What Are We Doing?

Lately, over the past couple of months my comments
have fallen off. I have lost my enthusiasm for
intellectualism. Sure the posts are well written,
thoughtful and present interesting topics for
discussion. However, it seems to me that we have
to move beyond these topics. As we discuss these
topics and issues, the country continues to fall
apart. Some months ago, maybe even a year now,
in a comment or post I wrote that this country was
about to drive over a cliff. This term is now used
on many programs discussing the financial melt down.
I believe Obama even used the term tonight in his
televised news conference. At that time I wrote about
the terrible debt of the country and of the statements
of economists like Steglitz and David Walker. I even
wrote that it was hard to say what would drive us over
the cliff, but that it was entirely possible we would be
blindsided.. Then September 15 happened. We were blind
sided.

Now, we are being told by a Democratic Administration that
the country has avoided a meltdown. Every day we are
inundated with issues which hide the true state of the
country. Issues such as birth certificates, health care,
Iraq, Iran, N. Korea, Israel, abortion, religion, energy,
environment, democracy, black holes, and so on and on.
Today the hype was all about the Obama "show" tonight.
There was even countdown clocks on MSNBC and CNN...It
is a red herrings to cover up the real disaster that is
still coming.

The disaster is still the economy. I am now changing my
description of the United States falling over a cliff. It
seems to me that a more accurate representation of our
crisis is that we have hit an iceberg. What we are now
experiencing is the tip of that iceberg. We have collided
and taking on water seriously. It's as Carvelle said to
Clinton in 1992, "It's the economy, stupid." For us to
write about all these other issues is to ignore the obvious.
We are accomplishing nothing. Look, there is virtually
no real manufacturing being done or proposed. Within a few
years there will be hardly no one working full time. The
population of the United States will be working part-time.
And, this is what we are not being told. We will be a
nation of part-time workers. Moreover, incomes will drastically
shrink. This is already happening as wage earning income
has remained static for the last 10 years. How many of these
millions of unemployed will be rehired in full time positions?
In the next three months the unemployment benefits of all the
laid off workers will expire. Then what? Our challenge is
to fully explain what has happened and is happening to the
United States economically. This ought to become our mission,
our cause to be.......

Hang them for Treason

Democrat Max Baucas and Republican Mitch McConnell got ¼ of their political contributions from the Health Insurance industry. Both have resisted, blocked and deferred changes to the health care proposals suggested and called for by the American people and President Obama. Baucas is chair of the Senate Finance Committee and O'Connell is the minority leader of the Senate. Gate-keepers both.

Assuming that these two men have a conscience- which is a large leap of faith- one wonders how they sleep at night. I cannot imagine that I, as a member of the United States Congress, would fight for big business rather than the citizens of my country. What is our democracy all about? Maybe I'm naive but I thought our Founding Fathers spoke of the People, not a ruling class, not the wealthy and well-connected. Lincoln's memorable words, of the people, by the people and for the people ring hollow these days when the leaders of our nation are shills for business.

How did we lose our democracy? When did it happen?

We Americans are a gullible lot. Perhaps it was our over-exposure to television and all of those slick pitchmen hawking their products. We Americans become putty in the hands of slick-talkers including politicians. Look how easily the American people were goated into believing the pitch words and phrases spewing from the paid shills- the congressmen who are working for the insurance industry.

Just after the inauguration, a wide majority of Americans wanted solid health care reform; now, after being pounded by the slick rhetoric, they are willing to wait, to accept a crumb, rather than the whole cake. Six months and our citizens have grown complacent, willing to believe all of the hype and false propaganda spewed by our congressional health care shills.

And so I go back to those men and women in Congress who, during their swearing-in, stood in those sacred chambers, raised their right hand, and pledged to support the Constitution and to work for the citizens of this nation. They have become traitors. Traitors of this democracy. They are no different than other traitors who have been put to death for working against our nation.

Max Baucas and Mitch McConnell ought to be publicly hanged for treason.

Toledo Public Schools Reject Minister for School Board

Fortunately for the parents and children of the Toledo Public Schools, the Board of Education rejected a Christian minister to fill a board position. Rather, the board chose a retired, 35-year veteran teacher for the post. Brenda Hill, 62, was selected by a 3-1 vote to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Steven Steel.

Board member Darlene Fisher, always a renegade on the board, touted Christian minister Carolyn Eyre for the position. Wisely, the board chose Hill in a 3-1 vote. One can only imagine the trouble Fisher and Eyre would have caused had she been chosen. Prayer in school and Bible study classes would have been followed by Intelligent Design and Creationism in the science classes and Christian abstinence classes rather than sex-ed classes.

The suburban Toledo school district of Anthony Wayne Schools with +3000 students made that mistake a few years back. The parents were duped by Barbara Rohrs whom they elected to the Anthony Wayne Board, not knowing that she came fully prepared to unload her fundamentalist Christian agenda on the students of that district. Fortunately, before she was able to implement her Christian agenda, the voters uncovered her intentions and voted her out.

Thankfully, Toledo's parents and children were spared that threat to their educational freedom last evening by the board's careful vetting of the candidates. Chalk one up for the Toledo School Board.

The Moral Axis of the Universe

In my previous post, God as a Figment of the Human Imagination, I ended with a significant line from The Evolution of God author Robert Wright; he said that there is a moral axis to the universe. "I believe that there's a purpose unfolding that has a moral directionality. I have barely the vaguest notion of what might be behind that and whether it could be anything like a personal god or an intelligent being or not. That's another question. I don't know. But I will say it's-- whatever is behind it, if something is, it's probably something that's beyond human conception."

Beyond our human conception. That explains my statement,"Most of us figured that out long ago, after we took a second look at all of the nonsense in the Bible. " Humans have been attempting to put a human face and human characteristics on that moral axis for eons even though it is 'beyond our human conception' to be able to. The fundamentalists, however, are convinced that the ancient, desert-wandering, nomadic Hebrew tribe 'got it.' For the fundamentalists, this tribe 'figured out' what this Moral Axis of the universe was like as well as how this Moral Axis communicated to them. They even wrote down the words the Moral Axis spoke for all of us to see. It was awful!

What an insult! What arrogant tribal pap!

Who, in today's world, some 3000 years beyond that rendition of the Moral Axis, actually gives any credence to that accumulated tribal babble? The man called Jesus of Nazareth surely didn't verify much of it at all. He talked with women, even a Samaritan woman. He told his fellow Jews to put away their swords. He embraced the diseased, the outcast and the marginalized of society. He instructed them to love one another. What a rebel. No wonder the elders of the temple had him arrested.

The Hebrew 'figment of their imagination' named Elohim reflected every longing and weakness, each prejudice, all of the desires and fears of the Hebrew people. They made Elohim in their image and it was a pitiful conglomerate of ancient myth, magic, malevolence and mayhem.

The 21st century world is becoming more unified, more homogenized. We are, as Wright said,

' approaching a global level of social organization. And if people do not get better at acknowledging the humanity of people around the world in very different circumstances, and even putting themselves in the shoes of those other people then we may pay the price of social chaos. So the system is set up that way. And that's just an intriguing fact to me that seems to create a kind of moral axis that we can't help but orient ourselves toward or try to orient ourselves toward.'

Biblical literalists or Koran literalists just don't get it at all. They are stuck. They are stuck worshiping a god who little resembles this 21st century world. They are stuck with a tribal god, a figment of the imagination of wandering tribes who needed a specific type of god who would legitimize their actions and upon which they could rest their worries.

Tribalism is dead. Insularity is passe. Boundaries are fading. Cooperation and codependency are today's standards. A literal 'new world order' is sprouting up all across the globe. Ancient tribal religions have no place in this changing world. We are newly-connected to one another. Religious isolationism flies in the face of this new movement.

Those who wish to hold on to the past, to embrace the god of Abraham with all of 'his' violent smiting ways, with 'his' intolerance for the other, are mere obstructionists in this unfolding reality. Their time is past, like the horse carriage. They need to move out of the way as we open the doors and windows and let refreshingly fresh air flow in.

God as a Figment of the Human Imagination

Author of the Evolution of God, Robert Wright, was a guest on Bill Moyer's Journal last night. Shortly into the discussion, Moyers asked, "So, did god begin as a figment of the human imagination?" Wright answered, " I would say so."

Well, that's no great revelation. Most of us figured that out long ago, after we took a second look at all of the nonsense in the Bible. Wright goes on to explain to Moyers that he feels that the human brain is not capable of understanding the principle of god other than some being like us only bigger and more powerful- on the order of Superman. He says, "In my earlier writings about evolutionary psychology, one thing that became clear to me is that the human mind is not designed to perceive ultimate truth or even truth in a very broad sense. I mean, the human mind was designed by natural selection to get genes into the next generation. To do some things that help you do that like eat and reproduce. And as quantum physics has shown us you know, in highlighting our inability to think clearly, even about things like electrons. The human mind is not designed to perceive truth that go beyond this narrow part of the material world."

It's all about our dinky brains.

Regarding the title of the book, The Evolution of God, Wright says, "the god that is believed in now, first of all, assumes many different forms, even among believers. I mean, the difference between the god I was brought up with in Southern Baptist church and the way god would be conceived by an Anglican priest or something, you know, are very different. And similarly, there's been change over time. And the fact that god can adapt does account for his longevity. And also, at crucial points during that evolution, he acquired features that have proved very attractive."

An adaptable god, able to alter features to become more attractive seems to suggest what rock stars [read Michael Jackson] are able to do. Wright identifies the church doctrine of individual salvation of an eternal afterlife as a tremendous sales-pitch which snagged millions of people in its net. Reminds me of the pitch-man, Billy Mays: 'But wait!"

"The god that I show evolving is undergoing a process very analogous to natural selection. You know? New traits arise, and if they succeed in enhancing the power of the god, by, for example attracting new believers then they remain. And if they don't work for one reason or another, they fall by the wayside. So, god has evolved very much the way, you know, human organism evolved through natural selection, yes." Wright notes that god 'acquired' the traits from different religions; from the Egyptians, god promised an 'after-life' to which Christians are so enamored.

[As an aside, while typing this, I can envision a few of the christian fundamentalists who regularly scour my blog, gasping and reaching for their well-worn Bible, falling on their knees to deny that their eyes ever read such blasphemous words! A double dose of fluvoxamine, stat!]

Wright tells of his 'conversion' to Jesus at age 9 and the 'trouble' that ensued. "I went up to the front of the church and accepted Jesus and was baptized some weeks later. And, you know, and then I encountered the theory of evolution and I had come from a Creationist environment, so that was a kind of irreconcilable threat to my faith. And the theory of natural selection seemed very compelling to me. And my parents even brought a Southern Baptist minister over to the house at one point when I was high school to try to convince me that evolution had not happened. And it didn't work."

He was saved! Praise Isis!

The associated 'guilt' however is long-lasting. He says, "I'll tell you one thing I have not lost is I've never lost the sense that I'm being judged by a being. I mean you know, it's a powerful-- if you're brought up believing that a god is watching you, it's a powerfully ingrained thing."

Guilt. Nothing like a dose of that to keep the 'faithful' in line. Fundamentalists carry it round in a spray bottle in their purses and frequently use it on themselves and on those whom they know 'need it.' I must have evolved a super guilt shield because guilt rolls off of me like water off of a duck in a lake.

Praise Mithra!

Wright closes with a phrase that ought to resonate with a large number of people; he refers to 'a moral axis to the universe.'

[end of Part 1]

GOP Math Deficiency

One trillion, 4.5 billion or 6 thousand? Does it make any difference? Good old arithmetic. How many zeroes? Where do I put the commas?

The GOP these days is a queer lot both figuratively and factually. An odd conglomeration of divergent groups of white people who come together every two and four years to vote. The conglomerate sedimentary rock above, shaped like a turtle shell, might be a great graphic representation of today's Republican Party. I'm quite sure that there is some 'Luddite' mixed in with this assemblage of odd sludge.

I spent the day yesterday at a post-glacial lake formed 12,000 years ago during the last glacial ravage in what is now known as The Irish Hills of southeastern Michigan. The Wisconsinan Glacier, named for the state, slowly retreated northward leaving much debris in its melt. Some were mounded conglomerate deposits known as recessional moraines, others beach ridges of mostly sand. Still others were deposit-covered glaciers which slowly melted forming bowls which subsequently filled with water- the lakes of the Irish Hills.

While slowly putting around the lake on a pontoon boat, conversation turned to those funny fundamentalists- always good for a belly laugh at any occasion, and even more-so after a glass of wine or two. "How old is this lake?" I asked? Without hesitation, someone quipped, "Six thousand years!" "Exactly!" I replied, and we all chuckled, knowing that there were millions of Americans who date all earth events from that date, as implied in the Bible.

I was wondering, as the laughter subsided, whether there were any fundamentalist bodies wallowing in these same waters, ignorant of the mass of scientific data on the origins not only of these glacial formations and the earth itself. Enough geology; back to math.

Many Republican members of Congress have stood at the House and Senate microphones denigrating the so-called Obama Health Care proposal, putting special emphasis on the cost of such a bill. They enjoy mouthing the word, 'trillions,' as if it gives their tongue a special tickle upon leaving their mouth. It is oft-repeated during the harangue for emphasis.

They know their 'trillions', but have trouble with 'billions.' To be more precise, 4.5 billion, the estimated age of the earth. Those conservative christian and fiscally anal Republicans like the fluff of 6,000 rather than the hard fact of 4.5 billion. What's up with that?

Well, not much is up with them except the same old obfuscation, spin and other deviant practices that they have exhibited for the past two decades. At least, if nothing else, they can lighten the spirit with a good belly laugh.

Equalizing Black and White Justice

"We're gonna do this crack cocaine thing." Alabama Senator Jeffery Sessions, yesterday. Then he clarified, "We're gonna reduce the burden of crack cocaine cases and make them fair."

'This crack cocaine thing' refers to the long-standing unequal conviction and sentencing laws for powdered vs. crack cocaine- an obvious racial imbalance. Whites prefer powdered cocaine which carries more lenient sentencing guidelines than the black-preferred crack.

We're gonna get it done. Seems it takes a while for GOP congressmen to 'get it' as they prefer to roll around in the muck quite a while before moving towards equality under the law. I suppose it 'teaches' them coloreds that freedom really isn't free unless your skin is lacks melanin. Keeps them from getting too uppity, you know. If you let them have an inch, you know that pretty soon, they'll want to move into your neighborhood!

Best not act too fast. You all know what I'm gett'n at, don't ya?

Those Weeny Southern Senators

Ain't it a hoot watching the confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor? There she sits with all of her feminine, brown-skinned essence with those weeny white southern senators haranguing her with their pompous righteousness dripping from their good ole boy mouths.

It must be frightening, not for Judge Sotomayor, but for the white boys to realize that one more 'colored' person will soon be at the highest levels of our government. Where did 'their' America go! Why can't we go back to the good old days when this nation was run by white men?

Change is tough, especially for weeny men, stuck in permanent adolescence, who are unsure of their own place in this world. I'll bet that right-wing radio has been an unusually malevolent fart-hole these past two days, with the usual group-think dittoheads getting their daily 'fix' of hate.

Weeny men, ne’er-do-wells with low self-esteem, who denigrate others so that they feel better about their own crappy lives, must these days be more and more angry and fearful about their future. A black president, a black attorney general, a Latino Supreme Court Justice, a black Surgeon General must curdle their inners. Is spouse-abuse on the rise? Physical and verbal abuse of children? Road rage?

Too bad that so many American men get stuck in adolescence and never advance to fully-functioning and caring adult men. I wonder if they even know how that they are stuck there? It wouldn't matter anyhow, because they wouldn't have the chutzpah to honestly look into the mirror of truth. No, they would rather wear their mask and angrily plod through the rest of life, blaming everybody else for their perceived miserable life.

Meanwhile, the rest of us go about our adult lives making the best of the challenges and joys of life.

Creation Museum Science Fair

Yes, you read that correctly, although your laughter may have obscured the seriousness of this event. The photo at right is from the First Baptist Church of Wheeling when their church had 'fun' riding the dinosaurs, just like Adam and Noah did 6000 years ago. Adam saddled up Ole Dino to do the plowing after The Fall. Noah was lucky enough to have a breeding pair aboard the ark and used these beasts of burden to build his God-fearing new world atop the mountain.

The children of scientists need not apply, however, because there are strict, religious rules. Mother Jones details some of the most stringent:

Next February, Cincinnati's Creation Museum will hold a science fair for budding creationists. All students in grades 7-12 are encouraged to apply, provided they agree with Answers in Genesis' Statement of Faith, which includes the following items:

• The account of origins presented in Genesis is a simple but factual presentation of actual events and therefore provides a reliable framework for scientific research into the question of the origin and history of life, mankind, the Earth and the universe.

• The various original life-forms (kinds), including mankind, were made by direct creative acts of God. The living descendants of any of the original kinds (apart from man) may represent more than one species today, reflecting the genetic potential within the original kind. Only limited biological changes (including mutational deterioration) have occurred naturally within each kind since Creation.

• The great Flood of Genesis was an actual historic event, worldwide (global) in its extent and effect.

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The paradox of a fantasy-land such as The Creation Museum and such strict 'rules' for participation is bizarre. But then, the word bizarre is a perfect description for the folks who see this museum as reality-land.

Dick in Orange

Although the picture at right is a fake, It will be just a matter of time, now, when Dick 'Dick' Cheney's arrest warrant is served. Yesterday we learned that Cheney ordered a subversive spy program after 9/11, so secret that Congress did not even know that it existed. CIA director Panetta ended the program last month. At the direction of the then-vice president, Congress was not notified of a highly classified counter-terrorism program for eight years. By law, the CIA is required to make sure that congressional committees are "kept fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the United States, including any significant anticipated intelligence activity."

By law...

Obviously, Mr. Cheney figured that he was above the law of this nation, much as in the pattern of a dictator of some two-bit banana republic. In Cheney's world, 'The law' only applies to those below the Executive Branch. The law is for the peons, the grunts because, after all, what do THEY know about how to run a government?

With his bad heart, I'm sure that he'd die before any trial or before his public hanging. Either way, this nation will have learned an important lesson on governance and the Constitution- at least until the next deviant comes to power.