What would make an otherwise intelligent person amenable to fundamentalism? I mean, why would someone choose to follow a belief system that is without evidence, defies logic and common sense, and in many cases entails beliefs that are, in fact, refuted by fact?
I am utterly curious as to why we as a species has this prediliction for "undoubted faith" in the absence of evidence. Is it out of fear? Fear of the unknown? Fear of death? Why would a young physician want to murder innocent people going about their business? Is he that disallusioned with his existance or the world in general, or perhaps unfufilled in the matters of love, so much so the prospect of dying and being rewarded with 70 virgins is oh-so-enticing? Really?
What about those who believe that the earth is only 6,000 or so years old (because that's their read on the biblical timeline), when the scientific evidence is that the earth is really 760,000 times that old at 4.56 or so BILLION years? But, the intensity of their belief in a 6,000 year old earth is unwavering. How can this be in the face of insurmountable evidence? I wonder.
Our local Mars Hill Church teaches that yoga is satanic. I suspect that Mr. Pastor Dude Driscoll is far more uptight than anyone coming out of a hot yoga session.
Take Mormonism, for instance. They teach that indigenous Americans are the "lost tribe of Israel" in spite of the fact that a Mormon scientist disproved this belief using DNA analysis. American Indians are no more related to the Israelis than are the Japanese or Tongans. Yet, the LDS continues to attract new adherents dispite this otherwise piece of fiction in their prized Book of Mormon.
And then we have the continued "debate" over global warming. In the aftermath of the blizzard that folks on the east coast find themselves digging out from under, there are new "assertions" that anthropogenic global warming is a hoax. How can AGW be true in light of a blizzard? Of course, you don't hear this from the majority of climatologists. Unfortunately, far too many people are simply more willing to believe the likes of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck over the majority of reknown and far better educated scientists.
I'm not opposed to having faith, per se. I like to believe that we are all connected, on some sort of quantum plane, perhaps. I like to believe that there is more to life than this existance. I like to think that I will see my dad and grandparents and friends who have died someday. I like to believe this. In fact, I do hope that this is the case. But, would I kill for these beliefs? I think not. Would I want to force my beliefs on anyone else? Nope. Because my belief system is probably more esoteric and geeky that most could appreciate. Does this mean my life is any less meaningful? I don't think so. I certainly do believe that those who spend more time worrying about the hereafter are most likely less fulfilled in the herenow.
Fiction will never be fact, no matter how many times one repeats it.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Random ramblings on the 28th of December
I will think of 2010 as a strange year.... A year of conflicts and contradictions. A year of utter sadness, wildly unexpected discoveries, and many gratitudes.
I celebrated my 51st Christmas three days ago and the first Christmas without my dad. The loss of my father still seems surreal, as if circumstance keeps us from our almost daily telephone converstations. It still has yet to feel "real." I miss my dad. I miss simply picking up the phone to share with him something I just read about, or saw on news; or, to ask him for computer help; or, to get into one of our heated political discussions. It's still so very strange.
A wildly unexpected experience because as I was reading a blog of an old friend, or maybe acquaintance is a better discription. We recently had a falling out. Apparently, he could handle the fact that I was gay, and I couldn't handle the fact that he turned into a judgemental, holier-than thou, Glenn Beck lovin' bible thumper.
It's crazy, actually. This was a guy whom I met when I was first away from home after joining the Navy. I kind of looked up to him. Maybe it was more than that. I was 18, away from home for the first time, confused about my sexuality, and lonely. We became friends while attending school. But, we had a lot of fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed the times we had.
After many, many years, I finally made contact with him on Facebook. I found him to be totally and undeniably morphed into someone I could not recognize. Now, I understand the need for personal evolution. It should be our nature to better ourselves. (At least that's what Captain Picard always said.) But, what is this preoccupation with the Bible or the Koran or any other ancient piece of literature? They can't all be the dictates of an almighty, right? And, most likely, none of them are. They "could be" inspired by the divine - and I say that with a bit of trepidation.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Be careful what you look for
When I was 18 years old I left home joining the Navy and embarking upon my own journey of experiences and evolution. Through these experiences I crossed paths with many people - some who have made a huge impression upon me, and some which were fleeting and forgetful. Some of these "life's intersections" were brief, yet memorable; and some have remained dear friends despite the years and miles.
It's far too easy to idealize some of these memories. I recently made contact with a person whom I briefly befriended many years ago, when first in the Navy. You never know how 31 years might treat someone. Apparently, the years haven't been kind to him. And it's become a little scary.
Sometimes, perhaps, it's better to cling to memories.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Is the average American really that dumb?
The Tea Bag, er, I mean Tea Party movement, has as its intended goal "returning Conservative fiscal responsibility and limited government to the United States through the exercise of political activism", as taken from the website Conservapedia. While I certainly don't have a problem with the first part of that statement, "fiscal responsibility", I believe that most poor tea partiers are so misguided in the focus of their resentment, that being the Democratic Party. And, unfortunately, most folks that belong to the Tea Party movement probably watch Fox News, the most unabashedly biased pretense for a news organization.
Fox News, begun by uber-conservative Rupert Murdoch, is as right-wing as they come. Not that folks don't have the right to their political persuasion, but, when one claims to be "Fair and Balanced", and yet injects conservative political commentary into the most innocuous of reports, one can hardly claim to be fair, or balanced. (Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac wrote a great song: "Murrow Turning Over In His Grave" about Edward Murrow, an American broadcast journalist of the highest caliber who died in 1965. He would be mortified to see what American news has morphed into..... "Half-closed eyes and unconcious death; Do you feel the ooze as your brain drains out" <----- (does this refer to the ignorant American public).
Who have been some of the largest sponsors of the Tea Party movement? For starters, Rupert Murdoch's Fox News. Also, Texas billionaire brothers David & Charles Koch are among the largest single sponsors of conservative causes, including the Tea Party. The question is why would middle to lower middle class Americans, those who have lost their jobs to layoffs and outsourcing, those who can't afford health insurance, or perhaps work for some greedy company like McDonalds or WalMart where a decent health insurance plan is unaffordable considering the poverty level wages they pay; why would these Americans buy into the propaganda of the rich?
The Tea Party says that Americans are overtaxed. Really? Currently, the top tax bracket is 35%. President Obama states that he wants the tax cut for the wealthiest Americans to expire and revert to it's previous rate of 38.6%. This is what the Tea Baggers are afraid of? That Rupert Murdoch and the billionaire Koch brothers are going to have to pay a few more dollars to the federal treasury for the pleasure and opportunity of doing business in these United States? So, if one makes $1,000,ooo.00 in a year, your take-home pay is going to go from $650,000 to $614,000 if the tax cuts expire. I'm supposed to feel sorry for your ass???!!! Just thank god you weren't in the top tax bracket in 1970, when Nixon (a Republican) was president. You'd be paying 71.75% tax on your income. And you're freaking whining about a 3.6% increase? Actually, we should just say, "Fuck you. We're doubling your tax rate." The top bracket, by the way, in 1944-1945 was 94%.
Not only did the Republican Congress and President Bush get us into 2 wars, they also cut taxes. Tea baggers are complaining about the deficit.... blaming the poor Democrats and Mr. Obama. But, in reality, it was Bush and the Republican Congress who squandered the budget surplus left by Clinton. It was Bush and the Republican Congress who decided to charge two wars by borrowing from the Chinese. Aside from those foolhardy policies, tea baggers also think that the bailouts were a bad thing. Let's see. If we hadn't bailed out Chrysler and GM, an estimated 3 million more American jobs would have been lost. And this would have been good for America? How, pray tell?
The notion that these Tea baggers are wanting to vote these same idiots back in control astounds me?? It can only speak of the dumbing-down of America. That's exactly what the likes of Rupert Murdoch and the Koch brothers want.
Fox News, begun by uber-conservative Rupert Murdoch, is as right-wing as they come. Not that folks don't have the right to their political persuasion, but, when one claims to be "Fair and Balanced", and yet injects conservative political commentary into the most innocuous of reports, one can hardly claim to be fair, or balanced. (Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac wrote a great song: "Murrow Turning Over In His Grave" about Edward Murrow, an American broadcast journalist of the highest caliber who died in 1965. He would be mortified to see what American news has morphed into..... "Half-closed eyes and unconcious death; Do you feel the ooze as your brain drains out" <----- (does this refer to the ignorant American public).
Who have been some of the largest sponsors of the Tea Party movement? For starters, Rupert Murdoch's Fox News. Also, Texas billionaire brothers David & Charles Koch are among the largest single sponsors of conservative causes, including the Tea Party. The question is why would middle to lower middle class Americans, those who have lost their jobs to layoffs and outsourcing, those who can't afford health insurance, or perhaps work for some greedy company like McDonalds or WalMart where a decent health insurance plan is unaffordable considering the poverty level wages they pay; why would these Americans buy into the propaganda of the rich?
The Tea Party says that Americans are overtaxed. Really? Currently, the top tax bracket is 35%. President Obama states that he wants the tax cut for the wealthiest Americans to expire and revert to it's previous rate of 38.6%. This is what the Tea Baggers are afraid of? That Rupert Murdoch and the billionaire Koch brothers are going to have to pay a few more dollars to the federal treasury for the pleasure and opportunity of doing business in these United States? So, if one makes $1,000,ooo.00 in a year, your take-home pay is going to go from $650,000 to $614,000 if the tax cuts expire. I'm supposed to feel sorry for your ass???!!! Just thank god you weren't in the top tax bracket in 1970, when Nixon (a Republican) was president. You'd be paying 71.75% tax on your income. And you're freaking whining about a 3.6% increase? Actually, we should just say, "Fuck you. We're doubling your tax rate." The top bracket, by the way, in 1944-1945 was 94%.
Not only did the Republican Congress and President Bush get us into 2 wars, they also cut taxes. Tea baggers are complaining about the deficit.... blaming the poor Democrats and Mr. Obama. But, in reality, it was Bush and the Republican Congress who squandered the budget surplus left by Clinton. It was Bush and the Republican Congress who decided to charge two wars by borrowing from the Chinese. Aside from those foolhardy policies, tea baggers also think that the bailouts were a bad thing. Let's see. If we hadn't bailed out Chrysler and GM, an estimated 3 million more American jobs would have been lost. And this would have been good for America? How, pray tell?
The notion that these Tea baggers are wanting to vote these same idiots back in control astounds me?? It can only speak of the dumbing-down of America. That's exactly what the likes of Rupert Murdoch and the Koch brothers want.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
thoughts on tea baggers
on august 23rd, jennifer holmes from the seattle area wrote an editorial in the seattle times entitled “why i am a tea party activist:”
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2012682245_guest23holmes.html?prmid=obinsite
i thought a lot about ms. holmes. i understand the frustration people are feeling nowadays. where is america going? what happened to our greatness? what happened to the middle class? her unease is understandable. but, unfortunately, she got it wrong.
“in an article in the august 30, 2010 issue of The New Yorker magazine, author jane mayer links the billionaire brothers david koch and charles koch, owners of koch industries, to tea party movement funding. mayer writes,
the anti-government fervor infusing the 2010 elections represents a political triumph for the kochs. by giving money to “educate,” fund, and organize tea party protesters, they have helped turn their private agenda into a mass movement. bruce bartlett, a conservative economist and a historian, who once worked at the national center for policy analysis, a dallas-based think tank that the kochs fund, said, “the problem with the whole libertarian movement is that it’s been all chiefs and no indians. there haven’t been any actual people, like voters, who give a crap about it. so the problem for the kochs has been trying to create a movement.” with the emergence of the tea party, he said, “everyone suddenly sees that for the first time there are indians out there—people who can provide real ideological power.” the kochs, he said, are “trying to shape and control and channel the populist uprising into their own policies.”
ms. holmes thinks that it’s “government control” that is the problem. unfortunately, she’s got it wrong. the problem is government control by the greedyt corporate america. it’s easy to believe the rhetoric of the tea party movement if you choose to not investigate on your own. with all the money being spent to steer your beliefs in one direction or another, one needs to be able to discern fact from fiction…. sometimes utilizing a sherlock holmesian mentality.
for example… are we americans “overtaxed?”
well, in comparison with the rest of the industrialized world – no. most other industrialized nations provide healthcare, social security, and yes… tax their citizenry. are they taxed more that we americans? yes. do they enjoy a better quality of life? most of them would say yes. not having to worry about paying for a prescription or losing their home because of medical bills would undoubtedly put them ahead of us.
more telling is the fact that the u.s ranks 24th in life expectancy… hardly anything to brag about. we rank 33rd in infant mortality. tell me ms. holmes, is this because of our government, per se, or because of the greedy corporate bastards that control our government?
it’s pitiful really, that folks like ms. holmes will protest the expiration of the tax cuts for the wealthy. put in perspective, someone making over $200,000 will pay $78,000 in taxes instead of $70,000. that means, if they are making $200,000 they will bring home $122,000 instead of $130,000. really? is that going to put them in the poor house? billionaires david and charles koch are going to have to pay a few extra bucks in taxes and we should feel sorry for them? oh, please ms. holmes! why is this a bad thing for you and the rest of the doomed american middle class?
in the ‘60’s, the average c.e.o. of an american company made 40 times what the average employee made. today the average chief executive officer of a standard & poor’s (s&p) 500 index company is paid, on average, $9.25 million. that’s over 250 times what the average american worker makes today! that should piss you off, ms. holmes! not the fact that you pay taxes to support social security, the u.s. military, college education for our youth, and our crumbling infrastructure. in effect, your shortsighted protest is all about promoting the increasing wealth of america’s richest, at the expense of america’s middle class.
ms. holmes and the rest of the tea party movement are about as enlightened and educated as the (now deceased) followers of jim jones and the people’s temple: proof that americans are easily brainwashed.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2012682245_guest23holmes.html?prmid=obinsite
i thought a lot about ms. holmes. i understand the frustration people are feeling nowadays. where is america going? what happened to our greatness? what happened to the middle class? her unease is understandable. but, unfortunately, she got it wrong.
“in an article in the august 30, 2010 issue of The New Yorker magazine, author jane mayer links the billionaire brothers david koch and charles koch, owners of koch industries, to tea party movement funding. mayer writes,
the anti-government fervor infusing the 2010 elections represents a political triumph for the kochs. by giving money to “educate,” fund, and organize tea party protesters, they have helped turn their private agenda into a mass movement. bruce bartlett, a conservative economist and a historian, who once worked at the national center for policy analysis, a dallas-based think tank that the kochs fund, said, “the problem with the whole libertarian movement is that it’s been all chiefs and no indians. there haven’t been any actual people, like voters, who give a crap about it. so the problem for the kochs has been trying to create a movement.” with the emergence of the tea party, he said, “everyone suddenly sees that for the first time there are indians out there—people who can provide real ideological power.” the kochs, he said, are “trying to shape and control and channel the populist uprising into their own policies.”
ms. holmes thinks that it’s “government control” that is the problem. unfortunately, she’s got it wrong. the problem is government control by the greedyt corporate america. it’s easy to believe the rhetoric of the tea party movement if you choose to not investigate on your own. with all the money being spent to steer your beliefs in one direction or another, one needs to be able to discern fact from fiction…. sometimes utilizing a sherlock holmesian mentality.
for example… are we americans “overtaxed?”
well, in comparison with the rest of the industrialized world – no. most other industrialized nations provide healthcare, social security, and yes… tax their citizenry. are they taxed more that we americans? yes. do they enjoy a better quality of life? most of them would say yes. not having to worry about paying for a prescription or losing their home because of medical bills would undoubtedly put them ahead of us.
more telling is the fact that the u.s ranks 24th in life expectancy… hardly anything to brag about. we rank 33rd in infant mortality. tell me ms. holmes, is this because of our government, per se, or because of the greedy corporate bastards that control our government?
it’s pitiful really, that folks like ms. holmes will protest the expiration of the tax cuts for the wealthy. put in perspective, someone making over $200,000 will pay $78,000 in taxes instead of $70,000. that means, if they are making $200,000 they will bring home $122,000 instead of $130,000. really? is that going to put them in the poor house? billionaires david and charles koch are going to have to pay a few extra bucks in taxes and we should feel sorry for them? oh, please ms. holmes! why is this a bad thing for you and the rest of the doomed american middle class?
in the ‘60’s, the average c.e.o. of an american company made 40 times what the average employee made. today the average chief executive officer of a standard & poor’s (s&p) 500 index company is paid, on average, $9.25 million. that’s over 250 times what the average american worker makes today! that should piss you off, ms. holmes! not the fact that you pay taxes to support social security, the u.s. military, college education for our youth, and our crumbling infrastructure. in effect, your shortsighted protest is all about promoting the increasing wealth of america’s richest, at the expense of america’s middle class.
ms. holmes and the rest of the tea party movement are about as enlightened and educated as the (now deceased) followers of jim jones and the people’s temple: proof that americans are easily brainwashed.
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