SAGAN'S "MARS JARS" PROVE BIBLE FALSE
I came across the following passages in COSMOS, (p. 113) about experiments which Sagan carried on years ago. Then in 1996 a meteorite made his case for life on Mars even stronger. Of course, this life isn't like H. G. Wells would create it, but it's microbial life outside of Bible life and so puts another nail in the coffin of Bible inerrancy. As if another nail needed to be driven in. Of course, Bible apologists will now try to expand vague and general terms to make them include these new findings as if Bible peoples knew of life on other planets or that other planets even existed. To make such a claim, these apologists make Bible study seem ever more like learning the art of palm reading sorcery.
"To test this question [can living organisms survive on Mars], many years ago my colleagues and I prepared chambers that simulated the Martian environment as it was then known, inoculated them with terrestrial microorganisms and waited to see if anybody survived. Such chambers are called, of course, Mars Jars. The Mars Jars cycled the temperatures within a typical Martian range from a little above the freezing point around noon to about -80°C just before dawn, in an anoxic atmosphere composed chiefly of CO2 and N2. Ultraviolet lamps reproduced the fierce solar flux. No liquid water was present except for very thin films wetting individual sand grains. Some microbes froze to death after the first night and were never heard from again. Others gasped and perished from lack of oxygen. Some died of thirst, and some were fried by the ultraviolet light. But there were always a fair number of varieties of terrestrial microbes that did not need oxygen; that temporarily closed up shop when the temperatures dropped too low; that hid from the ultraviolet light under pebbles or thin layers of sand. In other experiments, when small quantities of liquid water were present, the microbes actually grew. If terrestrial microbes can survive the Martian environment, how much better Martian microbes, if they exist, must do on Mars. But first we must get there."
Now we go to NASA stuff which supports Sagan's early and simple experiments:
"A group of scientists led by David McKay of NASA's Johnson Space Center has published an article in the August 16 issue of Science magazine announcing the discovery of evidence for primitive bacterial life on Mars. An examination of a meteorite found in Antarctica and believed to be from Mars shows: 1) hydrocarbons which are the same as breakdown products of dead micro-organisms on Earth, 2) mineral phases consistent with by-products of bacterial activity, and 3) tiny carbonate globules which may be microfossils of the primitive bacteria, all within a few hundred-thousandths of an inch of each other. Based on age dating of the meteorite, the following scenario has been proposed:
1. The original igneous rock solidified within Mars about 4.5 billion years ago, about 100 million years after the formation of the planet. (Based on isotope ages of the igneous component of the meteorite)
2. Between 3.6 and 4 billion years ago the rock was fractured, presumably by meteorite impacts. Water then permeated the cracks, depositing carbonate minerals and allowing primitive bacteria to live in the fractures.
3. About 3.6 billion years ago, the bacteria and their by-products became fossilized in the fractures. (Based on isotope ages of the minerals in the fractures)
4. 16 million years ago, a large meteorite struck Mars, dislodging a large chunk of this rock and ejecting it into space. (Based on the cosmic ray exposure age of the meteorite)
5. 13,000 years ago, the meteorite landed in Antarctica.
6. The meteorite, ALH84001, was discovered in 1984 in the Allan Hills region of Antarctica.
Read the whole NASA story here.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Monday, April 18, 2005
I’M BACK!
Enough said. Good trip to the coast, a good morning in Paulsbo and one also on Harbor Island, good times with my younger son and his wife, drinking my cappuccinos and feeling one of the bright people of the modern world rather than one of those people who still want us to live in the musty past of war, religion and moral oppression.
A Visit To Paulsbo
On the road I’ve been from Banff to Paulsbo,
From Georgia’s coast to the chill in Fargo,
But like a Kerouac
To his mother drawn back,
I always return to my comforting sorrow.
Enough said. Good trip to the coast, a good morning in Paulsbo and one also on Harbor Island, good times with my younger son and his wife, drinking my cappuccinos and feeling one of the bright people of the modern world rather than one of those people who still want us to live in the musty past of war, religion and moral oppression.
A Visit To Paulsbo
On the road I’ve been from Banff to Paulsbo,
From Georgia’s coast to the chill in Fargo,
But like a Kerouac
To his mother drawn back,
I always return to my comforting sorrow.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
I'M GOING AWAY...
...for a few days, so the one or two of you who read this blogestimus effort on my part will have to go elsewhere for your ration of intelligent commentary, wit and humor. This is not like the month long trip driving around the United States when I made a few entries while on the road. I'm just gone and back like Jumping Jack Flash, and until I return silence will reign on this site.
Here's a parting word or two:
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.
Fool me thrice, I must be a Republican.
My youth was like a visit to a clothing store. I tried on lots of costumes, hoping to find out which fitted me best in the mirror of your shifty eyes.
Atheism is a viewpoint for the mature of mind. Not many youths find it compatible.
When you group together any collection of vulnerable people, such as prisoners or children, you attract both the best and the worst of caregivers. To children you attract pedophiles and to prisoners the sadistic. These misfits, however, are the minority, but they will always be drawn to their potential victims.
WHAT WOULD THOMAS JEFFERSON BE?
These Jeffersonian opinions tell me that Thom would go for “intelligent design”.
Thomas Jefferson wrote that "the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His Father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."
Thomas Jefferson also wrote (concerning slavery), “Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that His justice cannot sleep forever.”
CONSERVATIVE’S WOULD CENSOR DOG SEX IF THEY COULD
“We're setting ourselves up as the butt of future jokes—
BY RICHARD ROEPER, SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST February 28, 2005
LOS ANGELES -- Unbelievable. The New York Times reported Sunday that ABC executives were so worried about offending Oscar telecast viewers and/or the FCC that Robin Williams had to kill a goofy, one-minute song lampooning the recent controversy about whether SpongeBob SquarePants is gay.”
Let me suggest that if a bunch of sex-crazed, frightened, neurotic Christians can cause a giant network to back down, American freedoms are in certain danger. “Neurotic,” you charge. “How can you say that?”
All I got to do is look into the smile-warped face of one of them, out through which glare completely humorless eyes to see it. I can recognize the smile of my stepmother in almost any crazy fundamentalist’s Christian face. If you can’t see the parallel between Rome silencing Galileo and Dobson silencing network TV, then your analogizer is broken.
Read it and weep the whole story here.
SPEAKING OF OTHER CONSERVATIVE SILLINESS
As I’ve often pointed out, reason, in some people, is only an excuse-making machine for irrational behavior. What follows has to be the dumbest ever, conservative thinking I’ve ever come across, but, hey, when a man ain’t rational, he can only sound dumbly Bush like and without nuance.
I was buying a few things at my local Sears/K-Mart recently. I’ve been a Sears man most all my life and no WalMart is going to change that piece of irrationality on my part, no how, but... the sales guy noticed my Nation Visa Card and wondered aloud about it. I told him that THE NATION is a long standing progressive magazine that’s been around since 1865.
He asks, “You mean, ‘progressive’, like in ‘liberal’?”
“Yeah,” I say, awaiting the attack. “I’m a liberal Democrat.”
So immediately the sale’s guy gets on his rant why we must censor this Professor Churchill fellow for having an opinion different from his, my sale’s person’s, opinion. I guess my sale’s fellow imagines that only his opinion must be taught in colleges. I don’t think he’d nuanced the idea that education is supposed to broaden one’s experience to ideas and not narrow them down to the majority’s narrow view. Typical conservative lockstep thinking approach.
But that’s not the worst of the man’s silliness (not to mention my wife’s observation that the man in his official position as salesman for Sears ought not be alienating Sears lifetime customers). Speaking of inappropriate interjection of opinion! Maybe Sears ought to be informed about this alienator so they can censor him. But, to return to my subject:
The next silliness out of the man’s mouth was a harangue about why no company would kill off its customer base so why should we be watching out for the environmental depredations by capitalistic businesses. It’s as if the man had never heard of W. (something) Grace company in Libby, Montana or Union Carbide in India or how coal companies cared not a whit about their worker customers in West Virginia or about Five Mile Island or about the million other care not a whit atrocities by careless and profit-driven companies.
It’s not the killing off of all its customers, stupid, it’s a business not caring if their business practices harms a few dozen children or, as in the case of Libby, Montana exposing perhaps a third of that city’s population to lifetimes of ill health. We are talking about written down, observed, undeniable cases, numbering in the thousands, of businesses not giving a damn about the people who work for them or live around them. I’m not even bringing in here the lives ruined in other ways than physically by bad businesses. Need I say “Enron” to get the lame-Os attention?
It was if the man were totally separated from the real world, which is why, sorry to say, I can almost conclude that he was a fundamentalist Christian, for who more than fundamentalists are so detached from reality? The guy was so incapable of putting together a couple of sentences of rational thought that I am almost certain he was a fundamentalist Christian. Or Moslem. I can’t tell much of a difference in the reasoning powers of either group. Boooooom!!!!!!!!!!!
WE’RE THE EYES, EARS AND MIND OF THE COMING ALL
The title to this section says it all. Joseph Campbell after spending a book, MYTHS TO LIVE BY, showing us the obvious, condenses it to a nutshell in the following brief passage (p. 257):
“The solar system and the atom, the two extremes of scientific exploration, recognized as identical, yet distinct! Analogous must be our own identity with the All, of which we are the ears and eyes and mind.”
___________________________________________________________
“The fundamentalist delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.” —Yasutani Roshi
...for a few days, so the one or two of you who read this blogestimus effort on my part will have to go elsewhere for your ration of intelligent commentary, wit and humor. This is not like the month long trip driving around the United States when I made a few entries while on the road. I'm just gone and back like Jumping Jack Flash, and until I return silence will reign on this site.
Here's a parting word or two:
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.
Fool me thrice, I must be a Republican.
My youth was like a visit to a clothing store. I tried on lots of costumes, hoping to find out which fitted me best in the mirror of your shifty eyes.
Atheism is a viewpoint for the mature of mind. Not many youths find it compatible.
When you group together any collection of vulnerable people, such as prisoners or children, you attract both the best and the worst of caregivers. To children you attract pedophiles and to prisoners the sadistic. These misfits, however, are the minority, but they will always be drawn to their potential victims.
WHAT WOULD THOMAS JEFFERSON BE?
These Jeffersonian opinions tell me that Thom would go for “intelligent design”.
Thomas Jefferson wrote that "the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His Father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."
Thomas Jefferson also wrote (concerning slavery), “Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that His justice cannot sleep forever.”
CONSERVATIVE’S WOULD CENSOR DOG SEX IF THEY COULD
“We're setting ourselves up as the butt of future jokes—
BY RICHARD ROEPER, SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST February 28, 2005
LOS ANGELES -- Unbelievable. The New York Times reported Sunday that ABC executives were so worried about offending Oscar telecast viewers and/or the FCC that Robin Williams had to kill a goofy, one-minute song lampooning the recent controversy about whether SpongeBob SquarePants is gay.”
Let me suggest that if a bunch of sex-crazed, frightened, neurotic Christians can cause a giant network to back down, American freedoms are in certain danger. “Neurotic,” you charge. “How can you say that?”
All I got to do is look into the smile-warped face of one of them, out through which glare completely humorless eyes to see it. I can recognize the smile of my stepmother in almost any crazy fundamentalist’s Christian face. If you can’t see the parallel between Rome silencing Galileo and Dobson silencing network TV, then your analogizer is broken.
Read it and weep the whole story here.
SPEAKING OF OTHER CONSERVATIVE SILLINESS
As I’ve often pointed out, reason, in some people, is only an excuse-making machine for irrational behavior. What follows has to be the dumbest ever, conservative thinking I’ve ever come across, but, hey, when a man ain’t rational, he can only sound dumbly Bush like and without nuance.
I was buying a few things at my local Sears/K-Mart recently. I’ve been a Sears man most all my life and no WalMart is going to change that piece of irrationality on my part, no how, but... the sales guy noticed my Nation Visa Card and wondered aloud about it. I told him that THE NATION is a long standing progressive magazine that’s been around since 1865.
He asks, “You mean, ‘progressive’, like in ‘liberal’?”
“Yeah,” I say, awaiting the attack. “I’m a liberal Democrat.”
So immediately the sale’s guy gets on his rant why we must censor this Professor Churchill fellow for having an opinion different from his, my sale’s person’s, opinion. I guess my sale’s fellow imagines that only his opinion must be taught in colleges. I don’t think he’d nuanced the idea that education is supposed to broaden one’s experience to ideas and not narrow them down to the majority’s narrow view. Typical conservative lockstep thinking approach.
But that’s not the worst of the man’s silliness (not to mention my wife’s observation that the man in his official position as salesman for Sears ought not be alienating Sears lifetime customers). Speaking of inappropriate interjection of opinion! Maybe Sears ought to be informed about this alienator so they can censor him. But, to return to my subject:
The next silliness out of the man’s mouth was a harangue about why no company would kill off its customer base so why should we be watching out for the environmental depredations by capitalistic businesses. It’s as if the man had never heard of W. (something) Grace company in Libby, Montana or Union Carbide in India or how coal companies cared not a whit about their worker customers in West Virginia or about Five Mile Island or about the million other care not a whit atrocities by careless and profit-driven companies.
It’s not the killing off of all its customers, stupid, it’s a business not caring if their business practices harms a few dozen children or, as in the case of Libby, Montana exposing perhaps a third of that city’s population to lifetimes of ill health. We are talking about written down, observed, undeniable cases, numbering in the thousands, of businesses not giving a damn about the people who work for them or live around them. I’m not even bringing in here the lives ruined in other ways than physically by bad businesses. Need I say “Enron” to get the lame-Os attention?
It was if the man were totally separated from the real world, which is why, sorry to say, I can almost conclude that he was a fundamentalist Christian, for who more than fundamentalists are so detached from reality? The guy was so incapable of putting together a couple of sentences of rational thought that I am almost certain he was a fundamentalist Christian. Or Moslem. I can’t tell much of a difference in the reasoning powers of either group. Boooooom!!!!!!!!!!!
WE’RE THE EYES, EARS AND MIND OF THE COMING ALL
The title to this section says it all. Joseph Campbell after spending a book, MYTHS TO LIVE BY, showing us the obvious, condenses it to a nutshell in the following brief passage (p. 257):
“The solar system and the atom, the two extremes of scientific exploration, recognized as identical, yet distinct! Analogous must be our own identity with the All, of which we are the ears and eyes and mind.”
___________________________________________________________
“The fundamentalist delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.” —Yasutani Roshi
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
READY OR NOT, IRAN, HERE WE COME!
Here’s some inside news from Scott Ritter on the Randi Rhodes show today (April 13, 2005). Scott Ritter is the Republican, Marine officer, weapons inspector who got it all right about Iraq long before our invasion. Now he’s laying the truth out about Iran.
Mark your calendars for June. The President has already signed off on military plans for a massive bombing attack on Iran.
Even though the Iranians do actually need nuclear power plants for energy purposes (so Pres. Ford and Shaw of Iran agreed many years ago) we will not let them have them. Bolton is in place at the U.N. because he has contempt for the U.N. and will not hesitate to do the nasty deeds Bush will require. Negroponti is in place to feed false intelligence information to Congress and to the American public. Prepare for massive lie bombing of American public to commence about June also.
Mark your calendars for June. Lie to us once, shame on you. Lie to us twice shame on us.
STEVEN PINKER GOT THE “EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES” AWARD
AT ANNUAL FREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION CONVENTION….
Leave it to Steven to clearly state the psychological facts behind the discussion of morality. Religeophils have for too long claimed the high ground when it comes to human value systems, but as we can see, human values arise out of the animal itself and don’t need a supposedly higher power to create a code of ethics. Even a dog has values. He chooses constantly to go to the left or the right, to value one motion above the other. If he didn’t, he’d be frozen in inaction.
“So the bible, contrary to what a majority of Americans apparently be-lieve, is far from a source of higher moral values. Religions have given us stonings [sic], witch-burnings, crusades, in-quisitions, jihads, fatwas, suicide bombers, gay-bashers, abortion-clinic gunmen, and mothers who drown their sons so they can happily be unit-ed in heaven.
“To understand the source of moral values, we don’t have to look to reli-gion. Psychologists have identified uni-versal moral sentiments such as love, compassion, generosity, guilt, shame, and righteous indignation. A belief in spirits and angels need not have any-thing to do with it. And moral philoso-phers such as Peter Singer (one of to-morrow’s honorees) who scrutinize the concept of morality have shown that it [morality] is logically rooted in the inter-changeability of one’s own interests and others. The world’s enduring moral systems capture in some way the notion of the interchangeability of per-spectives and interests, the idea that ‘I am one guy among many’; the golden rule; the categorical imperative; Singer’s own notion of ‘the expanding circle’; John Rawls’s ‘veil of ignorance,’ and so on. A retributive, human-like deity meting out justice doesn’t have a role in our best explanations of the logic of morality.” —Steven Pinker
RECENT MOVIES
This past week (April 10 through 16) I watched “Two-lane Blacktop”, Brazil’s “Carandiru” (a prison movie reminiscent of Attica), “Journey To The Sun” from Turkey (about Kurdish troubles in Turkey) and an American film, “Scotland, PA”, with the ever effervescent, Christopher Walken playing the role of a detective out to solve the murder of the king (?)—a modern Macbeth. Lot’s of dark humor.
Surprise was the “Two-lane Blacktop” film of 1971 that starred singer/songwriter James Taylor. He plays a driver of a hot rod who with his mechanic partner (Dennis Wilson of “The Beach Boys”) scoots across the United States racing for money.
Most moving was “Journey To The Sun” which followed a disenfranchised Turkish youth in Turkey as things go from bad to worse for him within a government which doesn’t like non-conformity. The final passages that involve his taking the body of a Kurdish, rebel friend back to his hometown in Kurdistan for burial build to a wonderfully passionate finish. It’s a message for brotherhood in an unlikely setting.
ENTER CARL SAGAN, GHOSTING UP A PLANETARY VISION
Has anyone actually witnessed one of the planets of our solar system colliding with another planet? But could we come to any more reasonable conclusion than what follows? Although the obvious answers do not always prove true in scientific inquiry, how can we not love and delight in the kind of description that leads to the following conclusions about the nearly circular periods of all the planets of our solar system? This is the predictive power of science which supernatural thinking cannot match.
“Why are planetary orbits nearly circular and neatly separated one from the other? Because if planets had very elliptical orbits, so that their paths intersect, sooner or later there would be a collision. In the early history of the solar system, there were probably many planets in the process of formation. Those with elliptical crossing orbits tended to collide and destroy themselves. Those with circular orbits tended to grow and survive. The orbits of the present planets are the orbits of the survivors of this collisional natural selection, the stable middle age of a solar system dominated by early catastrophic impacts.” (from Sagan’s COSMOS, p. 81
STARDUST MEMORIES MAKES ME THINK OF WOODY AND CARL
"Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter are countless asteroids, tiny terrestrial planets. The largest are a few hundred kilometers across. Many have oblong shapes and are tumbling through space. In some cases there seem to be two or more asteroids in tight mutual orbits. Collisions among the asteroids happen frequently, and occasionally a piece is chipped off and accidentally intercepts the Earth, falling to the ground as a meteorite. In the exhibits, on the shelves of our museums are the fragments of distant worlds. The asteroid belt is a great grinding mill, producing, smaller and smaller pieces down to motes of dust." (Sagan's COSMOS, p. 87)
If this stellar dust has been falling on Earth since time immemorial, then we can understand why some have said we are all made of stardust.
____________________________________________________________
"It's not what we don't know that hurt's, it's what we know that ain't so." —Will Rogers
Here’s some inside news from Scott Ritter on the Randi Rhodes show today (April 13, 2005). Scott Ritter is the Republican, Marine officer, weapons inspector who got it all right about Iraq long before our invasion. Now he’s laying the truth out about Iran.
Mark your calendars for June. The President has already signed off on military plans for a massive bombing attack on Iran.
Even though the Iranians do actually need nuclear power plants for energy purposes (so Pres. Ford and Shaw of Iran agreed many years ago) we will not let them have them. Bolton is in place at the U.N. because he has contempt for the U.N. and will not hesitate to do the nasty deeds Bush will require. Negroponti is in place to feed false intelligence information to Congress and to the American public. Prepare for massive lie bombing of American public to commence about June also.
Mark your calendars for June. Lie to us once, shame on you. Lie to us twice shame on us.
STEVEN PINKER GOT THE “EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES” AWARD
AT ANNUAL FREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION CONVENTION….
Leave it to Steven to clearly state the psychological facts behind the discussion of morality. Religeophils have for too long claimed the high ground when it comes to human value systems, but as we can see, human values arise out of the animal itself and don’t need a supposedly higher power to create a code of ethics. Even a dog has values. He chooses constantly to go to the left or the right, to value one motion above the other. If he didn’t, he’d be frozen in inaction.
“So the bible, contrary to what a majority of Americans apparently be-lieve, is far from a source of higher moral values. Religions have given us stonings [sic], witch-burnings, crusades, in-quisitions, jihads, fatwas, suicide bombers, gay-bashers, abortion-clinic gunmen, and mothers who drown their sons so they can happily be unit-ed in heaven.
“To understand the source of moral values, we don’t have to look to reli-gion. Psychologists have identified uni-versal moral sentiments such as love, compassion, generosity, guilt, shame, and righteous indignation. A belief in spirits and angels need not have any-thing to do with it. And moral philoso-phers such as Peter Singer (one of to-morrow’s honorees) who scrutinize the concept of morality have shown that it [morality] is logically rooted in the inter-changeability of one’s own interests and others. The world’s enduring moral systems capture in some way the notion of the interchangeability of per-spectives and interests, the idea that ‘I am one guy among many’; the golden rule; the categorical imperative; Singer’s own notion of ‘the expanding circle’; John Rawls’s ‘veil of ignorance,’ and so on. A retributive, human-like deity meting out justice doesn’t have a role in our best explanations of the logic of morality.” —Steven Pinker
RECENT MOVIES
This past week (April 10 through 16) I watched “Two-lane Blacktop”, Brazil’s “Carandiru” (a prison movie reminiscent of Attica), “Journey To The Sun” from Turkey (about Kurdish troubles in Turkey) and an American film, “Scotland, PA”, with the ever effervescent, Christopher Walken playing the role of a detective out to solve the murder of the king (?)—a modern Macbeth. Lot’s of dark humor.
Surprise was the “Two-lane Blacktop” film of 1971 that starred singer/songwriter James Taylor. He plays a driver of a hot rod who with his mechanic partner (Dennis Wilson of “The Beach Boys”) scoots across the United States racing for money.
Most moving was “Journey To The Sun” which followed a disenfranchised Turkish youth in Turkey as things go from bad to worse for him within a government which doesn’t like non-conformity. The final passages that involve his taking the body of a Kurdish, rebel friend back to his hometown in Kurdistan for burial build to a wonderfully passionate finish. It’s a message for brotherhood in an unlikely setting.
ENTER CARL SAGAN, GHOSTING UP A PLANETARY VISION
Has anyone actually witnessed one of the planets of our solar system colliding with another planet? But could we come to any more reasonable conclusion than what follows? Although the obvious answers do not always prove true in scientific inquiry, how can we not love and delight in the kind of description that leads to the following conclusions about the nearly circular periods of all the planets of our solar system? This is the predictive power of science which supernatural thinking cannot match.
“Why are planetary orbits nearly circular and neatly separated one from the other? Because if planets had very elliptical orbits, so that their paths intersect, sooner or later there would be a collision. In the early history of the solar system, there were probably many planets in the process of formation. Those with elliptical crossing orbits tended to collide and destroy themselves. Those with circular orbits tended to grow and survive. The orbits of the present planets are the orbits of the survivors of this collisional natural selection, the stable middle age of a solar system dominated by early catastrophic impacts.” (from Sagan’s COSMOS, p. 81
STARDUST MEMORIES MAKES ME THINK OF WOODY AND CARL
"Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter are countless asteroids, tiny terrestrial planets. The largest are a few hundred kilometers across. Many have oblong shapes and are tumbling through space. In some cases there seem to be two or more asteroids in tight mutual orbits. Collisions among the asteroids happen frequently, and occasionally a piece is chipped off and accidentally intercepts the Earth, falling to the ground as a meteorite. In the exhibits, on the shelves of our museums are the fragments of distant worlds. The asteroid belt is a great grinding mill, producing, smaller and smaller pieces down to motes of dust." (Sagan's COSMOS, p. 87)
If this stellar dust has been falling on Earth since time immemorial, then we can understand why some have said we are all made of stardust.
____________________________________________________________
"It's not what we don't know that hurt's, it's what we know that ain't so." —Will Rogers
Monday, April 11, 2005
GOD’S TSUNAMI
 |
| Ehrenreich |
by Barbara Ehrenreich
God Owes Us an Apology
The tsunami of seawater was followed instantly by a tsunami of spittle as the religious sputtered to rationalize God's latest felony. Here we'd been placidly killing each other a few dozen at a time in Iraq, Darfur, Congo, Israel, and Palestine, when along comes the deity and whacks a quarter million in a couple of hours between breakfast and lunch. On CNN, NPR, Fox News, and in newspaper articles too numerous for Nexis to count, men and women of the cloth weighed in solemnly on His existence, His motives, and even His competence to continue as Ruler of Everything. Theodicy, in other words—the attempt to reconcile God's perfect goodness with the manifest evils of His world—has arisen from the waves. On the retro, fundamentalist, side, various men of the cloth announced that the tsunami was the rational act of a deity enraged by (take your pick): the suppression of Christianity in South Asia, pornography and child-trafficking in that same locale, or, in the view of some Muslim commentators, the bikini-clad tourists at Phuket.
On the more liberal end of the theological spectrum, God's spokespeople hastened to stuff their fingers in the dike even as the floodwaters of doubt washed over it. Of course, God exists, seems to be the general consensus. And, of course, He is perfectly good. It's just that his jurisdiction doesn't extend to tectonic plates. Or maybe it does and He tosses us an occasional grenade like this just to see how quickly we can mobilize to clean up the damage. Besides, as the Catholic priests like to remind us, "He's a 'mystery' "—though that's never stopped them from pronouncing His views on abortion with absolute certainty.
The clerics who are struggling to make sense of the tsunami must not have noticed that this is hardly the first display of God's penchant for wanton, homicidal mischief. Leaving out man-made genocide, war, and even those "natural" disasters, like drought and famine, to which "man" invariably contributes through his inept social arrangements, God has a lot to account for in the way of earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and plagues. Nor has He ever shown much discrimination in his choice of victims. A tsunami hit Lisbon in 1755, on All Saints Day, when the good Christians were all in church. The faithful perished, while the denizens of the red light district, which was built on strong stone, simply carried on sinning. Similarly, last fall's hurricanes flattened the God-fearing, Republican parts of Florida while sparing sin-soaked Key West and South Beach. The Christian-style "God of love" should be particularly vulnerable to post-tsunami doubts. What kind of "love" inspired Him to wrest babies from their parents' arms, the better to drown them in a hurry? If He so loves us that He gave his only son etc., why couldn't he have held those tectonic plates in place at least until the kids were off the beach? So much, too, for the current pop-Christian God, who can be found, at least on the Internet, micro-managing people's careers, resolving marital spats, and taking excess pounds off the faithful--this last being Pat Robertson's latest fixation.
If we are responsible for our actions, as most religions insist, then God should be too, and I would propose, post-tsunami, an immediate withdrawal of prayer and other forms of flattery directed at a supposedly moral deity—at least until an apology is issued, such as, for example: "I was so busy with Cindy-in-Omaha's weight-loss program that I wasn't paying attention to the Earth's crust."
It's not just Christianity. Any religion centered on a God who is both all-powerful and all good, including Islam and the more monotheistically inclined versions of Hinduism, should be subject to a thorough post-tsunami evaluation. As many have noted before me: If God cares about our puny species, then disasters prove that he is not all-powerful; and if he is all-powerful, then clearly he doesn't give a damn. In fact, the best way for the religious to fend off the atheist threat might be to revive the old bad—or at least amoral and indifferent—gods. The tortured notion of a God who is both good and powerful is fairly recent, dating to roughly 1200 BC, after which Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam emerged. Before that, you had the feckless Greco-Roman Pantheon, whose members interfered in human events only when their considerable egos were at stake. Or you had monstrous, human-sacrifice-consuming, psycho-gods like Baal and his Central American counterparts. Even earlier, as I pointed out in my book Blood Rites, there were prehistoric god(desses) modeled on man-eating animals like lions, and requiring a steady diet of human or animal sacrificial flesh. The faithful will protest that they don't want to worship a bad—or amoral or indifferent—God, but obviously they already do.
Why not acknowledge what our prehistoric ancestors knew? If the Big Guy or Gal operates in any kind of moral framework, it has nothing to do with the rules we've come up with over the eons as primates attempting to live in groups-- rules like, for example, "no hitting."
Yes, 12/26 was a warning, though not about the hazards of wearing bikinis. What it comes down to is that we're up shit creek here on the planet Earth. We're wide open to asteroid hits, with the latest near-miss coming in October, when a city-sized one passed within a mere million miles of Earth, which is just four times the distance between the Earth and the moon. Then, too, it's only a matter of time before the constant shuffling of viral DNA results in a global pandemic. And 12/26 was a reminder that the planet itself is a jerry-rigged affair, likely to keep belching and lurching. Even leaving out global warming and the possibility of nuclear war, this is not a good situation, in case you hadn't noticed so far.
If there is a God, and He, She, or It had a message for us on 12/26, that message is: Get your act together, folks--your seismic detection systems, your first responders and global mobilization capacity--because no one, and I do mean no One, is coming to medivac us out.
Barbara Ehrenreich is a columnist for The Progressive.
She is the author of "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" and "Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War."
___________________________________________________________
“The only paradise is paradise lost.” —Marcel Proust
Saturday, April 09, 2005
SOME OF CHRISTIANITY’S BIGGEST MYTHS ARE ZOROASTRIAN
First, recall, that the Jews spent considerable time in Persian exile, in Babylonia, and that prior to that time, they did not have ideas of good versus evil or of a Satanic figure which causes evil and etcetera, then read the following:
“The actual mythology of the Persians, on the other hand, was not of Isaiah, but of Zarathustra (Greek, Zoroaster); and since it was to exert considerable influence not only on Judaism, but also on the whole development of Christianity, we shall do well to pause with it a moment before proceeding in our survey to the mythologies of peace.
“The World Creator, according to this view, was Ahura Mazda, a god of truth and light, whose original creation was perfect. However, an opposing evil power of darkness and deception, Angra Mainyu, infused into it evils of all kinds, so that there occurred a general Fall into ignorance and there is in progress now a continuing conflict between the powers of light and of darkness, truth and deception. These, in the Persian view, are not particular to any race or tribe but are cosmic, general powers, and every individual, of whatever race or tribe, must, through his own free will, choose sides and align himself with the powers either of goodness or of evil in this world. If with the former, he will contribute through his thoughts, words, and deeds to the restoration of the universe to perfection; if however, with the latter, to his own great grief in a Hell appropriate to his life.
“As the day of the ultimate world-victory approaches and the powers of darkness make their final desperate stand, there will come a season of general wars and universal catastrophe, after which there will arrive the ultimate savior, Saoshyant. Angra Mainyu and his demons will be utterly undone; the dead will be resurrected in bodies of immaculate light; Hell vanishing, its souls, purified, will be released; and there will follow an eviternity of sheer peace, purity, joy, and perfection—forever.
“According to the view of the ancient Persian kings, it was they who, in a special way, were the representatives on earth of the cause and will of the Lord of Light. And so we find that in the great multiracial and multicultural empire of the Persians—which, in fact, was the first such empire in the history of the world— there was a religiously authorized imperialistic impulse, to the end that, in the name of truth, goodness, and the light, the Persian King of Kings should become the leader of mankind to the restitution of truth. The idea is one that has had a particular appeal to kings and has been taken over, accordingly, by conquering monarchs everywhere. In India the mythic image of the Chakravartin, for example, the universal king, the illumination of whose presence would bring peace and well-being to mankind, is a figure inspired largely by this thought. It is to be recognized in the royal emblems of the first Buddhist monarch, Ashoka, ca. 262—248 a.c. And in China, immediately following the turbulent period known as Chun Kuo, “of the Warring States,” the first ruler of a united empire, Shih Huang Ti (221—207 B.c.), governed, according to his claim, by the mandate of Heaven, under Heaven’s law.
“It is then hardly to be wondered if the enthusiastic Hebrew author of Isaiah 40—55, who was a contemporary of Cyrus the Great and living witness of the Persian restoration to Jerusalem of its people, gives evidence in his prophecies of the influence of Zoroastrian ideas; for example, in the famous passages of Chapter 45: “Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus . . . ‘I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe, I am the Lord, who do all these things.’” It is in these chapters of the so-called Second or Deutero Isaiah that we find the earliest celebrations of Yahweh not simply as the greatest and most powerful god among gods, but as the one God of the universe, in whom not only Jews but also the gentiles are to find salvation: “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!” we read, for instance. “For I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:22). Moreover, whereas the earlier idea of the Messiah of the pre-exilic prophets had been simply of an ideal king on David’s throne, “to uphold it,” as in Isaiah 9:6—7, “with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore”; in the post-exilic period, and particularly in the very late, apocalyptic writings of the Alexandrian age—as, for instance, in the Book of Daniel 7:13-27—there is the notion of one who, at the end of historic time, should be given, over “all peoples, nations, and languages,” “an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away.” And at that time, furthermore, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2).
“There can be no doubt of the influence of Zoroastrian eschatology on such ideas as these of the end of the world and resurrection of the dead. Moreover, in the Essene Dead Sea Scrolls of the last century B.C., the influence of Persian thought is apparent at every turn. Their period itself, in fact, was one of such terrible tumult that the end of the world and coming of the savior Saoshyant might well have been expected by anyone familiar with the old Zoroastrian theme....” (MYTHS TO LIVE BY, Joseph Campbell, pp. 188-190)
These undeniable historical truths reveal just how much Christianity is not some original plan of the Universe cooked up by some sole puppet maker in the sky, but just one tale and piece of the entire mythological range of ideas of the times from which it emerged and by which it was altered and changed again and again. These tales disappear back into prehistory, change upon change, altering with the fortunes of the humans who believed in them. Christianity is a myth just like the other myths which preceded it and which followed it and will follow modern Christianity. For instance, I’d say that any honest man must conclude that the Christians of today are not the least like the Christians of the past and that those early Zoroastrian/Christians would be appalled by the beliefs of modern Christians, even the most evangelical of our modern Bible-beaters. This awareness of its roots being in other more ancient religious traditions alone should undermine any Judeo-Christian belief in some eternal god who lives up in the sky, like some modern day Zeus. Most honest Christians would have to admit by the evidence that they are part Zoroastrian and part Essene and part Christian. Otherwise, they deny their history and the real truths of their Bible tales.
__________________________________________________
“Learning to dislike children at an early age saves a lot of expense and aggravation later in life.” —Robert Byrne
First, recall, that the Jews spent considerable time in Persian exile, in Babylonia, and that prior to that time, they did not have ideas of good versus evil or of a Satanic figure which causes evil and etcetera, then read the following:
“The actual mythology of the Persians, on the other hand, was not of Isaiah, but of Zarathustra (Greek, Zoroaster); and since it was to exert considerable influence not only on Judaism, but also on the whole development of Christianity, we shall do well to pause with it a moment before proceeding in our survey to the mythologies of peace.
“The World Creator, according to this view, was Ahura Mazda, a god of truth and light, whose original creation was perfect. However, an opposing evil power of darkness and deception, Angra Mainyu, infused into it evils of all kinds, so that there occurred a general Fall into ignorance and there is in progress now a continuing conflict between the powers of light and of darkness, truth and deception. These, in the Persian view, are not particular to any race or tribe but are cosmic, general powers, and every individual, of whatever race or tribe, must, through his own free will, choose sides and align himself with the powers either of goodness or of evil in this world. If with the former, he will contribute through his thoughts, words, and deeds to the restoration of the universe to perfection; if however, with the latter, to his own great grief in a Hell appropriate to his life.
“As the day of the ultimate world-victory approaches and the powers of darkness make their final desperate stand, there will come a season of general wars and universal catastrophe, after which there will arrive the ultimate savior, Saoshyant. Angra Mainyu and his demons will be utterly undone; the dead will be resurrected in bodies of immaculate light; Hell vanishing, its souls, purified, will be released; and there will follow an eviternity of sheer peace, purity, joy, and perfection—forever.
“According to the view of the ancient Persian kings, it was they who, in a special way, were the representatives on earth of the cause and will of the Lord of Light. And so we find that in the great multiracial and multicultural empire of the Persians—which, in fact, was the first such empire in the history of the world— there was a religiously authorized imperialistic impulse, to the end that, in the name of truth, goodness, and the light, the Persian King of Kings should become the leader of mankind to the restitution of truth. The idea is one that has had a particular appeal to kings and has been taken over, accordingly, by conquering monarchs everywhere. In India the mythic image of the Chakravartin, for example, the universal king, the illumination of whose presence would bring peace and well-being to mankind, is a figure inspired largely by this thought. It is to be recognized in the royal emblems of the first Buddhist monarch, Ashoka, ca. 262—248 a.c. And in China, immediately following the turbulent period known as Chun Kuo, “of the Warring States,” the first ruler of a united empire, Shih Huang Ti (221—207 B.c.), governed, according to his claim, by the mandate of Heaven, under Heaven’s law.
“It is then hardly to be wondered if the enthusiastic Hebrew author of Isaiah 40—55, who was a contemporary of Cyrus the Great and living witness of the Persian restoration to Jerusalem of its people, gives evidence in his prophecies of the influence of Zoroastrian ideas; for example, in the famous passages of Chapter 45: “Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus . . . ‘I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe, I am the Lord, who do all these things.’” It is in these chapters of the so-called Second or Deutero Isaiah that we find the earliest celebrations of Yahweh not simply as the greatest and most powerful god among gods, but as the one God of the universe, in whom not only Jews but also the gentiles are to find salvation: “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!” we read, for instance. “For I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:22). Moreover, whereas the earlier idea of the Messiah of the pre-exilic prophets had been simply of an ideal king on David’s throne, “to uphold it,” as in Isaiah 9:6—7, “with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore”; in the post-exilic period, and particularly in the very late, apocalyptic writings of the Alexandrian age—as, for instance, in the Book of Daniel 7:13-27—there is the notion of one who, at the end of historic time, should be given, over “all peoples, nations, and languages,” “an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away.” And at that time, furthermore, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2).
“There can be no doubt of the influence of Zoroastrian eschatology on such ideas as these of the end of the world and resurrection of the dead. Moreover, in the Essene Dead Sea Scrolls of the last century B.C., the influence of Persian thought is apparent at every turn. Their period itself, in fact, was one of such terrible tumult that the end of the world and coming of the savior Saoshyant might well have been expected by anyone familiar with the old Zoroastrian theme....” (MYTHS TO LIVE BY, Joseph Campbell, pp. 188-190)
These undeniable historical truths reveal just how much Christianity is not some original plan of the Universe cooked up by some sole puppet maker in the sky, but just one tale and piece of the entire mythological range of ideas of the times from which it emerged and by which it was altered and changed again and again. These tales disappear back into prehistory, change upon change, altering with the fortunes of the humans who believed in them. Christianity is a myth just like the other myths which preceded it and which followed it and will follow modern Christianity. For instance, I’d say that any honest man must conclude that the Christians of today are not the least like the Christians of the past and that those early Zoroastrian/Christians would be appalled by the beliefs of modern Christians, even the most evangelical of our modern Bible-beaters. This awareness of its roots being in other more ancient religious traditions alone should undermine any Judeo-Christian belief in some eternal god who lives up in the sky, like some modern day Zeus. Most honest Christians would have to admit by the evidence that they are part Zoroastrian and part Essene and part Christian. Otherwise, they deny their history and the real truths of their Bible tales.
__________________________________________________
“Learning to dislike children at an early age saves a lot of expense and aggravation later in life.” —Robert Byrne
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
BUSH AND THE HOLY GRAIL
Bush likes to call his deeds in the Holy Land a "Crusade" which just goes to show how far outside of our modern time zone he and his Christian backers in America govern from. And, in another throwback to ancient, superstitious times, Bush likes to think the voice in his head is a god's voice, speaking personally to him and not to the rest of us (that's opposed to Sam's voice which another famous lunatic heard). Frankly I don't hear voices, and when I do, I know myself well enough to know that the voices inside my own skull are the voices of my own thinking which I then take responsibility for. It kind of scares me that Bush doesn't know the difference. Most people with his condition are pretty well sedated, but, then, you can't lead the Republican party under the heavy dose of sedation Bush would require. Can you see what Bush's obvious insanity implies about the Republican Party's leadership that can follow a madman? Makes me think of Nazi Germany.
Actually, the one real situation that Bush is responsible for is the loss of traditional democratic values that allowed American blue collar workers to prosper. Current conditions for the average American seem an awfully lot like the conditions of peasants in the corrupt, medieval, ecclesiastical culture from which grew the tales of Tristan and the search for the Holy Grail in, as Campbell says it, "a land torn between honor and love." Bush holds up all the duty and honor braggadocio, with a lot of church mixed unconstitutionally in, while those of us who are real people hold up the troubadour's painful love end. What we Americans (those who are still sane) really have beneath our loamy feet is a land owned and operated by BIG BUSINESS CHURCH just as in Tristan's time it was owned and operated by BIG MOTHER CHURCH...
Joseph Campbell, unbeknownst to himself, has described America's current corrupt condition under Bush's Republican leadership in yet another passage from (MYTHS TO LIVE BY, p. 167): "Every natural impulse in that period of ecclesiastical despotism was branded as corrupt, with the only recognized means of 'redemption' vested in sacraments administered by authorities who were themselves indeed corrupt. People were forced to profess and live by beliefs they did not always actually hold. The imposed moral order held precedence over the claims of both truth and love. The pains of Hell were illustrated on earth in the torture of adulteresses, heretics, and other villains, torn apart or set afire in public squares. And all hope of anything better was pitched high aloft to that celestial estate of which Gottfried spoke with such scorn, where those who could bear neither grief nor desire were to be bathed in a bliss everlasting."
SATAN SO LOVED HIS GOD THAT HE WENT TO HELL FOR LOVE
Joseph Campbell relates a marvelous Persian tale about a Satan (probably the idea of Satan which the Habiru borrowed for their own mythology) who so loved his god that he couldn't obey god's command to bow down in worship to the humans he'd created. Thus, Satan goes to hell for loving god too much. Now there's a real puritanical twist on love for you.
Read it and weep. (MYTHS TO LIVE BY, pp. 152-153):
"One of the most amazing images of love that I know is Persian—a mystical Persian representation of Satan as the most loyal lover of God. You will have heard the old legend of how, when God created the angels, he commanded them to pay worship to no one but himself; but then, creating man, he commanded them to bow in reverence to this most noble of his works, and Lucifer refused because, we are told, of his pride. However, according to this Moslem reading of his case, it was rather because he loved and adored God so deeply and intensely that he could not bring himself to bow before anything else. And it was for that that he was flung into Hell, condemned to exist there forever, apart from his love.
"Now it has been said that of all the pains of Hell, the worst is neither fire nor stench but the deprivation forever of the beatific sight of God. How infinitely painful, then, must the exile of this great lover be, who could not bring himself, even on God’s own word, to bow before any other being!
"The Persian poets have asked, 'By what power is Satan sustained?' And the answer that they have found is this: 'By his memory of the sound of God’s voice when he said, ‘Be gone!’ What an image of that exquisite spiritual agony which is at once the rapture and the anguish of love!
Another lesson from Persia is in the life and words of the great Sufi mystic Hallaj, who in the year 922 was tortured and crucified for having declared that he and his Beloved—namely God—were one. He had compared his love for God with that of the moth for the flame. The moth plays about the lighted lamp till dawn, and, returning with battered wings to its friends, tells of the beautiful thing it found; then, desiring to be joined to it entirely, flying into the flame the next night, becomes one with it."
As an atheist and writer, I can't tell you how appealing and satisfying I find that mythological tale to be. The writers who most influenced me in my youth were the more mysterious writers, the ones who were less meat and potatoes and more symbolic, existentialist or absurdist—anything but straight forward narrativists (ps: I think I made up a perfectly nice word there). So though I now find most superstition abhorrent, I can still partake of the magic of imaginative writing with an open heart. Also, by reading this tale and knowing that it is made up and not of the Bible, I can add one more link to the proofs that most of the Bible is made up too. There, in Persia, the Bible myths lived also, in the imaginations of humankind outside the Bible.
DON'T MISS THIS SHOW
"Bush's Brain: A Documentary About Karl Rove"
"'Bush's Brain' has been cracked open and exposed for the world to see. we
learn that Rove had his eye on the White House long before Bush ever did."
—Christy Lemire, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
"Karl Rove. Hard to find a more compelling documentary subject: the
Svengaliesque, ruthless, remorseless, cold-blooded but brilliant political
puppet master whom many credit with masterminding not only George W.'s
improbable ascent to the governorship—and, even more improbably, to the
presidency—but also with the end of bipartisan government itself." —Anne
S. Lewis, AUSTIN CHRONICLE
"BUSH'S BRAIN—is sure to be one of the most explosive documentaries about
American politics in a decade." —Nancy Shafer, TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change
the world: indeed it's the only thing that ever has." —Margaret Mead, Anthropologist
Bush likes to call his deeds in the Holy Land a "Crusade" which just goes to show how far outside of our modern time zone he and his Christian backers in America govern from. And, in another throwback to ancient, superstitious times, Bush likes to think the voice in his head is a god's voice, speaking personally to him and not to the rest of us (that's opposed to Sam's voice which another famous lunatic heard). Frankly I don't hear voices, and when I do, I know myself well enough to know that the voices inside my own skull are the voices of my own thinking which I then take responsibility for. It kind of scares me that Bush doesn't know the difference. Most people with his condition are pretty well sedated, but, then, you can't lead the Republican party under the heavy dose of sedation Bush would require. Can you see what Bush's obvious insanity implies about the Republican Party's leadership that can follow a madman? Makes me think of Nazi Germany.
Actually, the one real situation that Bush is responsible for is the loss of traditional democratic values that allowed American blue collar workers to prosper. Current conditions for the average American seem an awfully lot like the conditions of peasants in the corrupt, medieval, ecclesiastical culture from which grew the tales of Tristan and the search for the Holy Grail in, as Campbell says it, "a land torn between honor and love." Bush holds up all the duty and honor braggadocio, with a lot of church mixed unconstitutionally in, while those of us who are real people hold up the troubadour's painful love end. What we Americans (those who are still sane) really have beneath our loamy feet is a land owned and operated by BIG BUSINESS CHURCH just as in Tristan's time it was owned and operated by BIG MOTHER CHURCH...
Joseph Campbell, unbeknownst to himself, has described America's current corrupt condition under Bush's Republican leadership in yet another passage from (MYTHS TO LIVE BY, p. 167): "Every natural impulse in that period of ecclesiastical despotism was branded as corrupt, with the only recognized means of 'redemption' vested in sacraments administered by authorities who were themselves indeed corrupt. People were forced to profess and live by beliefs they did not always actually hold. The imposed moral order held precedence over the claims of both truth and love. The pains of Hell were illustrated on earth in the torture of adulteresses, heretics, and other villains, torn apart or set afire in public squares. And all hope of anything better was pitched high aloft to that celestial estate of which Gottfried spoke with such scorn, where those who could bear neither grief nor desire were to be bathed in a bliss everlasting."
SATAN SO LOVED HIS GOD THAT HE WENT TO HELL FOR LOVE
Joseph Campbell relates a marvelous Persian tale about a Satan (probably the idea of Satan which the Habiru borrowed for their own mythology) who so loved his god that he couldn't obey god's command to bow down in worship to the humans he'd created. Thus, Satan goes to hell for loving god too much. Now there's a real puritanical twist on love for you.
Read it and weep. (MYTHS TO LIVE BY, pp. 152-153):
"One of the most amazing images of love that I know is Persian—a mystical Persian representation of Satan as the most loyal lover of God. You will have heard the old legend of how, when God created the angels, he commanded them to pay worship to no one but himself; but then, creating man, he commanded them to bow in reverence to this most noble of his works, and Lucifer refused because, we are told, of his pride. However, according to this Moslem reading of his case, it was rather because he loved and adored God so deeply and intensely that he could not bring himself to bow before anything else. And it was for that that he was flung into Hell, condemned to exist there forever, apart from his love.
"Now it has been said that of all the pains of Hell, the worst is neither fire nor stench but the deprivation forever of the beatific sight of God. How infinitely painful, then, must the exile of this great lover be, who could not bring himself, even on God’s own word, to bow before any other being!
"The Persian poets have asked, 'By what power is Satan sustained?' And the answer that they have found is this: 'By his memory of the sound of God’s voice when he said, ‘Be gone!’ What an image of that exquisite spiritual agony which is at once the rapture and the anguish of love!
Another lesson from Persia is in the life and words of the great Sufi mystic Hallaj, who in the year 922 was tortured and crucified for having declared that he and his Beloved—namely God—were one. He had compared his love for God with that of the moth for the flame. The moth plays about the lighted lamp till dawn, and, returning with battered wings to its friends, tells of the beautiful thing it found; then, desiring to be joined to it entirely, flying into the flame the next night, becomes one with it."
As an atheist and writer, I can't tell you how appealing and satisfying I find that mythological tale to be. The writers who most influenced me in my youth were the more mysterious writers, the ones who were less meat and potatoes and more symbolic, existentialist or absurdist—anything but straight forward narrativists (ps: I think I made up a perfectly nice word there). So though I now find most superstition abhorrent, I can still partake of the magic of imaginative writing with an open heart. Also, by reading this tale and knowing that it is made up and not of the Bible, I can add one more link to the proofs that most of the Bible is made up too. There, in Persia, the Bible myths lived also, in the imaginations of humankind outside the Bible.
DON'T MISS THIS SHOW
"Bush's Brain: A Documentary About Karl Rove"
"'Bush's Brain' has been cracked open and exposed for the world to see. we
learn that Rove had his eye on the White House long before Bush ever did."
—Christy Lemire, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
"Karl Rove. Hard to find a more compelling documentary subject: the
Svengaliesque, ruthless, remorseless, cold-blooded but brilliant political
puppet master whom many credit with masterminding not only George W.'s
improbable ascent to the governorship—and, even more improbably, to the
presidency—but also with the end of bipartisan government itself." —Anne
S. Lewis, AUSTIN CHRONICLE
"BUSH'S BRAIN—is sure to be one of the most explosive documentaries about
American politics in a decade." —Nancy Shafer, TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change
the world: indeed it's the only thing that ever has." —Margaret Mead, Anthropologist
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
FARMER/RANCHER SUICIDAL BOO HOOS CAUSED BY LOSS OF MOO MOO MOOLA
Thanks to Cliff “Ahem” Smith for the information which informs the following tale of mud and guts.
Eric Schlosser reports in his book, FAST FOOD NATION, that the nation’s fast food empires like McDonald’s are one more of the pressures destroying family farms and ranches by helping to grow agribusiness. “Small towns are now being turned into rural ghettos. The USA now has more prison inmates than full-time farmers.” Whether or not the loss of family farms is the cause, Schlosser says, “The suicide rate among ranchers and farmers in the USA is now about 3 times higher than the national average.” Now, now, now, Schlosser, don’t get carried away.
Not to be unkind, but some of that rural suicide rate, if you ask me, is because farmers and ranchers continue to live in the world that George Bush paints as real, refusing to modernize their thinking. They voted for him (and against themselves) because they bought the idea that he still believes in 19th century America. Bush saws them in half by pretending he cares about the little guy while doing everything in his power to make the average working stiff totally subservient to Bush’s big business buddies. Bush plays them like fish in a barrel, running them around the edges of their cage and teasing them into his net. Whack, off go their heads, and he guts them. Their guts spilled out on tables, they’re ready to die. Come on, rural America, if you follow that Pied Piper, you’ll die with the rats. If you follow the evangelist, he’ll chum you like so much fish guts. The following poem is about sucker bait. I wrote it years ago as I left my foolish past behind.
THE EVANGELIST
resisting
his way to surface
air alive with death
chopping block
offering of flesh cut open
the cleaver
aimed to just behind the gills
mouth
works a silent something
from water
to unfamiliar air
hooked
brought gasping chopped and cut
his song of water in the guts
spills out
guts
returned as chum slick on the water
one eye staring glazes up
by George
EARLY SUPPORT FOR THE EXISTENCE OF THE SOUL (i.e. BEFORE REAL SCIENCE)
Speaking of a gut full of pain—Steven Pinker discusses why some people have way too much soul and not enough sense. In his talk before the membership of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (October 29, 2004), Pinker explained some of the conclusions that people might have reasoned to by pure supposition, given the state of science in the earlier days of the human race. Steven Pinker is a scientist and author of several important books in neuroscience, including his most recent, The Blank Slate: The modern denial of human nature. The following is excerpted from Steven Pinker’s talk at the annual convention of the Freedom From Religion Foundation:
“In fact, the l9th-century anthropol-ogist Edward Tyler pointed out that in some ways, there is good empirical support for the existence of the soul, or at least there used to be, until the fairly recent advent of neuroscience, which provides an alternative explanation for how minds work. Think about dreams. When you dream, your body is in bed the whole time, but some part of you seems to be up and about in the world. The same thing happens when you're in a trance from a fever, a hallucinogenic drug, sleep deprivation, or food poisoning.
“Shadows and reflections are rather mysterious, or were until the develop-ment of the physics of light with its explanation of those phenomena. But they appear to have the form and essence of the person but without any of their actual matter.
“Death, of course, is the ultimate apparent evidence for the existence of the soul. A person may walking around and seeing and hearing one minute and the next minute be an inert and lifeless body, perhaps without any visible change. It would seem that some animating entity that was housed in the body has suddenly escaped from it.
“So before the advent of modern physics, biology and specially neuroscience, a plausible explanation of these phenomena is that the soul wan-ders off when we sleep, lurks in the shadows, looks back at us from a surface of a pond, and leaves the body when we die.”
Some people are still stuck way back then.
ETHICS PUT OFF AS DELAY AND DELAY TRIES TO SAVE CROOKED DELAY
Speaking of a real Bushman evangelist with the accompanying set of morals:
“The House majority leader, Tom DeLay, is facing new ethical questions after the disclosure that a timely infusion of gambling-lobby money helped underwrite a golf junket to Scotland in 2000. Intrigued taxpayers should expect no investigation, however, because Speaker Dennis Hastert stripped the House ethics committee of power this year in a blatant move to shield Mr. DeLay from scrutiny.”
You didn’t expect these guys who went after Clinton no holds barred to be honest themselves did you? Here's the whole story.
Thanks to Cliff “Ahem” Smith for the information which informs the following tale of mud and guts.
Eric Schlosser reports in his book, FAST FOOD NATION, that the nation’s fast food empires like McDonald’s are one more of the pressures destroying family farms and ranches by helping to grow agribusiness. “Small towns are now being turned into rural ghettos. The USA now has more prison inmates than full-time farmers.” Whether or not the loss of family farms is the cause, Schlosser says, “The suicide rate among ranchers and farmers in the USA is now about 3 times higher than the national average.” Now, now, now, Schlosser, don’t get carried away.
Not to be unkind, but some of that rural suicide rate, if you ask me, is because farmers and ranchers continue to live in the world that George Bush paints as real, refusing to modernize their thinking. They voted for him (and against themselves) because they bought the idea that he still believes in 19th century America. Bush saws them in half by pretending he cares about the little guy while doing everything in his power to make the average working stiff totally subservient to Bush’s big business buddies. Bush plays them like fish in a barrel, running them around the edges of their cage and teasing them into his net. Whack, off go their heads, and he guts them. Their guts spilled out on tables, they’re ready to die. Come on, rural America, if you follow that Pied Piper, you’ll die with the rats. If you follow the evangelist, he’ll chum you like so much fish guts. The following poem is about sucker bait. I wrote it years ago as I left my foolish past behind.
THE EVANGELIST
resisting
his way to surface
air alive with death
chopping block
offering of flesh cut open
the cleaver
aimed to just behind the gills
mouth
works a silent something
from water
to unfamiliar air
hooked
brought gasping chopped and cut
his song of water in the guts
spills out
guts
returned as chum slick on the water
one eye staring glazes up
by George
EARLY SUPPORT FOR THE EXISTENCE OF THE SOUL (i.e. BEFORE REAL SCIENCE)
Speaking of a gut full of pain—Steven Pinker discusses why some people have way too much soul and not enough sense. In his talk before the membership of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (October 29, 2004), Pinker explained some of the conclusions that people might have reasoned to by pure supposition, given the state of science in the earlier days of the human race. Steven Pinker is a scientist and author of several important books in neuroscience, including his most recent, The Blank Slate: The modern denial of human nature. The following is excerpted from Steven Pinker’s talk at the annual convention of the Freedom From Religion Foundation:
“In fact, the l9th-century anthropol-ogist Edward Tyler pointed out that in some ways, there is good empirical support for the existence of the soul, or at least there used to be, until the fairly recent advent of neuroscience, which provides an alternative explanation for how minds work. Think about dreams. When you dream, your body is in bed the whole time, but some part of you seems to be up and about in the world. The same thing happens when you're in a trance from a fever, a hallucinogenic drug, sleep deprivation, or food poisoning.
“Shadows and reflections are rather mysterious, or were until the develop-ment of the physics of light with its explanation of those phenomena. But they appear to have the form and essence of the person but without any of their actual matter.
“Death, of course, is the ultimate apparent evidence for the existence of the soul. A person may walking around and seeing and hearing one minute and the next minute be an inert and lifeless body, perhaps without any visible change. It would seem that some animating entity that was housed in the body has suddenly escaped from it.
“So before the advent of modern physics, biology and specially neuroscience, a plausible explanation of these phenomena is that the soul wan-ders off when we sleep, lurks in the shadows, looks back at us from a surface of a pond, and leaves the body when we die.”
Some people are still stuck way back then.
ETHICS PUT OFF AS DELAY AND DELAY TRIES TO SAVE CROOKED DELAY
Speaking of a real Bushman evangelist with the accompanying set of morals:
“The House majority leader, Tom DeLay, is facing new ethical questions after the disclosure that a timely infusion of gambling-lobby money helped underwrite a golf junket to Scotland in 2000. Intrigued taxpayers should expect no investigation, however, because Speaker Dennis Hastert stripped the House ethics committee of power this year in a blatant move to shield Mr. DeLay from scrutiny.”
You didn’t expect these guys who went after Clinton no holds barred to be honest themselves did you? Here's the whole story.
Monday, April 04, 2005
LET’S NOT BLESS THE POPE EVEN THOUGH HE NEEDS IT
The following is a press release by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, telling it as it is about the Pope. I gave him the credit for finally admitting the church was wrong about Galileo and, more importantly, for his accepting the facts about natural selection. His acceptance of natural selection is even more important because we know that he had to have carefully done his research before giving the go ahead to evolution. Which means that many many Catholic scientists must have contributed to his decision. That means a lot of Catholics will have to listen more closely to the science of the modern world.
FFRF News Release
April 4, 2005
Setting the Record Straight: The Pope Has No Vestments
The public is being treated to fawning eulogies, blow-by-blow descriptions of Catholic rites and rituals, and uncritical propaganda following the April 2 death of the pope.
Has there ever been anything like this media adulation? Whole front news sections were devoted yesterday to "His Holiness," as if the whole world were Catholic. It is hard to imagine the death of any world leader summoning the same kind of uncritical coverage, with the possible exception of an assassinated U.S. President. Former Pres. Reagan's death last summer certainly rated nothing like this.
Pope John Paul II: Superstar? He might have been called a great leader . . . if he had lived in the fifth century, as Catholic renegade Frances Kissling likes to quip. This pope always had at least one foot in the Dark Ages.
If one adds up the good versus the evil committed by the pope, there is no question he has done far more harm than good. The pope, given his visibility, had the power to transform the world for the better. But he chose instead to reiterate cruel medieval cant. With a few words, he could have moved the world forward, revoking the senseless Church doctrine against the use of contraception, abortion and sterilization that causes such acute misery, overpopulation and degradation of humanity.
Had he lifted even just the ban on the use of condoms to prevent transmission of AIDS, think of the tragedies that could have been spared! He didn't just want to ram church doctrine down the throats of reluctant members of his own congregation, but upon the rest of us. Sure, he finally admitted Galileo should not have been condemned by the Church—some 350 years too late. The pope is being given great credit for international diplomacy, while it is being forgotten he put the kibosh on "liberation theology...." True, he opposed capital punishment as most freethinkers do. But think of the capital punishment, the slaughters, the witch-burnings, purges, tortures and inquisitions committed by the Roman Catholic Church and its followers throughout history.
Examine just a sampling of his patriarchal legacy.
Abortion. Over and over, the Pope has mercilessly condemned legal abortion, even in cases of rape or to save the pregnant woman's life. He and his church lobby in this country (tax-free) and worldwide to overturn abortion where it is legal, and to keep it back-alley where it is not, contributing to the unnecessary deaths of thousands of women every year and the despair of their families.
A Catholic war is being waged against reproductive rights, as exemplified by the Catholic interference in Nicaragua two years ago when authorities attempted to stop a 9 year old rape victim from having an abortion.
Abortion, the pope said, is always a "crime," which he compared to the Nazi Holocaust. The Catholic Church would turn the clock back worldwide if it had its way. Its dedication to halting choice for women poses an imminent threat to the health and lives of half the world's human inhabitants.
Contraception. You would think those who oppose abortion would be the first to promote responsible use of contraception to avoid unwanted conception. But that would require thinking instead of pontificating. In the United States, the Bush Administration is now insidiously doing business with the Catholic Church in some of its insurance plans offered to federal workers, whereby workers opt out of the right to any reproductive healthcare that is against the policies of the Catholic Church. Imagine if church doctrine were the rule of law for all! It would be worse than
Margaret Atwood's vision of theocracy in The HANDMAID’S TALE.
Sterilization. Sterilization is one of the most popular methods of birth control in the United States. Yet it is still hard to obtain in many parts of the country that are served only by Catholic hospitals or in which public hospitals have entered into unethical partnerships with Catholic institutions.
Gay rights and gay marriage. In 2003, the Vatican launched a vicious global campaign against civil recognition of gay unions. The Pope, in his 12-page July 2003 guidelines, referred to gay rights as the "new ideology of evil," and said it would do "violence" to allow a gay couple to adopt. This head of a sect which has engaged in conspiracy and collusion to shield predator priests accused of pedophilia, dared to call homosexuality a "grave depravity," and said that it is gays who are in need of psychiatric treatment. He ordered Catholic politicians to oppose any legal recognition of "homosexual unions."
Church sex scandal. This pope, who was incessantly publishing lengthy scribes and books, strangely issued only one real statement on the scandal of predator priests, a short homily on April 23, 2002. He indicated the Church's continued belief in "salvation" and "forgiveness" as the way to treat priestly pedophilia and said, breathtakingly, of criminal priests: "A great work of art may be blemished, but its beauty remains." The Vatican had previously issued secret rules ordering that accused priests be tried in secret church courts overseen from Rome, without
advising whether civil authorities should be informed if a priest was found guilty. The Vatican continually deflects blame from the church by mis-equating homosexuality with pedophilia.
Spiritual extortion. The Vatican stranglehold over Catholics greatly increased under John Paul's sway. The Vatican recently told Catholic politicians worldwide that they may not vote contrary to any Catholic dogma, such as for abortion, for death with dignity or for gay rights. Some US bishops have told Catholic politicians they will be denied communion if they vote against papal line. This power grab is a menace to American civil liberties, since Roman Catholicism is the single largest U.S. denomination, and Catholics dominate Congress and many state houses.
Women's rights. Year after tiresome year since 1978, the Pope has told women that men only are made in the image of Christ and women were made to be breeders. Despite a shortage of priests, women may not become priests, and are such polluters of piety that male priests may not marry them. The media universally have treated these demeaning bromides as significant "news." Even now, as men in skirts plot the course of the church, where is the outrage by media, not to mention Catholic women, over the church's "male only" doctrines and other papal bull?
Divorce. Still not allowed, however ignored by the faithful in the parts of the world lucky enough not to be under Catholic dictates over civil law.
Stem cell research. Evil--even though the only hope of medical breakthroughs to help people (such as the Pope) suffering from ailments such as Parkinson's disease, is via such research. Ironically, the World's Number One Celibate also condemned in vitro fertilization, at the same time condemning married couples who decide to stay childfree.
Death with dignity. That, too is an official "crime." The Pope himself was spared the kind of slow death or endless limbo he wished upon people such asTerri Schiavo. Just last year (in a speech before the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, March 20, 2004), the pope proclaimed that feeding tubes should never be removed, regardless of hope of recovery or the patient's wishes. Food and water, he said, must be forced upon terminal or hopeless cases. Just a few weeks ago, he had the temerity to label as "murderers" those who sought to remove Schiavo's feeding tube. The Pope lucked out, and died—before he could become a victim of his own pronunciamento.
The pope's reversal of hundreds of years of church doctrine on dying places at jeopardy our rights. Might the rest of us be denied our last wishes by Catholic healthcare providers—or by institutions or politicians fearful of challenging the power of the Catholic Church?
How will our civilization ever advance when the media and politicians. . . insist on whitewashing history and revering a frontispiece for one of the planet's most regressive, despotic, corrupt, autocratic, undemocratic, inegalitarian and superstitious religions?
The best to be said about Pope John Paul II is that his successor will likely be worse.
Pray, n. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled on behalf of a single practitioner confessedly unworthy. —Ambrose Bierce
................................................................
This E-News is courtesy of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, PO Box 750, Madison WI 53701.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national association of freethinkers (atheists and agnostics) working to keep church and state separate since 1978. For more information, go to this place.
The following is a press release by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, telling it as it is about the Pope. I gave him the credit for finally admitting the church was wrong about Galileo and, more importantly, for his accepting the facts about natural selection. His acceptance of natural selection is even more important because we know that he had to have carefully done his research before giving the go ahead to evolution. Which means that many many Catholic scientists must have contributed to his decision. That means a lot of Catholics will have to listen more closely to the science of the modern world.
FFRF News Release
April 4, 2005
Setting the Record Straight: The Pope Has No Vestments
The public is being treated to fawning eulogies, blow-by-blow descriptions of Catholic rites and rituals, and uncritical propaganda following the April 2 death of the pope.
Has there ever been anything like this media adulation? Whole front news sections were devoted yesterday to "His Holiness," as if the whole world were Catholic. It is hard to imagine the death of any world leader summoning the same kind of uncritical coverage, with the possible exception of an assassinated U.S. President. Former Pres. Reagan's death last summer certainly rated nothing like this.
Pope John Paul II: Superstar? He might have been called a great leader . . . if he had lived in the fifth century, as Catholic renegade Frances Kissling likes to quip. This pope always had at least one foot in the Dark Ages.
If one adds up the good versus the evil committed by the pope, there is no question he has done far more harm than good. The pope, given his visibility, had the power to transform the world for the better. But he chose instead to reiterate cruel medieval cant. With a few words, he could have moved the world forward, revoking the senseless Church doctrine against the use of contraception, abortion and sterilization that causes such acute misery, overpopulation and degradation of humanity.
Had he lifted even just the ban on the use of condoms to prevent transmission of AIDS, think of the tragedies that could have been spared! He didn't just want to ram church doctrine down the throats of reluctant members of his own congregation, but upon the rest of us. Sure, he finally admitted Galileo should not have been condemned by the Church—some 350 years too late. The pope is being given great credit for international diplomacy, while it is being forgotten he put the kibosh on "liberation theology...." True, he opposed capital punishment as most freethinkers do. But think of the capital punishment, the slaughters, the witch-burnings, purges, tortures and inquisitions committed by the Roman Catholic Church and its followers throughout history.
Examine just a sampling of his patriarchal legacy.
Abortion. Over and over, the Pope has mercilessly condemned legal abortion, even in cases of rape or to save the pregnant woman's life. He and his church lobby in this country (tax-free) and worldwide to overturn abortion where it is legal, and to keep it back-alley where it is not, contributing to the unnecessary deaths of thousands of women every year and the despair of their families.
A Catholic war is being waged against reproductive rights, as exemplified by the Catholic interference in Nicaragua two years ago when authorities attempted to stop a 9 year old rape victim from having an abortion.
Abortion, the pope said, is always a "crime," which he compared to the Nazi Holocaust. The Catholic Church would turn the clock back worldwide if it had its way. Its dedication to halting choice for women poses an imminent threat to the health and lives of half the world's human inhabitants.
Contraception. You would think those who oppose abortion would be the first to promote responsible use of contraception to avoid unwanted conception. But that would require thinking instead of pontificating. In the United States, the Bush Administration is now insidiously doing business with the Catholic Church in some of its insurance plans offered to federal workers, whereby workers opt out of the right to any reproductive healthcare that is against the policies of the Catholic Church. Imagine if church doctrine were the rule of law for all! It would be worse than
Margaret Atwood's vision of theocracy in The HANDMAID’S TALE.
Sterilization. Sterilization is one of the most popular methods of birth control in the United States. Yet it is still hard to obtain in many parts of the country that are served only by Catholic hospitals or in which public hospitals have entered into unethical partnerships with Catholic institutions.
Gay rights and gay marriage. In 2003, the Vatican launched a vicious global campaign against civil recognition of gay unions. The Pope, in his 12-page July 2003 guidelines, referred to gay rights as the "new ideology of evil," and said it would do "violence" to allow a gay couple to adopt. This head of a sect which has engaged in conspiracy and collusion to shield predator priests accused of pedophilia, dared to call homosexuality a "grave depravity," and said that it is gays who are in need of psychiatric treatment. He ordered Catholic politicians to oppose any legal recognition of "homosexual unions."
Church sex scandal. This pope, who was incessantly publishing lengthy scribes and books, strangely issued only one real statement on the scandal of predator priests, a short homily on April 23, 2002. He indicated the Church's continued belief in "salvation" and "forgiveness" as the way to treat priestly pedophilia and said, breathtakingly, of criminal priests: "A great work of art may be blemished, but its beauty remains." The Vatican had previously issued secret rules ordering that accused priests be tried in secret church courts overseen from Rome, without
advising whether civil authorities should be informed if a priest was found guilty. The Vatican continually deflects blame from the church by mis-equating homosexuality with pedophilia.
Spiritual extortion. The Vatican stranglehold over Catholics greatly increased under John Paul's sway. The Vatican recently told Catholic politicians worldwide that they may not vote contrary to any Catholic dogma, such as for abortion, for death with dignity or for gay rights. Some US bishops have told Catholic politicians they will be denied communion if they vote against papal line. This power grab is a menace to American civil liberties, since Roman Catholicism is the single largest U.S. denomination, and Catholics dominate Congress and many state houses.
Women's rights. Year after tiresome year since 1978, the Pope has told women that men only are made in the image of Christ and women were made to be breeders. Despite a shortage of priests, women may not become priests, and are such polluters of piety that male priests may not marry them. The media universally have treated these demeaning bromides as significant "news." Even now, as men in skirts plot the course of the church, where is the outrage by media, not to mention Catholic women, over the church's "male only" doctrines and other papal bull?
Divorce. Still not allowed, however ignored by the faithful in the parts of the world lucky enough not to be under Catholic dictates over civil law.
Stem cell research. Evil--even though the only hope of medical breakthroughs to help people (such as the Pope) suffering from ailments such as Parkinson's disease, is via such research. Ironically, the World's Number One Celibate also condemned in vitro fertilization, at the same time condemning married couples who decide to stay childfree.
Death with dignity. That, too is an official "crime." The Pope himself was spared the kind of slow death or endless limbo he wished upon people such asTerri Schiavo. Just last year (in a speech before the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, March 20, 2004), the pope proclaimed that feeding tubes should never be removed, regardless of hope of recovery or the patient's wishes. Food and water, he said, must be forced upon terminal or hopeless cases. Just a few weeks ago, he had the temerity to label as "murderers" those who sought to remove Schiavo's feeding tube. The Pope lucked out, and died—before he could become a victim of his own pronunciamento.
The pope's reversal of hundreds of years of church doctrine on dying places at jeopardy our rights. Might the rest of us be denied our last wishes by Catholic healthcare providers—or by institutions or politicians fearful of challenging the power of the Catholic Church?
How will our civilization ever advance when the media and politicians. . . insist on whitewashing history and revering a frontispiece for one of the planet's most regressive, despotic, corrupt, autocratic, undemocratic, inegalitarian and superstitious religions?
The best to be said about Pope John Paul II is that his successor will likely be worse.
Pray, n. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled on behalf of a single practitioner confessedly unworthy. —Ambrose Bierce
................................................................
This E-News is courtesy of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, PO Box 750, Madison WI 53701.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national association of freethinkers (atheists and agnostics) working to keep church and state separate since 1978. For more information, go to this place.
Friday, April 01, 2005
TOM DELAY IS A LOUSY TEXAS CROOK
I think it should be noted that Delay, like LBJ and Bushes Jr. and Sr., is from Texas. Texas is not the sort of state where democratic principles are a guiding light. Just because the southwestern states were slow to come into the union doesn’t give them license to ignore democracy, start wars and dream of empire. We need to get a president from the northeast U.S. Up there, they've been practicing the art of democracy far longer than these western boys. They’ve got a nack for it.
All the information following is quoted directly from information supplied by the DNC:
Meet Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), the man Republicans have chosen as their Majority Leader in the House of Representatives.
Tom DeLay is at the center of a bewildering array of investigations into corruption, abuse of power, and ethics violations.
As the courts and committees investigate DeLay's misdeeds and hand down indictments, keeping track of all the scandals can be a full-time job. So we thought it would helpful to offer folks this quick and easy guide.
The Westar Scandal
In 2002, executives at Kansas energy company Westar wrote a memo outlining how they could purchase a "seat at the table" with $56,500 in contributions to political committees associated with Tom DeLay and the GOP. DeLay was later admonished by the House Ethics Committee for creating the appearance of impropriety.
The House Medicare Vote Bribery Scandal
Tom DeLay and the Republican leadership kept open the vote for the Medicare bill for three hours -- long past the 15 minutes specified in House procedures -- in order to pressure Republicans to vote for the bill. Rep. Nick Smith (R-MI) said GOP leaders offered "bribes and special deals," leading to an investigation by the Ethics Committee, which admonished DeLay.
The Texas Redistricting Scandal
When DeLay and his fellow Republicans were redrawing the Congressional districts in Texas to push Democrats out of the House, he used the Federal Aviation Administration to try and track a plane containing Democratic state legislators. The House Ethics Committee investigated DeLay's actions and once again admonished him.
The K Street Scandal
Tom DeLay has pushed lobbying firms to deny jobs to Democrats, and hire only Republicans, resulting in another Ethics Committee admonishment for inappropriately pushing a lobbying firm to hire a former GOP congressman. DeLay has pressured GOP lobbyists to make contributions to Republican candidates and the RNC.
The TRMPAC Scandal
In Texas, it's illegal for corporations to make donations to fund political campaigns. So Tom DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee (TRMPAC) took $190,000 in corporate contributions and funneled them to the RNC, which then donated exactly $190,000 to TRMPAC-supported candidates. DeLay and TRMPAC are currently under investigation by a grand jury.
The Travel Scandal
An investigation by the Justice Department showed that Tom DeLay accepted a trip financed by the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council, breaking House rules that prohibit accepting travel expenses from "a registered lobbyist or agent of a foreign principal."
The Ethics Committee Scandal
Knowing that he faced investigation for a growing pile of scandals, Tom DeLay and the GOP House leadership purged the Ethics Committee of Republicans -- including Chairman Joel Hefley (R-CO) -- who weren't willing to overlook charges against DeLay, replacing them with members loyal to the leadership. They then changed the Committee rules to make it more difficult to begin investigations. Democrats on the Committee have refused to take any action in protest until the rules are restored.
===================================================
“Speech was given to man to enable him to conceal his thoughts.” —Malagriada, S.J.
I think it should be noted that Delay, like LBJ and Bushes Jr. and Sr., is from Texas. Texas is not the sort of state where democratic principles are a guiding light. Just because the southwestern states were slow to come into the union doesn’t give them license to ignore democracy, start wars and dream of empire. We need to get a president from the northeast U.S. Up there, they've been practicing the art of democracy far longer than these western boys. They’ve got a nack for it.
All the information following is quoted directly from information supplied by the DNC:
Meet Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), the man Republicans have chosen as their Majority Leader in the House of Representatives.
Tom DeLay is at the center of a bewildering array of investigations into corruption, abuse of power, and ethics violations.
As the courts and committees investigate DeLay's misdeeds and hand down indictments, keeping track of all the scandals can be a full-time job. So we thought it would helpful to offer folks this quick and easy guide.
The Westar Scandal
In 2002, executives at Kansas energy company Westar wrote a memo outlining how they could purchase a "seat at the table" with $56,500 in contributions to political committees associated with Tom DeLay and the GOP. DeLay was later admonished by the House Ethics Committee for creating the appearance of impropriety.
The House Medicare Vote Bribery Scandal
Tom DeLay and the Republican leadership kept open the vote for the Medicare bill for three hours -- long past the 15 minutes specified in House procedures -- in order to pressure Republicans to vote for the bill. Rep. Nick Smith (R-MI) said GOP leaders offered "bribes and special deals," leading to an investigation by the Ethics Committee, which admonished DeLay.
The Texas Redistricting Scandal
When DeLay and his fellow Republicans were redrawing the Congressional districts in Texas to push Democrats out of the House, he used the Federal Aviation Administration to try and track a plane containing Democratic state legislators. The House Ethics Committee investigated DeLay's actions and once again admonished him.
The K Street Scandal
Tom DeLay has pushed lobbying firms to deny jobs to Democrats, and hire only Republicans, resulting in another Ethics Committee admonishment for inappropriately pushing a lobbying firm to hire a former GOP congressman. DeLay has pressured GOP lobbyists to make contributions to Republican candidates and the RNC.
The TRMPAC Scandal
In Texas, it's illegal for corporations to make donations to fund political campaigns. So Tom DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee (TRMPAC) took $190,000 in corporate contributions and funneled them to the RNC, which then donated exactly $190,000 to TRMPAC-supported candidates. DeLay and TRMPAC are currently under investigation by a grand jury.
The Travel Scandal
An investigation by the Justice Department showed that Tom DeLay accepted a trip financed by the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council, breaking House rules that prohibit accepting travel expenses from "a registered lobbyist or agent of a foreign principal."
The Ethics Committee Scandal
Knowing that he faced investigation for a growing pile of scandals, Tom DeLay and the GOP House leadership purged the Ethics Committee of Republicans -- including Chairman Joel Hefley (R-CO) -- who weren't willing to overlook charges against DeLay, replacing them with members loyal to the leadership. They then changed the Committee rules to make it more difficult to begin investigations. Democrats on the Committee have refused to take any action in protest until the rules are restored.
===================================================
“Speech was given to man to enable him to conceal his thoughts.” —Malagriada, S.J.
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