Grassroots Insurrection

Humanity

2009-05-26T20:22:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking a lot lately about the human condition and quite frankly it’s disgusting to look around the world.

I’ll be honest, I don’t really care for most people, I’m not a complete misanthrope, but the hypocrisy, the lack of drive to move forward, the contentment, these things drive me crazy.

I remember a quote from Socrates that I read years ago… okay remember is a strong word but I can paraphrase. He basically said that children were disrespectful to their elders, politicians were corrupt and businessmen were greedy.

He was describing his Greece about 1600 years ago, but what he was really doing was describing the human condition.

I know what most people think when faced with this, that it’s just human nature, and it’s very funny to me that they never think they belong in any of those categories, but we all do, it is after all, human nature.

But why do we restrain ourselves by our own nature? Early human nature was living in caves, eating fruit, and communicating by grunts. But we don’t do that anymore. Early human nature was to freak out and scream and act wild when something strange came into camp, even if it was another early human but we don’t do that anymore either.

The point is that we can overcome our own nature, the question is why we do not.

What happened to Nietzcshe’s ubermensch? What happened to human drive and our want to be better? Obviously our ancestors had it, but somewhere we seemed to have lost it.

We’ve dropped all of it and simply look to trod along the path even further to our own depressed demise.

The last place I worked was in an office filled with perfect examples of this quandary. My coworkers didn’t strive to be better, oh they talked about it, talked about how they prayed for their god to guide them and keep them, but that was the extent of their work. Otherwise they simply wanted to sit and fester in their own boring lives that are leading to the same places their ancestors went.

Some may say this is overly critical, some may say that life is simply to be enjoyed and both have a point. But I cannot abide to see the greatest potential of all the earth, the human mind, to sit and devote its time to how they’re going to have nicer things than their neighbors. To watch them suck up to assholes because they have a title. To watch nothing more than the newest form of feudal rule run the same course it has throughout history.

I grow weary of it and it angers me. The human brain and body are the two greatest tools on earth. To watch them wasted is, in my opinion, pointless.

Humanity has created a litany of fantasies and false reasoning so that they won’t kill themselves of boredom. We’ve created religions, gods and devils, and the worst of all the excuse of human nature all so that we don’t have to do the work, so that we don’t have to face the self.

Human nature is something to allow you to sleep at night when faced with the outside world, with its greed, with its corruption, with all its ugly truths. It allows us to placate our feelings about this, write them off, throw them out, and do nothing about it.

But human nature should never be an excuse for the self. To do so is to be weak. To tell oneself “that’s just the way I am” is to let go of all the power that a person has and accept being less than one is capable of. This is inexcusable.

I don’t mean to sound jaded or cynical, but there is simply no reason for all the problems of the world, we have the power to change the world for the better. Yet, we’d prefer to sit and be nothings. It’s easier that way, and our ego won’t get in the way and make us feel guilty because we have so many checks and defenses against it.

My point is very simple, be everything good that you can, and stop everything bad that you are. Learn, grow, push, do the things that scare you. But most importantly of all, be honest with yourself and never accept something you don’t like about yourself, it is your duty and your honor as a human to ever strive to be the ubermensch.

God and his place in our world

2009-05-26T16:28:00.001-05:00

For those who don’t know me, I come from a long line of Christian preachers. My father, his father, his father, and so on. I was literally supposed to be the next great preacher in the line. I think it’s safe to say that will never happen.

For some time when I was making my switch from devout Christian to strict non-believer I had more than a few discussions with my parents.
One of the argument techniques my father has used for some time is that he simply bombards you with information. He shows you how much he knows about the bible and dares you to defy. He does this because he knows that 99.9% of people don’t have near the biblical knowledge that he does.
He’s a studier, he doesn’t just read the bible, he studies the translations of words, what the original Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic texts say. And I will give him credit, he knows his stuff very well.
But one day I flipped the tables, for as much as he did know about the bible and his faith, there was plenty of history about that book and that faith that he didn’t know. So I used his own trick on him… needless to say he didn’t care for my tactic too much, no one wants to be beaten by their own signature move.
It was nice to be able to “win” one, as though winning is actually possible in these instances but it still felt good. But to be honest, I regret it now.

Now people won’t talk to me about faith and religion if they disagree with me, the reason is simple, they know they do not know the history like I do, they know I can rip apart a bible verse with little problem or effort. Basically, people have become intimidated by how much I’ve studied.
I’m not bragging by any stretch, for every person that makes me feel smart there are plenty that I listen to and realize how much I don’t know.
But the thing I hate is that people always tell me how I need to “get back to god” and when I go to tell them that won’t be happening they immediately begin to back off saying “Well I can’t debate it with you from an academic stand point so I’m not even going to try.”
That’s the coward’s way out. God has never rested anywhere other than the imagination, he is an idea, a philosophical metaphor. The easiest way to tell that is to go to a local church on Sunday morning and ask as many people in the service to define god to you. Not one answer will be the same.

How is that possible? This God allegedly is the founder of the three not so great monotheistic religions. Yet no one defines him the same. Even with thousands of pages of texts to describe the mysterious diety, the interpretations are all different.

Of course it’s not possible, and that’s one of the very reasons that Christianity and every other religion are a bunch of bunk.

The sooner people realize that God is an idea to be discussed in realm of philosophy and not the author of existence, the better off all people will be.

Fight the good fight, don’t stoop to their level, and cover the world with reason.

America the pathetic

2009-04-11T02:56:00.003-05:00

Hey everybody,
I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to make a new post been a lot of stuff going on since the new year and we're half way thru it.
Anyway, on to the post.
I'm gonna be honest, my grandfather fought in WW2, the stories he told before he died were atrocious. He was a Navy man, and please don't be one of those idiots who disrespect the Navy, if you think that Navy men only provide rides for the Marines then you're an idiot.
He was in the Navy in the forties, think about that. He faced not only the inherent problems of being a member of a crew at sea but this was the hey day of Japanese Kamikaze planes.
His stories of the war were few and far between, he only talked about it when he was on medication near his death, or when he was with friends who actually fought with him.
It wasn't a matter of pride, it was a matter of no one understanding what he went thru.
If you're a real person, one who realizes the stresses of not only history but the human condition then read on.
My grandfather didn't risk his life for a matter of pride or the name of a president or even the colors of the flag flying on his ship. He risked his life for you and me. Don't get it wrong, he fought because it was the right thing to do.
Think about that time, it wasn't about propaganda, it was a heavenly mixture for any politician at the time.
It was a dream for, well, the American dream. Hitler and Mussolini came forth and were exactly what Americans were waiting to get off on. A true enemy who genuinely seemed evil and determined to rule the world.
Hitler was a man who knew what he wanted, and he would not stop until he controlled all of the earth.
I know, you're sitting there talking about how terrible that was, but the catch is that you're a hypocrite if you do think that.
The American way is based on greed. Greed, last I checked, is, according to every philosopher and religion, the worst of all human emotions. It ties into to hubris and avarice.
Truth is, America is only an idea, nothing more. People like to say they love this country, but let's be honest, it's just a fantasy. No one is actually an American. Why? Because America exists in no place but the mind.
Land of the free and home of the brave? We haven't been either. Lately we've been the land of the hypocrite and home of the weak, material-oriented pansies.
It's not about the best for this country anymore, it's about what is best for the rich. That's what Bush followed, the rich.
Bottom line is this, America was founded on dissonance and dissension, if you don't get that then you need a history refresher.
Religion has taken over this country, and in the end it will ruin this country.
Either way I will always follow the maxim of Thomas Paine "All the world is my country, it's inhabitants my brethren, and to do good is my religion."
Unfortunately this has become a theocracy, the most pathetic of institutions.
Only the weak follow religion, the strong follow logic and reason.
Best of wishes to all,
The Captain

The War

2008-12-15T15:08:00.000-06:00

Yes, yes, Bushie got a shoe thrown at him. Very funny, but not the point here, it is merely one leaf on a very large tree.

Let’s be honest, this was a mistake, even Bush has admitted that intel on Iraq could have been better, which is about the best you’re going to get out of him. We should never have gone there, never have invaded, never have had anything to do with them. They were of no threat to us, and it turns out that Saddam actually held that country together a whole helluva lot better than democracy has.

It’s time we all be honest, I’m sick of the fairy tale books we all try to live in. Some times tyranny is the best way to govern a people. It’s as simple as that. We love what freedom we have, but the real reason we love that freedom, and the illusions that go along with it, is because our collective national identity relishes in the history of fighting for those freedoms.

Our forefathers earned the country that is America by fighting against what they saw as tyranny. We had help yes, from (gasp!) France, but France did not do it for us. Do you really think if France had decided to free the people of the colonies that 1) they would have given us democracy rather than claim us as their own or 2) that we would truly appreciate it? We would not.

Think of it this way, take two teenagers, give one a brand new sportscar, give the other a job over the summer to buy an old car of his choosing. Who respects their car more? The one who worked for it, always. If you don’t work for it, earn it in some way then you never really appreciate the rewards. Does sleep itself not seem all the more sweet after a day of really hard manual labor?

What’s worse in the article linked above the commenters are enough to drive one crazy. One says they don’t like to see the American flag burning and they want our nation to be respected. That’s just idiotic. It’s a piece of cloth in a recognized pattern, to try to make it anything more is purely silly.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the ideals that America was built on, no matter how far removed from those ideals we may be today. But a flag is just a flag, a name just a name, and an object is truly nothing more than an object.

It’s not the wedding ring that makes a marriage, it’s the love and commitment of the two people. The ring is only a symbol. Without the love and commitment the ring is just a trinket, without the ring the love and commitment can flourish nonetheless. So goes the flag, without it, without the name of America would the ideals not be the same?

If others want to burn it then so be it. It’s not like they did it here in front of you, they did it in their own country, if you hate it that bad go buy an Iraqi flag and start a bonfire, knock yourself out. But stop acting like we don’t deserve the disrespect of it. We do, and if you can’t see that then you really should meet a friend of mine by the name of reality.

We barged into a country unasked, took over the place, and tried to make them live by our rules. All the while saying we’re doing it for their freedom and our protection?

Sounds to me a lot like we’re doing the very thing we’re afraid of. We’ve become what we hate, we’ve become that which our foundation was meant to squash. What we’re doing is little more than active societal eugenics. Killing off the ugly parts we don’t like and trying our damnedest to make others look like us. But they don’t want to be us, and I don’t blame them, I don’t want to be them either. They’re them, we’re us, and while we should respect one another, we should not inflict our cultures on one another.

I’m sorry but it’s time to go. We’ve spent $350 billion plus, tens of thousands of lives have been lost, young men and women who have no real say in the policy that we enforce are dying for those policies, we weren’t invited, we don’t want to be there, they don’t want us there, get the fuck out. Why is this so hard?

Leave it in shambles if that’s what it takes, it’s what’s going to happen anyway until one sect gains enough power to instill their own tyranny and we’ll be right back where we started. Except we’ll be in a depression and have a lot less young lives looking forward to the world ahead. All those lives, all that money, all those resources lost. How many hungry could have been fed, how many homeless housed, how many new jobs, how much better could the world truly be if we had left years ago, or not gone in at all?

And we need to face facts, that area is not ready for peaceful democracy, for whatever reason. It’s not that they’re not good enough, or not capable, they’re just not ready. It’s like many countries in Africa that are war torn cycling thru one revolution after another. They have to figure it out on their own, in their own way, in their own time. It’s the only way it has ever worked in all of humanity.

We have to come home, and we have to stop fooling ourselves, no one has won here, not the Iraqis and certainly not us.

Focus on the Family Playing Santa… to Retailers

2008-11-17T09:11:00.001-06:00

Ya know those idiots who seem to want to focus on what your family is doing wrong? They’re at it again.

They’ve come up with a “naughty or nice” list concerning the language that retailers use in their holiday advertisements. If a company uses “Merry Christmas” they are said to be “Christmas-friendly” retailers. If they use “Happy Holidays” then they are deemed “Christmas-offensive”, those who use both phrases are said to be “Christmas-negligent.”

This is one of the dumber things I’ve heard, a group of people who are supposedly followers of Jesus are going to selectively procure their materialism by standards of the faith? Ah yes, I vividly remember sitting in Sunday School to hear the parable of where Jesus wanted to buy his ipod from. Remember how Peter was all like “My lord, let’s go to Best Buy” and Jesus said “Nay naïve! Verily I say unto thee that he who doth not use ‘Christmas’ in their holiday advertisements shall never know the glories of Heaven.”

FoF went so far as to send out letters that basically stated we could boycott you if you don’t change your wording. Gap’s response? “So”, I’m paraphrasing of course.

I just hate this type of stuff. One, it doesn’t even fit your own meaning of Christmas, good will towards men and what not. Second, why do the xtians insist on acting like Christmas is their holiday? Oh right, because they teach their kids lies about the holiday and they just keep getting passed down.

To any Christians reading this, #1) points for bravery, well done, and #2) do you not find it odd that the Pagans (gasp!) had their biggest holidays in late December and somewhere around March / April. Then the Christians drove out the heathen pagans so that they could make their holidays most important which just so happen to also be in late December and around March / April? Look it up!

Religion v Atheism in the Battle for Visual Perception Supremacy

2008-11-17T08:46:00.001-06:00

There was an interesting study done at Leiden University in the Netherlands concerning the visual techniques of both atheists and Dutch Calvinists. The point of the study was to prove whether or not religious differences might skew perception. I’m surprised anyone pondered this, of course it skews perception.

The findings show that the Calvinists were able to pick out smaller shapes 30 milliseconds faster than atheists on average.

I have no problem with this, it doesn’t upset me because it doesn’t really prove much. The problem I have is with the conclusions the researchers draw.

My favorite is this one from one of the lead scientists:
“He suggests it may even be a cognitive consequence of their religion and speculates that Calvinists might be more inward looking than atheists because they have lived their whole lives with an emphasis on minding their own business.”

Hmmm, now I’ll be honest, Dutch Calvinism is a little outside of my range of expertise on religion, but, I can say with some certainty that no religion has ever minded its own business.

The conclusions seem decidedly slanted toward religion rather than science. Maybe the atheists were slower because they were taking in the whole picture while the Calvinists faith led them to look for something they believed was there without knowing it.

Personally, I don’t know what this means, or what it might even imply, I just thought it was interesting and that I’d pass it on.

Wonderful News... From Space!

2008-11-14T09:32:00.003-06:00

According to this story from NPR (and I’m sure there are better sites out there for this but I’m pressed for time) we now have actual photos of extrasolar planets.

This is amazing, before now planets from other stars had only been detected by indirect methods, typically by watching for a “wobble” caused by the gravitational forces on the star itself. But now to have actual photographs of other planets is phenomenal.

In this picture the two dots show where the planet was in 2004 and then again in 2006. The planet orbits a star known as Formalhaut which is about 25 light years from earth and the planet is known as Formalhaut b. It is a gas giant, much larger than Jupiter and it orbits about a 100 times farther from its sun than earth does from ours.

It is believed to be a shepherd planet keeping the massive dust ring from the star neat and tidy much like the shepherd moons of Saturn keeps its rings nice and tight. The planet itself is also believed to have rings of its own.

Allegedly, a team of international astronomers has stated that they’ve found a small solar system orbiting star HR 8799. There are three gas like planets, each of which is at least 5 times larger than Jupiter orbiting this star.

To me this brings up a good question about god and evolution. What possible purpose could there be for other solar systems? If one reads the bible its clear to see that man on this planet is the focus so why the possibility of more life? And if there is no life then what is the point of the extra creation?

Even in our own solar system the other 7 planets are useless to mankind in a strictly religious sense. They’re not habitable and even if they were there’s no way to even get to them really other than Mars maybe.

It just makes no sense, evolution answers why these planets are here in the fact that matter reacts to gravity and forms these things. But according to the bible god would have had to create these seemingly for no reason.

In my opinion this is just another victory for science that will mostly go unrecognized by the rest of this country.

History

2008-11-04T20:40:00.003-06:00

Well it appears to be happening. I don't know when you're reading this but I'm writing it in the moment.

Obama is winning, and it feels good.

I've heard about it for so long, seen the articles, the headlines, the commercials and after a time I became desensitized to it. But, as I was sitting here I realized that I should appreciate this moment.

As much as he's said the word "hope", as many times as I've laughed at jokes made about that use of "hope" I must admit that it does give me hope.

I'm proud to be American at the moment, to see that some of the ideals are still there. It's been said before, from slavery to the White House in about 150 years. From segregation to the highest symbol of integration in 50 years.

I'm not making this about race, that's really not the point. The point is that a society changed. Rather quickly by history's standards I'd say. It takes a long time for even majority hatred to dissipate.

But it seems to be actually happening. Take a moment to think about that when you're watching the debates, and take a moment later to reflect on it. You saw history as it happened, you know where you were, what you were doing and you can always remember how proud you were of a people for doing the right thing even with a reputation for doing the wrong.

Early congratulations to Obama, and the rest of us.

God

2008-10-28T23:23:00.002-05:00

In thinking of my earlier post I’ve grown frustrated, the whole problem of a division in this country between the religious and the non-religious itself is ludicrous.

Why do Christians, or more broadly the religious, need to impose themselves upon others? I don’t care what another person believes, just don’t tell me I’m wrong because a book you read says so.

The worst of all is that all of the problems stem from semantics. God is just a word, it’s what that word means to you personally that matters.

Einstein believed in god, but not the one Christians, Jews, Muslims or any other religion would describe. He believed in mechanics of the universe, that there were binding truths that permeated the universe from beginning to end. That was Einstein’s god.

Thomas Paine believed too, but the one he describes is simply the fundamental nature of the universe, that there is good and bad but enlightenment was a choice to do the right thing, against nature itself in some cases.

Indeed if one were to ask the congregation of any given church on any given Sunday to individually describe god I’d wager that most of the answers would be different.

If there isn’t even a majority consensus to the definition of a word, how can there be such a two-sided argument about the idea of the word? It makes no sense to me.

The Atheist Blobby Mass

2008-10-28T22:23:00.002-05:00

There's been a lot of talk lately about closet atheists. Many atheists are very upset by this and I can see their point, how do we as a minority get stronger when our people are afraid of showing themselves.

I can see the other side too. If you live in the south, quite frankly, it can be scary.

I have an evolve fish sticker on the back windshield of my car and I continually wonder how long it will be before that window is shattered or in some other way defaced. My neighborhood is about the only place I feel truly safe and not on edge, to its credit it is one of the few open-minded areas in my home state.

I often feel ostracized. I’m treated differently at my workplace though they don’t seem to see it. Some of my Christian friends who I knew before becoming an atheist now act differently around me. My parents don’t discuss it.

It’s not an easy road being an atheist in this country, much less as a preacher’s kid in the south. It’s not a choice I’d make if I didn’t have conviction about it.

The biggest problem in my mind is the fact that those who want to see non-believers gone (by assimilation or other means) are highly organized. Christianity reaches countless millions of people every week and agenda has never been hard to mix with religion. It could even be argued that religion was born of necessity for agenda.

There is strength in numbers and let’s be honest, they’ve got numbers. But we’re not weak, we have enough to make a difference. We simply lack the structure to be heard. Because of that it can be easy to feel alien in this country if you’re not a Christian, hence the high number of non-believers who are quiet about it.

We have no way to organize, no way to unify on various issues. There is no real leadership. For all the atheist groups, meetups, movies, books, blogs, websites and everything else there is no head, only a massive body with no direction.

There is no unified message and no way to spread it if there were. For as intelligent, wonderful, charismatic, giving, kind, and upstanding a group as atheists and non-believers are, we fall well short of our potential because of our ineptitude in politics and place in this nation.

This must change, I still think an atheist “church” type organization that based Sunday morning “sermons” on history, science, and philosophy would do very well. It would provide a community of security as well as a little bit louder voice. I’d bet it’s amazing what we could do with a little more volume.

Does anyone else think this is a good idea? Do you have a different idea? Do you agree that we need more organization?

Al Franken: Senate Hopeful, God Hater.

2008-10-23T12:37:00.002-05:00

So I was reading this piece about Katherine Kersten’s apparent Christian based hatred of Al Franken (yes, that Al Franken) and I gotta stand up for Al, or against Kersten, I’m not sure which. Kersten by the way is a columnist for The Star Tribune in Minneapolis / St. Paul, I’m sure she and PZ are good friends.

Al Franken is running for the US Senate in Minnesota and Katherine seems to really hates this idea. Why, you might ask? Because he made jokes about God and that’s a no-no.

Now I don’t know how many of my readers (the three of you) actually grew up going to church but let me just say one thing. One of the biggest pastimes for any religious group is making fun of other religious groups. I have personally been a part of making fun of Baptists, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Scientologists, Hindus, and Buddhists, I actually didn’t get that Buddhism is not a religion at the time. The only difference now is that I make fun of all denominations of Christianity rather than just most of them.

The interesting thing about it in retrospect was that the joke was never the important part, the important part to my friends and fellow congregation members at the time was that we all agreed that those other sects and religions were wrong. It’s never the tenets of a religion that matter, it’s the need to be with those who agree. That’s why Christianity is so big on Sundays but the rest of the week is really vacation time for most followers.

I assure you that barring Katherine Kersten being an unusually upright person (and maybe she is, I’ve never met her) then she’s just as culpable as Franken. If in the past she hasn’t made the jokes herself about other religions then she has certainly taken part in laughing at other faiths, belittling them, looking down on them, and judging them. It is simply a part of fitting in with the Christian faith. But when it comes to their faith, they won’t stand for jokes all of a sudden. Typical Christian rhetoric. We can say whatever we want because we’re “washed in the blood of Jesus” but you heathens can’t say anything about us.

As the bumper sticker says Kathy, “If you don’t want me laughing at your beliefs, don’t have such funny beliefs.”

In her column she drones on for three paragraphs that Franken made a joke about her lord and savior Jesus T. F. Christ. To Franken’s credit it seemed like a funny bit, I’m not certain though because Kathy butchered it. She closed out that section of her article with the usual Christian moxie “Anyone wanna do a joke about Mohammed?”

Sure, I’ll give it a shot. “Mohammed, your followers are so stupid their lips move at stop signs.” Yeah it wasn’t that good, I basically just changed “Jesus” to “Mohammed” to make the joke. I phoned it in, so sue me.

One of my favorite pieces from the article is this gem “We’re used to slanderers of Christianity getting government arts grants.” Right, because the only people that would not believe in god are liberal artists who are smoking weed all the time and tripping balls on acid.

Bottom line is this, if you don’t like him, don’t vote for him. But if you’re trying to convince Americans that Franken shouldn’t be voted into office because of his religion then you Mrs. Kersten are very un-American.

The end of your article is a description of what the Senate is supposed to do, even going so far as to state that the Senate serves “the broader interests” of the people. Sounds to me like you only want Senators to serve the broader interests of Christians. And not once in all your political science rhetoric did you mention that whole separation of church and state idea.

Religion should have nothing to do with it Kathy, nothing at all. We’re talking about politics and government, you know, real entities. Whether he likes Christians or not has no bearing on whether or not he can do a good job in the Senate.

This sounds like yet another Christian trying to perpetuate the myth that Christianity and our government go hand in hand. Apparently history books aren't available to these people.

Final Debate

2008-10-16T11:12:00.001-05:00

I’ll be honest, I did not watch the debate last night. I’ve since read about it and it was basically what I thought it would be.

“I’m better, he’s awful.”
“No, I’m better, he’s the one who’s awful.”

I don’t know how many “nuh-uh’s” were worked in over the evening. But, altogether it was pointless.

I would like to see some data on how many people watch the debates to actually choose who they’ll vote for, rather than watching to cheer on who they’ve already decided on. I’ll bet it’s not as many as we’d all like to think.

Our system is, while acceptable and useful, overrated to say the least. Where is the democracy really? There are two candidates. Yes, of course I can write in and there is typically at least one independent but these guy s have no shot. To believe that they do is naïve and foolish. It’s going to be one of two people.

What kind of choice is that? I don’t consider myself Democrat or Republican because they’re both poor choices. But I have to choose one. I align myself with Barack Obama, not because he has some brilliant new insight or because I actually believe he’s going to change the world, but because he’s not John McCain.

Republicans have had their chances, and they blew it, big time. Now it’s the Dems turn to ruin the nation. Fair is fair after all.

What’s worse, is that these two choices are mainly solidified by the “go team” aspect of most voters. People are voting straight party lines and they believe who they believe not because of what the candidate does, but what they say, how they pander.

On top of that you have 90% of churches in America pushing McCain or whoever the republican candidate is. Okay, I don’t know how many churches actually are, but I’m fairly confident it’s over 50%. I’ve never understood it since I began to understand politics, who in their right mind would think that Jesus “Turn the other cheek” Christ would vote republican? Then again who thinks he’d go to half the churches talking about him either.

The point is, we’re not voting on issues or even personalities which do have an effect. We’re voting because that’s what preacher/hubby/pastor/mommy said to. We’re voting so that our team can win, so that in our mundane and boring lives we can say “I’m with the winners” even though we all lose.

We need to change government, we need to stop worrying about what faith a candidate has or whether or not they agree with gay marriage. I can think of no bigger waste of American time and resources than another abortion debate.

We need more choices, a labor party perhaps. We need something, and I don’t know how to change it or what to do. Any suggestions would be more than welcome though.

Spanking Anyone?

2008-10-10T12:53:00.001-05:00

So a friend of mine at work sends me this site she stumbled upon called Christian Domestic Discipline. And well… I’m… I don’t know what I am to be honest.

According to the site the followers of domestic discipline have the dominant partner (typically the male) actually discipline their spouse (typically the female) by spanking and other means. Grounding and computer restriction were also given as possible means of punishment.

I cannot get over this idea. I mean sure, I like to spank a woman I’m intimate with in a fun and playful way as much as the next person. But to actually discipline a full grown woman by spanking her as though she’d gotten bad grades at school? I’m having trouble with that one.

I just cannot picture bending a woman over my knee to spank her without her having a school girl outfit on and calling me professor as she twirls one of her pigtails and chews gum. Outside of that construct I would just feel silly and foolish.

To be fair, the site does not press itself on anyone, it clearly states that it is not a lifestyle for all. They even go so far as to encourage homosexuals to see if they’d like the idea. And let's not forget that the women have also willingly put themselves in this position.

But perhaps most intriguing is that some of the women on the site say that their relationships are better for it because now their husbands have a way of communicating with them. As the male takes on a disciplinarian role (very "manly") it allows him an outlet to discuss with his wife her shortcomings as he sees them in their relationship.

Since some of the males in these relationships can’t seem to communicate properly with their wives the woman is willing to completely degrade herself and lower her stature in the household. I have to imagine that by the wife proclaiming the husband as the disciplinary head of household then her input is less than equal.

What I don't understand is why these men can't just talk to their wives. Or at the least why can’t they just go to counseling and learn how to effectively talk to one another instead of initiating an age old idea that somehow men have authority over women? Instead of truly being a man and learning how to talk to their spouse they will continue to put up a show of man’s toughness. That way the men don’t have to acknowledge emotions or feelings. They don’t have to face their insecurities as they pertain to the relationship. They don’t have to do the real work of trying to make a harmonious union with this other person. Instead they simply make themselves "above" their wives and treat them as subordinates.

Weak, very weak in my opinion. I do not like people like this. The type of people that do this seem to be the tough kind, and I freely admit this is speculation, I honestly don’t know anyone who follows this lifestyle to my knowledge and I may be well off. But the following remains true regardless: what is so often thought of as “tough” is more often than not weak.

It’s the rule of opposites in human characteristics. If a person acts openly tough, bet your bottom dollar that when the heat is on they’re as weak as a mouse. If a person acts conceited and arrogant, I can personally acknowledge that it’s rooted in deep insecurities about themselves. This is simply what I’ve seen in life. People tend to be the opposite of that which they show to the world. It starts as a simple way to compensate for a flaw, but it ends up being an overcompensation that little good can come of.

Bottling up emotions, thinking that one’s problems are their own and not to be shared with others, facing the hardships of life alone and shutting all others out… these are not tough to do. All you have to do keep your mouth shut and deny everything when anyone asks. Anyone can do that. It is weakness, not strength that allows people to keep quiet. It is simply the fact that these types of individuals struggle to face their own shortcomings. Which is merely to say that they're human like the rest of us.

They know they have shortcomings, though they’re often hard pressed to give an example. The only way to work thru problems as such is to talk thru them, and you can rest assured if a person’s attitude is that they keep their problems quiet to others then they don’t spend a lot of effort thinking about them. To ignore problems is the easiest way to be tough.

That’s what 90% of our consumerism is about, creating distractions so that we don’t have to focus on ourselves.

To talk to someone about your shortcomings, just to be able to say them to another person is a tremendous feat. It takes true toughness to do that because once you do, it makes it real and true. No longer is it a secret kept in the vaults of the mind but thrust forth into reality. Men particularly have a hard time dealing with this. We like to be the superman to our counterpart's Lois Lane. Men do the dirty jobs, the hard work, and our reward is the love and adoration of the woman we cherish most. It's often hard for men to acknowledge that we are human, it's as if most men are afraid that they'll let down the one we care about the most.

Ever been told that a friend or family member had died and you took it surprisingly well? Not shedding a tear or having your voice break? What happened the first time you tried to pass the information on? Did your throat close? Eyes well with tears? That happens because it’s not truly real until you have to say it to another person.

Saying something aloud is a key in our society, it denotes that something is important enough to be spread to other people. A fact ceases to be private once it is shared with another. It gives that fact power, tangibility, and meaning.

Too often people can’t do this, they’re just too damned “tough” to let go and be human. And when that happens the people around them, the people that love them are often forced to do things they don’t want to and shouldn’t have to just to be around this "tough" person.

People must stop with this, your real friends will love you regardless of what insecurities you may spring on them. Matter of fact, your real friends probably know more than you do about your insecurities. Just talk to those you love, figure out what bothers you and then both of you can decide what to do about it. But don’t hide behind an imaginary wall of toughness.

Maybe I’m overstepping my bounds with these people, maybe I’m making too much out of it. But it’s what came out when I started writing, and I stand by it whether others do or not, and at least I had the courage to say it.

Fightin' Christians

2008-10-04T11:45:00.000-05:00

Their god amighty where to start…

Thirty-three pastors in 22 states took to their pulpits and officially endorsed a candidate this past Sunday. Not surprisingly this is highly illegal but I’m expecting the current administration to fully endorse this based on that alone. Plus it seems that all of them endorsed McCain / Palin.

According to the US tax code if a church endorses a candidate for public office they are subject to losing their tax-exempt status. This makes perfect sense for a democracy; it is a safeguard to prevent religion from being blatantly injected into affairs of state giving whichever party that panders to them the most an army of loyal voters.

This entire staged event was choreographed by Arizona based Alliance Defense Fund purposely seeking to challenge the tax law. Their argument is that it is not an issue of church and state separation but one of first amendment rights. It’s not an endorsement but a personal choice.

Also not surprising, this isn’t true, any pastor is free to have personal choices, they are not free to impose that choice thru their religious authority. The challenge is sure to fail, it’s a ridiculous idea in the first place, but as usual there are interesting quotes.

Pastor Luke Emrich of New Life Church in Wisconsin addressed his congregation of about 100 stating “I’m telling you straight up, I would choose life…” before endorsing McCain and Palin following it with “But friends it’s your choice to make, it’s not my choice.”

Very Jesus like, giving followers the choice to take away the right to choose for others… because oppression is what the New Testament was all about.

Pastor Jody Hice of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Georgia stated “To say the church can’t deal with moral and societal issues if it enters into the political arena is just wrong, it’s unconstitutional.”

No one is saying that, pay attention while the teacher’s mouth is talking okay? You can talk about issues all you want whether or not the issue enters into the political arena is a moot point. What’s being said is that you can’t enter into the political arena. By endorsing a candidate a church would breach that, it would be an official entry into political activism.

Oklahoma’s Fairview Baptist Church pastor Paul Blair stated “It’s absolutely vital to proclaim the truth and not be afraid to proclaim the truth from our pulpits.”

I just love that one; the arrogance, the desperation to be believed, the ignorance of confusing truth with opinion, it has all the stalwarts of great propaganda.

One alarming fact was cited in the article, 52% of adults want churches and other places of worship completely out of politics. That number seems awfully low to me, that should easily be a majority ideal in a democratic, land of the free home of the brave type of government.

In the end this is the same as what all religions of power try, to abuse government to advance their own ideas and make their lands a theocracy. It is up to the people, to us, to keep them from doing that.

Christians talk a lot about tolerance, that they aren’t being heard. But they are being heard all too clearly, the real problem is that Christians don’t listen very well. Christian beliefs are Christian beliefs, and that’s fine, but Christians must let others have their beliefs too, to do that, they must stay out of politics.

VP Debate

2008-10-04T11:37:00.000-05:00

Their god I hate debates, it’s like watching two dogs chase each other’s tail. If you missed it the gist went as such:
“Senator McBama does/doesn’t like/dislike this/that. Voted for/against this/that. Will bring this country to ruin/success, loves/hates the people, ”
Reply Senanovenor Bilin?
“I will. That statement was plainly false about this/that.”
Listening to the two of them they’re both awesome and evil, they’re awesomely evil. We’re such a lucky country.

As a rule I’m not a fan of our current political system, republicans are just stark raving mad and democrats are spineless pansies. Both veep possibilities are full of shit, they’re politicians. But I will say this, Palin scares the bejebus out of me. Her beliefs seem so self righteous. I’m afraid her religious beliefs may be too deep rooted in her psyche to be kept out of her politics.

And why are they still trying to sell McCain as a “maverick”? McCain was a Maverick, WAS. In the last few years he’s pretty much been a lackey for Bush. He’s flip-flopped between so many things it’s unbelievable. And he’s OLD! Who honestly doesn’t feel like McCain could die in his first term? Who’ll take odds he makes it thru a second? Which would leave us in Palin’s incapable hands.

According to NBC’s live polls people liked that Palin told the moderator “I may not answer the question the way the moderator wants me to…” Why? It sounds tough but really isn’t she saying that she’ll make her own rules and ignore the ones already in place. Hasn’t that been Bush’s motto? And it certainly doesn’t make her a pitbull. She didn’t stand up to terrorism, she didn’t stand up to injustice, she stood up to a moderator.

The politician speak, intended to confuse the voter was just too much. Palin stated many times that Obama and Biden couldn’t be looking to change the system since they kept pointing to the past. Really she was just pissed that Biden was pointing out the faults of Bush and McCain. In my experience the best way to change the future is to find out what went wrong in the past.

The thing that is great about this country is that the appointment of leadership rests in the hands of the people. The great downfall of this country is that the appointment of leadership rests in the hands of the people.

The point is, vote for whomever you wish, but do it because you agree on issues. Don’t listen to the sales pitch of any of them. Read and study both sides, then see which parts are propaganda and which parts are true. Voting along party lines is ridiculous, it is a sin against the very nature of free elections to blanket vote for a particular side. We have to remember that sometimes even the team you love deserves to lose.

Voting is not a privilege. I know this now because I used to not vote at all. I stayed out of politics, I didn’t really realize how deep it ran into society. But now I know better. Voting is a responsibility. It’s not about your insecurities or prejudices or beliefs: to vote along those lines is tyrannical and truly unAmerican. It’s not about what’s best for you, it’s about what’s best for the people. Remember the people?

What is with this country?

2008-09-30T16:10:00.002-05:00

“Young man, you need to work hard in school, graduate from a good college, work hard and you’ll succeed in life!” That’s what my guidance counselor used to tell me. Poor old thing probably never worked a day in the corporate world… and I’m still not sure why she should be allowed to give advice to teens.

Let’s see, I graduated in the top third of my class with a strong B grade point average. Got into THE state school with a nationally ranked business school and graduated a few years later. I got a job at a large corporation with several thousand employees. I work hard every day and continue to do so. I started as a senior bookkeeper and now, after 5 years of being a dependable hardworking employee I am… a senior bookkeeper.

Most of my friends went to college too, they either work here doing the same things or in jobs quite similar. I don’t have one friend who’s “made it.” I do know, thru acquaintances two people who are doing quite well for themselves, one lucked into a position because his father works at the company he now works for. The other took over his parents business.

I have friends who have started companies, worked 18+ hours a day neglecting their wives and children, yet they have only suffered for their education and hard work. Businesses lost, bankruptcy considered. And no, the guidance counselor didn’t offer to help to explain to their kids why Santa didn’t bring them much last year.

Now let’s look at business success another way.

What if I were to tell you there was a guy, or a group of people who were all paid very well and given lavish expense accounts. This group made risky bets, poor decisions is a more accurate term, they obviously didn’t work at researching the bets, and those bets didn’t hit. It’s perfect right? Exactly how the system is supposed to work. If you don’t work hard you’re not going to make it. So how are these guys doing now?

They’re being fired. YES! The system works! … What’s that? They’re also being given $20 million golden parachutes. Wait, they’re getting paid more than I’ll make in my lifetime for leaving?!?!?!?

This is what happens when our government, I feel that I need to say that again, OUR GOVERNMENT, comes to their aid, bails them out, doesn’t cap executive pay, and continues to reward the rich for their greedy and reckless behavior.

It’s not how hard you work that makes you succeed in capitalism, it’s how greedy you are and how ruthless you can be in going about satiating that greed.

That’s my fundamental problem. I’m not ruthless, unless you really, really piss me off of course. But most of the time I’m a laid back kind of guy. I’m not overly greedy, and my personal wealth and belongings can certainly back up that position. There is one clause concerning my greed. When it comes to sports I want my teams to dominate. Eighty to nothing at the half is just not enough. Don’t even get me started on video games. I will be throwing a controller if I can’t drop 50 on my computer driven college football foe. Or at least I would be throwing a controller if I could afford any of the new game systems.

This brings forth the base flaw of our society. We teach our kids to be good people, to share, to live and let live, to treat others as you’d want them to treat you. We have fairy tales and religions (but I repeat myself) that mirror these qualities of virtue. Yet in the real world the people that live their lives with virtue are often the workhorses that the greedy, reckless, bad people make fortunes off of.

I am punished because I’m not mean enough, because I don’t sit and strategize as to how to take others money away from them so that I might have it. Good people are punished every day simply because they’re good. Oh sure, people say nice things about them when they die in their 60’s due to high stress, bad diet, and lack of appropriate healthcare. But they die nonetheless, and more than likely they spent their last days on earth working too much and worrying about money, about retirement, about what they’d like to leave behind for their children.

This is a system in which evil is rewarded in its abuses of the good. The bailout is a perfect example, they’re not buying up mortgages that are in default, you know the thing that might actually help to shore up the real economic worries. They’re buying up derivatives which aren’t even real, it’s just a bet that Wall Street plays endlessly, nothing more. And the executives who lived high on the hog while this was all bringing money in will be pushed out the window to watch their golden parachutes billow open and land softly in some other place of wealth and extravagance while we still toil away at dead end jobs only to have our pensions and SS benefits be gone by the time we need them.

Why can’t we have a turn? Why can’t the $700 billion be given to the people? Why can’t they pay off mortgages and buy new homes for us? Would that not help the economy by relieving the true backbone of this society of their debt laden lives? Debts many people took on at the urge of the President no less.

When do those of us who live within our means but can’t get ahead because of this awful economic system get bailed out? Did we not bet and drink enough? Do I need to go throw kittens at passing cars? Would that be reckless enough?

I’m not asking for a handout, I’m asking for fairness. The wealth disparity in this country is atrocious and only getting worse. But, in the end I just want to know when our government is actually going to be for the people, by the people, and of the people. I guess it’ll be as soon as we take the responsibility of being the people instead of the apathetic, undereducated couch potatoes that we’ve become.

Just Because I Agree Doesn't Mean I Like It

2008-09-25T00:17:00.001-05:00

I was in favor of, and still support the government bailout of AIG. The company was just too large for the economy to handle its collapse and the effects would span the globe.

But, this has gotten out of hand. In the last year our government has purchased three major mortgage holders and the world’s largest insurer, which includes numerous other assets.

This is in direct conflict of free market economy theory since a government should not nationalize or favor a private company in any way. It is a dangerous mixture of power and human greed that cannot be trusted. The temptation to abuse the power of one for the gain of both is too great.

Government concerns laws and the upholding of those laws. Not in business for profit, I’m not against the idea as a whole, but our current economic model has nothing in place to protect against rampant corruption.

Another problem now that we own IndyMac, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae is that the government will ultimately have to make the decision of whether or not to kick people out of their homes. A government is supposed to protect and help provide for its people, not turn them out on the streets.

Further, the financial gains that were made during the good times of these businesses were all private. Individual shareholders and executives made lots of money. But when the problems came for these businesses and they failed the losses became socialized.

We can’t have national healthcare but we can socialize the failures of private business?

The problem, again, comes to greed. It is the monumental flaw of the free market model. I know that it is a sin to say that capitalism is flawed, but let’s be honest, there are myriad flaws in this futile experiment.

The executives are not getting punished for their greed, in this instance there were bad loans made that should never have been made. Both the masses and the corporations are to blame, but we’re paying our debt. It’s our tax payers who saved these businesses from utter failure. What punishment was received by these execs?

This sends a signal that you can take over a company, bleed it dry and it will still be saved and you can simply move on. I’m not accusing AIG of this per se, but I certainly don’t think AIG is an innocent victim here.

A big problem with the corporate structure is that executives make far too much money. Bloated expense accounts and ridiculous salary and incentive packages fuel the greed that fuels these failures.

Our economic system must be overhauled and it needs to start at the top. I don’t want guinea pigs or examples, I want it to change for the better. Unfortunately, I just don’t see anything changing right now. We seem to demand complete catastrophe before we decide to change.

I'm Tired of America's Ignorance

2008-09-24T16:02:00.002-05:00

I’m sick of the level of acceptance in this country. People have become so willing to be led along by a leash that they don’t even feel the collar anymore.

Ignorance is a major problem in this country and it disgusts me that so many people either hide behind or ignore the problem based on the idea of tolerance.

Take the housing crash for instance, this happened for one simple reason. Greedy SOB’s sold bad products, sometimes illegal products to stupid people. That may be slightly unfair, the people may not be outright dumb, but they certainly weren’t smart enough to learn the ins and outs of buying a house.

Stupidity and greed put us here. And have we done anything about it? If we have I haven’t seen it. There are no big new programs to educate the huddled masses. There are no new oversight committees. There are no new laws. Why? Because we tolerate stupidity and greed for some reason.

Creationism is another excellent example. Do not ask me to tolerate this viewpoint, I will not tolerate ignorance if it affects me. I will tolerate your philosophies on spirituality because neither your views nor mine can be proved. But creationism has been roundly beaten, over and over again. It can’t win a case in court, it can’t win one accredited scientist to its side, it can’t publish one, not ONE, peer reviewed paper, hell it can’t even get people to go see its movie. Yet I’m supposed to respect some wackaloon because they believe what someone else told them a book said? Lot’s of books say lot’s of things, being in a book does not mean something is true, regardless of who the alleged author is.

When do we stop tolerating this crap? When do we stop letting ignorance and laziness slide by? Why do we do nothing?

Because we’re just as lazy and ignorant as all the rest. Instead of doing something about it we just sit there and wait for the next newscast of the next stupid thing to come along.

Do something! Punish stupidity (no torture or death please, I was thinking more along the lines of educating with maybe a little mocking), make your voice heard, write your congressman, press your boss to better the company you work for, do anything! If we all just did one little thing a week think at how much better this world could be. It won’t be perfect, but better is a good start.

AIG

2008-09-17T20:54:00.002-05:00

First off, while I am not a fan of the corporate models that permeate this country this will not be a piece about what went wrong and what is and what isn’t AIG’s fault. I believe that the aspect of government intervention is the more important issue.

To me AIG’s actions or inactions that led up to this are not relevant at this time. Over a long enough time line mankind will always commit one of two treasons against all that we allegedly stand for causing some sort of catastrophe; commit crimes and do stupid things. That’s not even counting outside forces that a person has no control over.

The issue is government. This is a problem for a free market economy, a government can in no way back or sponsor a private company. It goes against the entire notion of a free market.

A government should construct and keep stable to the best of its ability a system for an economy to exist in. But it should never have vested interests in the success or failure of any company or it compromises the system. That is too much potential power for a private business and a government to obtain together and would thus kill the notion of a free and fair market.

That being said I actually think the government stepping in to bail out AIG was a good thing. The global implications of its failure are high as it extends its empire into many markets worldwide.

Greed is the biggest staple of the free market economy, without it the economy itself would cease to exist. The only reason to succeed in the free market is because you get more of the things you want.

That greed founders companies like AIG whose vast necessity to the very countries and livelihoods of so many makes its existence necessary. Companies like AIG have become so large that the government has to kneel to it. AIG is bulletproof; they can pretty much do what they want because the government needs them. This fosters, in very large corporations, the possibility of rampant corruption and greed.

No one should have that kind of power, but more importantly we shouldn’t be that dependent on them. We shouldn’t even allow ourselves to have the temptation.

Corporations have become the absolute powers in this country. Lobbyists are a blight on this society, advertisements inundate us and money is our god. We the people allowed this to happen, we’ve locked the cat in the cage with the canary.

This power has allowed CEOs and other high ranking executives to become richer and richer while the rest of us struggle to make ends meet because we can’t afford all the crap that these corporations have fooled us into “needing.”

It’s clichéd at this point but still true, the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer.

Big corporations have become far too powerful and we have allowed this to happen, we must fix it. The wealth of this land, of this earth is too vast not to share more readily. We need to demand legislation that limits the power of corporations before they devalue, over process, and destroy our entire civilization.

Spirituality

2008-09-08T19:25:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I miss spirituality, I know that often conjures images of fruity new age fuzzy wuzzies or archaic childish fantasies but that’s not what I’m getting at. All of those miss the point of the spirituality that I speak of.

I don’t believe there is a god, nor is there some great creator. I just see no proof for it, life, anatomy, society, they’re all too screwed up for this to be a design. But sometimes I wonder if I get too caught up in the facts.

I cannot deny spirituality, there almost has to be something to it. Religions’ highest rewards of servitude are all explained similarly once the semantics are drained out. Oneness, a sense of belonging to something greater, a feeling of thanks and appreciation for life itself, and an understanding of the world around you and peace with that world.

All these religions and teachings and paths to a spiritual apex were thought of by different people, in different places, in different situations. Yet they are remarkably similar. I don’t mean to offend hard line fact’s type people but it almost seems logical from that perspective.

I do believe that spirituality also exists in science, though I know many scientists would be leery of spirituality being attached to science.

But there is a oneness, we are all; trees, humans, animals, insects, rocks, earth, oxygen, all of us made from a relatively small amount of elements. All those elements were born of the same place, stars. And all those stars came from the same place, the matter and energy created in the Big Bang.

A sense of belonging comes in looking at the vastness of space, that in all that I am a part of it. Or conversely into the heart of a cell, right down to the nucleus of an atom, that in such a small thing resides such power when combined with others atoms.

Science certainly gives us an understanding of the world around us, makes our lives easier, more comfortable and allows us to learn more which I am most certainly thankful for.

Maybe I’m reaching, maybe I’m trying to draw connections where there are none and if that’s what you think then by all means pay me no mind. All I know is that I remember the feeling that I thought was god when I was a believer and that sometimes when I look at the discoveries of science I feel that same feeling.

Greed Will Destroy This Country

2008-09-04T17:48:00.001-05:00

I was at work today and came across an email I wasn’t quite sure if I’d taken care of so I quickly sent the appropriate information to my contact and went on about my business. A few minutes later I receive a reply, I hit the open button expecting to glance at a “thanks” or some other simple reply and move on. However the reply was much longer which was odd because what I’d written didn’t even require a response, much less a long one.

The email states that this person will soon be leaving her company, which is bad news for me, she was a good contact and always helpful for any information I might need. But the reason for her leaving was the most alarming thing about it.

Her position had been outsourced overseas and she was being let go after several years with this company. And this is a big company, most people would recognize it if they heard the name.

I hate this, I’m very angry about this as a matter of fact. Companies, in their ever increasing need to get more profit so that their execs can make even more lavish amounts of money and make the shareholders happy, will do most anything to lower their costs and increase their bottom line.

I’m disappointed in this country, and I don’t feel guilty about it or ashamed, I’m actually ashamed of people that say they’ve never been disappointed or ashamed to be American.

The cornerstone of our society is not religion or patriotism, or any of that other feel good warm and fuzzy crap, those are just distractions. The foundation of this society is capitalism, money makes this society go round. Sure you may have fuzzy little ideas otherwise, but money is it. Without it we are not what we live.

The problem with capitalism is that there is no inherent check for greed, without some balance of power the scales get tipped and in the end the entire weight slides off crashing to the floor.

Be very clear here, we are that weight.

I understand competition is tough and that capitalism buys wholly into Darwin’s survival of the fittest, but the problem is that if all these execs continue sending good jobs overseas no one here will have any money to buy their product.

CEO wages are atrocious, golden parachutes, buyout clauses, and expense accounts are sickening. There are people in this country who literally scrounge thru garbage cans looking for food while corporate execs have $10,000 garbage cans.

Something must be done to stop this rampant greed at the top levels of business, either we stop it or they stop all of us. I’m not saying I have the answers, but I’m certainly open to any ideas.

More Palin Crap

2008-09-04T09:34:00.001-05:00

So her speech last night was apparently rousing, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t watching, I was too busy watching recorded episodes of “Star Trek: DS9”, I also saw some “How It’s Made” and an episode of “Mythbusters.” I would prefer to learn something rather than watch some woman I know nothing about pander to a bunch of creationists.

But I have read some of the “highlights” of her speech this morning and well, she seems like a politician. Best way I know to put it.

She apparently defended her small town mayor status and at the same time took a shot at Obama. “I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer’ except that you have actual responsibilities.” Oh she’s funny that one, because ya know Obama was an organizer in Chicago. I can see that Sarah, that you had a job with more responsibilities since you were mayor over a town of 5500 people. Seriously? There will be more people in the student section of the stadium at my alma mater’s game on Saturday. Four times more people.

First off how does Wasilla Alaska compare in any way to Chicago? They’re not even both English names!
Secondly, what about being mayor of small town Siberia prepped you for the vice presidency? I don’t think Andy and Helen arguing, and Opie’s small time drug ring are even close.

She went on to challenge Obama further about Iraq “Victory in Iraq is finally in sight;” By all means do tell Sarah… oh you’re not going to tell us why just that Obama is wrong, got ya.
Did Bush tell you to say that, because he’s fond of saying things like that. He’s not right Sarah, he doesn’t know anything about it, victory is nowhere near in sight, barring a massive time-travelling telescope and who knows, maybe one of her fairy friends from the skies gave her a vision.
She further said in that quote “… he (Obama) wants to forfeit. Al-Qaida terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America; he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights.” Because who cares about human rights anyway?

But her speech was not the only one against Obama, I expected no less, but they could have come up with some better arguments I’d think.
Giuliani’s speech contained this tidbit of info “Obama is the least experienced candidate for President in the United States in at least 100 years,” I’m assuming you think Bush had enough experience for the presidency. And if you did think that then may I ask why you’d still think experience helps?

Huckabee and Romney both had similar speeches, Palin is great, Obama is bad, McCain is god’s choice.

But these are really no different than the speeches at the DNC are they? It’s like jokes between rivalry football teams, you can usually just change the order of the names and the joke works either way.

This is what I’m really tired of, I don’t like seeing people say the right things to make crowds happy. I’d rather see a candidate do the right thing even when their constituency may be against it regardless of what party they belong to.
Watching these conventions is like watching a big circle jerk, everyone congratulating one another on believing the same things. It gives me the feeling that nothing is really being done, just pomp and circumstance and little more.

Republicans like to say that they’ve never not been proud to be an American, that’s a blind man’s folly. These conventions don’t make me proud to be American, they serve only as a reminder of the potential that we waste on tradition and pandering.

Tired of Sarah Palin

2008-09-04T08:33:00.002-05:00

I have tried very hard to pay as little attention as possible to anything about Palin but, it seems I can't get away from this woman and I already hate her from a blatant overdose of details about her.

I pulled up npr this morning and BAM! there she was, smiling that come hither smile while that twinkle in her eyes denotes hunger for your very soul. This woman is dangerous and should not be given power of any kind.

A few facts on this new media darling:

Just before she became the mayor of whatever small town in Alaska she was mayor of, she tried to have books banned at the local library but the librarian at the time refused. Once Palin won the mayor’s office she had the librarian fired only to be forced by law (an all too often xtian tradition) to reinstate the librarian.
As we all know, nothing is more patriotic and democratic than book banning. I can only assume she had the gas and matches waiting in her car had the librarian initially agreed with her.

She preaches abstinence only sex-ed, a tradition that has been shown countless times to be an utter failure… oh and what’s this? Palin’s very own high-school aged daughter is preggers out of wedlock… and what’s that you say? Palin herself had her first child only 8 months after her shotgun wedding? Interesting.
Nothing but another blowhard hypocrite trying to align herself with god so that the other hypocrites can vote for her. Just power and money folks, the same reason there are still people running the church.

She is a creationist and from what I understand has tried to get ID taught in public schools which should be an automatic qualifier right out of politics. I don’t know why this hasn’t happened yet.
Church and state are supposed to be separate, yet we still allow zealot wackos to run for office for some unknown reason. Huckabee was giving speeches about how we should change the constitution to match god’s laws rather than try to change the bible to match what pop culture wants, because he felt that changing the constitution would be easier than changing god’s word. It’s terrifying to know that the two documents he allegedly based his life on he obviously knew preciously little about.
If a candidate cannot separate their religious beliefs from their political agenda then they have no business in government offices of any kind.

I think I’m calling a verdict on this woman… Succubus.

Why Do We Have Wisdom Teeth?

2008-08-26T14:51:00.001-05:00

It’s a simple question really, why do we have wisdom teeth? Most humans don’t have room in their mouths for them which requires a simple surgery and an annoying recovery.

According to the bible we were created that way in god’s perfect plan for us. He gave us extra teeth that would only cause problems because… well because he did, and that’s a perfect plan and you must accept it. At least that’s the answer you’d hear from most Christians.

But if god is real and creationism is what happened, why is god such a terrible engineer? I would think omnipotence would bring better designs but of course my thoughts cannot fathom god’s.

Or can they? It is after all, pretty easy to compete intellectually with imaginary friends. I’m actually undefeated against them.

Evolution has a much more reasonable answer. It states that as primates evolved into modern humans we evolved our eating habits which changed the size of our stomachs, the teeth we have and even our brain size.

Our primate ancestors needed those rear molars to chew and break down food so that their stomachs could digest it easier.

Then we started cooking food, this allowed us to digest food more efficiently beginning the breakdown process before the food was even put into our mouths.

It also made food softer which required less smashing of the food as prep work before digestion rendering our wisdom teeth unnecessary.

Over time our mouths have gotten smaller, evolving to be more efficient. After all, why burn the energy and resources to create extra things if you don’t need them? As our mouths have gotten smaller we ran out of room for our wisdom teeth.

That’s why I love science, it provides reasonable, logical answers for questions such as these. It’s unfortunate that so many others find “god did it” as reasonable and logical.

First Church of Atheism?

2008-08-13T19:41:00.002-05:00

So there's this “church” now, called The First Church of Atheism, I've read a few bits of reviews on it and I can't decide what I think.

On the one hand there is a benefit. The church allows atheists to become ordained ministers so that they can perform various ceremonies usually held by the religious.

One could argue that a person could simply go to the courthouse to have their wedding rather than getting an ordained atheist minister. But that doesn't fly where I live.

I don't know about other states, to be fair I don't truly know about my own (Alabama), but I've always been told that even at the courthouse the judge must be an ordained minister to perform a marriage ceremony. Minister in these parts typically means a Christian minister who is going to work god into the ceremony.

I personally have no want to get married, but if I were to at some point I certainly wouldn't want a minister of any Christian church doing it, even if it were at the courthouse. In that respect, for people like me in my situation, an atheist church could be a good thing.

However, there seems to be a lot of hubbub about how Christians would come back with "See I told you atheism is just another religion" thereby lumping us in with them.

First off, why do we care what they think? They believe in a great magic genie that nods his head and BOOM!, existence.

Secondly, and this is only my opinion, I think there should be some type of organization like a church for atheists to attend.

Part of the reason that the right is so powerful is their infrastructure. The tops of denominational hierarchy can send a message thru regional heads who pass it on to state overseers who pass it on to individual churches. In this manner they can be fairly assured that a singular message will go out to at least 70 to 80 percent of their followers nationwide.

Atheists, at present, cannot compete with that. We have tons of websites and books and groups but there is no head group of atheists that were elected by the masses of atheists who can help us to mobilize and become a stronger minority.

Further, an organization like an atheist church would also provide a community setting. I know I would look forward to going to be with like minded people every Sunday (or whatever day) so that I could become "recharged" and not feel so alone in my beliefs. (Again, I live in Alabama so I am very much alone most of the time.) Yes I do belong to a local atheist group, and have atheist friends, but none that meet so regularly.

This also harkens back to my days as a Christian. I loved knowing everyone in my church, I loved that I grew up with friends, I loved the pot luck dinners, I loved being a part of something like that. I miss it, not the beliefs, but the community we created.

Further, I think it would be a great place for atheists to get together and have a "sermon" of sorts. They should all be scientifically based, or at least philosophically based even though that's more of a pseudo-science.

To have these "sermons" would allow atheists to learn more about the very world they live in, to learn more about the cosmos, the big bang, evolution, and any other scientific subject thereby strengthening our belief system.

I do have to admit, atheism is very religious like. It may not be in the strictest sense of the word, but atheism is, at the least, a path, much like Buddhism.

We have faith, not in science, that would be stupid and unreasonable since science proves itself, but I do have faith in the scientific method. It is not a law, or a rule, it is a guideline that continues to serve humanity well.

More importantly I have faith in mankind, that we will learn and progress and evolve and eventually get to a more positive place for the world as a whole.

We have dogma as well. Science, reason, and logic require evidence, proof, a testable hypothesis, something, some reason to believe. We are required to use the scientific method to discern what is correct and what is not. That is our dogma.

Finally, and possibly most importantly, the way that the major religions grew to their current bloated sizes was by stealing followers from other religions. The disciples allegedly went around proclaiming Jesus as the "unknown" god of paganism, telling pagan followers that he is the one they were worshipping in that temple and that he is the one true god.

People are sheep, I hate to say it, I truly do. But we are a vastly undereducated nation. It disgusts me that the greatest library of information not only exists in our society, but access to just about anything a person wants to know is readily available on their desk. Yet we use it for porn and commerce and little more.

People love their religions, they want them, they need them, it is their security blanket, and if you can't give them something else to put hope in, even if ultimately that hope is in themselves, they will never change.