Atheist Insurgency

"Spirit" is a useless word.

2011-12-26T12:16:00.000-06:00

There are so many words in the English language that have very little use in progressive society that we should each buy dictionaries and one of those handy typewriter correction ribbon pens that allows you to "white-out" or omit writing or printing, and go page by page in the dictionary omitting words and references that have absolutely no meaning in today's advanced society.

The word "spirit" is, in one context, an antiquated representation of the more technically correct term "euphoria."

In another context, "spirit" is representative of the effects of alcohol. Still another context for the word "spirit" falls into the arena of exuberance or enthusiasm.The sinister side-effect of the word "spirit" is its reinforcement of false beliefs in ghosts. The word "Spirit" passes memes that cognitively reinforces false ideas that were conditioned into us as gullible, ignorant children.

On the other side of the argument, keeping the word "spirit" helps us understand those who still use the word and believe its literal meaning.

We may only need to parse the term "belief" away from the word "faith" to render worthless, any dictionary words with poisonous superstitious memes.The word "belief" is the acceptance that something is true, while the word "faith" is complete trust in something or someone.

Atheists have no complete trust in anything and that is indeed the symptom of a very healthy mind. The word "belief" requires no "faith" when all scientific evidence stands on conclusions in support of the belief.

If anything at all requires "faith," apparently the evidence is lacking and therefore I will walk away from a used car dealer who asks for cash up-front for a vehicle I have yet to drive, based on the car dealer's plea for me to have "faith" in the vehicle.Have T-shirts made that say "Just say no to faith."

How many other faith-based or superstitious-based words do we still have floating around in our vocabulary?

Karma and the Golden Rule

2011-10-02T18:50:00.003-06:00

Karma is the belief that your behavior, good or bad toward others, will be returned upon you either directly or indirectly. The Golden Rule states: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." These rules promote the idea that ethical and equitable exchanges will be successful if at least one party is equitable and ethical.

This is dogma for an enslaved class of people who can't recognize when they are being deceived.

Until recently, the prevailing authority relied on public ignorance and complacency to bring the whole world to the economic precipice. Now working class people around the world are witnessing money bleeding out of their economies, never again to return to circulation among the masses.

The odd thing about people who believe in karma is that they selectively ignore one important aspect of karma in order to prove to themselves that karma actually works: Time. All it takes for karma to work is time. Those who believe in karma don't care that it might take beyond the length of their own lives for karma to prove that it works. Apparently, the waiting time is not as important as the toll that karma will take on one's enemies. This proves that karma does work, eventually. After all, everyone dies.

Karma and the Golden Rule serve a function more important than merely instilling morality onto ignorant children. It teaches you to believe that other people will naturally treat you the same way you treat them. This is completely false.

This has a serious detrimental effect on children who grow up to become givers who, thinking they will be eventually rewarded, throw away so much of their money to other people that they go into debt.

I personally know someone who is retired and earning a $32,000 pension, she has mortgages and loans on houses and vehicles used by her mother, adult unemployed children and grandchildren. She's behind on most of the payments and frequently bounces checks and gets overdraft charges. She can't say no, and she's terrified of karma. She has been so overly kind and generous that her family has come to expect it all the time as normal, and it's killing her.

People who believe in karma and live ignorantly by the Golden Rule are easily exploited, their kindness is squandered and never returned, because humans are selfish by nature. You must watch out for the types of people that surround the giver, especially if the giver is a parent, because the takers have never known self-sufficiency and they have come to perceive the giver as their primary source of sustenance and may likely react with violence or intimidation. Typically this kind of behavior arrives on stage at the Jerry Springer show.

The most damage a giver can do is to die, leaving nothing to a family of takers who don't know what else to do, so they turn to the state or to crime for sustenance. Such are the long-term effect of karma and the Golden Rule.

Strange Expectations

2011-06-10T19:24:00.001-06:00

Most people have jobs that afford them a couple of days off each week to do with as they please, and with little or no attention from most people, but at the same time, most people seem to hold elected individuals to a higher-than-human standard of behavior. Basically anyone in a position of leadership must, for the term of their position, wear blinders, mittens on their hands, and sequester their genitals.

There are standards of social behavior we must teach children so they don't have babies they cannot afford to support, or contract incurable diseases through activities that involve physical contact with the bodily fluids of other people.

Entertainment media creates adult scenarios that make such behaviors seem harmless and manageable, because when you are an adult and understand the proper procedures for protecting yourself, those scenarios are manageable and safe. Censorship rules require that the entertainment media not teach methods of protection to avoid the consequences of bad behavior, but they allow scenarios to play out as though the protection was in place.

So children are left to imitate the same behavior, but unfortunately, reap the consequences of not knowing the proper methods of protection. Children will repeat the behavior they see, it is in their nature to do so as biological beings. Parents watch in horror as their daughters come home at three o'clock in the morning, mascara and lipstick smeared, shaking, clothing torn, missing a sock, only to discover some days later she is pregnant, or has genital Herpes, or AIDS.

Because elected officials appear in the entertainment medium of television and the Internet, they are expected to avoid the risky behavior because the audience has a personal investment in them. Parents can't stand to see politicians behaving the same way fictional television characters behave, because the audience believes that the politicians will suffer the consequences of their own children who don't know better.

The most fearful and outspoken against politicians behaving like real human beings are people who are the farthest removed from knowledge about the nature of human behavior, and the farthest removed from knowledge about the proper protections available for navigating such risky behavior.

It is the naive, isolated, fundamentalist radical religious who put their own children at the most risk by denying them knowledge, yet they throw their hands up and proclaim "it was God's plan" when their daughters get pregnant at seventeen with their second child.

Politicians are human and can't be expected to not have human needs or eccentricities. They say as a parent you are only as good as your worst child, are you only as good as the worst politician for which you voted, or the worst preacher you followed?

Marriage and power

2011-01-17T20:58:00.002-06:00

I'm still working on my book, using One-Note, it's all a bunch of little snippets here and there.

Tonight I'm focusing on marriage. What do you call traditional marriage? You must go back more than a thousand years, perhaps more than two thousand year.

Around the world today there are still marriages that are arranged by the parents, but in even earlier times, marriage was purely a consolidation of power.

The ultimate example of marriage leading to a consolidation of power could be Genghis Kahn and the founding of the Mongol Empire. While marriage practices can't be directly attributed to Genghis Kahn, the long-term result of real traditional marriage most certainly led to the formation of the Mongol Empire.

Today marriages are still arranged in such a manner, but as a means of protecting the existing power structure, in India for example, the Caste system was developed.

In the west, the existing power structures are maintained by allowing marriage to be chosen out of physical attraction and desire, with no designs for power gain or even plans for economic self-sufficiency. In fact, the weddings in the west are the most expensive and create great financial loss to the families involved.

Suppression of birth control and contraception methods lend to the additional burden of too many children. An overpopulation of children within a consolidated family creates a negative economic impact on that family's rise to power through further consolidation in the far future. Marriages today are focused on procreation with little or no regard to available resources.

This burden is most evident in developing countries where the populations were converted to catholicism. The result is an outcry in the media for such resources as clean water and sewer systems, and donations for malnutrition, malaria and vaccines. Ironically, the money goes to the very charitable organizations that created the problems in the first place.

Gay marriage is perhaps the most threatening to the existing power structures because it represents the greatest potential power gain through consolidation, with the ability to adopt the correct number of children to maintain economic balance for future power gains. Providing of course that the couple does not fall into the same commercial pitfalls as most other couples getting married in the west.

The west has been so weakened by the hoarding of resources by a few families, that survival in the future will depend on changing the concept of marriage for the rest of us, from witless desire, to an economic agreement between our families to become tribes, and gather forces over future generations, to overturn the existing predatory power stuctures, for one more equitable under the banner of science and reason.

Public Education in The United States of America

2011-01-11T05:54:00.001-06:00

It's a crazy conspiracy theory that education is deliberately stifled in the U.S. right? Wrong. First and foremost, I was never taught critical thinking skills in District 186 in Springfield, Illinois. I was never even taught that there was such a think as "critical thinking" until I went to college.

So, what purpose is served by deliberately limiting or suppressing knowlege?

A primary law of economy states that a product's value is inverse to it's available quantity. In other words, the more you have of a product, the cheaper it's value.

In accounting, labor is an expense. Since labor is people, people who are employees are held by business owners and managers as costs which should be reduced by any means possible while still being able to accomplish the goals of the business.

Since all businesses cannot reduce the cost of labor by eliminating the workforce entirely, all businesses collectively seek to reduce the value of the workforce, by generating a surplus of workers.

Through the control of public education curriculum, businesses managed to create a surplus of labor skilled in basic trades such as construction, health care, law enforcement, and many other skills that are dependent upon money, rather than independent survival skills such as subsistence farming, fishing, hunting, or starting a business.

It is not in the best interest of existing businesses to allow for the creation of competition. It is in the best interest of businesses to create a surplus of dependent workers who compete with each other by sacrificing wages and benefits, thereby reducing the value of labor.

Since democratic government is run by politicians who are supported in their campaigns primarily by businesses, politicians are beholden to businesses for their basic survival needs. Observe the obvious positions of employment rewarded to former politicians, and the obvious positions of government rewarded to business persons who have the finances to make themselves known to enough gullible voters, to get themselves elected.

Businesses, through proxy of government, dictate public education curriculum. Observe the behaviors of the Texas Board of Education and its selection of textbooks as the most glaring example of dumbing down public education.

Religious persons are set apart as the most desirable of employees for their limited skills, dependency, rejection of critical thinking, and their devotion to concentrated hierarchical leadership.

Politicians consistently appeal to the religious and mass media promotes religion and vilifies independent critical thinkers in western culture.

The economy in the United States is dominated by employees with limited skills who are in a surplus that is unsustainable, because they only have enough funds to supply themselves with food, transportation and shelter, because they agreed to work for less and less pay.

The only businesses that remain will be farmers, grocers, landlords, transportation and energy producers. Nobody here in the U.S. can afford anything else except clothing, and fashion is a luxury extinct as well.

So, if you are a young student going to public school, save your self by rejecting the idea of getting a good job, and instead concentrate on starting your own business.

Do not allow yourself to be distracted by entertainment that is not educational.

Only be interested in your own mental and physical fitness, do not be distracted by sports of which you do not participate.

Ignore any history lesson that reinforces racism by teaching about the history of race relations. Human beings are human beings, nothing more, nothing less. Everyone is equal.

No matter how benign the communication, any message that creates groups of people based on physical traits is counter-productive and designed to divide and conquer not only the individuals who are the subject of the message, but you too, by creating the impression that certain people belong in certain groups.

If you are religious. Shun religion. You don't need it. There is no such thing as a soul that can be punished or rewarded in an afterlife. Free your mind and embrace science and survival skills.

In the next election, use the write-in option and vote for "No Confidence" because politics is a fraud run by businesses.

Join your local Freethinkers Meetup Group by searching for atheists at meetup.com. Visit atheistnexus.org and the other atheist and freethinkers sites found at my blog. And look for me on Myspace too.

The social veil

2011-01-03T04:42:00.001-06:00

Conspiracy theorists suspect there is a "social veil" beyond which resides the true manipulators of western industrial culture.

The masses cannot see beyond the social veil, they only see that which they believe directly influences their lives.

What exactly is the social veil? The veil is made entirely of petty distractions. Distractions such as religion, sports, politics, home-making, lawn care, daily toil for someone else, competing for local social status, etc.

The veil must be maintained by constantly communicating messages that reinforce the values of these existing petty distractions.

The mass media can easily deny responsibility for reinforcing the social veil because they claim they merely provide the messages the audience wants to experience.

More responsibility belongs to certain media associated with early childhood development and education.

Mainly the early Dick and Jane books, using buses to move children to unfamiliar neighborhoods instead of improving the schools in the neighborhoods, history education about how certain cultures were conquered so we assume they are still below the status of their conquerors, the use of local property taxes to create an imbalance in education funding, employees getting recruited at local churches instead of local universities, etc.

Early conditioning stays with us, and our fear of the unknown and our programmed expectations of others are the strings by which we are controlled, from beyond the social veil.

History is full of lies, while science can be tested and proven true or false. They who call themselves "theologians" are well-versed in manipulation of the masses, like that revealed by Niccolo Machiavelli in his book The Prince.

However, theologians are merely the unwitting guards and cultivators of the social veil. They too are mere victims of its power because we are only as good as our limited choices allow.

How do we tear away the social veil? Stop believing.

Start questioning absolutely everything, like we did when we were young and we kept asking "Why?"
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The fearless and the wicked

2010-12-28T18:19:00.001-06:00

The wicked are fearless for they have no demons, no devils, no judging spirits, and nothing waiting for them in death to inflict eternal pain and suffering. This is not true about everyone who fears no god or demon. The truly evil are the ones who know how to use fear to control others, especially fear of Hell.

It is not they who know nothing of the existence of a soul or a god who are the wicked. The wicked are they who enslave pride, boldness, and skepticism in others with talk of devils, demons and eternal pain and suffering. The wicked are they who walk in the shadow of a jealous and angry myth, forcing open purse, wallet and entire estates with threats of damnation.

Wickedness is boundless in those who know enough of theology to act with impunity in lying to their followers about mystical creatures and terrifying places, fear mongering for their financial gain.

Fearlessness and skepticism is terrifying to those who require fear as a tool of control and financial gain, so they vilify the humanist, the skeptical, and atheists.

The truly evil guild the ceilings of their chambers with the gold from the teeth of their followers.

Will they ever learn?

2010-12-05T10:43:00.000-06:00

Has the economy not proven itself the lesson that religion does not benefit its practitioners? Religion only benefits those who pull the rug out from beneath others who spend time looking up, instead of looking around.

The GPS Effect

2010-06-30T10:44:00.001-06:00

I have a TomTom GPS device. I use it all the time, even when I go places to which I know the direction.

I have a long commute to work, about forty minutes, and the first few times I used my TomTom to get where I needed to go. I used it for a crutch after that because I wanted to know exactly how much time I had to stop at a gas station, because TomTom can be programmed to calculate the desired time of arrival, then tell you your window of time as you travel.

During the trip, TomTom would interrupt me when I was going too fast, or tell me I was within a few miles of the exit or I needed to take. Knowing this, I was able to think more thoroughly about other things as I drove, knowing that I would be interrupted at appropriate times.

Very quickly the commute seemed much shorter and actually more enjoyable, to the point where I was intrigued by the effect it had on my perception of time's passage.

Thinking about this I was reminded of my studies, my accidental college library adventure, stumbling upon the subjects of reality construction, cognitive dissonance theory, and operant conditioning. This effect was a perfect example of how sometimes we allow ourselves to be molded into a routine to such a degree that we don't see the things around us that affect our lives, especially to the point of the economic collapse we face today.

I think my GPS allowed me the freedom to consider what was happening to our minds. Would most people experience the same results? Would such a concept be replaced by thoughts of celebrities or sports instead, brain candy for the masses?

Does the Matrix have you?

MOST LAW BOGUS

2010-05-18T06:35:00.001-06:00

This blog is in response to the article "Dove proposes less-severe noise law" in the State Journal Register

In the comments at the SJ-R website I continue to suggest ad nauseum that the products with no other purpose but to generate loud sound, interfering with the peace and tranquility of the community, be taxed. I will therefore make a direct appeal.

The lack of response will indicate that some laws are aimed at symptoms rather than causes, which means that the intent of those laws is to retain punishment and its related bureaucracy, instead of aiming at a problem that might result in no longer needing that bureaucracy. In other words, some laws are created for the benefit of making busy-work to keep someone in a job that might otherwise be eliminated because a problem was solved by dealing directly with a problem rather than its symptoms alone.

A high recidivism rate, for example, is symptomatic of certain laws benefiting bureaucratic perpetuity rather than solutions.

This noise ordinance serves as a perfect example, focusing at the act of public nuisance rather than the key components that instigate such nuisances.

All crimes are symptoms of greater problems, but the laws of the land are fixed in a psychological medium of stone solid dogma. This dogmatic approach to the law is known in communication circles as "argumentum ad antiquitatem" or an appeal to tradition, a logical fallacy rationalized under the wildly conservative and blatant term "precedence."

The worship of precedence should be a determining factor of failure to pass the bar exam or denial of public service employment. In other words, anyone who refuses to question old law should not be allowed to serve as a judge. That includes the bible. Preachers who do not engage in questions or debate about old laws in any ancient tome, are unworthy of the pulpit, just as any judge is unworthy of the bench, who refuses to doubt a law on a regular basis.

Dead and dying

2010-04-27T11:37:00.001-06:00

One wrench in the toolbox of religious mind-control is the power of clergy to look you in the eye and tell you that a deceased love-one is somewhere unpleasant.

They can tell you where you might go too after you die, if you don't obey the rituals and other demanded personal sacrifices in the form of time, money and flesh.

The funeral industry too has tapped the goldmine of grief and obsession. One funeral service radio advertisement on WMAY has the slogan "just because a life has ended doesn't mean the relationship has." This commercial reinforcement of obsession with someone who is now gone forever should force you to recognize that such an obsession is unhealthy.

When you're an atheist, death is the end. Living people learn from the actions and consequences of those who passed away, and then move on with their lives. You're not going to be haunted by grandma for not visiting her grave.

Ghosts are completely bogus. Believing that there is the potential for your "spirit" to become trapped somewhere in your house and to suffer the gradual madness that comes from having your house invaded be endless generations of strangers is completely ridiculous.

Life is a continuous biological cycle. All biological organisms sequester nutrients so they may function. They too become the nutrients for other organisms. Being at the top of the food chain doesn't give us the right to deny the rest of nature the nutrients we possessed in life but no longer need in death.

Sealing our corpses away in boxes and concrete tombs adorned with everlasting monoliths, is denying the soil badly needed nutrients for the rest of nature, and denying the living freedom from distraction by sorrowful reminders.

Belief versus Faith

2010-02-11T09:31:00.001-06:00

The phrase “non-believer” is derogatory

The definitions of the word "belief" on more than one online dictionary include “Mental reliance on or acceptance of a particular concept, which is arrived at by weighing external evidence, facts, and personal observation and experience."

For a while I was feeling a stigma attaching to the word "belief." So many posts on other boards are mingling the word "belief" with the word "faith" which is "Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing." [ http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com ]

Therefore, "belief” in reference to religion is an inappropriate use of the word.

To call someone a non-believer is to claim that they are mentally at a level of development equivalent to an infant who does not search for hidden objects [ http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Applied_History_of_Psychology/Cognitive_Development ]

The word “belief” in reference to anything intangible is inappropriate

Technically, belief occurs at around eight months old, and is the capacity to search for hidden objects because, you saw it there, so you must believe it is there. You walk out of your kitchen, and you can hold the belief that the refrigerator or oven will be there when you return moments later.

The word “belief” can therefore only apply to everything that qualifies within the definition as prescribed in legally accepted dictionaries.

One cannot hold a belief about anything that was never proven to exist, therefore the word “belief” can never be used in the context of any religion because it is completely grounded in the rules of the scientific process.

Faith means to trust even the unsubstantiated opinion.
Faith is defined as “Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.” [ http://www.thefreedictionary.com/faith ]

Faith is primarily a communicative expression of loyalty in the process of affinity-seeking and affiliation behaviors. If it serves a purpose beyond that, I would like to know about it.

Using the word "belief" in the definition of the word "faith" is in error.

Belief v. Faith

2010-02-11T07:36:00.003-06:00

The definitions of the word "belief" on more than one online dictionary include "Mental reliance on or acceptance of a particular concept, which is arrived at by weighing external evidence, facts, and personal observation and experience."

For a while I was feeling a stigma attaching to the word "belief." So many posts on other boards are intermingling the word "belief" with the word "faith" which is "Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing."

Therefore, "belief " in reference to religion is an inappropriate use of the word.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com

It's time to move passed the religious fundamentalists and get on with rebuilding our country.

2009-09-17T08:16:00.007-06:00

Rachel Maddow had Frank Schaeffer on last night, author of the book "Crazy for God."

What he said was ABSOLUTE GOLD!

Here is the video, Mr. Schaeffer comment starts at around 5:40. If you can't see the video, I

wrote a transcript for you. It's pure gold. If you can't see it

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Frank Schaeffer: author of "Crazy For God"

The main-stream culture does not take stock on the fact that within our culture there is a sub-culture, that is a fifth column of insanity, that is bread from birth through home-school, christian school, evangelical college - whatever, to reject facts as a matter of faith.

And so this substitute for authentic historic christianity, and I may add as a little caveat here, I'm a church-going Christian, really brings up the question:

Can Christianity be rescued from Christians?

and that's an open question and when you see a bunch of people going around thinking that our president is the anti-christ, you have to draw one of two conclusions, either these are racists looking for any excuse to level the next accusation, or they're beyond crazy, and I think beyond crazy is a better explanation.

And that evangelical subculture has rotted the brain of the United States of America.

we have a big slice of America waiting for Jesus to come back, they look forward to Armageddon, good news is bad news to them.

When we talk about the Left Behind series of books that I talk about in my book Crazy for God, what we're really talking about is a group of people who are resentful because they know they've been left behind by modernity, by science, education, by art, by literature.

The rest of us our getting on with our lives, these people are standing on a hilltop waiting for the end and this is a dangerous group of people to have as neighbors and they're our national neighbors and this is the source of all these insanities we see leveled at the president.

One way or another they go back to this little evangelical subcultue, uh.. it's a disaster.

Rachel MAddow talks a bit about a poll in New Jersey and other strange beliefs on the far fringes of society. Then she asks the question:

"How do you work to move people away from these beliefs?"

Frank Schaeffer:

You don't work to move them off this position. You move passed them.

Look, a village cannot reorganize village life to suit the village idiot. It's as simple as that, and we have to understand that we have a village idiot in this country, it's called fundamentalist Christianity.

And, until we move passed these people, and let me add as a former life-long Republican, until the Republican leadership has the guts to stand up and say it would be better to not have a Republican party than to have a party that caters to the village idiot, uh, there's not end in sight.

The next thing they'll do is accuse Obama of being the anti-christ and then who knows what comes next? On and on it goes.

There is no end to this stuff, why, because this subculture has as it's fundamentalist faith, that they distrust facts per se.

They believe in a young earth, six thousand years old, with dinasaurs cavorting with humans, they think that whether it's economic news or news from the middle east, it all has to do with the end of time and Christ's return.

This is la-la land, and the Republican part is totally enthralled to this subculture, to the extent that there is no Republican Party.

There is a fundamentalist subculture which has become a cult, it's fed red meat by buffoons like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and other people who are just not terribly bright themselves, and they are talking to evenn stupider people, that's where we're at. That's where all this is coming from, and it's becoming circular, it's becoming a joke, unfortunately a dangerous joke, because once in a while one of these loony-tunes as we see, brings guns to public meetings, who knows what they do next?

It's a serious thing we all have to face, but the Democrats and sane Americans just have to move passed these people, say "go wait on the hilltop for the end, the rest of us are going to get on with rebuilding our country.

Rachel Maddow: Is there anyone on the right who could be constructive here if they wanted to be? To the extent that people could be moved off of these conspiracy theories? I understand your point that not all of them could be, but is there anyone who could be influential to try and stop the impact of these conspiracies?

Frank Schaeffer:

Look, in the year 2000 I worked for John McCain to try to get him elected in the primaries instead of George Bush, but John McCain sold out by nominating [..] Sarah Palin who comes directly from the heart of this movement and carries with her all that baggage, so he sold out.

I don't see anybody on the Republican Side of things these days who has the moral standing to provide real leadership or will risk their position to do so.

Abstinence Only Sex Education Fails in North Carolina

2009-09-05T14:00:00.002-06:00

It was the law for that last ten years. North Carolina teachers were prohibited from teaching anything other than Abstinence Only.

Consequently, the pregnancy rate is up 12% and STD rates are "skyrocketing."

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/09/03/costello.sex.ed.cnn?iref=videosearch

Quote by Jere Royall, an abstinence only education advocate: "They need to understand that sexuality is an important part of life but what they also need to understand is what the possible consequences are if they engage in sexual activity outside of marriage."

One might infer that marriage automatically protects you from STD's.

Facebook poll shows future of religion

2009-09-03T22:43:00.004-06:00

It could not be put more plainly.

From Atheist Insurgency

The Abortion Law

2009-08-03T03:44:00.000-06:00

Any biological product or extension attached to or contained within an individual is the sole property of that individual with all rights reserved to that individual and no other, to maintain or remove said biological product or extension. Parties assisting the individual having agreed in writing protected under Doctor-Patient confidentiality in rendering a biological change in the status of said biological product or extension are not liable.

C Street Exposure

2009-07-12T10:25:00.001-06:00

Brutal theocratic dictatorship operating behind U.S. Government.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Quick thoughts on morality

2009-07-03T07:35:00.003-06:00

I was in a discussion with a friend who complained that the Republicans who tout "Family Values" are still behaving contrary to Christianity. He listed some of the traits that define "Christian" as helpfulness and charity, which are contrary to the conservative belief of "absolute self-sufficiency, all others be damned."

He had a point. That contradiction is a glaring indication of deception and contempt for the public in general, and until just now I didn't think about it, instead I was focused on my friend's glowing accolades on Christianity.

I basically told him that "Christian," or any religious affiliation serves only as group identification. Group identification serves only to create boundaries, reinforce xenophobia, discriminate, marginalize, and motivate intra-organizational competition for status and power.

MORALITY = EMPATHY + ABSTRACT REASONING

Morality can be defined as having the ability to put ones self in the position of someone else for the purpose of understanding their feelings regarding the consequences of ones own actions, having the capacity to distinguish the difference between a problem, and symptoms of problems, and having the ability to understand that one's actions have long-term consequences.

For example, crime is not a problem. Crime is a symptom. You must take the time to ask "Why?" One of the "W"s that journalists often ignore.

Action Alert - Secular Coalition of America

2009-06-25T11:53:00.001-06:00

Before the August recess, a resolution will be voted on by the House of Representatives that will require the Capitol Visitor Center to engrave the words In God We Trust” and the Pledge of Allegiance onto the walls of the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC). Already, references to religion and faith are included in several permanent exhibits, and the words “In God We Trust” are even present in one exhibit. But that’s enough for Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), who are pushing for a larger, bolder display of the words “In God We Trust” and the post 1954 Pledge of Allegiance to be engraved on the walls of the CVC.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that this additional engraving could cost tens of thousands of dollars. Join me in telling members of Congress that it is inappropriate for taxpayer money to be spent on promoting a false and distorted idea of America that alienates the millions of nontheistic Americans who neither “trust in God” nor pledge "under God.

http://action.secular.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27503

Pay attention

2009-06-09T02:10:00.001-06:00

Watch this video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7886780711843120756

Saudi Arabia is picture of America's future

2009-05-28T18:37:00.003-06:00

The continued coddling and patronizing of religion by Government will have an end result similar to what is being staged in the middle-east.

What you don't know won't hurt you! : Abstinence Only

2009-05-23T08:03:00.000-06:00

George didn’t believe in driver’s education, he didn’t want to have anything to do with it.

Never mind how he learned to drive, his biggest fear was that his children would get hurt if they learned too much about it in advance, but he knew his children would one day drive a car when they reached the legal age.

Until then, he decided, his children would be allowed nowhere near his car or even see the keys, and especially not one of those rules-of-the-road books, that would be just irresponsible in the eyes of George’s community.

Mike had a safe full of guns and ammunition. He liked to target practice and hunt, but he absolutely didn’t want his children to know anything about any guns until they were old enough, but how old is old enough?

Sarah has a motorcycle but she absolutely didn’t want any of her kids to even think about riding a motorcycle, ever.

Okay, what is wrong with these people? They all use the notion of “Abstinence-Only,” which means simply “Stay away and ignore it, and maybe it will just go away.” Or “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.” Does it make sense? Will their children be safe from exposure to driving a car, shooting a gun, or riding a motorcycle?

The United States Federal Government seems to think so, and so do most of the United States governments.

I received an email from Planned Parenthood of Illinois this morning asking me to send an e-mail to Governor Quinn stating the following: [edited for clarity]

“Reject federal funding for Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage programs!

In your FY 2010 budget proposal you included a continuation federal Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage (AOUM) funding. I urge you to reject this federal funding. These programs do a disservice to Illinois youth.

A federally-funded, nonpartisan study of the effectiveness of AOUM programs has found these programs to have no impact on the sexual abstinence of youth. The students' AOUM education had no effect on the age of first intercourse, number of sexual partners, or condom usage. Continuing to fund ineffective AOUM programs is throwing good money after bad.

Teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections are important problems. Comprehensive sexual health education programs (which include information about abstinence, contraceptives, and sexually transmitted infections in addition to other key elements) are proven to delay sexual activity and prevent disease among young people. While stressing abstinence, comprehensive sex ed provides students with the information they need to stay safe and healthy.

Again, please reject the federal Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage funding so Illinois can move forward with positive programs that protect our youth.”

The Illinois Governor has an opportunity to accept or reject funding that will go to such programs in the states, but I challenge President Barack Obama and Congress to suspend that program’s funding altogether on the grounds that it is a violation of the separation of church and state.

T-Shirt anyone?

2009-05-10T08:28:00.002-06:00

Here's a concept for a T-Shirt or a bumper sticker. I'm not sure if anyone came up with this already, but if not, take it and run with it. Make money if you can.

Public totally duped by non-currency

2009-05-09T08:54:00.003-06:00

I just received an email proclaiming "In God We Trust is missing from the new dollar coin! REJECT THE NEW DOLLAR COIN!"

The coin in question is not minted by the United States Mint. It was minted by a company called GovMint.com which is unaffiliated with the U.S. Mint, and is not chartered to produce legal tender, only bits of metal pounded together with some flakes of gold to make collectors items of questionable value.

But, the upside is it does not say "In God We Trust." which should be removed from all currency.

It's funny getting a stupid chain-email with wailing laments about the missing slogan endearing a myth.

For the real dollar coins, go to the U.S. Mint instead.