Ten years ago, my world was turned upside down.
September 11, 2001 was the Pearl Harbor for my generation. A generation that had grown up never knowing a real war. Oh sure, we'd seen pictures of Desert Storm, but that was just a minor thing, and far away. The Cold War was something that old people still cared about. I was six years old when the Berlin Wall came down. These things didn't affect us, unless you knew someone who was personally involved. To us, wars were things that were talked about in history books, or played out on movie screens, or experienced through video games.
On that fateful September morning, however, we found ourselves faced with the same situation that had faced Americans almost sixty years before, a horrific attack on our homeland. None of us were prepared for such a thing. How could we be?
In the days that followed, I had high hopes for our country. For the entire decade before, all I'd seen in American politics was just a steady trend towards ever more bitter partisan bickering. The two parties playing dueling filibusters, the government shutting down, the Republicans impeaching Clinton because he got frisky with an intern, and the Democrats showing every sign that they would do the same thing if they got power. All the while, the tone kept getting steadily worse. The idea of a respectful compromise became anathema, as faith and politics became intertwined. The party that wanted to keep the Government out of business wanted to regulate what a woman could do with their body, or whether two people who happened to have the same gender could have the same rights as a man and a woman. The party that wanted to expand freedoms and safety nets for the poor and the elderly fought to protect people who broke the law every day, simply by being here. And neither side would back down.
In the days after September 11th, I found myself hopeful that this horrible attack would serve as a wake-up call to politicians, and the people in general, that we shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves like this. That, even in some of our darkest days, when there were deep divisions between the parties, people could still remain civil to one another. I had high hopes.
Those hopes were crushed, slowly and systematically, as the recriminations began within weeks, and people began to use 9/11 as a club to beat down all opposition. It died when Rudy Giuliani ran for president on a campaign based on how many times he could say 9/11 in a given sentence. And its grave was plowed over when the Democrats managed to get majorities in both houses of Congress, and proved that they were no better than the Republicans. And now things are so bad that I find myself nostalgic for the relative civility of the impeachment debacle and the government shutdown of the 1990s.
I had hope. Now I have the sickening realization that it will take something radical to break the cycle of partisan bickering that has put a stranglehold on our country. I no longer believe this is a problem that can be solved the way our current system works, where it is an all or nothing, and compromise is the equivalent of toxic waste.
I am forced to one simple, horrible conclusion. Without radical changes, our country is doomed to a slow death. What form must those changes take? There are many ways it could work, but, in my view, the best would be to rewrite Article I of the Constitution completely. Throw Congress out, literally, and change it to being a Parliamentary system, where third parties will have a chance to flourish, and everyone won't be stuck in the horrible zero sum game that has crippled us for the last twenty years. Every other major democracy in the world has this system, and it works well for them. There may be ideological differences in England, or Israel, or even Russia, but you don't see the government threatening to come to a halt every few weeks like you do here.
Without major changes, I think we will all be hoping the world ends in 2012.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
Symptoms and Causes
Georgia is the most recent state to pass legislation aimed at fighting illegal immigration's effects within their borders. There's been a lot of crying and gnashing of teeth from civil rights groups and people who simply like the cheap labor that illegals provide, but their arguments all ignore the underlying fact that the people who came here illegally are, by law, criminals. You can spout "no one is illegal" or whatever catchy slogan you like, but the fact is that there are legal means of coming into this country, and if you enter another way, you're an illegal alien.
That being said, I must say that while I support the basic ideas behind the recent laws, I don't think this is the right way to go about solving the problem. The reason why is simple. Illegal immigration is a symptom. You don't solve anything by treating symptoms. The only way to solve the problem is to find a cure for the cause.
In this case, the cause is not people who come across the border illegally looking for work. The cause is EMPLOYERS who break the law and provide opportunities for these illegals. The argument is always that no Americans will do the kind of work the illegals do. The truth is they won't do those jobs at the cut rate pay and conditions that employers can get by with when dealing with illegals. If everyone's on a level playing field, you'll find legal workers for those jobs.
So what would I do? First, I would expand legal guest worker programs. Nothing wrong with having migrant workers come in and do a temporary job such as picking fruit, and then moving on when the season's over. I'd even be agreeable to allowing immigrants to serve in the military, and be granted citizenship after a six year tour. (There's actually precedent for that, when the Irish were coming over.)
But the main thing I would do is crack down on the people who employ illegals, drastically stepping up enforcement and penalties to the employers. To start with, the penalty for employing illegals would be a fine of $1 Million, loss of your business license, and forfeiture of the property involved. And then your name, face, and biographical information would be put in a database of known employers of illegals that would be distributed to every police department and licensing bureau in the United States. The intent is nothing more or less than to ruin every employer of illegal immigrants in the United States.
If this sounds draconian and harsh, that is because it is, and is meant to be. The simple fact is that half-measures won't solve the problem. This isn't something you can take a couple aspirin for and call in the morning. For a problem this entrenched, you need major chemotherapy.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Don't fall for this crap.
In my continuing effort to educate people on how to spot spam when they see it, here's a little gem that hit my inbox today.
from beng@uni.edu
reply-to bengsengk@live.co.uk
to beng@uni.edu
date Thu, May 26, 2011 at 6:09 PM
subject Read and get back!!
mailed-by uni.edu
I am Mr. KOH Beng Seng Independent Non-executive Director Chairman of Bank of China Ltd, Hong Kong.
An Iraqi named Abrahem Hussein Raheem,a business man made a numbered fixed deposit of Sixty Five Million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars only in my branch.
He died during a bomb blast in Iraq,After further investigation it was also discovered that Abrahem Hussein Raheem did not declare any next of kin in his official papers including the paper work of his bank deposit. And he also confided in me the last time he was at my office that no one except me knew of his deposit in my bank. So, Sixty Five Million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars is still lying in my bank and no one will ever come forward to claim it. I am sorry to have used this media to contact with you as i have to use this email for personal security reasons as adviced by my lawyer, so kindly send your response to my personal email below.
I am ready to share 50/50 with you if interested in this deal, kindly note that i have contacted you with a paid domain for security reasons so i need you to copy this email: khobengseng@yahoo.com.hk of mine and send me your complete details if interested.
Your earliest reply will be appreciated as i state my email again for your perusal khobengseng@yahoo.com.hk
Yours Truly,
Mr. Koh Beng Seng,
Independent Non-Executive Director
Chairman of the Risk Committee, Hong Kong.
Email: khobengseng@yahoo.com.hk
Lots of warning signs here. First, note all the different email addresses. You have one that it came from, one that a reply goes to, and another one where they want you to send replies to! This is a classic sign that something is not on the up and up.
Second, do you really think some bank manager in Hong Kong looking over an account for a guy who died in Iraq is going to contact some random person through the internet to help them?
Third, the act he's talking about is illegal. What makes you think anyone discussing such things over the internet is legit?
Fourth, the guy being a bank manager is a nice touch. People think 'bank managers have money already, so they really wouldn't try to screw me'. Except look at the message again. He's trying to rip off several million dollars! Even if you take him at face value, what makes you think he won't rip you off too?
Finally, anyone who deposits $65,500,000 in an account, anywhere in the world, is not going to be able to do so without someone knowing about it. Governments on the lookout for organized crime outfits tend to keep watch on any large deposits. In many places, banks are required to report when someone deposits a sum greater than a certain amount.
In short, if you fell for this load of dung, you deserved to get taken. But to make you feel better, I've got this bridge I'd like to sell you in Brooklyn...
from beng@uni.edu
reply-to bengsengk@live.co.uk
to beng@uni.edu
date Thu, May 26, 2011 at 6:09 PM
subject Read and get back!!
mailed-by uni.edu
I am Mr. KOH Beng Seng Independent Non-executive Director Chairman of Bank of China Ltd, Hong Kong.
An Iraqi named Abrahem Hussein Raheem,a business man made a numbered fixed deposit of Sixty Five Million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars only in my branch.
He died during a bomb blast in Iraq,After further investigation it was also discovered that Abrahem Hussein Raheem did not declare any next of kin in his official papers including the paper work of his bank deposit. And he also confided in me the last time he was at my office that no one except me knew of his deposit in my bank. So, Sixty Five Million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars is still lying in my bank and no one will ever come forward to claim it. I am sorry to have used this media to contact with you as i have to use this email for personal security reasons as adviced by my lawyer, so kindly send your response to my personal email below.
I am ready to share 50/50 with you if interested in this deal, kindly note that i have contacted you with a paid domain for security reasons so i need you to copy this email: khobengseng@yahoo.com.hk of mine and send me your complete details if interested.
Your earliest reply will be appreciated as i state my email again for your perusal khobengseng@yahoo.com.hk
Yours Truly,
Mr. Koh Beng Seng,
Independent Non-Executive Director
Chairman of the Risk Committee, Hong Kong.
Email: khobengseng@yahoo.com.hk
Lots of warning signs here. First, note all the different email addresses. You have one that it came from, one that a reply goes to, and another one where they want you to send replies to! This is a classic sign that something is not on the up and up.
Second, do you really think some bank manager in Hong Kong looking over an account for a guy who died in Iraq is going to contact some random person through the internet to help them?
Third, the act he's talking about is illegal. What makes you think anyone discussing such things over the internet is legit?
Fourth, the guy being a bank manager is a nice touch. People think 'bank managers have money already, so they really wouldn't try to screw me'. Except look at the message again. He's trying to rip off several million dollars! Even if you take him at face value, what makes you think he won't rip you off too?
Finally, anyone who deposits $65,500,000 in an account, anywhere in the world, is not going to be able to do so without someone knowing about it. Governments on the lookout for organized crime outfits tend to keep watch on any large deposits. In many places, banks are required to report when someone deposits a sum greater than a certain amount.
In short, if you fell for this load of dung, you deserved to get taken. But to make you feel better, I've got this bridge I'd like to sell you in Brooklyn...
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Reflections and closure
Has it really been almost ten years?
Every so often, you have these quintessential events, burned into the psyche of a people so deeply that everyone not only remembers the event, but that event changes who we are. Pearl Harbor was one. JFK's assassination was another. For my generation, the generation of kids who were still in school on 9/11/2001, the events of that day have shaped our lives.
There are kids in high school today who were only in kindergarten when the planes hit the towers. The majority of their lives have been colored by this event. I was older, in high school at the time, and so I was old enough to appreciate the change that came over the country on that day.
Without trying to sound too poetic, that day is like a scar upon my soul. Even ten years later, I can never think on that day without tears welling up, as I remember the emotions of that day. The disbelief at what I was seeing, the growing realization turning to horror and fear, feeding a righteous anger. I may disagree with many of the things Bush did during his term, but I have always given him credit for his restraint in those first few days. Knowing how my emotions were running in those first few days, my reaction to seeing the tapes of bin Laden congratulating his men on how well the attack went would have been to turn all of Afghanistan into a nuclear wasteland, slagging down the entire Tora Bora mountains into rubble that would glow in the dark.
What my generation lost that day was more than towers or lives. We lost our innocence. As a generation, we were forced to realize that the world was a dark, terrible place, that would hurt you if it could. Oh sure, we knew about the lesser dangers close to home, the bullying, muggings, and crime we saw on the TV from day to day. But nothing like the unreasoning hatred that could cause someone to do something like this.
The attacks on the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 happened a month before I was born. It was something out of the history books for me. I was eleven when the federal building in Oklahoma City was bombed in 1995. I saw the reports, was fascinated by the sight of a building with a big hole in it, and then turned the channel to watch cartoons. The bombing of the Cole in 2000 I remember, but that was a small thing, very remote. It was 'over there'.
What happened on September 11, 2001 was not 'over there'. It was immediate, it was here. And as a generation, we were forced to deal with that horrible discovery that the world was not a nice place, that it would kill you if it could, and that death could come in an instant from the skies above.
Now that Osama bin Laden is dead, I find myself once again praising a president for his restraint. I would not have given bin Laden a respectful burial at sea. I would have had him shipped back to the US, tied him to the back of a Harley, and drug his corpse through the streets of New York, before planting his severed head on a pike on the White House lawn.
bin Laden's death will not erase the scars from a decade ago, but I find myself with a sense of closure. The monster responsible for all those deaths has been slain. It won't bring the people back, but no more will be killed because of him. I feel as though a weight that had been hanging from me for so long that I didn't even realize it was there had suddenly been lifted.
bin Laden is dead, but threats still remain. Still, the death of this one viper gives me hope that we can root out the rest of them. It has been a long time since I had that kind of hope.
Every so often, you have these quintessential events, burned into the psyche of a people so deeply that everyone not only remembers the event, but that event changes who we are. Pearl Harbor was one. JFK's assassination was another. For my generation, the generation of kids who were still in school on 9/11/2001, the events of that day have shaped our lives.
There are kids in high school today who were only in kindergarten when the planes hit the towers. The majority of their lives have been colored by this event. I was older, in high school at the time, and so I was old enough to appreciate the change that came over the country on that day.
Without trying to sound too poetic, that day is like a scar upon my soul. Even ten years later, I can never think on that day without tears welling up, as I remember the emotions of that day. The disbelief at what I was seeing, the growing realization turning to horror and fear, feeding a righteous anger. I may disagree with many of the things Bush did during his term, but I have always given him credit for his restraint in those first few days. Knowing how my emotions were running in those first few days, my reaction to seeing the tapes of bin Laden congratulating his men on how well the attack went would have been to turn all of Afghanistan into a nuclear wasteland, slagging down the entire Tora Bora mountains into rubble that would glow in the dark.
What my generation lost that day was more than towers or lives. We lost our innocence. As a generation, we were forced to realize that the world was a dark, terrible place, that would hurt you if it could. Oh sure, we knew about the lesser dangers close to home, the bullying, muggings, and crime we saw on the TV from day to day. But nothing like the unreasoning hatred that could cause someone to do something like this.
The attacks on the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 happened a month before I was born. It was something out of the history books for me. I was eleven when the federal building in Oklahoma City was bombed in 1995. I saw the reports, was fascinated by the sight of a building with a big hole in it, and then turned the channel to watch cartoons. The bombing of the Cole in 2000 I remember, but that was a small thing, very remote. It was 'over there'.
What happened on September 11, 2001 was not 'over there'. It was immediate, it was here. And as a generation, we were forced to deal with that horrible discovery that the world was not a nice place, that it would kill you if it could, and that death could come in an instant from the skies above.
Now that Osama bin Laden is dead, I find myself once again praising a president for his restraint. I would not have given bin Laden a respectful burial at sea. I would have had him shipped back to the US, tied him to the back of a Harley, and drug his corpse through the streets of New York, before planting his severed head on a pike on the White House lawn.
bin Laden's death will not erase the scars from a decade ago, but I find myself with a sense of closure. The monster responsible for all those deaths has been slain. It won't bring the people back, but no more will be killed because of him. I feel as though a weight that had been hanging from me for so long that I didn't even realize it was there had suddenly been lifted.
bin Laden is dead, but threats still remain. Still, the death of this one viper gives me hope that we can root out the rest of them. It has been a long time since I had that kind of hope.
Friday, March 18, 2011
The Limits of Power
Much has been said in recent weeks about how the United States should have gone in sooner and imposed a no-fly zone over Libya, or send arms to the protesters, or other such interventions. For the most part, these people are reacting out of the emotion of the moment, without regards to consequence or precedent.
If we are a nation of laws, and expect other nations to abide by international law, then we cannot simply disregard international law, or its processes, without becoming a rogue state ourselves.
A moral stand is a good thing. However, people have committed horrible atrocities in the name of morality, when they are unchecked by respect for the law or other limiting institutions. Emotion is a powerful thing, but when you let it control your decisions as a nation, you become a bully, getting your way because you can beat up all the other kids on the block.
It is the fact that we knowingly and willingly limit our power and our ability to respond to situations by bowing to the strictures and conventions of international law that separates us from madmen and tyrants like Kadhafi.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Uhhh I made 200 today with this site www.bit.ly/dGTka2?702885816 did you know about it?
This, my friends, is what you call a scam. Anyone who falls for this deserves to be taken.
Monday, January 24, 2011
On the Evils of Pelor
I found this on the Wizards of the Coast forums, and thought I would share with you. The original post can be found here: http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19558798/Pelor,_the_Burning_Hate
On the evil of Pelor
Pelor is commonly thought to be the near embodiment of Neutral Good. As a sun god, he is thought to be the enemy of the undead and the author of life through his gifts. He is also a god of Strength, for he advocates that the weak must be protected by those capable.
However, recent revelations have given rise to a sect of thought (some label it an outright heresy) that Pelor may not be what he claims to be. A passage in the Book of Exalted Deeds states that Pelor refused to send his paladin a sunfly swarm to destroy a vampire that had murdered his family, while the paladin was out doing Pelor’s work. In the same section, a CG god named Kord visited a plague upon his worshipper who was defeated on the battlefield. Speculations abound as to why Pelor refused his faithful paladin and range from defending the god (Pelor couldn’t allow himself to stoop to the mortal’s level of hate) to accusing the god (Pelor wanted to see his paladin suffer). No concrete answer could be found, but for those who thought it was a poor choice on Pelor’s part, it led to a path of horrific discovery after discovery.
Further investigation revealed (in the Epic Level Handbook) that the Lord High Priest of Pelor denounced her deity and the faith. It also said that the secret texts of a prominent religion, recently discovered, call into question the church’s real goal, its actual origin and the agenda of its god.
From there we turn to the Player's Handbook.
Jozan, the archetypical cleric of the Burning Hate is shown using symbol of pain, a 5th level cleric spell with the evil descriptor (PH 291). The SRD and PHB have two things to say about this:
First, a cleric can’t cast spells of an alignment opposed to his own or his deity’s (if he has one). Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good, and law descriptors in their spell descriptions.
Second, a cleric’s alignment must be within one step of his deity’s (that is, it may be one step away on either the lawful-chaotic axis or the good-evil axis, but not both). A cleric may not be neutral unless his deity’s alignment is also neutral.
This means that Jozan can not be good-aligned, since he can casts evil spells. Nor Pelor can be , because he can grant evil aligned spells, that can only come from a non-good deity. So, Pelor can not be good-aligned.
Also, Jozan has been seen steping on the face of his allies to rise higher, rather than store his shield and mace (PH 68 ). That is not the act of a good-aligned being and shows quite a level of paranoia and mistrust against his allies.
Moving on from there to the Complete Scoundrel, we find the path of the malconvoker introduced. This path requires a non-evil alignment and deals in the summoning of demons. A quote from the iconic malconvoker: “Take him my slaves! Drag his soul back to your dark masters!” - Argyll Te’Shea, servant of Pelor and malconvoker. The summoning of demons has always been one of the most vile acts. Page 8 of the Book of Vile Darkness states that Consorting with Fiends is evil. The statement “Allowing a fiend to exist, let alone summoning one or helping one is clearly evil”. More minor sections deal with ‘casting evil spells’ and ‘damning or harming souls’, both of which are clearly present within the Pelor-sponsored malconvoker. One could very well suspect this path to be nothing more than a thinly disguised trap for the unwary and their souls.
Also introduced into the Complete Scoundrel is the grey guard, which some may note “hey, that’s just a slightly lighter version of the blackguard!” Indeed. Another step into the Lower Planes, this one is aimed at paladins rather than wizards and clerics. While I have not been able to tie the grey guard directly to Pelor as of yet, it seems that the taint caused by his masquerade is growing to touch even the sincere good aligned gods.
Looking at the relics that Pelor sponsors shows another side of this dark story. The dawnstar, if sundered or broken, deals massive damage to all other creatures (aside from the wielder) within a 30 foot radius. Clearly, this power was inserted with no thought given to the cost for the wielder’s allies. The original dawnstars were given to 4 solars who rescued one of Pelor’s paladins from Baator (Known as Perdition in some texts). A question arises then: what exactly was the paladin doing in Hell? If he had died and went to Hell, that suggests some oddity concerning his faith and alignment. If he ended in Hell due to his own dealings with the devils (which are endorsed by the Church of Pelor, don’t forget), then it seems that Pelor was flouting the Pact Primeval, an ancient law enacted before Pelor’s time. It seems that there are only a few possible answers. One, Pelor is truly of Hell, and his worshipper ended there because of his faith. Two, the paladin ended up in Hell of his own actions and Pelor gave no thought to the stability of the cosmos in order to bring him back. (Probably out of fear for what information torture would bring to the paladin’s tongue.) Three, Pelor sponsors LE paladins, known as paladins of tyranny (in a complete twisting of the term paladin) because he is a vile god of evil.
The Inquisitor Bracers are another magic item sponsored by Pelor. These bracers justify the use of force on innocent people in order to sort them out from undead. You can’t use the power of the bracers with a touch attack (to see if the positive energy perhaps burns the undead). You must swing your weapon with all force at the target, and hope that the positive energy undoes any mistake you might make. What a sick idea. A paladin on a different world once had a similar idea for dealing with undead. His name was Prince Arthas. Of Warcraft III fame.
Pelor’s final relic is a sun shard, which is fairly simple, it fires searing light at two targets. This isn’t damning in and of itself, but consider that while other good gods (Elonna and Yondalla for example) offered relics that aided mortals, Pelor’s are all intended to destroy. This is of course, not a huge point against Pelor, but when added onto the mountain of evidence, seems to be just one more confirmation.
One adventuring group, headed by a tough talking thug named Dyson, followed the path against Pelor when they discovered something amiss within his church. Connections were drawn between Pelor and Baal. That story can be told by Dyson himself or his dungeon master Feanor. It should be noted however, that they began following this path of discovery prior to the release of the Book of Exalted Deeds. They were the first to see the truth and were shunned for it at the time. Those of us who have had our eyes opened to the light of the Burning Hate owe them a debt of gratitude.
Another adventuring group, this one composed of angels, were betrayed by their god into the hands of Lixer, a Prince of Hell. They were broken, one by one. One was twisted into a demon, one lost faith in the path of the Celestial Compact, one was blasted from existence and the last was petrified and stands still in the Court of a Lord of Hell. The god was not named, but he was a god of the sun. Again, this story predates the release of the Book of Exalted Deeds.
One final member of Dicefreaks has added information. Alratan was the first Freak to bring up evil uses for positive energy and good uses for negative energy. While his study does not accuse Pelor of anything (or indeed, deal with Pelor at all), it does point to an alternate path of positive energy, with which Pelor is definitely associated. (Positive energy, not the alternate path) This is important because many dubious (and some slack jawed) people have pointed towards Pelor’s association with the sun and positive energy as proof of his inherent goodness.
It must be noted that nothing is proven. Pelor still sits in Elysium. No good aligned gods have moved against him, nor have they chilled alliances with the Sun God. It may be this is a smear campaign engineered by fiends, or simply the overactive imaginations of mortals. However, the above presented are facts, not fiction. Draw your own conclusions, but think twice before you choose the True Believer feat in Pelor’s name. Below are my own conclusions drawn from the evidence.
Pelor is a Neutral (lawful tendancies) Evil god of Sun and Strength.
Pelor is a god of skin cancer, sun burns, thirst and burning agony.
Pelor hates undead as they cannot properly suffer in the same way as mortals.
Pelor’s divine realm is on Elysium
Pelor has deceived the good gods and mortals for so long that he has grown complacent in his position. The recent revelations are not purposeful, they are accidents caused by the god being sloppy.
Pelor has many connections with Hell through both Bel and Belial and previously through Zariel.
Pelor may have engineered the Great Fall of Eblis, Triel and the others.
It is unknown if the devils, yugoloths or demons are aware that Pelor is evil. Presumably they are ignorant.
The above is intended to make clear the position of those people who claim Pelor is evil. It is not intended as a slur on those who seek to worship Pelor as a benign deity nor as concrete proof of his evil. The investigation into his misconduct is currently ongoing and no final judgement should be passed at this juncture.
On the evil of Pelor
Pelor is commonly thought to be the near embodiment of Neutral Good. As a sun god, he is thought to be the enemy of the undead and the author of life through his gifts. He is also a god of Strength, for he advocates that the weak must be protected by those capable.
However, recent revelations have given rise to a sect of thought (some label it an outright heresy) that Pelor may not be what he claims to be. A passage in the Book of Exalted Deeds states that Pelor refused to send his paladin a sunfly swarm to destroy a vampire that had murdered his family, while the paladin was out doing Pelor’s work. In the same section, a CG god named Kord visited a plague upon his worshipper who was defeated on the battlefield. Speculations abound as to why Pelor refused his faithful paladin and range from defending the god (Pelor couldn’t allow himself to stoop to the mortal’s level of hate) to accusing the god (Pelor wanted to see his paladin suffer). No concrete answer could be found, but for those who thought it was a poor choice on Pelor’s part, it led to a path of horrific discovery after discovery.
Further investigation revealed (in the Epic Level Handbook) that the Lord High Priest of Pelor denounced her deity and the faith. It also said that the secret texts of a prominent religion, recently discovered, call into question the church’s real goal, its actual origin and the agenda of its god.
From there we turn to the Player's Handbook.
Jozan, the archetypical cleric of the Burning Hate is shown using symbol of pain, a 5th level cleric spell with the evil descriptor (PH 291). The SRD and PHB have two things to say about this:
First, a cleric can’t cast spells of an alignment opposed to his own or his deity’s (if he has one). Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good, and law descriptors in their spell descriptions.
Second, a cleric’s alignment must be within one step of his deity’s (that is, it may be one step away on either the lawful-chaotic axis or the good-evil axis, but not both). A cleric may not be neutral unless his deity’s alignment is also neutral.
This means that Jozan can not be good-aligned, since he can casts evil spells. Nor Pelor can be , because he can grant evil aligned spells, that can only come from a non-good deity. So, Pelor can not be good-aligned.
Also, Jozan has been seen steping on the face of his allies to rise higher, rather than store his shield and mace (PH 68 ). That is not the act of a good-aligned being and shows quite a level of paranoia and mistrust against his allies.
Moving on from there to the Complete Scoundrel, we find the path of the malconvoker introduced. This path requires a non-evil alignment and deals in the summoning of demons. A quote from the iconic malconvoker: “Take him my slaves! Drag his soul back to your dark masters!” - Argyll Te’Shea, servant of Pelor and malconvoker. The summoning of demons has always been one of the most vile acts. Page 8 of the Book of Vile Darkness states that Consorting with Fiends is evil. The statement “Allowing a fiend to exist, let alone summoning one or helping one is clearly evil”. More minor sections deal with ‘casting evil spells’ and ‘damning or harming souls’, both of which are clearly present within the Pelor-sponsored malconvoker. One could very well suspect this path to be nothing more than a thinly disguised trap for the unwary and their souls.
Also introduced into the Complete Scoundrel is the grey guard, which some may note “hey, that’s just a slightly lighter version of the blackguard!” Indeed. Another step into the Lower Planes, this one is aimed at paladins rather than wizards and clerics. While I have not been able to tie the grey guard directly to Pelor as of yet, it seems that the taint caused by his masquerade is growing to touch even the sincere good aligned gods.
Looking at the relics that Pelor sponsors shows another side of this dark story. The dawnstar, if sundered or broken, deals massive damage to all other creatures (aside from the wielder) within a 30 foot radius. Clearly, this power was inserted with no thought given to the cost for the wielder’s allies. The original dawnstars were given to 4 solars who rescued one of Pelor’s paladins from Baator (Known as Perdition in some texts). A question arises then: what exactly was the paladin doing in Hell? If he had died and went to Hell, that suggests some oddity concerning his faith and alignment. If he ended in Hell due to his own dealings with the devils (which are endorsed by the Church of Pelor, don’t forget), then it seems that Pelor was flouting the Pact Primeval, an ancient law enacted before Pelor’s time. It seems that there are only a few possible answers. One, Pelor is truly of Hell, and his worshipper ended there because of his faith. Two, the paladin ended up in Hell of his own actions and Pelor gave no thought to the stability of the cosmos in order to bring him back. (Probably out of fear for what information torture would bring to the paladin’s tongue.) Three, Pelor sponsors LE paladins, known as paladins of tyranny (in a complete twisting of the term paladin) because he is a vile god of evil.
The Inquisitor Bracers are another magic item sponsored by Pelor. These bracers justify the use of force on innocent people in order to sort them out from undead. You can’t use the power of the bracers with a touch attack (to see if the positive energy perhaps burns the undead). You must swing your weapon with all force at the target, and hope that the positive energy undoes any mistake you might make. What a sick idea. A paladin on a different world once had a similar idea for dealing with undead. His name was Prince Arthas. Of Warcraft III fame.
Pelor’s final relic is a sun shard, which is fairly simple, it fires searing light at two targets. This isn’t damning in and of itself, but consider that while other good gods (Elonna and Yondalla for example) offered relics that aided mortals, Pelor’s are all intended to destroy. This is of course, not a huge point against Pelor, but when added onto the mountain of evidence, seems to be just one more confirmation.
One adventuring group, headed by a tough talking thug named Dyson, followed the path against Pelor when they discovered something amiss within his church. Connections were drawn between Pelor and Baal. That story can be told by Dyson himself or his dungeon master Feanor. It should be noted however, that they began following this path of discovery prior to the release of the Book of Exalted Deeds. They were the first to see the truth and were shunned for it at the time. Those of us who have had our eyes opened to the light of the Burning Hate owe them a debt of gratitude.
Another adventuring group, this one composed of angels, were betrayed by their god into the hands of Lixer, a Prince of Hell. They were broken, one by one. One was twisted into a demon, one lost faith in the path of the Celestial Compact, one was blasted from existence and the last was petrified and stands still in the Court of a Lord of Hell. The god was not named, but he was a god of the sun. Again, this story predates the release of the Book of Exalted Deeds.
One final member of Dicefreaks has added information. Alratan was the first Freak to bring up evil uses for positive energy and good uses for negative energy. While his study does not accuse Pelor of anything (or indeed, deal with Pelor at all), it does point to an alternate path of positive energy, with which Pelor is definitely associated. (Positive energy, not the alternate path) This is important because many dubious (and some slack jawed) people have pointed towards Pelor’s association with the sun and positive energy as proof of his inherent goodness.
It must be noted that nothing is proven. Pelor still sits in Elysium. No good aligned gods have moved against him, nor have they chilled alliances with the Sun God. It may be this is a smear campaign engineered by fiends, or simply the overactive imaginations of mortals. However, the above presented are facts, not fiction. Draw your own conclusions, but think twice before you choose the True Believer feat in Pelor’s name. Below are my own conclusions drawn from the evidence.
Pelor is a Neutral (lawful tendancies) Evil god of Sun and Strength.
Pelor is a god of skin cancer, sun burns, thirst and burning agony.
Pelor hates undead as they cannot properly suffer in the same way as mortals.
Pelor’s divine realm is on Elysium
Pelor has deceived the good gods and mortals for so long that he has grown complacent in his position. The recent revelations are not purposeful, they are accidents caused by the god being sloppy.
Pelor has many connections with Hell through both Bel and Belial and previously through Zariel.
Pelor may have engineered the Great Fall of Eblis, Triel and the others.
It is unknown if the devils, yugoloths or demons are aware that Pelor is evil. Presumably they are ignorant.
The above is intended to make clear the position of those people who claim Pelor is evil. It is not intended as a slur on those who seek to worship Pelor as a benign deity nor as concrete proof of his evil. The investigation into his misconduct is currently ongoing and no final judgement should be passed at this juncture.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
On the meaning of records
So the Atlanta Falcons, after a 13-3 season, are out of the playoffs, having been beat like a red-headed stepchild by Green Bay, leaving some people to ask if they were really as good as a 13-3 record would say. To them, I have only one thing to say: sit down and quit your bitching.
Seriously, every team has their ups and downs. Even the best team, at the height of their game, will stumble. Records and stats are things that only matter outside the game. When you are on that field, no one on the opposing side cares what your record is. They are focused on doing their job, as you are focused on doing yours. If Football was really so simple as comparing who had the best record, then why would you even bother to play the game? Just compare stat sheets in the booth, have the coaches shake hands, and then go home.
Football, like other sports, excites us because, on any given Sunday, anything can happen. Because even though you go in expectations based on your team's record, and the other team's record, you still have that thrill that anything could happen. That is why they play the game, and why we watch.
So yes, the Falcons really were as good as their 13-3 record said. But on any given Sunday, anything can happen.
Seriously, every team has their ups and downs. Even the best team, at the height of their game, will stumble. Records and stats are things that only matter outside the game. When you are on that field, no one on the opposing side cares what your record is. They are focused on doing their job, as you are focused on doing yours. If Football was really so simple as comparing who had the best record, then why would you even bother to play the game? Just compare stat sheets in the booth, have the coaches shake hands, and then go home.
Football, like other sports, excites us because, on any given Sunday, anything can happen. Because even though you go in expectations based on your team's record, and the other team's record, you still have that thrill that anything could happen. That is why they play the game, and why we watch.
So yes, the Falcons really were as good as their 13-3 record said. But on any given Sunday, anything can happen.
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