The War on Drugs, Intelligent Design Morons and Bush Administration Childishness
The early AM hours once again finds me reading my daily morning papers over my last addictive indulgence I have, coffee. As is normal some of what I find there is amusing especially the antics of that irrepressible feline Garfield (Sarcasm alert, level 3). I find a few things of deep fascination like the latest details developing in the multi-dimensional Brane theories in astrophysics. However most of what is laid out before me on my screen (Most of my publication subscriptions are of the on-line variety) is either disturbing or infuriating. If I wanted disturbing or infuriating I would review the vast unpaid bill collection on my desk or read all the spam in my junk mail folder (No, I am not interested in lengthening my p13nis by up to 3 1nch3s…an offer from sender Qrb#.sam Bron&*( A poorly typed e-mail dated March 28, 2031 ).
The War on Drugs:
The first article I took in this morning was from Arianna Huffington of the Los Angeles Times and featured in the on-line magazine AlterNet. You can see the full article here http://www.alternet.org/rights/49782 In the article Huffington reports on how the "War on Drugs" is in fact more of a war on minorities than anything else. I agree and would take that statement a little further by expanding it to say that the "War on Drugs" is a war on the poor. Minority social oppression is so deeply integrated with poverty that I don't think the two can be separated in any way. What you say about minorities is indistinguishable from anything you might say about the poor (On this topic at least). Both are a major Democratic demographic. Both are the least likely group of peoples to vote. Both are heavily discriminated against. Both all to often have their voting rights oppressed and the political party that claims to support their rights and needs the most often ignores both. That is to say the Democrats.
The next item up on my morning pallet is about Creationism:
BLEH, I don't want to get started on the morons who support the pseudo-science duck vomit known as Creationism or as it has recently been renamed Intelligent Design. I thankfully had not heard much on the topic and had not thought of it in awhile but this article by Chris Hedges of Truthdig brought it to the forefront of my mind again.
In the Article Hedges writes about the proliferation of Creation "Science" Museums across the country. He sees this as yet one more effort of the Christian Right to conform science and history to fit strict, Biblical interpretations. I agree entirely. I also find it alarming that the general public is so passive and docile to this perversion of truth. Read the article (or at least scan it) here http://www.alternet.org/rights/49811/ for the full story and also for a few good chuckles provided courtesy of the nature of the creationist imbecilic beliefs.
The article starts out with the poignant if overlong quote:
Before they seize power and establish a world according to their doctrines, totalitarian movements conjure up a lying world of consistency which is more adequate to the needs of the human mind than reality itself; in which, through sheer imagination, uprooted masses can feel at home and are spared the never-ending shocks which real life and real experiences deal to human beings and their expectations. The force possessed by totalitarian propaganda -- before the movements have the power to drop iron curtains to prevent anyone's disturbing, by the slightest reality, the gruesome quiet of an entirely imaginary world--lies in its ability to shut the masses off from the real world." -- Hannah Arendt, "The Origins of Totalitarianism"
Some other high lights from the article are:
"The museum…has a scale model of Noah's ark that shows how Noah solved the problem of fitting dinosaurs into the three levels of the vessel--he loaded only baby dinosaurs. And on the wooden model, infant dinosaurs cavort with horses, giraffes, hippopotamuses, penguins and bears. There is an elaborate display of the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve, naked but strategically positioned so as not to display breasts or genitals…"
I like the part about the genitals and breast concealment, it demonstrates the general hypocrisy of the museum curators. How difficult it must have been for Adam and Eve to move about while making sure their naughty bits were hidden by the abundant and convenient shrubbery. By the way if original sin included sudden awareness of nudity and the implications of poor morality that accompany nudity and if Jesus' death absolved mankind of his original sin is then why is nudity and shame still on the sin clipboard?
Also:
"…in Genesis 1:30… God gives "green herb" to every creature to eat…"
Hmm, perhaps there was a mistranslation somewhere and Genesis 1:30 should have more accurately be read as "God gives "green herb" to every creature to smoke". While that may not be true it certainly is a lot more humorous.
The heart of the subject can be summed up in the following excerpt from the article:
"The danger of creationism is that, like the pseudo-science of Nazi eugenics, it allows facts to be accepted or discarded according to the dictates of a preordained ideology. Creationism removes the follower from the rational, reality-based world. Signs, miracles and wonders occur not only in the daily life of Christians but in history, science, medicine and logic. The belief system becomes the basis to understand the world. Random facts and data are collected and made to fit into this belief system or discarded. When facts are treated as if they were opinions, when there is no universal standard to determine truth, in law, in science, in scholarship, or in the reporting of the events of the day, the world becomes a place where people can believe what they want to believe, where there is no possibility of reaching any conclusion not predetermined by those who interpret the official, divinely inspired text. This is the goal of creationists."
Ultimately I don't think the Christian Right will succeed just as the Catholic Church did not succeed in the debate over the Copernican celestial model verses the Ptolemaic model. There was however a lot of trouble and time to go through before the matter was settled. I wonder if the creationist would propagate some twisted version of the Ptolemaic if they were not sure they would be exposed as the quacks they are to the general public. This is essentially the sort of thing they are doing with evolutionary science and paleontology.
The danger in the now is how much influence these people will have in our daily lives. I have children and I do not want them taught the ludicrous crackpot theories of Intelligent Design any more than I want them taught that the Earth is flat and that the contents of the solar system revolve around it all under the crystalline celestial sphere where the stars reside below the eyes of a watchful, vengeful and mentally deficient god.
The museum is an demonstrative of the Christian Rights agenda and use of pseudo-science as a tool to deceive the general public. Their use of misapplied, made-up and irrelevant scientific terms is no different from what science fiction writers do in your average episode of Star Trek but it is more fiendish.
Repressive systems of belief evolve into fascist ones given enough encouragement or ignored long enough.
They start out innocently proclaiming to teach people to "believe what they want." However over time their true motives start to emerge. Their ideas are opinions and science is not. They would have people believe the other way around. "This primacy of personal opinion, regardless of facts, destabilizes and destroys the primacy of all facts. This process leads inevitably to the big lie. Facts are useful only if they bolster the message. The use of mass-marketing techniques to persuade and convince, rather than brainwash, has led tens of millions of followers to accept the toxic totalitarian line by tricking them into believing it's their own. Ironically, at the outset the movement seemingly encourages people to think 'independently' or 'courageously.'" To quote Chris Hedges.
In the end these fundamentalist cannot deny science and factual evidence. Reason wins out in the end but at what cost and how long will it take? They are aware they need to convince followers of science and logic that they and not REAL science are in possession of the facts and that legitimate scientist are corrupted by secular humanist, socialist (No one really buys that pinko communist thing anymore), atheist and hippies on the west coast. They attempt to use the language and not the methodology of science to convince middle America that it is the scientist and secular folks with the agenda and not themselves.
I find it ironic that they have to use perversions of science in their efforts. This is because their own proclamations of truth and fact are false, unconvincing and ultimately sound silly when laid out for what they are.
The last thing I read this morning before my six month old daughter woke up and I had to switch over to diaper duty was about George Bush's vehement opposition to the congressional funding bill for Iraq.
In an article by Shailagh Murray and Jonathan Weisman of the Washington post it is reported that, as we all know, Bush will veto the bill as it stands if passed. This because of the inclusion of the "pork" legislation attached to the bill. Namely the deadline for the withdrawal of troops from the Vietnam like quagmire of Iraq.
Read the Full article here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032800157.html
In the article Bush is quoted as saying "the American people will know who to hold responsible" .Well duh. George Bush and his administration will be to blame for not passing the bill.
This all sounds to me to be an extremely childish stance to take. "Bleh, I,'m not letting any money to support the troops be authorized if you don't do the bill my way." Granted the argument could be made in reverse however it should be noted that the bill as presented better reflects the will of the people than the Bush administrations stance. The majority of people want both troop withdrawal and financial (as well as moral) support for our troops. This bill provides both. This all so typical of Bush and his boys.. Well the bill passed and now sits before the President I expect Bush will do as he has said he will and veto the bill in a juvenile tantrum of "cutting off ones nose to spite ones face"
That sums up my morning reading as of 6:38Am I am off to tend to Miss Poopy Pants and get on with my Day.
The War on Drugs:
The first article I took in this morning was from Arianna Huffington of the Los Angeles Times and featured in the on-line magazine AlterNet. You can see the full article here http://www.alternet.org/rights/49782 In the article Huffington reports on how the "War on Drugs" is in fact more of a war on minorities than anything else. I agree and would take that statement a little further by expanding it to say that the "War on Drugs" is a war on the poor. Minority social oppression is so deeply integrated with poverty that I don't think the two can be separated in any way. What you say about minorities is indistinguishable from anything you might say about the poor (On this topic at least). Both are a major Democratic demographic. Both are the least likely group of peoples to vote. Both are heavily discriminated against. Both all to often have their voting rights oppressed and the political party that claims to support their rights and needs the most often ignores both. That is to say the Democrats.
The next item up on my morning pallet is about Creationism:
BLEH, I don't want to get started on the morons who support the pseudo-science duck vomit known as Creationism or as it has recently been renamed Intelligent Design. I thankfully had not heard much on the topic and had not thought of it in awhile but this article by Chris Hedges of Truthdig brought it to the forefront of my mind again.
In the Article Hedges writes about the proliferation of Creation "Science" Museums across the country. He sees this as yet one more effort of the Christian Right to conform science and history to fit strict, Biblical interpretations. I agree entirely. I also find it alarming that the general public is so passive and docile to this perversion of truth. Read the article (or at least scan it) here http://www.alternet.org/rights/49811/ for the full story and also for a few good chuckles provided courtesy of the nature of the creationist imbecilic beliefs.
The article starts out with the poignant if overlong quote:
Before they seize power and establish a world according to their doctrines, totalitarian movements conjure up a lying world of consistency which is more adequate to the needs of the human mind than reality itself; in which, through sheer imagination, uprooted masses can feel at home and are spared the never-ending shocks which real life and real experiences deal to human beings and their expectations. The force possessed by totalitarian propaganda -- before the movements have the power to drop iron curtains to prevent anyone's disturbing, by the slightest reality, the gruesome quiet of an entirely imaginary world--lies in its ability to shut the masses off from the real world." -- Hannah Arendt, "The Origins of Totalitarianism"
Some other high lights from the article are:
"The museum…has a scale model of Noah's ark that shows how Noah solved the problem of fitting dinosaurs into the three levels of the vessel--he loaded only baby dinosaurs. And on the wooden model, infant dinosaurs cavort with horses, giraffes, hippopotamuses, penguins and bears. There is an elaborate display of the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve, naked but strategically positioned so as not to display breasts or genitals…"
I like the part about the genitals and breast concealment, it demonstrates the general hypocrisy of the museum curators. How difficult it must have been for Adam and Eve to move about while making sure their naughty bits were hidden by the abundant and convenient shrubbery. By the way if original sin included sudden awareness of nudity and the implications of poor morality that accompany nudity and if Jesus' death absolved mankind of his original sin is then why is nudity and shame still on the sin clipboard?
Also:
"…in Genesis 1:30… God gives "green herb" to every creature to eat…"
Hmm, perhaps there was a mistranslation somewhere and Genesis 1:30 should have more accurately be read as "God gives "green herb" to every creature to smoke". While that may not be true it certainly is a lot more humorous.
The heart of the subject can be summed up in the following excerpt from the article:
"The danger of creationism is that, like the pseudo-science of Nazi eugenics, it allows facts to be accepted or discarded according to the dictates of a preordained ideology. Creationism removes the follower from the rational, reality-based world. Signs, miracles and wonders occur not only in the daily life of Christians but in history, science, medicine and logic. The belief system becomes the basis to understand the world. Random facts and data are collected and made to fit into this belief system or discarded. When facts are treated as if they were opinions, when there is no universal standard to determine truth, in law, in science, in scholarship, or in the reporting of the events of the day, the world becomes a place where people can believe what they want to believe, where there is no possibility of reaching any conclusion not predetermined by those who interpret the official, divinely inspired text. This is the goal of creationists."
Ultimately I don't think the Christian Right will succeed just as the Catholic Church did not succeed in the debate over the Copernican celestial model verses the Ptolemaic model. There was however a lot of trouble and time to go through before the matter was settled. I wonder if the creationist would propagate some twisted version of the Ptolemaic if they were not sure they would be exposed as the quacks they are to the general public. This is essentially the sort of thing they are doing with evolutionary science and paleontology.
The danger in the now is how much influence these people will have in our daily lives. I have children and I do not want them taught the ludicrous crackpot theories of Intelligent Design any more than I want them taught that the Earth is flat and that the contents of the solar system revolve around it all under the crystalline celestial sphere where the stars reside below the eyes of a watchful, vengeful and mentally deficient god.
The museum is an demonstrative of the Christian Rights agenda and use of pseudo-science as a tool to deceive the general public. Their use of misapplied, made-up and irrelevant scientific terms is no different from what science fiction writers do in your average episode of Star Trek but it is more fiendish.
Repressive systems of belief evolve into fascist ones given enough encouragement or ignored long enough.
They start out innocently proclaiming to teach people to "believe what they want." However over time their true motives start to emerge. Their ideas are opinions and science is not. They would have people believe the other way around. "This primacy of personal opinion, regardless of facts, destabilizes and destroys the primacy of all facts. This process leads inevitably to the big lie. Facts are useful only if they bolster the message. The use of mass-marketing techniques to persuade and convince, rather than brainwash, has led tens of millions of followers to accept the toxic totalitarian line by tricking them into believing it's their own. Ironically, at the outset the movement seemingly encourages people to think 'independently' or 'courageously.'" To quote Chris Hedges.
In the end these fundamentalist cannot deny science and factual evidence. Reason wins out in the end but at what cost and how long will it take? They are aware they need to convince followers of science and logic that they and not REAL science are in possession of the facts and that legitimate scientist are corrupted by secular humanist, socialist (No one really buys that pinko communist thing anymore), atheist and hippies on the west coast. They attempt to use the language and not the methodology of science to convince middle America that it is the scientist and secular folks with the agenda and not themselves.
I find it ironic that they have to use perversions of science in their efforts. This is because their own proclamations of truth and fact are false, unconvincing and ultimately sound silly when laid out for what they are.
The last thing I read this morning before my six month old daughter woke up and I had to switch over to diaper duty was about George Bush's vehement opposition to the congressional funding bill for Iraq.
In an article by Shailagh Murray and Jonathan Weisman of the Washington post it is reported that, as we all know, Bush will veto the bill as it stands if passed. This because of the inclusion of the "pork" legislation attached to the bill. Namely the deadline for the withdrawal of troops from the Vietnam like quagmire of Iraq.
Read the Full article here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032800157.html
In the article Bush is quoted as saying "the American people will know who to hold responsible" .Well duh. George Bush and his administration will be to blame for not passing the bill.
This all sounds to me to be an extremely childish stance to take. "Bleh, I,'m not letting any money to support the troops be authorized if you don't do the bill my way." Granted the argument could be made in reverse however it should be noted that the bill as presented better reflects the will of the people than the Bush administrations stance. The majority of people want both troop withdrawal and financial (as well as moral) support for our troops. This bill provides both. This all so typical of Bush and his boys.. Well the bill passed and now sits before the President I expect Bush will do as he has said he will and veto the bill in a juvenile tantrum of "cutting off ones nose to spite ones face"
That sums up my morning reading as of 6:38Am I am off to tend to Miss Poopy Pants and get on with my Day.
Labels: Creationism, Democrats, Drugs War on Drugs, Evolution, Intelligent Design, News, Republicans, Science
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