Justice Done

Political Cartoon is by David Horsey in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Ten Atheist Quotes

The excellent blog The Atheist Missionary printed a list of 10 very good atheist quotes. I thought they were very good, so I have shamelessly stolen them and reprint them here for your pleasure (or indignation):

1. A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes. James Feibleman.


2. Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. Seneca the Younger.


3. I don't think we're here for anything, we're just products of evolution. You can say “Gee, your life must be pretty bleak if you don't think there's a purpose” but I'm anticipating a good lunch. Dr. James Watson (co-discoverer of DNA).


4.The idea, therefore, that religious faith is somehow a sacred human convention—distinguished, as it is, both by the extravagance of its claims and by the paucity of its evidence—is really too great a monstrosity to be appreciated in all its glory. Religious faith represents so uncompromising a misuse of the power of our minds that it forms a kind of perver se, cultural singularity—a vanishing point beyond which rational discourse proves impossible. Sam Harris.


5. Truth does not demand belief. Scientists do not join hands every Sunday, singing, yes, gravity is real! I will have faith! I will be strong! I believe in my heart that what goes up, up, up must come down, down, down. Amen! If they did, we would think they were pretty insecure about it. Dan Barker.


6. Out of all of the sects in the world, we notice an uncanny coincidence: the overwhelming majority just happen to choose the one that their parents belong to. Not the sect that has the best evidence in its favour, the best miracles, the best moral code, the best cathedral, the best stained glass, the best music: when it comes to choosing from the smorgasbord of available religions, their potential virtues seem to count for nothing, compared to the matter of heredity. This is an unmistakable fact; nobody could seriously deny it. Yet people with full knowledge of the arbitrary nature of this heredity, somehow manage to go on believing in their religion, often with such fanaticism that they are prepared to murder people who follow a different one. Richard Dawkins.


7. What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. Christopher Hitchens.


8. When we don’t know something, the conclusion is not ‘Therefore, we know it is magic’ (from Zeus or from Jesus). When we don’t know something, the conclusion is ‘We don’t know.’ Luke Muehlhauser.


9. I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours. Stephen Roberts.


10. We might enhance the respect others accord us if we are kind, considerate, peace-loving, courageous, truthful, loyal to friends, affectionate to our families, aspirants to knowledge, lovers of art and nature, seekers after the good of humankind, and the like; or we might forfeit that respect by being unkind, ungenerous, greedy, selfish, wilfully stupid or ignorant, small-minded, narrowly moralistic, superstitious, violent, and the like. Neither set of characteristics has any essential connection with the presence or absence of any specific belief systems, given that there are nice and nasty Christians, nicer and nasty Muslims, nice and nasty atheists. A.C. Grayling

Commodity Or Necessity ?

A thought-provoking bit of knowledge from ratboy's anvil 2.

He's Dead !

On September 11, 2001 several airliners were hijacked. Two of them were flown into the Twin Towers in New York City and another hit the Pentagon. On another, the passengers fought back and were killed when the plane crashed. More than 3,000 Americans were killed that day.

It did not take long for the government to figure out who did it. It was organized, financed and carried out by an organization called al-Queda. This organization was founded and headed by a Saudi citizen named Osama bin-Laden (pictured). In 2001, President George Bush promised all Americans that Osama bin-Laden would be brought to justice, and in an effort to do that he invaded Afghanistan (where we still are trying to fight Taliban insurgents). That country was invaded because they allowed al-Queda to live and train there.

But Bush lost sight of that goal. He had always wanted to invade Iraq and used the 9/11 disaster to invade that country (even though Iraq's leader hated bin-Laden and had nothing to do with the attack on America). After getting bogged down in two wars, Bush put the capture or killing of Osama bin-Laden on the back-burner, and when he left office in 2008 it still had not been accomplished. It was one of many failures of the Bush administration.

It now looks like the Obama administration has completed the mission for all Americans. American forces found Osama bin-Laden living in luxury in a mansion near Islamabad with his family (and not in an Afghani cave as was previously suggested). The terrorist leader was killed and his body has been positively identified by U.S. forces. CNN is reporting this was a human military operation -- not a drone attack.

I don't usually celebrate the death of any person, but I have to admit I am not upset at this good news. The man was a mass murderer. I wish we could have put him on trial, but at least he is no longer at large. And 9/11 has been avenged. Those are good things.

This does not mean that terrorism is no longer a threat. In fact, there may be reprisals for this death. But this is something that needed to happen and is long overdue. I congratulate the U.S. forces that accomplished this mission and the Obama administration that was not afraid to authorize it (even near the Pakistani capital). Well done!

Syrians Have Rights ?

Political Cartoon is by Steve Sack in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Perpetual Blackmail By House Republicans ?

Under the guise of protecting the country from a growing deficit and national debt, the newly-enfranchised House Republicans have taken to blackmail like a fish to swimming or a bird to flying -- like it's a natural thing for them. They started with the budget for this year, threatening to shut down the government if their demands for slashing of social programs, the EPA, and education were not met.

The president was able to negotiate an end to that crises without too much hurt for ordinary Americans, but only because the Republicans recognized an even better opportunity for blackmail was just down the road -- a vote on whether to raise the debt ceiling established by Congress. And the time for that is now fast approaching.

The government will reach the debt ceiling around the middle of May, and unless that ceiling is raised by Congress the government might have to default on the debt it owes. If that were to happen it could not only throw this country into a depression, but could have negative worldwide reprecussions. The House Republicans don't seem to care about that. They simply see an opportunity to use this crises to get rid of social programs they never liked (like Medicare and Medicaid) and cut many others (Social Security, food stamps, unemployment insurance, etc.), while giving more tax cuts to the corporations and the mega-rich.

They are currently in the process of throwing a tantrum and threatening to vote "no" on raising the debt ceiling if their mean-spirited and hurtful demands are not met. They even have business scared, and many corporate and business representatives have been trying to get these House Republicans to pick another battle because the reprecussions of this one are too serious. But so far they have not been able to talk the Republicans out of their blackmail scheme.

In fact, some of these House Republicans are devising a scheme to turn the blackmail over raising the debt ceiling into a perpetual and permanent thing. They have been discussing among themselves a plan to raise the debt ceiling only for a couple of months each time. And they would want some of their demands met each time a new vote was scheduled. This way they could keep slashing programs they don't like and cutting taxes for their rich buddies without end, since they would get more every couple of months. And some Republicans, especially some of the new teabaggers in Congress, are already signing on to this scheme.

It goes without saying that this new blackmail scheme would be disastrous for the country's economy. Not only would it do nothing to create jobs and encourage growth, but it would keep both the government and the country in a never-ending state of turmoil -- destabilizing the economy and hurting all Americans. But they don't seem to care about that as long as they can get what they want.

It is time for the president and the Democrats to put their foot down. A continuance of the debt ceiling for only a couple of months is unacceptable, and giving in to the onerous Republican demands is just as bad. It's time to call their bluff. They have already gone too far by voting to abolish Medicare (so they can give corporations new tax breaks) and the people are angry. If they refuse to raise the debt ceiling and throw this country into turmoil, they will make the majority of Americans even angrier -- and they will pay for it at the polls in 2012.

Republican leaders know this and I don't believe they'll let the congressional teabaggers do anything else to further hurt the party. If the Democrats will just have enough backbone to stand firm, the Republicans will give in and vote to raise the debt ceiling. Democrats just need to make sure it is not a short-term (two month) solution. They must not allow the Republicans to engage in perpetual blackmail.

Hoax ?

Political Cartoon is by Pat Bagley in the Salt Lake Tribune.

A Patron Saint For Pedophiles

One of the most popular catholic religious leaders of modern times was Pope John Paul II. He headed the church from 1979 until his death in 2005. His popularity was such that almost immediately upon his death there were people demanding his promotion to sainthood. And the current Pope, Benedict XVI, responded by giving a special dispensation removing any time limits on the road to sainthood.

Still, a person (even a beloved pope) can't become a saint with performing some "miracles". And supposedly the dead pope has now done that. A French nun has credited John Paul II with curing her of Parkinson's Disease. That's good enough for John Paul II's beatification (a recognition by the church that he is "blessed"), and that was what happened this last weekend in front of over 1 million catholics in the Vatican. With one more miracle John Paul II can become a full-fledged saint -- and that will happen because the church wants it to happen.

But there are some who believe there is a rush to make John Paul II a saint to protect both his reputation and the reputation of the current pope. John Paul II presided over the church during a period when many hundreds (perhaps more) priests were molesting children. Instead of exposing and turning these priests over to law enforcement, as should have been done, the church just played their own version of "musical chairs" -- shifting the pedophile priests from one church to another to protect them and the reputation of the church.

This protection of the pedophile priests was directed from the Vatican (and overseen in Germany by the current pope while he was an archbishop). It is beyond believable that John Paul II did not know what was being done to protect the pedophiles (and the church) -- even though this just set up more children to be molested rather than solving any problem.

As Keith Porteous Wood of the National Secular Society in Great Britain said, "This sprint to sainthood is to deflect examinations into JPII's unedifying record on clerical child abuse -- and, with it, Benedict's own role." Wood is right. The enormous amount of priestly child abuse could not have gone on for so long, become so widespread, and been hidden from the public so effectively without the participation of both John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

So a protector of pedophiles is on the way to becoming a saint in the catholic church. I guess it was bound to happen. All kinds of groups have their catholic patron saints (who intercedes on their behalf) -- Christopher (travelers), Crispin (shoemakers), Luke (doctors), Gabriel (broadcasters), Isidore (farmers), Matthew (tax collectors), Vitus (comedians), Yves (lawyers), and many more.

Since every other group has their own patron saint, I guess it is fitting that the world's pedophiles will now have their own patron saint -- someone to intercede on their behalf with the invisible sky fairy. And who could do that better than the person who protected them in this world -- John Paul II?

Fairy Tale ?

Political Cartoon is by Nate Beeler in The Washington Examiner.

Corporate Tax Dodgers

Found at understory.ran.org.

Public's Distaste Of Teabaggers Is Growing

I have posted recently about how the teabagger "movement" seems to be losing some of its steam since the last election. A convention of teabaggers that was supposed to draw thousands (that many would have been needed to fill the hall that was rented) in Florida wound up with only about 300 participants -- about 12 participants for each scheduled speaker. And the "giant" teabagger tax day rally in Washington (D.C.) was an even bigger flop -- with the news media outnumbering the demonstrators.

But while the movement is losing steam, it also looks like the public is turning against the teabaggers. These radical (and racist) right-wingers have never been supported by a majority of Americans, but in the beginning there were a lot of Americans who simply didn't care one way or the other about the teabaggers. That is changing. Since the Republican's took over the House of Representatives with a lot of new teabagger politicians, the public has been faced with just how extreme the beliefs of these people really are.

These new teabagger Republican representatives have fueled an attack on the government by opposing the EPA's attempts to improve the environment, slashing funds for education, opposing a woman's right to choose, trying to abolish Medicare and Medicaid, proposing benefit cuts for Social Security, proposing cuts to unemployment and other social programs that help unemployed and poor Americans, protecting job outsourcing -- and doing all of this while protecting huge subsidies for corporations and proposing new tax cuts for those corporations and the rich.

Americans wanted some changes made (cut the deficit, create jobs, stop outsourcing) but they weren't ready for the mean-spirited fringe right-wing agenda of the teabagger politicians. Now these politicians are experiencing a backlash among voters (as many of them are experiencing in town hall meetings). And it looks like the entire teabagger "movement" is also starting to experience some backlash from the public.

A recent Gallup Poll shows that nearly half of the American people say they have an unfavorable image of the teabaggers. The poll shows that 47% of the population now views the teabaggers negatively -- a 5% rise since January 2011 and a 7% rise since April of last year. At the same time, those who view them positively has dropped by 6% since January 2011. Here are the poll results showing the number of people viewing teabaggers negatively (with a demographic breakdown):

General Public
positive...............33%
negative...............47%

Men 18 to 49
positive...............34%
negative...............42%

Men 50+
positive...............49%
negative...............40%

Women 18 to 49
positive...............27%
negative...............47%

Women 50+
positive...............26%
negative...............57%

East
positive...............27%
negative...............49%

Midwest
positive...............34%
negative...............48%

West
positive...............25%
negative...............52%

South
positive...............42%
negative...............41%

Republican
positive...............60%
negative...............24%

Independent
positive...............30%
negative...............43%

Democrat
positive...............10%
negative...............73%

Bluff Or Suicide ?

Political Cartoon is by Stuart Carlson at carlsontoons.com.

Contraceptive Use Common - Even Among Religious Women

There is a perception among many in this country that the use of contraceptives is discouraged by religious leaders -- especially Catholic leaders and many of those in fundamentalist congregations. If that is true, them women are not listening. A new study shows that religious women use effective forms of contraception at basically the same rate as all women.

The study by the Guttmacher Institute (in interviews of over 7,000 women from 2006 through 2008) found that of all  American women who have have sex, about 99% of them have used some form of birth control other than "natural family planning". And among women who are currently sexually active, about 69% of them use an effective method of birth control (IUD, the pill, sterilization, etc.).

And the percentages hold up for christian women -- even those who regularly attend services. The study showed that this was true of 73% of mainline protestants, 74% of evangelicals, and 68% of catholics. If the preachers (and priests) are still teaching that sex is only for procreation, then religious women are not listening. It seems that women, whether they have a career or not, simply don't want more children than they can afford or care for.

The only real surprise in the study (at least for me) was that evangelical women employ sterilization (male or female) far more than women of other faith traditions -- to the tune of about 40%.

Right-wing fundamentalist men may still want women to be second-class citizens and subservient to males, but it seems that modern women (even religious women) are getting past that. They have lives to live -- lives that are every bit as important as those of males. It looks like at least part of the feminist message is getting through, whether people want to admit it or not.

It Proves. . .

Political Cartoon is by John Cole in the Scranton Times-Tribune.