Wednesday, December 08, 2004

pinions of buddy don: ten commandments eggsplained in footnotes

i noticed tuther day how aint hardly nobidy that still bleeves in the ten commandments the way they wuz furst writ. i gut to studyin the matter n cum to real eyes how them commandments is ok fer starters, but to fit the modern day moral values of amurka, they need em a few footnotes, lease eight of em by my count. furst, fer them amung ye thats dun fergot em, here they be, frum exodus chaptur 20, versus 3-17:
  1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.(1)
  2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.(2) Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
  3. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.(3)
  4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.(4)
  5. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
  6. Thou shalt not kill.(5)
  7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
  8. Thou shalt not steal.(6)
  9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.(7)
  10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.(8)
    Notes:
    (1) unless said other god happens to be:
    • your country, in which case god shall step aside and let the country be acknowledged first, at least when it is being attacked by some other country or afraid that some other country might someday have the means, motive and opportunity to attack, thus suspending for all combatants any other commandments that might conflict with the needs of the country
    • your company, which you will serve without question so long as you wish to have income from said company, especially if your company is under attack from government regulators, market forces, or competition from other companies, in which case god shall step aside and all other commandments that might conflict with the needs of your company will be suspended so long as your actions are taken in support of said company
    • your fraternity, sorority, country club, investment club, chamber of commerce, elks, masons, or other exclusive organization that requires, for purposes of being accepted or maintaining membership in good standing, participation in actions that might be construed as being in conflict with one or more of the commandments; in such special circumstances, god shall step aside and some or all of the commandments shall be temporarily suspended so that loyalty to the precepts and principles of said fraternity, sorority, country club, investment club, chamber of commerce, elks, masons, or other exclusive organization may be obeyed and respected without concern about or pangs of conscience over any conflict with any commandment that would otherwise have been in effect
    • your party, interest group, lobbyist organization, foundation of experts, or other organization designed to advance any political cause whatsoever so long as said party, interest group, lobbyist organization, foundation of experts, or other organization designed to advance any political cause whatsoever shall be shown to be in competition with any other party, interest group, lobbyist organization, foundation of experts, or other organization designed to advance any political cause whatsoever, under which special circumstances god shall step aside and all conflicting commandments shall be suspended so long as necessary to insure that your party, interest group, lobbyist organization, foundation of experts, or other organization designed to advance any political cause whatsoever can compete
    • any other entity whose membership requirements might in any way be construed to be in conflict with the commandments listed above, in which case god shall step aside and all conflicting commandments shall be suspended so long as necessary to allow you to continue enjoying said other entity
    • money or any other symbol of monetary value, be it stock, bond, option, copyright, patent, trademark, or any other entity, symbol, or thing that could be construed to have monetary value in any known or yet to be discovered universe
    (2) unless said graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth should act as:
    • logo, flag, symbol or representative of any entity described in footnote one
    • image necessary to provide any form of entertainment, be it movie, television, magazine, poster, fine art painting, or any other likeness that could generate income or human interest
    • family memento such as any photo, painting, water color, fingerpaint, or any other likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth so long as said photo, painting, water color, fingerpaint, or any other likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth be something the family, in whole or in part, enjoys, tolerates, or tapes onto a refrigerator
    • anything else that is not any other graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth that anyone wants to use for any purpose whatsoever since the plain fact is that the world no longer needs or respects or has any plan whatsoever to honor this particular commandment
    (3) note that since nobody actually knows god's name any longer, this commandment only applies if someone figures it out again; in other words, this one is a freebie

    (4) unless the purpose of not honoring said sabbath day should involve one or more of the following activities:
    • generating income or pursuing any other activity for any organization covered under footnote (1) above
    • attending sports contests or watching them on tv
    • doing any other thing under which this commandment might be construed as being applicable
    (5) unless said killing is covered under one of the following excuses for killing anyway:
    • collateral damage
    • war
    • execution(s) of individual(s) other humans have judged worthy of death
    (6) unless said theft occurs on a very grand scale, such as gaming the energy grid to generate profits for your company (see footnote (1) above), robbing the pension funds of your company, union, or any other organization with funds you have been entrusted to protect, or otherwise participating in actions that reallocate the funds of those less worthy to your bank account and so long as said theft occurs on a grand scale worthy of enron -- just don't rob a liquor store or remove anyone's hubcaps!

    (7) unless said bearing of false witness should prove useful in any of the following activities:
    • invasion of another country in order to prevent them from using weapons of mass destructions, that is, to prevent them from collaborating with your enemies, rather, that is to bring them freedom and democracy, whether they want it or not
    • persuasion of gullible individuals to make purchases of items they don't need
    • sliming your political opponent, in which case any lie, falsehood, misinterpretation of anything he/she ever said, wrote, or did, or other form of bearing false witness shall lead to god stepping aside and said bearing of false witness allowed
    • anything else that might, if successful, lead to the generation of profit, income, revenue or any other value in this and all other known universes and in any universe yet to be discovered
    (8) unless said coveting leads to working harder to obtain more things and thus make the economy grow.

    5 comments:

    heehawin' wit ya said...

    hey hee haww, ya fugot wat dem hate mongerin famili luvin yockels always talc bout wen contuplatin #5...da killin uf da unbone - a meens litle uns - frum da momas...a meen frum da ladis's belleis !
    sept we now dat it aint reeli kilin cuz dey aint reeli litle uns no mater wut dey says.

    no nevr mind dat dey dont now da difrense frum a unbone an a choice. deys dum.

    heehawin' wit ya said...

    hey hee hawww, J---- C-----! yu sho duz no how tu cifer ol fashon gud comon sense. da cind dat no one no nevr saw wit da mind yus got.
    now...wat was dat name i wuz thinkin bout in #3?

    heehawin' wit ya said...

    hey hee haww, mornin. eyes wunderin wy u didnt talc bout #7? isnt bein an aadult a guud thang? i thots that thats wut our beeloved president Clinton wuz teachin us...
    ...u knou...ta be aadult like n all...

    ...i meen i thot that it musta bean reellleee impotent sinse he showd us how to DO IT in the wiat hous an all.

    mi frend, mi gumpshons telin me that yoo aint bein scuare wit us. i hope eyes wrong thow.

    heehawin' wit ya said...

    hey hee haww, mornin. eyes wunderin wy u didnt talc bout #7? isnt bein an aadult a guud thang? i thots that thats wut our beeloved president Clinton wuz teachin us...
    ...u knou...ta be aadult like n all...

    ...i meen i thot that it musta bean reellleee impotent sinse he showd us how to DO IT in the wiat hous an all.

    mi frend, mi gumpshons telin me that yoo aint bein scuare wit us. i hope eyes wrong thow.

    heehawin' wit ya said...

    hey hee haww, mornin. eyes wunderin wy u didnt talc bout #7? isnt bein an aadult a guud thang? i thots that thats wut our beeloved president Clinton wuz teachin us...
    ...u knou...ta be aadult like n all...

    ...i meen i thot that it musta bean reellleee impotent sinse he showd us how to DO IT in the wiat hous an all.

    mi frend, mi gumpshons telin me that yoo aint bein scuare wit us. i hope eyes wrong thow.