Find a way to serve a veteran on Veterans Day!

Less than 1% of Americans are veterans.  Many of them are unemployed, homeless, and/or alone.  If you have done well in this country, you've done so thanks to the veterans who've secured for us what we have at great personal sacrifice.

Do something for a veteran this year on Veterans Day.  If you own a business, hire a veteran, if you can't hire but already employ a veteran, give them a raise, or at least an extra day off with pay.  If you're not a business owner/manager, feed a veteran...  Invite a veteran over for a meal with your family.  Contact a shelter or s soup line to volunteer to help feed the homeless (many of whom are veterans).  If you have a skill and you're aware of a specific need, use your skill to serve a veteran...  For instance, if you're a plumber and you know a veteran who is having plumbing problems in their families home, why wouldn't you do what you can to help someone who has done so much for us?

Help your favorite veteran...  A family member, a coworker you know and like, a neighbor...  

Here'a a great idea for those who don't know any veterans:  A number of chain restaurants around the country, including Chile's, Applebee's, Outback Steakhouse and many others are offering free meals to veterans on Veteran's Day.

Call around your area and see which chains are offering free anything and ask what documentation is needed. Then call your local VA facility or VFW hall and find out which vets have no family, or no money, or haven't been out to a restaurant in years. Grab your spouse or a buddy and go and take that vet or vets to lunch.

Regardless of what you decide to do, or who you decide to help, observe Veterans day this year by doing something to serve those who've served.

I can like boobs, and like you too!

Fuuuuuck that. I'd rather keep my eyes, oogle some boobs, and be a heathen.

Also, ladies, I appreciate that you are not eye candy. I don't think your boobs are all that you are. I think it's like getting an iMac. It's sleek, awesome to look at, enjoyable to play with, but inside it's smart and you have to get to know it in order to really appreciate it.

Let me know if that's a terrible metaphor. It's just hard to explain that I can really like boobs without that being the only thing I pay attention to in a person. - One Nation Under Nothing

The Shared Experience of Absurdity

If you like to laugh, please watch this video.  It's wonderful!

After you watch it, please share post your thoughts on it below!

A Conversation about religion and christianity - Ignorance and Self-Deception: What's the harm?

For those who like to read:  Back in June, I posted the following comment to my facebook page.  I tagged several of my friends in it, three or four who I know to be atheists/skeptics, and three or four I know to be christian, to solicit some conversation with them about the point I was making.  The comment I made was in response to a recent statement President Obama made, comparing Republicans in Congress to the Flat Earth Society.

I thought this was a great example of the kind of self deception we are all  susceptible  to if we do not guard against it, even me.  Especially me...

10 Point Vision of a Secular America

Sean Faircloth’s Ten Point Vision of a Secular America


1. Respect Our Troops – Our military shall serve and include all Americans, religious or nonreligious with no hint of bias and with no hint of fundamentalist extremism coloring our military decisions at home or abroad.


2. Reproductive Information Based on Science – Any federal or state funded program, whether offering services domestic or foreign, that relates to reproductive decisions shall be based on science and public health; not on religious bias or the denigration or women or secular minorities.


3. Healthcare Professionals Fulfill Professional Duties – Healthcare professionals shall fulfill their professional duties and they must do so without a hint of religious bias or they must find another job. That includes fundamentalist pharmacists that turn away rape victims from Plan-B (Morning After Pill Emergency Contraception).


4. No Religious Bias in Land Use or Employment – There shall be no bias in land use planning or environmental law or employment law based on religion or lack thereof.


5. No Bias in Marriage Law – Marriage can be defined by religious congregations howsoever they choose within their own services but marriage under American law shall have no bias whatsoever.


6. Autonomy for End-of-life Choices – When facing end-of-life decisions, all Americans shall be guaranteed control over their own bodies without being thwarted by religious bias.


7. No Religious Bias in School – America’s youth shall never be subjected to bias in education. If there is one penny of government funds there can’t be one iota of religious bias.


8. Congress Shall Include Secular Americans – The composition of Congress and legislature shall include secular Americans and there shall be no bias against secular candidates.


9. Children Protected from Religious Abuse - There should be one consistent standard pertaining to the health and welfare of children regardless of a child’s parents, school, or child care center. They are all human beings that deserve human rights and protection.


10. Medical & Scientific Innovation Shall be Dedicated to Health & Advancement – Medical, technical, and science innovations shall be dedicated to the health and advancement of our fellow citizens and must never be impeded by religious bias.








"If they can organize for intolerance and injustice, we can organize for science, reason, and compassion." -Sean Faircloth

More thoughts on the Zimmerman Trial

Chris L explained it in a discussion I saw on facebook recently  better than I've seen anyone explain it yet.

I contend that (1) the only racist on the grounds that night was Trayvon Martin. He's the only one who said racist words and who profiled someone based upon their appearance.

(2) Trayvon Martin's actions made his observation by Zimmerman justified. Not that there needs to be any justification at all. You are within your rights and freedoms to observe anyone in public places, to take their photo, and to watch them.
(3) Zimmerman spent as much of the time as possible during the incident ON THE PHONE with Police. Trayvon didn't call the police, he called a friend to brag about his up coming confrontation. In that call he used racist language. He also made a damning admission that he would be returning from close to the residence he was staying at BACK up to the area where Zimmerman was to confront him.
(4) This part is rather crucial. You've heard much about who was stalking who and who followed who. Well, Zimmerman claimed and all evidence presented at trial is consistent with Trayvon casing houses suspiciously that night in a complex that was subject to a string of home invasions / robberies. He was suspicious enough for Martin to call Police and this behavior is not inconsistent with his history.
You might not have heard this, but Martin was a vandal who was caught on tape vandalizing school property. A lack of respect for the law and for property rights. When he was detained his backpack was searched for the marker he used to tag the school property and they found him to be in possession of fine jewelry and a burglary tool (flathead screwdriver) that were reported missing from a home not far from his school. So it's not just idle speculation that Trayvon was a thief and that his suspicious behavior was benign. Of course Zimmerman didn't know this at the time, but if we are to weigh the veracity of all the evidence presented that Martin was not simply walking straight home from his Skittles purchase, then it certainly adds a pattern of behavior that is consistent with what Zimmerman testified to and reported to the police before he could have known that Martin actually was a thief.

(5) If you watch the entire video of Zimmerman walking the police through the events of that night and look at an aerial view of the map of the location and compare the time stamps of calls and known events, it's rather clear that Zimmerman did not stalk Martin until he was cornered or threatened which precipitated the attack. In fact, all evidence and eye witness testimony confirms that Zimmerman never walked down the direct path that Martin disappeared down before Zimmerman got out of his car. Martin had time to make it all the way down that street and back to confront Zimmerman.

While we don't know his exact location, his own words while he was on the phone, the time scale, and the fact that when Zimmerman stopped at the T-junction at the top of that street to see if he could see Martin he neither saw him nor heard Martin on the phone.
(5) Zimmerman's injuries match his story and the actual shooting doesn't show a frenzied malice and desire to kill Martin. It was only one shot after Zimmerman had already been taken to the ground, beaten on, and Martin went for Zimmerman's gun.
(6) The timeline, eye witnesses, and physical locations fit Zimmerman's story and they show that he did nothing which warranted being assaulted, nor was he quick to pull a gun, nor did he use it inappropriately. Zimmerman broke no law. Trayvon Martin did.

Zimmerman Trial: My Thoughts

Full Story and Live Coverage of the Trial

Having watched most of the trial, I don't think the prosecution was able to make their case, and I will be very surprised if the jury convicts on Murder 2.  I'll be disappointed, but not surprised, if they convict on a lesser included offense.  

It appears to me that Zimmerman did nothing wrong up until the confrontation, and no one knows what caused the confrontation except Zimmerman and Martin.  It's clear from the evidence Martin ended up on top of Zimmerman either, punching him in the face causing his head to repeatedly slam against the concrete, or actually slamming his head into the concrete.  In either case, it it had been me instead of Zimmerman in those circumstances, I would have shot Martin also.

Americans do have and should have the right to defend themselves from an attacker, and we do and should have the right to approach someone who has raised our suspicion to ask them questions or engage them in conversation without being attacked, which is what appears to have happened in this case.

I'm expecting if he's acquitted, or if he's found guilty of a lesser offense but doesn't receive much time in prison, there will be blood!  There will be riots, burning cars, people injured/killed, businesses looted, just like the LA Riots in the 90s.  Just back up all your electronic data off site (carbonite is a good source for this), purchase renters insurance (replacement value, not depreciated value), make a video recording of all your property verbally reading out model numbers and serial numbers for your electronic devices, and head out of town for a few days when the verdict is expected... Preferably to a very expensive area with few minorities. You'll be just fine. Everyone can use a good excuse for a weekend excursion vacation, right?

Happy Independence Day!

Here's a great idea from Atheist Revolution for creating a 4th of July Family Tradition. Devote some time on the 4th to reading with your kids some of the classic documents of American history. Not the revisionist garbage being swallowed by Christian extremists like Rep. Louie Gohmert(R-TX), but the original material. There are so many good ones to choose from, but I think I'll start with these:
Declaration of Independence
U.S. Constitution
Treaty of Tripoli
McCollum v. Board of Education Dist. 71, 333 U.S. 203 (1948)
Engel v. Vitale, 82 S. Ct. 1261 (1962)

There is much the Christian right does not want you to know about American history. Fortunately, the information is out there and can be accessed with little effort.

A Christian Nation?

Joseph Farrah sounds just like a member of the Taliban talking about Islam in his article, "Why Atheists can't be real Americans", where he said,

"If you want to live in the freest nation on earth, understand why it has been that way for 230-plus years. It’s because of the principles of self-governance that only work in a society of responsible, moral people accountable to the teachings of the One True Creator God found in the Bible."

What an idiot!

He was responding to a sermen by Chuck Hagee where Hagee said America was built for christians, not for non-christians, and if non-christians don't like living in a theocracy, we should leave the country.

These people prey on the ignorance of others in order to use their religion to control people.

Here's the truth quoted from The Thinking Atheist

Martin Bashir on Abortion Rights

Let me start by saying that I oppose the GOP's efforts to restrict a womans access to abortion.  That being said, I'm not sure if Martin Bashir (and his guests) are getting stupider, or if he's just being unleashed to allow his stupidity to be more easily aired on this TV program, but I've noticed a trend with him where he or his guests make really ridiculous statements.

Of course a womans right to an abortion should protected, and that abortions should be safe, legal and accessible, but Bashir isn't doing the cause any favors by saying the kind of stuff that was said on his show today.  Two examples:

1.  For the past year or so, they have been criticizing the GOP for the ridiculously stupid comments they've made regarding women, rape, and abortion.  Like Aikens "legitimate rape" comment.  They've been asking why the GOP keeps making these gaffs, and why it's all men that seem to be talking about the se issued that only (or primarily) affect women.  They've been asking why don't allow conservative women to make these arguments about access to abortions?  I can understand that criticism and see the logic behind it.

But today, he had a guest on that was criticizing the GOP for "hiding behind a womans skirt" because the GOP now has a female congressman making these arguments.  They said look at these "tough guys" hiding behind a "womans skirt" to have her make these arguments for them.

To Martin Bashir and his guest:  You can't have it both ways!

2.  As if that wasn't bad enough, his guest said on his show today that women should be taken at their word that they've been raped and said it's absurd they should have to prove they've been raped by enduring a humiliating medical procedure that essentially re-rapes them.  She said we should just believe them and not take any steps to prove or disprove their claims.

If you're not planning to prosecute anyone for raping anyone else, that would be just fine, but if you intend to put someone in prison for committing the crime of rape, you dam well better prove the rape occured, and that the accused was the one who did it.

To Martin Bashir:  Where do you get these people and why do you let them say such ignorant shit on your tv show?  It makes you look really really bad!!

Radical Right Wing Zealots Wish for Revolution

Everyone who advocates for, encourages, or incites an attempted armed and/or violent coup against or democratically elected government is a traitor and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. In the US, we vote them out, we don't shoot them out.

The following are examples of threats against our government made by these idiots on social media.  Let me go on record as saying I am a patriotic American who, having already spent most of my adult life serving my country, would gladly fight anyone who attempted to overthrow my government, regardless of what party or ideology occupied the government at that time.  Most of these people are wannabe's and posers who pretend to be tough online, but would never really attempt anything they spout off about.  The most they could ever hope for is to inspire or incite some mentally deranged wing nut to take up a gun and try to go down in history as a hero.   Fortunately  for us, most of these crazies have very little chance of success, like the idiot who took pot shots at the white house in 2011.  We should never take this threat for granted though.  Scott Roeder is a great example of someone who can be radicalized and inspired to action by these idiots talking about stuff they'd never do themselves on the internet.

This discussion can be found here.  

    

Whistle blower or traitor?

What's the difference between a whistle blower and a traitor? A whistler blower uses approved channels to report problems with classified or sensitive programs and is protected from retribution under federal law, while a traitor illegally releases classified information to the media and flees the country to not answer for his crimes.

Forbes Story of the traitor Edward Snowden


Approved channels include:
The employees chain of command
Osha's Whistle Blower Protection ProgramOffice of the Inspector General
The Congressional Select Committe on Intelligence

What do you want to be he's going to eventually provide some or all of the classified information he stole from the US Government to China or Russia in exchange for helping him obtain political  asylum?

What if you're wrong?

Richard Dawkins responds to the question, what if you're wrong?

This is a question to finally put to rest because chrisitans really like to use this question as an excuse to justify believing in christianity, even if you really don't.




The truth is, what religious beliefs you have really do depend on, in what country, or to what family you are born.

So what if I'm wrong?  You really think I'm stupid enough to give up the only life I know I have for an eternity that quite probably is a complete fabrication of some con man who discovered a nifty way of  separating  suckers from their money?  Not a chance!

In the gun debate, gun ownership advocates need to change tactics

This comment is in response to an article posted on the Guns Save Lives website about Katee Sackoff losing 100k twitter followers after posting a moderate view on gun control on twitter.

After learning about the four year old boy who accidentally shot and killed his father Sackhoff tweeted, “Please practice gun safety. This is horrible!”

One of her followers responded with “Here’s a radical idea folks. How about NO gun?”

If this doesn't prove to you the challenge we face is general ignorance about guns and gun ownership, I'm not sure anything will.

We must restrain our desire to look like radical wingnuts to the average, non gun owning citizens, and make a case they can understand that is based on logic and reason and empirical evidence.  Granted, they wont all be reasonable and rational in their response, but most wake up and begin to understand things in a rational manner after seeing enough of it, long enough.

We must educate the average citizen about who the responsible gun owner is, and how many of us there are.  They simply don't realize their neighbor owns a gun, or 30 guns.  They simply don't know the guy from the office they golf with on Fridays owns a gun.  If they knew there were over 84 million of us, and that there are 3-5 incidents a week across the country of gun owners legally using firearms to protect themselves and their family, and that all the gun laws in the world wont take illegal guns off the street, they may begin to lose their fear of the responsible gun owner and lose the irrational expectation of "how about this?  No guns!"

As long as we remain shut in to our little clicks, just bantering among ourselves, occasionally saying something outside our circle of back slappers about "Just try to come take my guns" or "Obama is a muslim gun grabber" or some crap like that, we'll wake up one morning to discover we are all criminals now.  Either criminals or no longer gun owners.

In addition to the average, non-gun owning citizens, there is a large number of gun owners in this country that include democrats as well as republicans, athesits as well as christians, hispanics and blacks as well as whites, women as well as men (although the NRA has obviously recently gotten the word that women shoot too), gays as well as straights, city dwellers as well as rural dwellers.   There is a huge, diverse group of gun owners that can unite as an extremely powerful force to protect our gun rights, if you'll reach out to them and not allow differences in things that have absolutely nothing to do with gun rights to divide you on the issue of gun ownership rights.

Or you can give up your guns.  Your choice.  Tolerance and inclusiveness and guns, or intolerance, exclusiveness, and no guns.

Here are some examples of the kind of comments that destroy any chance of someone changing the "anti legal gun ownership" views of average citizens who do not own guns or have much experience with firearms.

I would give this guy the benefit of the doubt and assume this was meant as sarcasm, but to someone who isn't as generous and knows nothing about him, this genius is certainly going to win some hearts and minds, yes?

A discussion of the continuing relevance of the 2nd amendment

This is how you have a thoughtful, respectful discussion based on critical thinking with someone whom you disagree.

Proof and Critical Thinking Defined

Proof

For the purpose of any discussion where proof is offered, or examination of any question where proof is sought, proof shall be defined as:  A combination of logical consistency  and  empirical evidence.

These two elements (logic and evidence) are both required because theories attempt to describe what exists in our reality, and reality is both rational and material - Logic and evidence.

     Logical  Constancy: 

• The first requirement is logical  consistency.  If logic fails, the hypothesis or proposition fails.
• Logic is a necessary but not sufficient element
• If a conflict arises between logic and evidence, evidence always wins.

     Empirical Evidence:

• A source of knowledge acquired by means of observation or experimentation.  
• Observation and experimentation must be conducted in accordance with the scientific method.

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is a way to approach problems and make decisions.  We all do some critical thinking already and we can all improve our critical thinking ability. If you study and practice critical thinking, your concept of it will continue to develop.  We should all strive to become better, more critical thinkers.

Personal Loans courtesy of Jesus Christ!

Remembering Terry Schiavo

Today I am remembering Terri Schiavo, who was finally allowed to die on 3/31/05 after being the center of a fight about the power of the government to interfere with a husband making end of life decisions for his wife.

Today we must remember to not allow our government to become so intrusive that they begin violating our privacy and interfering with personal, family decisions.

Happy Dead jesus Day!

Today is a holiday christians around the world celebrate the day their alleged savior died for them.   Ofcourse, the holiday coming on Sunday, the day they celebrate their gods claimed  resurrection, is a much larger, more celebrated holiday, this day every year is called "Good Friday" by christians all over the world.

Hell yeah I celebrate the day they claim the freak hung from a dead tree.  I call this day "great friday!"

Happy great friday everyone!

Mother Teresa

Is Psychology coming out of the dark ages?

First, they admit homosexuality is not a mental defect, or a result of one; Now kinky sex.  Is psychology experiencing a  renaissance?  Full Story on Slate.  

Flowchart for choosing a religion

Happy Ash Wednesday!

In acknowledgement of Ash Wednesday, and to celebrate the recent announcement of the pope that he's resigning his position as the Vicar of Rome (I had no idea you could resign such a title) I thought I'd share with you a cute song written for the Pope by Tim Minchin.  Warning, this video is not safe to enjoy at work.

Why I criticize religion

What a great day to be having this conversation!  Happy Darwin Day everyone!!

This morning I woke up to see an interesting question on my facebook page from someone I have alot of respect for .  The question was obviously a response to the many criticisms of mono-theistic religion I've made on my facebook page over the last few months.

Facebook is an inadequate forum for posting a decent response to his questions (it's not the forum that's inadequate, it's the formatting allowed in posts that in inadequate), I decided to post the questions and my responses here, unedited, except to mask the identity of the  people  I've quoted, and in come cases, to add to what I said on facebook, as that forum is designed for sharing short quips and links and not to a deep discussion.