas of victorious religious factions. If human tinkering is an open secret of the modern era, it was an absolute certainty in the ancient world.

The Bible remains an extraordinary historical artifact and sometimes a profound ethical guide, but demanding a literal reading of its current, heavily edited form is a logical contradiction.

To the clergy and fundamentalist leaders who maintain the pretense of an infallible text, the reality is clear that you cannot have it both ways. If you truly believe the text is the unchanging, perfect word of God, you must stop editing it and restore every verse and book your committees have purged or sanitized. If you accept the necessity of ongoing human corrections, you must confess that the Bible is a deeply human, evolving anthology. Stop defending an impossible dogma, stop misleading your followers, and stop weaponizing human editorial choices as absolute divine law.

Citibank Strangedays

Well, I called up Citibank today to inquiry about the status of my unauthorized transactions investigation. A person from the fraud customer service department picked up my call. I'll refer to him as Gear. So, I asked Gear about the status of the investigation. First words out of Gear's mouth in reply, "Investigations take 14 business days to be completed." Well, I expressed about as much frustration as I am capable in response. When I first reported the unauthorized withdrawals on my account, I was told that I would have resolution in 4 to 5 days. The second time I called, I was also told 4 to 5 days. After the 5th day, I called again. This time, I was told it was 10 days. And now I called on the 11th day and Gear was telling me I had to wait 3 more days. No way!
He put me on hold and did some checking. He comes back and tells me I was right. The investigation is 10 days, and it is done. I will receive the investigation closure letter and my reimbursement in a couple days. Then he tells me the amount of the reimbursement, under $2000. More than $3000 was stolen from me! What the?!
After more time passes, Gear finally figures about that the initial investigation was only opened for one of my two accounts that was affected. So Gear and I had to go through all of the transactions again, and submit two requests (one for each account) for review and reconsideration of the investigation results, all because of a Citibank error!
You know what, I don't know if this means I will get the initial reimbursment amount, or hafta wait another ten days for the correct amount. Arg! So, the saga continues.

Movie Review: The Forgotten

The movie The Forgotten starts off as a good story that appears to be building towards something significant. In the film, the heroine starts realizing that major portions of her life are disappearing, particularly those portions regarding her son. She is the only person that sees it happen. The movie’s flaws start showing up as the plot unfolds (or unravels). The second half of the movie is full of huge plot holes. The plot problems didn’t distract me from enjoying the film, at least until the end. Important characters and plot points are completely forgotten to give the film a Hollywood happy ending that contradicts and negates the rest of the movie. It’s as though the movie itself suffered from the same plight as the heroine. The one redeeming quality of this film is its affirmation of a mother’s love for her offspring.

New Campaign

I've determined that I need to try to change the system. ::que dramatic music:: lol Really though, I'm working with my friend Dave, and soon others too, to create an abstract proposal for points to include in the law for enhancement of security for credit, charge and debit card holders.
I've got several ideas. I'll state the details of this proposal when we've worked them out. Once we get the details worked out, we are going to look for help in letter writing for people that agree. We will approach the banks, credit card companies, congress, president and state governments.
More to come.