May 31
“I see no good reasons why the views given in this volume should shock the religious sensibilities of anyone.”
- Charles Darwin, On the Origins of Species
Archive for May, 2007
May 30
I am creating this post for the purpose of comments on the current poll. Just in case anyone would like to qualify their answer or discuss the various implications.
The current poll is a question about Ron Paul:
Will Ron Paul run independently when he fails to get the Republican nomination?
Feel free to comment or discuss here, if you would like to. 
May 27
May 25
In light of the second, and now somewhat infamous, republican debate in South Carolina, I thought I should revisit my earlier post on Ron Paul. In that post, I mentioned that I didn’t know a whole lot about Ron Paul and his philosophies on issues besides the ones quickly noted on the “About Ron” page on his presidential campaign website. And I wanted to revisit it since neoconservatives are trying desperately to paint him as a quintessential “conspiracy theorist” with regard to 9/11, including everyone’s favorite Patron Saint of Terrorism Aftermath™, Rudy Giuliani.
It seems that, in the debate, Ron Paul made the “controversial” implication that our actions have consequences. 
And because of that, he is catching a lot of flack from “true republicans” who cheer anyone that threatens a free society and demands that government have the power to do all they can to protect us, even if it is at the expense of that freedom.
Ron Paul made the implication in response to a question about terrorism and 9/11. Here’s the exchange:
REP. PAUL: … Non-intervention was a major contributing factor. Have you ever read the reasons they attacked us? They attack us because we’ve been over there; we’ve been bombing Iraq for 10 years. We’ve been in the Middle East — I think Reagan was right.
We don’t understand the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics. So right now we’re building an embassy in Iraq that’s bigger than the Vatican. We’re building 14 permanent bases. What would we say here if China was doing this in our country or in the Gulf of Mexico? We would be objecting. We need to look at what we do from the perspective of what would happen if somebody else did it to us.
MODERATOR: Are you suggesting we invited the 9/11 attack, sir?
REP. PAUL: I’m suggesting that we listen to the people who attacked us and the reason they did it, and they are delighted that we’re over there because Osama bin Laden has said, “I am glad you’re over on our sand because we can target you so much easier.
Saint Rudy jumps on this as an opportunity to remind everyone where he was on 9/11:
Wendell, may I comment on that? That’s really an extraordinary statement. That’s an extraordinary statement, as someone who lived through the attack of September 11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq. I don’t think I’ve heard that before, and I’ve heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11th. (Applause, cheers.)
And I would ask the congressman to withdraw that comment and tell us that he didn’t really mean that. (Applause.)
Why is it that Saint Rudy suggests he answered the question with a resounding “Yes”, and gets away with it? I’m pretty sure Ron Paul could have said anything besides the word “No” after Wendell’s question, and it wouldn’t have mattered to Rudy.
Anyway, in the wake of the exchange, Ron Paul has given Saint Rudy a reading assignment to help educate him on what he means, instead of telling Rudy he didn’t mean what he said. The assignment includes Chalmers Johnson’s Blowback, Robert A. Pape’s Dying to Win, and Michael Scheuer’s Imperial Hubris, and the 9-11 Commission Report - the very report focused solely on the day Rudy was there to… well… be there (remember??? Remember, damnit!).
He even provided Cliff Notes to make the read a little easier and understandable for Giuliani, including among others:
“The suicidal assassins of September 11, 2001 did not ‘attack America,’ as political leaders and news media in the United States have tried to maintain; they attacked American foreign policy. Employing the strategy of the weak, they killed innocent bystanders, whose innocence is, of course, no different from that of the civilians killed by American bombs in Iraq, Serbia, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.”
– Chalmers Johnson, Blowback, page XV
(More Cliffs Notes in this article)
Since I admire anyone who suggests we take responsibility for our actions instead of creating an external locus of control for everything except the most desirable consequences, this prompted me to take a closer look at Ron Paul. And after some searching I came across what basically amounts to a blog. It’s called The Ron Paul Library.
So I spent some time reading through the library, and I must say that my original inclinations were correct. I certainly don’t agree with him on everything, but the underlying philosophy on the role of government and all that it implies is something this country has desperately needed for at least 7 years, if not longer.
I’ll give a couple of examples.
May 22
“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find anything that agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”
- Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha)
May 21
Welcome to Conversations with Jesus. In this fireside chat, we will be listening to a wonderful discussion between two of history’s most admired martyrs. Both tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, it is nothing short of remarkable that we are able to bring both of them here today for Conversations with Jesus. Without further adieu, I say ‘welcome’ to both of you…
Jesus meet Socrates… Socrates meet Jesus…
Socrates:
Good morning, Jesus, I have heard much of your marvelous teachings. In my own modest way I am a philosopher here in Athens. I am told you have great wisdom and certainly that is indicated by the throng of admirers that follow you through the streets. If you have a few moments to spare, I would appreciate it if you would enlighten me with the answers to some of the puzzling problems I have been wrestling with all my lifeJesus:
I am as a fisher of men in my search for followers. I bring the truth of God to all men. Seek and you shall find, ask and it shall be answered knock and it shall be open unto to thee.Socrates:
There is one basic question that has always been uppermost in my mind. Although it has always been an insurmountable obstacle to me in my search for the truth and meaning, I am sure that with your learning you will find it far too easy and think me a foolish old man. I have always longed to live honorably and nobly, but it seems that I have merely stumbled through life without even knowing what was honorable or noble. With my limited understanding, it often seems to me that life, even with all its sound and fury, really signifies nothing. Please tell me: How should a man live; what is the purpose of life?Jesus:
To serve and worship God.Socrates:
Which God?Jesus:
There is only one god.Socrates:
Oh. You should live here in Athens. We have several to choose from.Jesus:
There is only one true God.Socrates:
Of course. And which one is the true God?Jesus:
The true god is Lord God.Socrates:
Yes. But who is Lord God? Or what is he?Jesus:
He is the infinity of wisdom, love, compassion, peace, and mercy. He is the creator of heaven and earth all things in the universe.Socrates:
Of all things?Jesus:
Yes-all things. He is omnipotent. He is master and controller and maker of all things. He is omnipresent-nothing can happen that he does not know beforehand.Socrates:
Did he create plagues, wars, death, suffering and evil?
May 20
Calvin and Hobbes has always been one of my favorite comic strips. When I saw this particular comic, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the movie War Games, in which “Joshua” simulates a game of Thermonuclear War (Tic-Tac-Toe) with itself where there is never a winner.
Click the pic for a larger view.
May 18
Four U.S. Congresspersons are in the middle of the Food Stamp Challenge, in which they try to live on $21 worth of food stamps for a week.
Why $21? Because that is the national average food stamp allotment per person, that’s $3 a day! The lawmakers that are crazy enough to try this are Rep. Jim McGovern (MA), Rep. Tim Ryan (OH), Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (MO), and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL). The goal “for this ‘food stamp challenge’ was to spark a real discussion about the real life difficulties that many in America face in trying to put food on their tables.”
Why? According to McGovern, because…
We’re trying to get this debate going. There are more working people today getting food stamps than six years ago. . . . There’s not a member of Congress that doesn’t have hunger in their district.
McGovern and Ryan are blogging about their experiences here and here, respectively.
Jan Schakowsky has also added a post to McGovern’s blog about her first few days on the Food Stamp Challenge, noting that…
Shopping was really hard. Here’s what I learned. It is much easier to afford pasta and bread than it is fruits and vegetables of any kind. It is hard to buy much of anything for $3 a day. It is impossible to get a Starbuck’s coffee or a Diet Pepsi if you don’t want to run out of money pretty quickly. I also learned how miserable it would be to live on food stamps for any length of time.
Mmmm, pasta and bread, and all the carbs your body can turn into fat. Here is Jan’s menu for her first few days:
For $1 per meal, it makes you wonder how these people stay alive. Not the congresspeople. The poor souls who don’t have the luxury of choice.
I’m not saying we should be pouring more money into Food Stamps necessarily, but certainly things like the U.S. Farm Bill that subsidizes (read: makes cheaper) ingredients like sugar and corn syrup and fat don’t help anyone, much less the poor that can’t afford healthy food because of it.
For some extra educational material, Micheal Pollan writes in the New York Times about this egregious government utilitarianism veering down the all-too-common path of unintended consequences…
This perverse state of affairs is not, as you might think, the inevitable result of the free market. Compared with a bunch of carrots, a package of Twinkies, to take one iconic processed foodlike substance as an example, is a highly complicated, high-tech piece of manufacture, involving no fewer than 39 ingredients, many themselves elaborately manufactured, as well as the packaging and a hefty marketing budget. So how can the supermarket possibly sell a pair of these synthetic cream-filled pseudocakes for less than a bunch of roots?
For the answer, you need look no farther than the farm bill. This resolutely unglamorous and head-hurtingly complicated piece of legislation, which comes around roughly every five years and is about to do so again, sets the rules for the American food system — indeed, to a considerable extent, for the world’s food system. Among other things, it determines which crops will be subsidized and which will not, and in the case of the carrot and the Twinkie, the farm bill as currently written offers a lot more support to the cake than to the root. Like most processed foods, the Twinkie is basically a clever arrangement of carbohydrates and fats teased out of corn, soybeans and wheat — three of the five commodity crops that the farm bill supports, to the tune of some $25 billion a year. (Rice and cotton are the others.) For the last several decades — indeed, for about as long as the American waistline has been ballooning — U.S. agricultural policy has been designed in such a way as to promote the overproduction of these five commodities, especially corn and soy.
(Read the rest of the article here. The New York Times website may require a login, which is easily obtainable from bugmenot.com)
May 18
Just a quick thought…
I would pay to see a debate between passionate democratic presidential hopeful Mike Gravel and republican candidate Ron Paul.
I think these two are the most likely to throw down at any given moment.
Seriously, I would pay. It would undoubtedly be an entertaining affair worth more than a few bucks out of my pocket. Even moreso if they give them pads and headgear.
May 16
As a person who once tried to play basketball in a high school in Oklahoma, I must say that this story from 20/20 hits a little close to home. The story is about an Atheist student, Nicole, in the town of Hardesty, Oklahoma, who allegedly experienced a few difficulties with other students and even teachers and administrators because of her (lack of) religious beliefs.
I must admit that, at her age, I didn’t have the strength or the confidence to do what she did by telling her coaches or other students that she was, in fact, an Atheist. I hadn’t even developed a full understanding of what it meant to be an Atheist, much less the ability to stand up for those beliefs in the way she did.
I was the one who found myself taking John Stossel’s suggestion… standing in that circle, before the game, silently waiting for those around me to finish their regurgitation of the Lord’s Prayer. A friend was the first to notice, and asked me about it. But things didn’t turn sour until an assistant coach noticed some time later. Much like Nicole, I was told that I wasn’t welcome if I wasn’t going to join the team in prayer.
Regardless of how badly I would like to say something to my coaches, to this day, I don’t regret my decision to leave the team after that. If they were going to be discriminatory, then it’s not a team I wanted to play with anyway. I played basketball more for fun than (like Nicole) in a pursuit of a college scholarship, and I was fortunate enough to have such a luxury.
I am both proud and sorry for Nicole and her situation. And I can only hope that her story will help chip away at the religion-fueled bigotry, discrimination, and hate that is so prevalent in this country.
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