Here’s the intro to an article in today’s New York Times, Texas Approves Curriculum Revised by Conservatives,

After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on Friday voted to approve a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Father’s commitment to a purely secular government and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light.

This is a huge concern because school textbook publishers often print their books based on the largest school systems in America, Texas being one of the largest. For more information on why Texas matters so much when it comes to textbooks, check out Texas Textbook Adoptions: Whither (Wither) Evolution? from the National Center for Science Education.

Here is the money quote highlighting the level of ignorance from at least one member of the Board, David Bradley,

“I reject the notion by the left of a constitutional separation of church and state. I have $1,000 for the charity of your choice if you can find it in the Constitution.”

Sigh… I assume “by the left” he’s referring to Thomas Jefferson or James Madison? Of course, in the closing lines of the Constitution you find the following,

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.

done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,

Religious Fanatics

Clearly a ringing endorsement of Christianity as the official religion. It’s not like they amended the Constitution to forbid the U.S. government from making a “law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”

What’s that you say? They did? The very first sentence of the very first amendment, you say? That’s weird, I wonder if David Bradley and his fellow religious fanatics know that?

and

I apologize for the delay in posting these shows.  Thank for everyone’s hard work and volunteerism….

Links used on the shows…

Newsweek’s “The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage.”

R. Blanchard and A. Bogaert’s study showing a positive correlation of no. of older brothers on homosexuality in males:
ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/153/1/27

F. Whitam, M. Diamond, and J. Martin’s study showing a significant concordance (correlation) rate of homosexuality between twins:
springerlink.com/content/w27453600k586276/

R. Lippa’s study confirming the correlation between ring-to-index-finger length ratios and homosexuality in men:
psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=2003-05568-017&CFID=6251602&CFTOKEN=77584491
tinyurl.com/yldql7c

The American Psychological Association’s position denying that “reparative therapy” has been shown to be safe or effective:
apa.org/topics/sexuality/orientation.aspx [forward to page 8]

Phil Plait’s blog post where we first saw the Hubble Hart images video…

Our next live show is this Tuesday, March 16 7-8 PM on Comcast Channel 57 and Verizon Fios 27.  Rae and Ashley will be hosting and the tentative general theme is going to be women and FreeThought.  This will be a great show.  Feel free to call in 422-8708 during the show times.  We want to hear from you…

We have the Collision event coming up on Friday, March 26th.  We’ll talk more about that at this month’s meeting.  We’ll try to finalize schedules for the coffee klatch, skeptically drinking, euchre/game night, movie night, ect.

The weather will soon be perking up, which means we should probably start thinking about scheduling our first  Adopt-a-highway cleanup soon.

We have confirmed our guest lecturer for April!  More info on that at the meeting.

Hope to see you there!

Last week, a first happened for secular values in American politics. The Secular Coalition for America (as well as other key members in the secular movement) met with White House administration for a policy briefing. While this happens frequently for religious and faith-based organizations, this is the first time a secular policy meeting was held by the White House.

I got an email from the SCA about that meeting. Rather than re-hash when they said, I’ll just put the bulk of the email here:

We made history last week. On February 26, the Secular Coalition for America, along with a unified delegation of members of the secular movement  from across the country, sat down with White House representatives for an official policy briefing-the first of its kind for American nontheists.

Never before has a U.S. presidential administration held such an event with the secular movement, and it’s the latest indication that we are gaining significant momentum, and that secular Americans, numbering in the tens of millions, are a constituency that must be included in national policy decisions.

Since our meeting, rightwing groups have been telling the media that ours is a “hate-filled” coalition, but the truth is that our message could not have been more compassionate and constructive. We used this historic opportunity to call for protecting children from religiously-based medical neglect, ending military proselytizing, and ending tax-funded faith-based initiatives which discriminate and proselytize.

The topics they broached: [Source]

• Protecting children from abuse and neglect (especially through “faith-based healing”)
• Ending military proselytizing
• Fixing faith-based initiatives

While this certainly doesn’t reflect all of the topics that we secularists want the White House to be aware of, it is a good start. Here is a link to the full text of the SCA’s prepared remarks. It’s a few pages, but definitely worth the read.

What do you think they should cover next time? Let us know below, and then sound off on a poll the SCA set up for this very purpose.

This is perfect for:

• Those interested in blogging for Freethought Fort Wayne
• Bloggers who need a refresher course on blogging protocol
• Bloggers who wish to learn advanced tricks, like adding events, customizing homepage pictures, etc.

If you have a laptop, bring it, otherwise a pen and paper will do, as I will be demonstrating blogging technique on the conference room’s big-screen television.

Please comment below to RSVP for this workshop. If you don’t feel comfortable doing that, feel free to email me: andy_welfle {at} freethoughtfortwayne [dot] org.

But I bring this up because lately I keep seeing the theme of demons come up.  I keep hearing that real Christians no longer believe in Hell; and presumably then, demons as well.  But there are many polls out there that suggest otherwise.  Here’s a particularly annoying Washington Times article that says about half of Americans believe in angels.  I am presuming if you believe in angels, you probably believe in their fallen counterparts.  The article also states that religious liberals are more likely to believe in astrology, the paranormal, and other whacky stuff more so than their conservative co-religionists, so take the article with a pound of salt, because I find that hard to swallow.

But there are plenty of real stories in the news about demons.  There was, after all, an official meeting of exorcists in Poland recently, so obviously some people still take this baloney seriously.

There was also the story in Texas recently (aren’t they always in Texas?) where a mother and her husband beat their one-year-old girl to death with a hammer in order to rid her of demons, after not having the cash to get a professional exorcist to do it up right.  I can understand praying that your baby stops crying incessantly, but if you fear you may harm your own child, you need to be removed from the situation until you can handle it.  Postnatal depression and similar issues are quite common for new mothers, but I’m sure serious religious beliefs can complicate the situation immensely.

I’ve been slowly digesting a book recently called the Malleus Maleficarum or The Hammer of Witches. This is not to be confused with all the other manuals on how to properly destroy people who don’t believe what the Catholic church believes, such as Tomas “The Hammer of Heretics” de Torquemada’s Copilacion de las Instruciones del Offico de la Sancta Inquisicionor (the official manual of the Spanish Inquisition, 1576) or  the Malleus Judeorum aka The Hammer of the Jews, by the inquisitor John of Frankfurt around 1420.

Keep in mind this book was first published in 1486.  It was the standard medieval text on sorceresses and their damnable relationships with succubi and incubi demons and how to destroy their heresies.  1486 is only about 13 generations removed from you and me if you allow a forty-year average life-span from then to now.  That really is not that long ago if you think about it.  It’s almost forgivable how so many can still believe this kind of stuff when you look at it that way.  I’ll let its first few opening paragraphs speak for itself:

Whether claiming that sorcerers exist is such a Catholic proposition that to defend the opposite view steadfastly is altogether heretical.

And  it is proven that it is not a Catholic proposition to claim any of these things: “Whoever believes that any creature can be created or changed for the better or worse or transformed into some shape or appearance in any way other than by the Creator of all things Himself is worse than a pagan or infidel”.  When it is stated that such things are done by sorcerers, to make such claims is not a Catholic but a heretical proposition.

Also, sorcery has no effect in the world.  This is demonstrated on the grounds that if it did, it would happen through the operation of demons, but to claim that demons are able to impede or bring about bodily changes seems not to be a Catholic proposition, because in that case they would be able to destroy the entire world.

…Also, what is subject to physical virtue has no virtue to influence bodies.  Demons are subordinte to the virtues of the stars, as is clear from the fact that certain enchanters observe the constellations in order to invoke demons.  Therefore, they do not have the virtue of having some influence on bodies, and all the less do sorceresses.

Imagine how terrified people must have been back then to think angels and demons were hovering all about you; that enchanters were harnessing the powers of demons through astrology and alchemy; that the slightest illness could bring about the end of this world and the beginning of the next.  It’s why people still say “bless you” after you involuntarily sneeze.  They used believe you sneezed out your soul, and if someone said “bless you”, it made it harder for demons to possess your body before your soul could find its way home.

I bet the people who still take their religion seriously have to be embarrassed to admit in believing a lot of the antique baggage that comes with their religion is true.  I’ve had a believer tell me it is offensive to ask if one literally believes in angels and miracles and Noah’s ark and all the rest.  I think it’s not so much that it’s offensive, it’s that it’s embarrassing for them to have to answer “yes”.

I have a general belief that people have an “it’s too good to be true” detector when it comes to money-making schemes but we’re not so good at detecting baloney when it comes to getting out of debt. After all, it is incredibly easy to get into debt so it should be pretty easy to get back out. I also don’t think people in general realize how hard it is to get “ahead” when you have debt hanging around, I know I don’t.

Many years ago I attended a course at the Anthis Career Center called “Debt Free and Prosperous Living” through, I believe, the Fort Wayne Community School’s Neighborhood Connection program but it doesn’t look like it’s offered anymore but navigating, finding and in general using their website is, uh, less than intuitive.

While I can’t speak for all of these “Debt Free” programs out there I can talk about how this specific program works. What you’ll find is that many of these programs share a common methodology that I call the “Pile On” effect. I’m sure there’s some kind of official name for this methodology but I don’t know what it is I only know the math behind it.

This method is not a scam and will work but there are some obvious caveats, but first let me give you the Reader’s Digest version of the method. The “Pile On” methodology basically has the following methodology:

1. Strip all of your debt down to the minimum payment.
2. Identify all available “extra” cash. This would be anything you are saving, anything above the minimum payments, cut out some “eating out” money, whatever.
3. Score your debt based on the minimum payment amount, length of the debt, interest rate.
4. Tally the score for each of your debts and order them from highest to lowest.
5. Now here’s where the trick to the methodology exists. Make the minimum payment on all of your debt except for your highest scored debt. Take all of your extra cash and add it to the minimum payment of your highest scored debt.
6. Once that debt is paid off, the minimum payment for that debt now gets added (or “piled on”) to the extra cash that is then added to the minimum payment for the second highest debt.
7. Rinse and Repeat

Here’s a scenario that I think will help illustrate the point:

Current Debt, Payments and when it’ll get paid off.

When looking at this chart notice that after 24 months you will have paid off your credit card debt, I’m assuming that that $180 dollars is now going to be added to your Car payment so between the 24th month and the 33rd month your Car payment will total $580 and then after the 33rd month you will have $580 that will be added to your mortgage payment.

Current Debt with the “Pile On” Methodology.

Notice that you are not spending any more or less a month but look at the payoff times. You will be done with your Visa bill in half the time which then let’s you “pile on” that payment towards your car which cuts your 3ish-year car loan by 6 months and then the same pile on happens to your mortgage. You are getting out of debt faster using the same money you already have.

The Pile-On effect is most notable in your mortgage payment because you are able to roll $680 dollars/month into your payment 6 months sooner and over time that has a huge effect. Assuming there is no impact to the total interest you would pay, you at least paid $4,080 straight to your principal in that 6 months (6 months * $680).

However for many people 20+ years of throwing 680+ dollars at a mortgage is too far of a time frame to get any satisfying pay-off. But the basic math works, with a simple “pile-on” strategy vs. spreading your extra cash around you will (in this simple scenario) have your Visa and your Geo Metro paid off in 39 months vs. 57 months with the same extra cash.  Also remember, there is no magic here. While yes you will be getting out of debt in 60% the time, you are still having to commit yourself to this methodology for over 3 years. 39 months is a long time for a lot to happen. These programs are not going to likely get you out of debt in less than a year (of course, that depends on how much debt you have) and they are not worksheets and formulas that you do one time and then set it and forget it.

Market Differentiation

I’ve looked at a three different programs that are offered online similar to the one mentioned above and they all appear to have the same basic math. Where these programs differ is in their “scoring” methods on which debt to tackle first, how to go about negotiating lower interest rates and freeing extra cash from places you didn’t know about.

In the class I took the “freeing extra cash from places you didn’t know about” consisted of consolidating your car and homeowners insurance into one policy, use coupons for shopping and even look at debt-consolidation companies and the pros and cons of going that direction. Oddly, nothing I didn’t already know. We also talked about home equity lines of credit and the “right vs. wrong” ways to use that to consolidate debt on your own. I would be very, very surprised if any of these courses had some kind of secret sauce that many of us don’t already know.

There was also a day dedicated to just basic monthly budgeting and planning for times when you will have unusually high expenses (like Christmas, birthdays and family vacations). Again not a bad idea to review from time to time. One piece of this is the basic track what you spend. Many people that I know personally don’t track what they spend and not because they are independently wealthy, they just simply do not look at their bank statements until they get into a crunch.

Debtor Beware

Who will this program *not* work for? Well, if you are one of those people that does not pay attention to where your money is going or simply don’t want to know obviously this is not for you. You will first need to get a real handle on what your monthly expense are, where do you have extra expenses, like Christmas and what kind of monthly budget are you willing to stick to.

Honestly, if you have debt and you can’t find any extra cash and are already making only minimum payments then this should probably tell you something about your situation. You are probably living “above” your pay grade, or exactly “at” your pay grade. Either situation (unless very temporary) is a bigger problem and no debt-free system is going to help you. You are in the unenviable position of needing to shed monthly expenses, like a cellphone, cable TV, feeding your children, weekly lunch with friends, etc.

If you think one of these courses is the kick in the pants you need, I think they certainly can’t hurt. As for which one is right for you? Honestly that’s only a question you can answer yourself since the circumstances that put you in debt to begin with are problems individual to you. Many of these programs simply give you workbooks to evaluate your outstanding debt, monthly cash flow and your spending habits.

If you choose to take one of these courses, I would suggest coming prepared with the following research already completed:

• Why are you in  “debt” to begin with? Do you suck at budgeting and have slowly gotten to where you at today? Loss of a job? Sudden and large medical expenses? A taste for the nicer things in life?
• What specifically can you do to prevent this from happening again? You will need to the answer to the Why question first. When taking the course make sure you focus on the areas that offer opportunities to “fix” the parts your need to address. Focus your questions to the teacher in these areas. If your situation involves a sudden and large debt like medical expenses then working on freeing up extra cash and the basic math is all you need. If you like the finer things in life and suck at budgeting you have likely worked your way slowly into a hole and will need to work your way slowly out of the hole by budgeting better and trimming the fat.
• Who is teaching the course? Is s/he a financial planner or something similar? Their background may or may not matter to you but be aware that their ability to answer the What questions may be limited to the course material.

As Skeptics we constantly train our baloney detectors on outward things like psychics, homeopaths and Kevin Trudeau we should also be checking ourselves as well. What assumptions am I making about how the world works or, in this context, how my finances work? Am I making the best informed decisions about my money?

Finance, in general, is a lot of math, statistics and interest rates and is very logical and straightforward with all the right calculations. Our Finances, on the other hand, are very emotional things and understanding that distinction can go a long way.

As usual, there’s no real agenda-  just an excuse to chat and relax.

The coffee klatch has been so popular that we’re likely to start having it bi-weekly.  We’re also thinking about starting a skeptically drinking group for the over 21 crowd later as well for those of us who like something a little stronger than coffee.  We’ll probably bring that up tomorrow, among other topics we’ll probably bring up since there’s been so much to talk about lately.

Hope to see you there!