Secularize This

The Contradiction of the Christian Conservatives

2012-09-15T11:56:00.003-07:00

It is the modern day GOP that holds a monopoly of the power of Christ in politics. Let that sink in. I am a firm believer in separation of church and state, and yet our elected officials call upon the influence of the shepherds to bring in the votes. But let's look closer at the contradictions they live by.

The Christ taught his followers to love they neighbor, turn the other cheek, share your wealth on Earth, heal the sick and not to pass judgement just to name a few.

It is the GOP that brought on an occupation of Iraq that was not warranted in any way, shape or form. They manipulated the "evidence" to their liking to allow the unlawful overthrow of a regime that had nothing to do with the attacks of September 11, 2001. I am not saying that Saddam Hussein was a great leader, I believe that every tyrant needs to be dealt with, but by their people, and then to have outside influence when requested. Just like in the Revolutionary War, we established an alliance with France, it was not France that invaded England on our behalf.

It is the GOP that wants less government interference between "the man" and your gun. The Supreme Court has upheld the Second Amendment for gun rights for the citizens a number of times, but it is the GOP that says that more guns equate to less violence. More guns is to less violence is just as insane as using gasoline to put out a fire because it is a liquid. If we are to say that we are a modern society then we have no need for guns to solve disputes. Yes, there will always be criminals and breaking the law is what makes them criminals, but being a vigilante is a crime as well. The idea of arming the citizens was to protect them from tyrannical take over. Where were these militiamen when the PATRIOT ACT was signed taking away our freedom of privacy as citizens as well as not needing warrants for surveillance? This was the ultimate overreach of power by our government and our "patriots" let it slide by without opposition. Is that their definition of turning the other cheek?

Many of the GOP have signed a pledge to Grover Norquist saying that they will not raise taxes in any way, shape or form. Now that the government is strapped for funds, it is the GOP that is holding the country hostage from moving forward. They refuse to cut funding on defense, which accounts for the majority of our spending as a country, and rather cut spending on social programs like Medicare and Social Security. They will cut these programs, continue to take money out of our public schools all before they raise any taxes, especially on their buddies that hold 98% of the wealth in this country.

It is the GOP that takes a staunch stance against universal healthcare. The fact of the matter is that the United States of America, once the most prosperous nation in the world, is the ONLY developed nation in the world that DOES NOT have a universal healthcare system. The healthcare reform that Obama lobbied for is not universal healthcare. Universal healthcare is made to seem as a communist idea, how do you explain that it is communist when Canada, England, France and Germany, all republics have state run health care? The Cold War is over, it is time to stop playing on past fears. With everybody having equal access to healthcare, we will become a healthier nation. With better health comes better performance in the workplace raising the profits for the owners, generating more revenue for shareholders, more tax money going back into the state to fund for the healthcare provided and to put more money back in schools to better the education of our children, all of this getting the United States put back on the track of prosperity.

So, ask yourself, if you're a Christian and follow the teachings of Christ, can you honestly continue to vote for the GOP when they do not follow the fundamental teachings of your savior?

Why Does Your Deity Need a Little Blue Pill?

2012-09-15T11:31:00.001-07:00

Another week has passed and yet again there have been extremists raising arms in the name of their impotent deity. Tragically, four people lost their lives as mobs raided a U.S. embassy in Libya. Yes, the mobs were comprised of Muslims and they were upset about a video that depicted their great "prophet" Mohammad in a negative fashion. The one question I have about this is how Omnipotent is Allah and Mohammad that when they are mocked their minions must create chaos and wreak havoc? The answer is not Omnipotent at all, rather the antonym impotent.

Here's the truth. Religion is a man-made con established to maintain control of the masses by the threat of eternal punishment and falling out of the good graces of their gods. The reason why people get so greatly offended when religion is questioned is because subconsciously they know that religion is a farce, but their conscious does not want to come to terms with the delusion. So in order to protect the fantastical, they take the words of the Bronze Age text literally, and infallible, striking down any opponent of their views. This is why the basics of democracy cannot thrive in a theocracy.

We hold dear both our freedom of speech and religion. Part of the freedom of speech is to be able to mock that one sees ridiculous. To those that continue to try to push your "Christian Values" into our government, please understand that it is our secular society that protects your freedom of religion because our government cannot recognized any established religion. Our Founding Fathers were smart enough to understand that mixing religion and politics is a combustible mixture and will eventually blow up in our faces. We can see examples of this around the world today in the nations that use the Koran as their constitution. Take heed, and please leave your religion where it belongs, at home or in your temple. There is no room for fairy tales in the outside world because religion breeds hate, intolerance and bigotry. It holds back the advancement of society (i.e. Galileo, Copernicus, and Darwin) by trying to keep nomadic traditions on a settled society.

The Pursuit of Happiness

2012-08-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

The hot topic on a lot of political burners today is the question on whether two consenting adults of the same gender have the right to get married. A lot of the objection to same sex marriage comes from the religious moral majority stating that it does not jive with their holy doctrines. Like it or not we live in a secular society giving people freedom from religious persecution, but to garner votes the right is pulling at the strings of the devout and standing on the platform of morality. Other politicians are taking the stand that the states should be the ones that decide whether same sex marriage.

The problem with relying on the states to define marriage laws is that the United States contain 50 states and the citizens are free to move from state to state. If two men who are married in a state that recognize same sex marriages and an employment opportunity comes up in a state that does not recognize same sex marriage then that happy couple has a more difficult decision to make than choosing to spend their lives together in a mutual partnership. Do they choose to uproot their lives and move to a state where they lose their legal benefits of any married couple for a better employment opportunity or stay where they can be happy together? It is a common sense situation being overly complicated by religiosity.

The Federal Government needs to recognize same sex marriages as a true marriage between two consenting adults, no more civil unions. These people are choosing the partners they want to spend their lives with and should have access to equal benefits ans heterosexual couples do. Having only seven out of fifty states recognizing same sex marriage truly limits these citizens as to where they are able to relocate and still have their freedoms. Love and happiness are inalienable human rights and we as citizens in these United States need to stand up for ALL RIGHTS for the simple fact that if we allow our elected officials to determine who has rights and who does not, it is only a matter of time before they start infringing on your rights. Interracial marriage was not accepted as legal throughout the union until 1967 with the Supreme Court ruling of Loving v. Virginia. We are in the 21st Century, it is time to stop using Bronze Age text written by goat herders to influence modern doctrine. Those same texts encouraged concubines, and now our modern society looks down on infidelity. It is sad that people hide behind what their god "says" to influence their bigoted actions.

Our Founding Fathers stated that all men are created equal. At the time that was written, slavery was thriving throughout our country, particularly in the South. It was nearly a century after the Constitution was ratified that slavery was abolished (the same Bronze Age text was used to defend slavery as is used today to shun hate towards homosexuals) with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. The Constitution was written for the time and there have been 27 amendments to it in the 225 years of its existence showing that times change and societies change. In 1789 when the new Constitution came into play, only white male land owners were allowed to vote and blacks had no vote, lucky if they had citizenship. Women were expected to be background figures, just like the Bible stated. We live in a time of equality. It is sad that people still hold prejudices and bigoted views after all the hate that has reigned down throughout human history. It is time that we start living life for today and stop living life for the mythology of yesterday.

Reflection

2012-08-13T00:12:00.000-07:00

This past month the United States has produced two mass murders that have no place in a civilized society. Dozens of innocent people were slain and families forever changed by the tragic events that took place in Colorado and Wisconsin. I am not trying to take anything away from the families touched by the horrific actions of these two men that have forever shaken their worlds, but what puts these victims on a pedestal compared to the other murder victims that have their lives tragically taken on a daily basis in this great nation of ours? Colorado had 12 lives taken in a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" and 58 injured. Wisconsin had 5 lives shortened in a Sikh Temple, the gunman was also killed totaling 6 lives ending that day due to unneeded violence. After these tragedies our government buildings and local business establishments lowered their flags to half mast showing respect for the victims and their families.

A total of 18 lives were taken in these two tragedies and our nation goes into honor mode immediately by lowering flags to half mast, but what actions are taken daily for those who have their lives cut short by mindless gun crimes? According to the National Institute of Justice, there was 11,346 people killed by gun violence in 2005 averaging 31 lives lost every day that year. How many times did our flags fly at half mast for those victims? We tragically lose 18 victims over two different incidents and we show respect for isolated incidents performed by what appears to be mentally unstable individuals driven by psychosis or hate, but for the innocent people lost by stray bullets from drive by shootings, home invasions or even escalated domestic disputes are not given the same respect? A life is a life, once it is gone it cannot be gotten back.

The answer is not more guns; that carries the same logic as using gasoline to put a fire out because it is a liquid like water. If we are truly a civilized society we can thrive without firearms, but I know realistically that day will not come, so there will have to be other answers. Education only goes so far, and we are a quick-tempered, gut instinct society that has a quick fuse and guns provide that superior feeling, especially when the other party does not have one. Rather than gun control, there should be regulations on the ammunition. Stop making it so easy to obtain these projectiles that inflict the damage. Alcohol and tobacco cause damage to humans as well, and those industries are regulated. There are stark differences between the use of alcohol/tobacco compared to firearms. The people consuming alcohol/tobacco are making the conscious decision to partake in those products, and the harm they inflict are not instant. The damages become apparent overtime. Firearm victims have no choice in the damage that is inflicted upon them and the capacity for damage is far greater from a magazine of bullets compared to a carton of cigarettes or a fifth of whiskey.

Again, I mean no disrespect to the families of victims in Colorado and Wisconsin in these recent tragedies. Any life lost is always tragic, especially in the face of ignorance and neglect.

Chick-Fil-A

2012-08-03T00:29:00.001-07:00

Have your bowels ever been so impacted that you could not pass regularly? Were you hesitant going to your pharmacy to buy an enema thinking that your God would see that as a form of sodomy and deem you an abomination? Worry no more, now there is a way to release those dammed up demons from inside with the loving touch of Christ with Chick-Fil-A's all new enemas. Dan Cathy decided rather than recycling his used oil that fried the ever so delicious chicken fillets, he can bottle it and resell it to his patrons that get constipated from showing their support for traditional marriage by consuming countless chicken sandwiches. It's a simple process, after every shift, the oil cools and is funneled into a plastic bottle, boxed up and shipped out across America to pharmacies to be sold daily. The oil works better than the standard saline solution because of its natural lubrication properties. Now you don't have to worry about a reach around denying you the gates of heaven resulting in an overwhelming show of support for Santorum.

Also in the works from Chick-Fil-A Labs is the Chick-Fil-A Colostomy Bag, with waffle fries. It doubles up as a food & waste carrier, be sure that is the BBQ sauce you're dipping those nuggets in.

Disclaimer: The author has no ties to the workings of Chick-Fil-A and has no knowledge of inner workings of the company. This is satirical opinion, in my opinion that Chick-Fil-A is full of shit.

10

2012-06-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

One argument that is used often to justify public displays of religion on government property is that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and that we derive our laws from the sacred Ten Commandments. I will argue that this is not true. Below is a chart of the Bill of Rights and the Ten Commandments and you will see that there is little to no correlation between the two.

The Bill of Rights	The Ten Commandments
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.	You shall have no God before me
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.	You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.	You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.	Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.	Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.	You shall not murder
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.	You shall not commit adultery
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.	You shall not steal
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.	You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.	You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

I put this to your proposal; if in fact these United States was founded as a Christian nation, why is the very first amendment to our nation's constitution saying that Congress shall not make any laws respecting an establishment of religion? This clearly defies the first commandment given by that flaming bush to Moses saying that you shall have no God before me. If we were truly a Christian nation, how can we allow to have other faiths openly practiced here, or, even worse, have the blind atheists troll the internet denouncing the true God?

The fact of the matter is that we have to go all the way to the SIXTH Commandment before we find any rule/law that pertains to modern day society; You shall not murder. The first FIVE commandments were of the utmost importance that our founding fathers failed to ignore them altogether when laying the foundation of these United States. Our founding fathers thought it was more important to protect the citizens from tyranny by creating a clear distinction between the government, church and civilization. They had just finished defeating the King of England (and head of the Church of England) in the Revolutionary War and saw what influence religion had on matters of state. There are only two places for religion and those are the places of worship and the worshipers home. We can look at modern day nations that have Islamist regimes and see what happens when we mix religion and government. Taking our rules from ANY Bronze Age text with unknown authors is a disaster waiting to happen. Just because the majority believes in their own imaginary friend DOES NOT give the majority the right to enforce those same beliefs on those that do not share the same enthusiasm.

I will take this one step further in saying that we are not a Christian Nation. One of the premises around the United States being a capitalist society is that we are all millionaires in the making, if we just work hard, we can have that mansion, we can have that car, we can have that yacht, etc. Our society is built on us coveting our neighbors have obtained in order to drive success. Not everyone will achieve that mansion in the Hamptons with a Lamborghini in the garage that they drive to the docks to devour caviar on their yacht. No, but hard work towards that will lead to happiness.

I propose these New Commandments to lead a life by.

1) Have an open mind to anything, prejudices make it impossible to be impartial

2) Always question, test what others claim

3) If it causes any harm (physical or psychological) to another, refrain from that action

4) What you do will resonate through eternity, do what is right

5) If you don't wish to be judged, don't pass judgement. Those who are first to pass judgement tend to have the skeletons deepest in the closet.

6) Encourage exploration and critical thought

7) If you are in a position to help others less fortunate than you, see it as a privilege and not a burden

8) Treat others as you wish to be treated

9) Live, love and be free

10) Do these everyday, one day is not superior than the other

Pasteurization is Murder

2012-05-06T23:15:00.000-07:00

There's been a lot of talk lately about the War on Women and how Conservative held legislatures across the land are trying to impose their "moral" will on society. I say kudos to those tea-baggers; without you we would surely be in hell by now (metaphorically speaking). I applaud the stance that the right wing is taking in their crusade on womens' rights because that unborn glob of cells could, one day, be a vital vote. I say why stop at fetuses? Everyday, doctors in the developed world sign death warrants, nay, execution orders for genocide. At times, even nurse practitioners are allowed to commit mass murder with the swipe of a pen. Ladies and Gentlemen, we are truly in an age where the pen IS mightier than the sword. These living creatures cower at the sight of a syringe. Life is the most precious thing on this obscure globe we call Earth and we must protect it. I am calling for all politicians to stand up against antibiotics and vaccinations.

Bacteria & viruses are single cellular organisms that are able to survive on their own, they are fully developed so they should get more attention than fetuses that take 9 months to even come close to be able to set foot in this world. Bacteria and viruses thrive in undeveloped nations, and we sit idly by while we allow people to execute innocent cells. Trillions upon trillions of bacteria are slaughtered on an annual basis in developed lands all just so we can feel better. Rubbish I say. Life is life, and if we are to consider that an unfertilized egg is a life, we need to consider other unicellular organisms. I am speaking for those that do not have a voice, that do not have rights to representation, those that are slaughtered needlessly and without a second thought. I am the voice for e-coli, salmonella, staphylococcus, H1N1, Ebola and the imaginary AIDS.

It is time to put the manslaughter into perspective and shift attention away from abortions of fetuses and focus on the abortions of bacteria and viruses. Life is life and death is death. Are we going to sit in a doctors office anymore and wait for the execution order to be sent in to the pharmacist so these living creatures are able to suffer and writhe in pain and agony? Are we going to expose our buttocks anymore for penicillin? Reject your z-pack, reject vaccinations, reject Campbell's chicken noodle soup. We are hosts and we support life. A runny nose is a small sacrifice to make in order to support life.

Intelligent Descent

2012-04-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

In light of the ongoing debate between the Theory of Evolution and the Theory of Intelligent Design. I am starting an onslaught on one of the most accepted theories in our world today, the Theory of Gravity. We have taken for granted what is truly pulling us down to the ground, holding our planet in orbit and keeping all celestial neighbors in our solar system in their orbital tracts. I am out to prove that gravity does not exist and that the orbits of our planets are too complex to be left to some imaginary unconscious force. Today, I propose to you the Theory of Intelligent Descent.

Genesis 1:31 states that "the heavens and the earth were created in all their vast array" but it does not distinguish as to where the heavens are located. I am proposing that since God made man in his own image (Genesis 1:27), that God is attempting to pull us closer to heaven, eternal paradise. When we fall from a ladder or a building, we are accelerating to the center of our planet at a rate of 9.8 m/s/s. This not only proves that all objects fall at the same rate through space, but also that God is trying to bring all of his creation closer to him without showing favoritism. All items from a cannon ball to a feather to the bearded sheikh to his bearded wife are all within the grasp of their creator. He is just pulling us closer in, think of it as a fatherly hug.

Now you may start to argue that scientists have proven that at the Earth's core is nothing but molten rock, churning away from the intense fiery furnace created by the immense amount of gravity holding this rock together as it floats through space. I tell you that you are wrong. Have those scientists been to the center of the Earth to prove that it is no more than molten rock? For all we know the center of the Earth could be as Jules Verne told in his novel. Granted, as we dig deeper into the Earth's crust the temperatures do increase, it is only because we are getting closer to his embrace. A wrathful creator found in the Old Testament is bound to have immense amounts of anger, and the anger of a deity is so overwhelming that it radiates heat, melting rock. The deity tries his best to keep that anger bottled up, but there are events that his creation does that pushes god to the limit (we were made in his image, how far fetched is it to think that god cannot be pushed to the breaking point?) and that penned up anger will overflow in a volcanic eruption releasing his wrath upon the world.

Another argument you may present is the tides and how scientists have proven that the gravitational pull of the moon dictates the tides on our globe. I put to you that the moon has nothing to do with the tides coming in or out, it is simple water displacement. The Judeo-Christian God Yahweh is not the one true god. There are multiple deities that come and go. Being a deity is hard work, so once their done, they allow their civilization to crumble ushering in new deities. Twice a day, these deities gather in the oceans to chat about what's going on in their immortal existence. Think of it like a bunch of senior citizens sitting in a hot tub. The water is simply displaced by the immense presence of these all powerful beings. That is what brings the tides in and out on a daily basis.

Finally, the argument about the other planets staying in orbit around the sun. I accept the fact that we live in a heliocentric system where we revolve around the sun, but I do not accept the fact that it is gravity that keeps the orbiting globes in their places. I present to you the slot car racing theory. Yahweh went to visit Shiva one day and Shiva got a new slot car track. Yahweh was supremely jealous of this as he did not have a slot car track. In a feat of one-up-man-ship, Yahweh created the additional planets not mentioned in Genesis and put them in their own slots. When Allah, Shiva, Buddha, Ra and others come over to visit Yahweh they're playing slot cars. Everyone wants to get Mercury because it's the fastest, nobody likes Jupiter because it is big and slow, the same with Saturn, Neptune & Uranus. And the reason that Pluto is no longer considered a planet is because Ra has a horrible temper and threw Pluto against the wall, shattering it to where it will no longer run on the slot car...true story.

With just a few paragraphs and reading only a few versus in ancient text, I have disproved centuries of scientific study about gravity because gravity is only a theory just like evolution. We should attack all the theories that are accepted and mainstream and show how deities have influenced our everyday lives.

Focus on the Family

2012-01-14T20:30:00.002-08:00

First off, I hope everyone is enjoying their new year. This is my first post of 2012 and I hope you enjoy just as much as I did.

So here it is. I'm watching the AFC Divisional Playoff game between the New England Patriots & Denver Broncos enjoying the sight of the almighty Tim Tebow getting knocked down a few pegs from his heavenly high pedestal and CBS goes to a commercial break as there was a timeout in the action (more than likely a change in possession from the number of touchdowns that Brady threw). During the commercial break my children were playing upstairs and my wife was in the living room with me not paying attention to the game. She was playing on her computer with her headphones on giggling to some YouTube video or something.

Remember, the Denver Broncos are playing in this game who's quarterback is none other than Tim Tebow, God's personal messenger and advocate for Focus on the Family, a Christian based group that is anti-gay, pro-life and anything in the Bible, with the exception of piercing of ears and cutting of hair because their founder looks very clean cut. Anyway, on comes this 30 second spot that has a "Children of the Corn" type of feel to it. These children start reciting John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." After screaming obscenities at my television, during a commercial nonetheless not the game, I startle my wife who is sitting idly in her chair who lectures me not to scream so loud unless there is something really important. I let it slide for a little while and then I share with her the very link above that I shared with you, my dear readers, and I find her screaming to her computer the same as I was to my television, minus the obscenities (only because the children were in the room now).

This commercial is wrong for two primary reasons (I can list others, but I'm sticking with two); 1) Religion brainwashes children and this publicizes this practice and 2) humans DO NOT need religion to be good or to raise a family. First I will make the argument for the brainwashing. We sit and tell our children that the Boogey Man, vampires, werewolves and monsters are not real but Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy are. Society picks and chooses what lies are okay to tell for the best of commercialization (Read about Valentine's Day and its origins, you'll be surprised). On the other hand, society tells these very same children that they better believe in Jesus, God and Satan or they will be tormented forever in the bowels of Hell. Jesus is the adult's Santa and Satan is no more of a threat than the Boogey Man. The only argument presented to this idea is that the Bible says so. Contrary to popular belief, the Bible was written by man, not by the hand of god. There is no evidence for an almighty, omnipotent, omniscient being for faith is not evidence. Society has a responsibility to its children to nourish and develop functioning individuals of society and allow them to choose their own faith. I personally have not belief in a superior being, I believe in the power of science and natural selection that brought about our existence. Faith is a personal relationship and brainwashing children ruins that. When they get to the point to start questioning faith and thinking rationally they are tormented with guilt because they are going against all the propaganda that they were force fed through the fictional ancient works. To address my second reason on why this commercial is bad Focus on the Family stands on the premise that you cannot be good without God. How can you raise a good American family without Christ in the mix? Let me tell you, it's easy and there's a lot less burden in doing so. It is awesome being able to sleep in on a Sunday morning, it is phenomenal being able to teach my children about different philosophical views on life without any dogmatic consequences. It is an innate human trait to be good. God does the opposite, I argue that God makes people bad. Look at how many innocent lives are ended short in the name of God. Look at all the wars that have been fought throughout history in the name of Allah, Yahweh or Jesus because each side felt that their imaginary friend was better than the others (I would like to point out that there have not been ANY wars fought in the name of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, RAmen). Given the opportunity, most people will do the right thing, not because of a superior imaginary friend, but because it is in our DNA to do right, we want to do right because we have that want to build trust among our neighbors.

Back to my story. My daughter, who will be 10 in a few months, started asking questions, like "what is brainwashed?". So, I tried to make a friendly analogy for her to try and understand what we were talking about regarding said commercial. The scenario I presented to her is as follows:

Father: "Ok, what would you do if I told you that you could have M&M's only if you prayed to me everyday and if you did not pray to me then you would have to stand in the corner for a week"
Daughter: "Well, when you went to work, I would just sneak out of the corner."
Father: "Ok, I forgot to mention that there would be chains in the corner preventing you from moving"
Daughter: "So there are chains on the wall?"
Father: "Yes"
Daughter: (after a few seconds of thought) "Well, I would just tell you that I don't need M&M's anymore. I can live without them."

Hearing her say that made me one happy atheist, but we had to elaborate more to help her understand what she was asking. She asks a lot of these questions because kids can be cruel at school, especially in the Bible Belt. We explained how those kids are forced to believe in Christ as their parents do or they will be tormented forever by the eternal flames of Hell. The advice that we gave her when kids give her a hard time at school is that they are not the ones to judge, as that judgement shall be passed on by their God and that it is their loss that they are letting religion get in the way of a potentially fantastic friendship. Yes, seeing Tim Tebow's God not show at the game tonight and only have 9 completions (at the time this was written) was great, but it would not top hearing a child of our society stepping into free thought and questioning societal norms. Focus on the Family, my pagan wife and I are doing just fine without your imaginary friends and myths. We will accept free thought and science and adventure into learning.

It's Okay to Say Takei

2011-12-16T20:53:00.000-08:00

I for one am not the festive type come the holiday season. Don't get me wrong, I will not turn down a glass of eggnog with my favorite drink of choice in it, but the modern day Christmas is anything but religious, it is all commercialized. If your argument is that "we make the holiday what it is" then we've made it commercialized. Look at all the frantic fanatic shoppers that hit the stores one month before that "sacred day" of December 25th; they are giving in to the ideology of the mighty dollar rather than the mighty myth.

That being said, tonight I attended the winter festival at my 9 year old's elementary school. She is in the choir and had a performance. I did the good parent thing and showed my support, and she did a great job. There were a number of seasonal numbers that were performed ranging from Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to Deck the Halls. There is a line in Deck the Halls "Don we now our gay apparel" that was altered to "Don we now our bright apparel" all for one law; the "don't say gay" law in Tennessee. This law essentially states that Tennessee public schools are not allowed to discuss homosexuality in grades K-8. The backwards thinking of homophobic Bible thumpers that are making the laws for the land have now started censoring Christmas carols; the jingles that are to praise the joyous season, the birth of their savior Jesus Christ.

Keep in mind, this is the same General Assembly that passed a law that allows concealed firearms into bars (because we all know that mixing alcohol with guns is perfectly safe and the intoxicated individual is in a clear state of mind to make sound decisions) that also passed the "don't say gay" bill. This Assembly has their priorities bass ackwards. They are more concerned with the wrong 3 letter word that starts with the letter G. This is the approach the homophobic Right Wing of our society has, still possessing the thought that you can choose to be gay. I will close this with a tribute to Christopher Hitchens; "If you gave Jerry Falwell an enema he could be buried in a matchbox" for it is the Christian extremists that are tending their flock and have control in our society that is driving it into the ground.

R.I.P Hitch

Who are the Real Threats?

2011-12-09T23:05:00.000-08:00

I've been sitting on this for a few days now. As many of you already know the Senate passed S. 1867, also known as The National Defense Authorization Act. This has been getting a lot of attention because there is a section of this bill that some feel obliterates the Bill of Rights. The section in question states that the battleground for the "War on Terror" is now on U.S. soil and the U.S. military now has the right to detain citizens indefinitely.

The 43rd President of these United States once said that "Any government that supports, protects or harbours terrorists is complicit in the murder of the innocent and equally guilty of terrorist crimes." and the definition of terrorism is the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims. So, our elected officials are homegrown terrorists just like Timothy McVeigh & Terry Nichols. 93 senators took the Bill of Rights and used it to clean themselves after their morning constitutions. I urge President Obama to sign this bill into law in hopes that the already irritated masses will rise and arrest the individuals on grounds of terror threats, for it is these individuals that are threatening our way of life. We are the ones that keep electing the same people and this is what we get, more and more of our rights taken away. Now is the time to take a stand, not when the you are forced to house and quarter soldiers. We are in the 21st century and we are having a debate regarding laws that obliterate the cornerstone of our democracy, our inalienable rights.

Now is the time to open your eyes, remove your blinders and look at the world objectively. For the masses that say that the United States is a Christian Nation, I pity you all. It is your fundamental teachings that say through Christ you gain eternal life. I personally do not follow this belief, there is so much unknown in this realm and the next. We cannot stand for a police state to dissolve the foundation of a society in the guise of protection. I would much rather die with my freedom rather than to be oppressed by mindless followers. This is beyond socialism, this is fascism at its finest. I call on Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine and John Locke and their philosophical beliefs to be restored. My fellow countrymen, we cannot stand to be drowned in fear any longer. We are stronger 330,000,000 strong that have given control of our laws to a total of 535 individuals in a city on the east coast. Government is a necessary evil of any successful society but when that government becomes truly evil with its intentions it becomes a burden on society. When an elephant gets too old to stay with the herd, it is left behind. When a donkey is no longer useful to the farmer, it is disposed of. November 6, 2012 is less than eleven months away, that is the time for our voices to be heard.

The Right Answer

2011-10-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

Here in the next few days the world population is going to reach the 7,000,000,000 mark, and the majority of that population being in under-developed nations gaining aid from developed nations such as the United States of America and those in Western Europe. I have come up with a solution motivated by the concepts of the Tea Party movement. This solution will 100% cut down on government spending, protect the Second Amendment rights to bear arms and could ultimately allow them to create a Christian World Order.

Hunters hunt wild animals for sport on the reason to control population and to prevent disease outbreaks to avoid suffering. In 2009 781,000 people died of malaria, most of them children in Africa. This is a disease that causes suffering in many populations that are not properly funded. Every year 15,000,000 children die from not having access to basic sustenance for nutrition. As one of the most powerful nations in the world we have the capability to resolve these situations to avoid suffering. I'm not talking about government handouts because that is too liberal, and plus, the majority of these cases are overseas, we don't even care about the starving children we have in our own country.

My proposal is to allow every Tea Partier, card carrying member of the NRA and any U.S. citizen that owns a registered firearm to travel overseas and have an open season on the human population of the world. This will alleviate suffering while protecting the Second Amendment rights of those that matter the most, the job creators. This will also cut back on federal spending because there will be less funding going overseas for development. Anglo-Americans have a history of imposing their will on others, ask any Native American who's ancestors were fortunate enough not to contract small pox from blankets. The Tea Party can even pitch this as a continuation on the War on Terror saying that these people threaten the American way of life, the "right" way of life. Stocks of Smith & Wesson will sky rocket along with Capitol One because of all the frequent flyer miles that will be cashed in for these travels, so it is a win/win scenario for everybody that matters.

I urge you to get creative with these. Bring back the safari style hunt in Africa. Drive around in your gas-guzzling Land Rovers that get 2 miles to the gallon. Rent an elephant to roam the streets in Bombay as you bring on the wrath of Jesus on the heathenish Hindus of India. Hire a rickshaw driver to run through the streets of Bangkok as you play your own real-life Grand Theft Auto. Remember, you're doing the world a favor, the world that matters. You're actions will be for the (I can't say greater good because that will seem socialist) the benefit of all. It will eliminate suffering and control population, especially for those that do not abstain from sexual intercourse that continue to add to the world population putting more of a burden on society. You don't deserve for your hard earned money going into medical research to develop a cure for malaria and have it obliterated from the Earth once and for all. Once you build your summer home on the coast of Sierra Leone, there won't be anymore disease. We will categorize any ailment into one general listing called "Perry", because if Jesus wanted us to have a remedy for malaria he would have made it for us in the Garden of Eden just like he did for polio, and Perry's answer is to pray everything away.

Now that all the non-believers and leaches of society have been cleared out, you will have plenty of land to claim in the name of the Christian United States of America, or CUSA (not to be mistaken for the collegiate Conference USA). Now you will be able to have your own child born in what was once known as Kenya and one day become president. We will be able to transgress our progress as a species back to the times of neanderthals, but this time living in isolation where it is every citizen for themselves. You can setup alarms at the edges of your million acre plot to ensure that you do not get any invasions from rivals or freeloaders that survived the rapture trying to get a nibble to eat, because everyone has the equal right to thrive as long as they are already thriving. Happy hunting and don't let them take that gun from your cold dead hands.

The End...an Alcohol Influenced Post

2011-10-10T22:01:00.000-07:00

The End is undefined, and at times unexpected. The End can come with a flash of lightening or after a long journey down the winding path. There are times where we cannot hold our breaths long enough waiting for the end to come and other times where we are not able to breathe in fast enough before that final instant passes by.

We are all passengers in this journey we call life. It is anything but a smooth ride down the straight path. We encounter many pot holes, speed bumps, twists and turns along the way gaining experience the same way a permitted driver does on the eve of their sixteenth birthday. We are driving at night with poor lighting from our outdated headlights; we are not able to see around the bend. This is what makes life worth living. This is what makes us human not knowing what the next day brings. We live in each and every moment not knowing what to expect. We think that life is planned but it is anything beyond that. Life is an adventure and an unmapped journey through the hurdling collection of multi-verses. The choices we make cannot be recanted in any way, shape or form and we must live with the outcomes, positive or negative.

In this journey of life there is only one thing that is guaranteed, The End. The End has graced countless pages in literature and silver screen cinema through the generations. It can keep the audience intrigued to the point where a sudden turn of events derails the predicted outcome or that same audience cannot hope beyond hope for the end to come soon enough. Life is played out on this very same stage. Collectively as a society we have deemed it immoral to voluntarily end the life of a law abiding citizen (unless wrongly convicted of a crime and the courts choose not to listen) but feel that capital punishment and abortion is acceptable. Either way you cut it, forcing death on any living organism is wrong. On the other hand if that living specimen has the peace of mind to be able to say “I don’t wish to suffer anymore” do we not owe that member of society the honor to pass peacefully? The moral question should not be life or death but should be is the individual suffering?

Life is a label we put on consciousness to explain our existence. As a society we rely heavily on nomenclature; Christian and Muslim, insect and mammal, black and white, etc. What it all boils down to, and what too many people ignore, is that no matter what your beliefs are we are all from the same source. Judeo-Christians hold the Book of Genesis close to heart as the origin of life, and many other religions put life in the hands of a supreme being. Biology has proven that we all come from a common ancestor. I’m not starting the argument of evolution vs. creation but pointing out the fact that which ever way you cut the concept, it always goes back to the same beginning, that there was a beginning. Stop the hate mongering against different views and philosophical beliefs that others have. We are all cousins either descending from an ape like creature, Adam & Eve, or an ape like creature named Adam and another named Eve (it’s possible that there was an Adam and Steve in there somewhere too). We need to let go of the hate and indifference's that are fueling our society and see people for who they really are, our cousins, or The End of our society will come far sooner than we all care for.

The Proof is in the Pudding

2011-09-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

I would like to lead off with saying that Patriot Day is a ridiculous name for the remembrance of the terror attacks that happened on September 11, 2001. I'm sure that we can come up with a better name than Patriot Day, until then I refuse to call it Patriot Day. That being said I will go into the blog.

As most people in the United States were doing today, I too was recounting the tragic events that occurred this day 10 years ago. My wife was pregnant with our first child and we were wondering what kind of world she would have to grow up in. I, like most people, felt for the first time a sense of uncertainty. The United States has always had a natural protection in both the east and west with the Atlantic & Pacific Oceans respectfully. During World War II the Japanese had so few attacks on the west coast we can count them on one hand. The closest the Germans got to the east coast was sinking a few ships by submarine attacks in a few harbors up and down the coast, no real onslaught on the general population. Our sense of security was shattered in a matter of moments that September morning when 19 Muslim extremists high jacked 4 jetliners and turn these massive flying objects and transform them into the true weapons of mass destruction. We all know this story so I won't dwell too much on this part.

What I want to reflect on is the extremists that performed the act. ANY individual that can take a "sacred text" as being literal instruction rather than just a simple guide or historical reference (not that it would be reliable for that either) is no more than a sheep and that is exactly what the religious leaders want. Please take note that in the opening of this paragraph I did not say Muslim extremists because there are extremists of all shapes, sizes and religious convictions. We are quick to forget the tragedy that shook Oklahoma City in 1995, the number of abortion clinics that have been bombed or the doctors that have been murdered because they perform abortions. We are no strangers to home grown terror being performed in the name of God. This is the same thing that happened September 11, 2001. Whether you refer to your god as Yahweh or Allah, it is the same "God". The difference comes down to which prophet you follow. Jews believe that their messiah has not yet come to Earth while Christians believe that Jesus was the messiah. Muslims branch off a bit following the teachings of Mohammad who, like Jesus, assented into Heaven in an extravagant light show. The point here is that these three major religions that are at odds with one another all come from the same founder in Abraham. It is safe to say that the majority of Christians would find it absurd if I came running out of the woods saying I found evidence of a lost tribe from Israel, also finding golden tablets containing stories of Jesus coming to America and that the Garden of Eden was in Missouri. Despite how ridiculous Christians see this, there are two people vying for the Republican nomination for president in the 2012 election, but heaven forbid that a Muslim attempt to run for president, we are a Christian nation. Another example, if I run around saying that I am the second coming of Christ one of three things could happen; 1) most likely I will be locked in a padded room 2) I will gain followers like the apostles and have an entourage go around to spread my lunacy to others or 3) I get shot by an extremist for offending their religious belief.

I have met many Christians and Muslims in my time on this planet and I can say that they are both considerably polite and pleasant individuals. They chose to be good people. I would like to think that goodness is an innate human trait that we give more credit than what is due to religion. Religion is a man made concept to help explain the inexplicable. That was fine and dandy 3000 years ago when science wasn't developed, but now that we do have a scientific process to question and a method to test to come to a conclusion, do we really need religion? There has been more harm done in the name of religion throughout history than any other cause. The Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition covered three centuries and spanned to the New World, Hitler (a baptized Catholic) wanted to rid the world of the problematic Jews, Milosevic followed the genocide plan in trying to rid Bosnia of the Muslims, nearly a million innocent people in Rwanada killed for being from a certain tribe and the Catholic priests and nuns helped, the Taliban and Ayatollah have set the Middle East region back centuries by taking literal translations of the Qur'an to heart, and finally the tragic events of 9/11.

I am far from the praying type. I am a humanist and hope for the best for everyone. I never wish harm to come to anybody because I feel that nobody should endure any agony. John Lennon said it best in "Imagine";

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for Today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

This was the dream of one man. I too imagine a world without religion. We are not a mass amount of heathens running a muck creating chaos, we go about with our ordinary lives, living for the day. I leave you with this. We are cousins killing cousins. We are all humans no matter what our beliefs are. We put too much value into religion and yet have no evidence of any deity existing. We are brainwashed from the time we are baptized to believe everything our elders say about religion and never to question it. It is this indoctrination, in ANY belief system that hurts society and causes tragedies that we remember on this day. Here is an alternate view of what our world would be like without religion.

The Truth is in the Numbers

2011-08-29T17:58:00.000-07:00

Omnipotent - Having unlimited power; able to do anything
Omniscient - Knowing everything

These definitions are from the Oxford English Dictionary online. These are two adjectives often used to describe Yahweh. Richard Dawkins in "The God Delusion" makes a great point that a god that is both Omnipotent and Omniscient is contradictory. If that god is Omniscient, he knows of EVERYTHING that is bound to happen, yet billions blindly pray to him seeking personal gratification (which is rather selfish) and hope that the Omnipotent god will answer their prayer. If the Omnipotent god does answer this selfish request, this action ultimately cancels out the validity of the Omniscient god; one cannot be both.

The second point I wish to touch on tonight is the idea that this Omnipotent god created a vast universe, so vast we're still searching and finding new items that boggle our minds, and that we're the only life that he created. Let's talk this through; we reside in the outer edges of a swirling arm of the Milky Way galaxy. Our eye in the sky, known as Hubble, has opened up the celestial doorway to a vast number of galaxies that were all unfathomable a mere century ago. We know that there are billions upon billions of stars in the billions of galaxies that are now estimated to populate this universe. Our solar system requires just one star, a single celestial body at the center of it all and we are fortunate enough to be at a favorable distance from it so we are not cooked like Mercury or Venus and also have the advantage of massive gas giants of Jupiter and Saturn to thwart impending asteroids from coming too close. We have an ideal setup in our little nook of the universe, but to think that we are the only life in this chemistry lab known as the universe is very primitive, and to think that God is the creator of it all is a very lazy answer. The odds of someone winning the Powerball Jackpot is 1 in 195,249,054. Everyday new planets are being discovered just by gauging the wobble of distant stars from the gravitational force that planet has on the star. It is highly unlikely that we as a species will map every star system in the universe in any of our lifetimes, but I would say that the odds of winning the lottery are right in line with life being elsewhere in the galaxy.

As a nation, we need to revitalize our sciences once again. After World War II, we smuggled in some of the great minds from Nazi Germany and thrust America into the Superpower status we now enjoy. Sadly, conservative Christian fundamentalists see science as an attack on religion and are doing everything they can to prevent science from being taught to its fullest in schools. Science is there to ask a question, and through testing, experimentation, gathering evidence develop an answer. Religion is the lazy way out (why is the sky blue? Because God made it blue. It has nothing to do with the light being scattered by the atmosphere). Religion and faith, if we let it, will impair this once great nation. Yes, we have the freedom of religion, but that does not entitle for the Conservative Christian Core to force their beliefs on the rest of society. Religion and faith are personal beliefs and should be kept as such; I want my children to learn of evolution, not idiot design. I want my children to be able to ask why and be able to go into a library to find an answer in a science journal, not rely on a book with contributors who had their own personal agendas in writing stories from other stories of the time and then a group of men gather to select which ones will be best to be the Word of God.

In the Defense of Marriage

2011-08-25T22:14:00.000-07:00

Today the U.S. Census Bureau released the statistics of marriage and divorce from the year of 2009. It turns out that married couples in the South, often referred to as the Bible Belt, have a higher tendency to divorce than those married couples in other regions of this vast nation. This coming from the same region of the country that is overflowing with Bible thumpers that lobby on family values and fund politicians to represent their conservative ideology putting up the largest opposition to the support of gay marriage.

I can say that I have been happily married for more than 10 years now and I do reside in the South, Tennessee to be exact. I can proudly say that the actions I take are what is best for my family and myself. Any decision I make I take into consideration any outcomes not asking "What Would Jesus Do?" but more along the lines of what implications will this have? I live by the Laws of Nature not by silly text that has been mistranslated over centuries upon centuries to be accepted as the Word of God. The point I make with this is best summed up with a quote from my brother; "No one is more miserable than a southern white middle-class Christian conservative". I am proud not to be bound by the dogmatic theocracy that burden many of "souls" traveling this land. I truly feel that the dogmatic stigmata we are drowning in today is poisoning our society. Avid believers try to find every justification in their Holy Book to denounce what their neighbor does and fail to look themselves in the mirror and denounce the hair cut the got which is strictly forbidden in the same Holy Book.

Now, onto the defense of marriage. This is what we need to do to fix our divorce rates in the South. allow homosexual marriage. Follow me on this; if we allow homosexual marriage, by default there will be more women (aside from the homosexual women) for the newly divorced men to pick from, allowing procreation to take place giving these new love birds another chance at happiness. With fewer opponents on the mating scene trying to hide their true homosexual beings, the pickings will be ripe for the heterosexuals. Just like in nature, the top ram gets first dibs on their mate, the same can be true for the South (just leave the head butting to the beer cans).

Another way to look at this news is that the South is so deep in the closet that we're finding next year's Christmas presents. Deep down inside the cockles of their souls, white Christian conservative men have discovered they cannot beat the gay agenda, so rather than beating why not join them? Okay, I guess I shouldn't have said beating them, maybe defeat them. White Christian conservative men cannot find satisfaction, no matter how many women they marry (i.e. Newt Gingrich) so they keep defying the tenth commandment about coveting they neighbors wife.

What I propose is that we allow gay marriage. This will increase the number of marriages we have to tally next go around offsetting the increasing number of divorces that miserable white christian conservative middle class men are revolving through the courts with. Massachusetts and Vermont, just to name two states, already allow gay marriage and have lower divorce rates than us in the South. They realize that the more marriages there are, the more balanced the divorce rate will seem. It's simple law of averages...wait, most southerns wouldn't even get that, sorry.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acs-13.pdf
http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/08/25/divorce.bible.belt/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1

Acceptance

2011-07-30T23:11:00.000-07:00

For countless centuries, human inhabitants of this planet called Earth had a geocentric state of mind. They believed that the Earth was the center of the universe and everything, including the sun, orbited around this small spherical body. There were a few observers through the years that started to truly study the sky and began to lay the pieces of the puzzle out to construct. Copernicus was the first to put the puzzle together by coming out and saying that the Earth orbited the Sun. Later, Galileo invented the telescope to observe far off celestial bodies, and with this was able to examine the paths of orbiting planets and moons and confirmed what Copernicus had stated.

This concept went against everything that the church believed. As a matter of fact, Galileo was excommunicated from the Catholic Church, but kept his strong faith in God. Over time, with insurmountable evidence, the church finally adopted the heliocentric construction to our solar system. Now, almost five centuries after Galileo left this planet, science is in an ever heated battle with religion yet again. This time it is dealing with how life came to be on this planet. Science shows steady changes to species over time so those species can adapt to their environment and ensure their thriving through time (barring any major catastrophe). These small, steady mutations are the basis of evolution, or the survival of the fittest. There are countless species of birds on this planet all with different designs beaks, wings and feet. Some have webbed feet to allow them to tread through water easier, others have talons to grasp their prey while they fly. Pelicans have an expandable pouch to scoop up water with fish so they don't have to land to eat where as the seagull does not. These are variable traits over time to allow these different species to survive and thrive.

Yes, it took the church many of years to accept the fact that we are not the center of the universe, eventually they will come to the conclusion showing that evolution is a fact and not a belief. Galileo never gave up his faith, but stood by the scientific evidence of the heliocentric concept. Why is accepting what Darwin observed blasphemous? We see changes in our own species over time. We as a species have gotten taller over time. George Washington was 6 feet 2 inches at the time of his death, that was considered tall for his time, today that is average. We are adapting, height is a favorable trait to have, it shows dominance. Accept the fact that evolution is out there, we all evolve, we're just waiting for you.

A Choice...

2011-07-27T00:51:00.000-07:00

We encounter scores of choices on a daily basis; what shoes to wear, what to get to eat on lunch, should I pass the cop on the interstate if they're going below the speed limit? A lot of these are minimal and seem like they won't impact our everyday life (unless you read up on Quantum Theory, but that's well beyond what this is going into). We have choices galore here in the United States, most people choose to believe that science is absolutely wrong when discussing the fact of evolution. I don't mind one bit having an intelligent conversation in regards to creation vs. evolution, the validity of The Bible or how hypocritical many practitioners of religion appear to be, but there are places that are appropriate for these discussions, and I'd say that ninety percent of the time work is not a good place to have a discussion on topics such as these, a better choice could have been made.

Homosexuality is not a choice. It is a biological anomaly that has changed the face of the modern world. In 1993, President Clinton initiated an Executive Order banning gays serving openly in the military with Don't Ask, Don't Tell. One may argue that this would not infringe on any civil rights, but I wonder how many conversations were held between troops about how much they enjoyed the dancers at one of the many exotic bars in a military town, or the hot piece of ass they got from the club over the weekend. This is flaunting heterosexuality in the open and this is perfectly acceptable, despite the fact that these were the same practices in Sodom and Gomorrah before the Lord rained down fire and brimstone. It took nearly 20 years for our society to realize just how wrong Don't Ask Don't Tell was and urge the government to take action.

Now to say there is a "Gay Gene" or not is a bit ridiculous at this point in time. Yes, we have decoded the human genome, but not one gene stood out, what we did find upon further research is that 60% of the sample did share similar genes on 3 different chromosomes (read here), simply put homosexuality is no more a choice than how tall you are. Homosexuals have pheromones and hormones just like heterosexuals that stimulate their physical attraction to others, it's nothing that can just be prayed away, no more than crabs, lobsters and swine can be prayed away (more of God's abominations).

Another thing, if you're going to say that your ancestors are Adam & Eve, not monkeys and then an hour later agree with someone saying that human species started in Africa millions of years ago, either you believe the Bible is open to interpretation and flawed by man or are blindly following what you are being taught. You are free to choose what your beliefs are, but there are irrefutable evidence that life on Earth is far greater in age than six thousand years old like the Bible teaches; we don't find human, let alone chimp, remains with dinosaur remains in the fossil record. Evolution is not an attack on faith; faith and worship falls into a societal belief system (often examined in Social Studies classes) while fossils, rocks, carbon and everything surrounding us down to the molecular level can be physically examined (often studied in a science class). This is why evolution is taught in science compared to creation, or it's new cool nickname Intelligent Design. With the scientific method, you work to the answer, not give the answer and work from it. Intelligent Design, Creationism and sadly Flying Spaghetti Monsterism have no place in science books. Evolution may be a trick from the Flying Spaghetti Monster to test our faith, but since there has been a great decrease in pirates as global warming increases, there are fewer prophets out there to spread his noodly word to the masses.

The bottom line is that we are all brothers and sisters on this floating rock ideally placed far enough away not to be scorched by the sun but still close enough to benefit from the heat it puts off. No matter what you study, we all come from a common ancestor whether it be Adam & Eve or rely on scientific proof showing our decent from chimpanzees. There are millions upon millions of genes that can be activated and deactivated over time. Whales have the gene to grow legs, we as humans still have the gene to grow a tail. We don't see whales walking with legs or humans wagging their tails out of excitement because these genes have been turned off biologically to benefit the survival of the species. So whether you are black, white, yellow, brown, heterosexual, homosexual, transgender, intergender or just have questions, stop the hate and ignorance. We are all citizens of this planet, not by choice but by chance and we're all here for the same reason, to make the best of what we're given and survive.

The Sanctity of Life

2011-07-10T23:38:00.000-07:00

Last week in Orlando, FL a jury acquitted Casey Anthony for the murder of her daughter. The majority of Americans cried foul at the verdict. Granted there was a lot of suspicion in this case, first and foremost the month that Caylee was missing before the authorities were notified. Every individual brought to trial in the United States has the right to a quick and speedy trial granted to us by the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the Untied States. The defendant is also innocent until proven guilty. This last section is the most important detail in this case as the prosecution failed to provide reliable physical evidence tying Casey to the death of her daughter. We can blame the jury all we want, but they executed their civic duty as instructed by the court. It was the prosecution that dropped the ball on this, not the jury.

Where the real crime lies in this is after the verdict was read. The family of Casey Anthony, Caylee's grandparents, embraced Casey jubilantly. This little girl left this Earth three years ago, she would be getting ready for kindergarten this summer, but there has been no mention of the family asking for the authorities to continue the search for the real killer. We can debate all we want now whether Casey killed her child or not but we will be wasting breath because Double Jeopardy prevents her from being tried for the same murder again. Nobody saw it suspicious that Casey's father attempted suicide not long after Caylee was reported missing and found on his property? Now Casey is off scott-free and is being made offers for her story. She is going to become rich off the blood of her child who is still seeking justice as she lies in state in the ground rather than growing up playing with Barbie dolls and Legos.

A few days later there was a baseball game in Arlington, TX. Josh Hamilton caught a routine foul ball and being the final out of the inning, he tossed the ball into the stands to give a fan the opportunity to get a ball at a game. Those not familiar with the layout of the field in Arlington, the wall in right field, where Josh Hamilton was playing that day, is about 18 feet high and there is a gap between the wall and the stands, so the stands are about 20 feet up from the ground. As the ball was making its way to the stands, a father at the game with his 6 year old son was trying to make the day all the more special for his son by catching the ball. He lost his balance and tumbled head first over the railing between the bleachers and the wall hitting the concrete below. Tragically Shannon Stone died in this fall.

In this incident media outlets kept airing video of this one man falling to his death as his poor son looked on. Rather than being respectful to the family of the departed, media outlets were only looking for ratings with the shock factor. Today is 7/11/11 and this video is sadly still on YouTube for the world to see. When American prisoners were being decapitated by terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq, the media did not show this out of respect to the families, but this video is still available online to be viewed. There is no doubt that this child will be scared for life from witnessing the death of his father and yet media outlets showed this video and made money off of it.

The crime in these two incidents is the potential for profiting off of the loss of life. If Casey was truly innocent why hasn't she urged the police to find the true killer rather than trying to strike a book deal with the diary she kept in prison or advice book? Ratings numbers are not as important as the well being of a child and family that tragically lost their father in a freak accident. Profiting off another's loss is the true crime people and this is what needs to stop. I hope one day we'll be able to see this.

Your Days are Numbered

2011-06-19T17:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, Genesis explains to us that it took seven days for God to create everything from the spiraling galaxies in the sky to the grass in my back yard. We can also find later on in this collection of fables that Jesus went into the desert for forty days and was tempted by the devil with food but did not eat (Luke 4:1-2). When presenting the question on creationism versus evolution creationists tend to use the arguement that a day for God could be different for us, but is Jesus not God? How can forty days be measured significantly different than seven days? Either the time keeping of the time was inaccurate because Rolex and Bulova were not around in Switzerland yet or we can take it for what these are, myths.

A State in Denial

2011-06-12T21:37:00.000-07:00

It is difficult to turn on any "news source" today and hear radicals screaming that our Founding Fathers intended that we be a Christian Nation and that we should follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. In this posting, I am going to debunk the ideas that our Founding Fathers intended this land to be governed under a cross. These men were free thinkers and were above the brainwashing that is known as organized religion. The reason for the First Amendment stating that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." These men understood what brainwashed religious fanatics were capable of, Europe had endured hundreds of years of witch hunts ending the lives of countless innocent individuals. The Spanish Inquisition sought to rid the Spanish territory of any religions that were not Catholic. Both of these practices made their ways across the Atlantic Ocean, most famously depicted in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. We can go back even farther to the Crusades that were lead into the Holy Land. All of these deplorable actions done in the Name of God.

Thomas Jefferson is one of the most revered individuals in the history of these United States. He was the young politician from Virginia that the Continental Congress called upon to draft the Declaration of Independence. He was not a federalist and believed firmly in states' rights. He would fit right in with the GOP today; he had sexual affairs with his assistants (slaves), denounced "big government" supporting states' rights, but also denounced Christianity, that maybe a problem for today's politicians. Thomas Jefferson, our third president, the architect of the Declaration of Independence, the second face on Mount Rushmore and the one who is embossed on our nickle said "I do not find in orthodox Christianity on redeeming feature". This is not a very supporting fact for calling the United States a Christian Nation. Jefferson actually saw organized religion as a threat to society; he wrote the following in a letter to Horatio Spafford on March 17, 1814 "In every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot...they have perverted the purest religion ever preached to man into mystery and jargon, unintelligible to all mankind, and therefor the safer engine for their purpose." Jefferson understood that religion was poison to a free society because of the fear that the based their practices on. If the United States was truly to be free, the government could not establish a national religion. "It has been fifty or sixty years since I read the Apocalypse, and then I considered it the ravings of a maniac." He understood that the Bible was written by man to induce fear among the followers of Christ so that they would not stray from the path. "I have recently been examining all the superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition (Christianity) one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology". "We discover in the gospels a groundwork for vulgar ignorance, of things impossible, of superstition, fanaticism and fabrication". These words do not provide evidence of this Nation intending to be a Christian Nation.

"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches". This rant came from one of two men found on American currency that were never elected president, Benjamin Franklin. The great thinker was against established religion as well. Not necessarily denouncing a supreme being, but saw many flaws in the establishment as it was. In an 1728 publication Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion, Franklin stated "I cannot conceive otherwise than that He, the Infinite Father, expects or requires no worship or praise from us, but that He is even infinitely above it". Franklin also pointed out the lack of evidence of God's judgement "I looked around for God's judgment and saw no signs of them" for he thought that "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye to reason" and Franklin was not about to close of reason in any way, shape or form.

John Adams was a friend of Thomas Jefferson during the founding of our nation and later on as they both retired from politics. Adams was our second president succeeding George Washington after he stepped down after two terms. In a letter to Jefferson, Adams shares a feeling about Christianity with his dear friend; "I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved -- the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!" Adams saw religion as a hindrance on advancing a society; "The question before the human race is, whether the God of Nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles?" and "God is an essence that we know nothing of. Until this awful blasphemy is got rid of, there will never be any liberal science in the world." finally "The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find a precept for Creeds, Confessions, Oaths, Doctrines, and whole cartloads of other foolish trumpery that we find in Christianity."

These are the traits that I want in my elected leaders. I do not want my leaders to be blinded by faith as put by Mr. Franklin. I want leaders like Abraham Lincoln who Supreme Court Justice David Davis said "He had no faith, in the Christian sense of the term-- he had faith in laws, principles, causes and effects". I want a leader that can look objectively at everyday life and look for a real answer rather than saying "It's God's Will". Just because Christianity happens to be the majority religion on this continent does not mean that our Founding Fathers intended to have Christianity as a national religion. We separated ourselves from the British Crown which had an established state religion and saw the persecution endured by non-followers. The Pilgrims came to America in refuge of the Crown. Why would we go from one bad situation to another? I will leave you this evening with one final quote from Mr. Jefferson from a letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper in 1814. "Christianity neither is, nor ever was, part of the Common Law."

Who needs a Secret Decoder Ring?

2011-06-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

Let's take a look at the contradictions posed to us by the GOP. The GOP majority in the Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill prohibiting the transmission of offensive images and the governor, a member of the GOP, signed the bill into law. The question underlying this is who is the one that deems an image offensive. The highest court in these great United States have time and time again ruled that expression and art are protected under the First Amendment with the freedom of speech. Essentially this law is in direct violation of our rights that have been in place for nearly two and a half centuries.

Now, let's look at the Second Amendment, a favorite of the GOP, the right to bear arms. The amendment reads as follows; "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." The same high court, the third branch of this experiment we call a republic, uses this to give people right to own firearms. The militias of yesteryear have now been transformed into the National Guard. I'm for certain that everybody that owns a gun is not a serving member, or a veteran, of the armed forces. This amendment clearly states that "a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State" this does not mean EVERYBODY.

With the availability to a massive amount of firearms in the United States, guns are bound, and have, fallen into the wrong hands causing harm, even death, to people in unnecessary fashions. While the GOP fully supports everyone to have a gun in their hands, they adamantly oppose abortion. A woman has every right to choose what they want to do with their body. GOPers believe that a fetus is a living creature and abortion is death. Yes, abortion ends a pregnancy, but guns also lead to death. Why the double edged sword? Is it because you believe that once a fetus is born and is developed into a voting citizen that they will vote for you so you want to protect every right that they have? Why is it that Scott Peterson is charged with double homicide when he killed his pregnant wife? The fetus was still in the womb. Or do you protect the right to bear arms to allow for Christian extremists to reign terror on the ones who perform abortions? Who is man to say that they can wield the sword of God to do God's Will? We are but man, we are the highest intelligence that we know of in this corner of the universe and yet so, so, sooo dumb. God does not have everything written down in a book saying that this will happen at such and such time, no. We are all made of atoms on the molecular level and orbiting the nucleus of those atoms are electrons. Their orbits are unpredictable and their unpredictability leads to countless outcomes of scenarios. As a man is laying in a field outside the house of an abortion doctor with his rifle in hand taking aim through the scope, countless electrons are traveling through the neurons of that man's brain. Countless thoughts are triggering; "Do I shoot? What becomes of my family if I'm caught? What becomes of this killer's family when he's dead? Who else will avenge the countless lives he's taken? I am justifying God with this action..." and he pulls the trigger, he could have easily thought more along the lines of the reality of jail and not being able to support his family, but the blindness of faith and religion overwhelmed reality.

The Bible states that God is the ultimate judge, but what happens when individuals play God on Earth? The most ridiculous statement in any language is "I killed in the name of God". The Crusades were launched in the name of God, the Spanish Inquisition was in the name of God, even the one who assassinated Yitzhak Rabin said he killed in the name of God. God is taught to be a loving individual. People today that say they hear God need to see a doctor because their brainwashing from years of indoctrination in organized religion has blinded them from understanding what true schizophrenia is and endangers society.

The bottom line is that morality is separate from religion. Our politicians SHOULD NOT mix religion and politics. Our Founding Fathers knew this and that is why they state in the First Amendment that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. They understood that organized religion makes people crazy and societies unstable. Religion is the one thing that a society will hold onto dearly with no evidence of a deity, only the idea of punishment in the afterlife. It is a similar practice that we do with children; if children don't behave they are punished. We are all individuals and each have the right to think for ourselves. We all need to take responsible for the actions we cause in this realm for this realm is true, it is real. I have tangible evidence everyday when I hug my kids and kiss my wife. I can hear the thunder outside and feel the rain fall on my head. This is real, this is chemistry, biology and physics all working simultaneously. We need to take what we have for what it is, we don't need to bend the rules to make them say what we want, this is what causes polarization in society.

A picture is worth a 1000 words...

2011-06-11T02:05:00.000-07:00

This week, the state of Tennessee has seemingly come closer to a totalitarian regime. There has been a range of unnecessary laws that have been passed, recently making it illegal to share passwords for online media services (Netflix, iTunes, Hulu, etc.) and now it is illegal to send pictures that could be deemed offensive. Supporters of this bill state that this is in place to curve harassment and prevent emotional distress. Here's the thing, offensiveness is entirely objective. Me being agnostic, I could find a picture of Jesus Christ dying on the cross "for my sins" offensive. Why would I want to see a man (yes, a man, not a supernatural deity) suffer in agony? This man was tortured, thorns driven into his skull, whipped countless times and then metal spikes driven into his forearms and feet to keep him suspended until his body gave out. This image I see is highly offensive. Or, what about the most popular animal on the internet, cats. I could be an ailurophobic individual and risk emotional distress just by opening my emails that have been forwarded to me.

There is media on the internet that does need policing, heinous acts that are dispicible in nature like child pornography, decapitation, violence driven by hate like "smear the queer". None of this has a place in a civil society, digital or not. This is where the true policing belongs. We cannot let Lady Liberty's panties get in a wad over a picture of a penis that may have been tweeted out. My First Amendment right gives me the freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is the same as expression. Pictures are a form of expression, just like any other form of art. Raising a smoke screen stating that this is to avoid "emotional distress" is ludicrous. This is a direct violation of the 6 million plus citizens that reside in Tennessee.

This act is a waste of time and money for Tennesseans. Harassment is harassment, and the harassee has every right to contact their local authorities to file harassment complaints. If the harasser has to resort to pictures being sent via email or multimedia message than the other forms of harassment have more than likely already been exhausted. If it has escalated to a point such as this, why hasn't the harassee taken action to try and get the harassment to stop? Let a crime be a crime. If we continue to itemize every little detail that can and cannot be done in our society, Big Brother is watching you. We continue to allow our elected officials to make bass-ackwards laws such as these and we continue to reelect them based on political association. This is the first time in Tennessee that the Republicans have had a majority in both the state house and senate since Reconstruction, and now they are doing a great job of playing Big Brother and contradicting the ideals of the GOP of saying less government. I have to thank my good friend for the final picture and a message to the General ASSembly in Nashville.

One Soldier vs. an Army

2011-06-04T17:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the world lost a true visionary. Dr. Jack Kevorkian passed away at the age of 83. Dr. Kevorkian ruffled a lot of feathers with his work of assisting terminally ill patients that elected in their own free will that it was their time to go. They did not want to endure anymore suffering and did not want to put their families through anymore hardships. Dr. Kevorkian was a pioneer in the world of medicine, and yet, more than two decades later only a few states now allow assisted suicide.

Yes, there is a moral dilemma about this topic. Doctor's take an oath to treat patients and prevent disease. Part of the Hippocratic Oath states that "I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick." Prolonging the life of someone that is terminally ill opens the flood gates to extreme medical costs with doctor visits, hospital stays, even surgeries just to try and make the patient comfortable and prolonging the inevitable. If someone, of sound state of mind, elects to end their suffering, we as a society owe that to the individual. Why just let them wither away in a hospital bed (increasing medical bills) and give them a button to dose them with morphine (that is only limited to so much and does not always take away the pain)? Is this the humane thing to do, is this the ethical thing to do or is this the capitalistic thing to do?

When we have pets that have gotten to a certain age where they become riddled with cancerous tumors, start going blind, or cannot control their bowels or bladder, we as the pet owners have to take that long drive to the veterinary office and make that call for euthanasia because it is the humane thing to do. We don't prolong the suffering of our fellow living creatures (created by God if you believe that). One argument is that God has the final say on when we die. If that is the case, aren't we playing god when we make the decision to put our beloved pets down? It's nothing easy to witness if you're truly attached to your pet, I can only imagine what it would be like for someone doing this to their kin. Genesis 1:26 states that "God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

This is not a topic to split hairs on. This is my body, I own my body. Nature gave the this body to do as I will with it. There are healthy and non-healthy things I can consume. There are helpful drugs and harmful drugs that I can partake in, but all of them are my choices. Assisted suicide is not a matter of vanity, ethics or morality. It is up to the individual that is enduring the suffering and to have them discuss it with their loved ones who are enduring the suffering by proxy. The closest we have today, in most areas, to assisted suicide is "pulling the plug". This is where all life support measures are turned off and the patient is drugged to "provide comfort". I recently saw this first hand with my mother in law passing at the end of March this year. When they turned off the respirator, the doctor said "if she appears to be struggling for air, let us know so we can give her more drugs". The tone he said this with was cold and unwelcomed. I'm not saying that my mother in law would have wanted to use assisted suicide, she loved life and loved seeing her grandchildren grow up to become their own personalities. But there are countless others out there that are struggling, suffering through the pain of terminal illness that have no medical hope to get better and yet, they are forced to suffer until "God" chooses to take them from this Earth. God gave dominion to man over the entire earth, over every creature on the earth. Man is a god created creature, we should have the same end of life privileges that we grant our family pets. Thank you Dr. Kevorkian for your outlook on life and how to help loved ones pass on peacefully. You will be missed.

Deep Fried Dung

2011-06-04T16:23:00.000-07:00

So here's the scene. After winding down from work on Friday night, I get to bed about 3:30 - 4:00 in the morning. Once the sun comes up I'm waking up about every hour or so, not the greatest of sleep. My wife and kids decide to start attacking me around 10:30 or so to get up for the day. We decide to go out and enjoy the afternoon as a family and grab lunch at a family friendly establishment. We start driving around town throwing out ideas for lunch to go to, nothing sounded good, so we cross state lines into Kentucky. We drive miles down a two lane state highway, highway 79, heading into Guthrie then into Russellville. The few houses along the route are outnumbered by the silos there storing the grain from the countless acres of wheat and corn fields along the route. We pass the sign "Welcome to Russellville, Kentucky. est. 1798" and we are in a quaint little town riddled with houses that have either reached, or are getting ready to pass, the century mark. To the right is a large, elegant cemetery with old headstones hidden by the newer, larger headstones. To the left is Adelle's Southern Gourmet Food. We'd been driving now for about 40 minutes or so and figured it was time to stop and grab some lunch. Enter family stage left.

The building appears to have been a lodge of some sort before with the setup on the inside. The inside was recently modeled with large 3x3 granite tiles on the floor and cherry wooden tables and chairs. There was one other table occupied as we entered, so not too busy at all. We go in and place our orders, everybody enjoying themselves. Fried dill pickles were great, steak was tender and catfish was not dry. A great place to eat with nice and friendly service. It is at this time that the dining experience becomes a bit more interesting. As we are finishing up our meals and debating if we want to get puddin' pie, another couple in their late 30s or early 40s walk in and sit a couple tables away from us. The woman sits facing us and the gentleman sits with his back. After they order their drinks, he seems uncomfortable and moves to the chair next to him, seeming to position himself farther away from us. We then hear the woman say "stop it, she's here with her family trying to have a good time. Let it go." Before their drinks are brought out, they get up and leave.

For those of you who do not know, my wife is a Pagan. She has been practicing Paganism for most of her life. Just like most Christians, she is proud of her religion and her beliefs and is not afraid to express herself. Some Christians have a cross hanging from a chain around their neck or some other form of apparel advertising their beliefs. My wife proudly wears a pentagram (a five pointed star enclosed in a circle) to express her religion. It is a common misconception that this is a sign of the Devil. On the contrary, Pagans don't believe in the Devil so they don't have a symbol for him. Christians link the idea of Devil worship with pentagram and Paganism because of true misunderstanding. Paganism was practiced millenia before Christianity was a twinkle in God's eye. Satanists are more Christian than Pagans; without Christ there is no Satan. So to invoke fear into the Christians, Satanists take what is old and not quite understood and incorporate them in their "rituals".

It's sad to see intolerance still thriving in our society. I don't know if this guy thought that since we were so close to a graveyard that my wife was going to invoke the spirits of the dead to come haunt him. I can see his great grand pappy turning in his grave because if this had been 1963, it would have been my wife and family that would have been rejected service and the ignorant Cracker would have been able to stay and feel safe in his little closed box. So John Boy, if you ever come across this blog (I don't know if Russellville, KY has internet or not) try to keep an open mind about people, they can surprise you at times. We can only come out of the dark ages of ignorance and become enlightened with the truth of knowledge.