Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Here comes da judge (with energy-stained hands)
Way down in Louisiana, a federal judge, Martin L. C. Feldman "issued a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of a May 28 order halting all floating offshore drilling project in more than 500 feet of water and preventing the government from issuing new permits for such projects."
Hmmm. It would seem reasonable to me that the government should shut things down until we figure out exactly what happened and why and what needs to be done to prevent it from happening again.
It would seem especially important to know those things when there are 4,000 plus drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, which is now becoming a slimy, gooey, oil slick due to the stupidity and perhaps criminal culpability of BP and Halliburton and other nogoodnik companies that put profits before anything else.
The government plans to appeal the judge's ruling. That also makes a lot of sense.
But, the question arises: Why would a judge do such a thing? Especially now that Lousianians have been praying diligently for some god or other to stop the leak?
Well it turns out that da judge has "massive holdings in energy companies." Think Progress put together a list:
"Like many judges presiding in the Gulf region, Feldman owns lots of energy stocks, including Transocean, Halliburton, and two of BP's largest U.S. private shareholders -- BlackRock (7.2%) and JP Morgan Chase (28.3%)."
It's all spelled out in detail here.
Hmmm. It would seem reasonable to me that the government should shut things down until we figure out exactly what happened and why and what needs to be done to prevent it from happening again.
It would seem especially important to know those things when there are 4,000 plus drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, which is now becoming a slimy, gooey, oil slick due to the stupidity and perhaps criminal culpability of BP and Halliburton and other nogoodnik companies that put profits before anything else.
The government plans to appeal the judge's ruling. That also makes a lot of sense.
But, the question arises: Why would a judge do such a thing? Especially now that Lousianians have been praying diligently for some god or other to stop the leak?
Well it turns out that da judge has "massive holdings in energy companies." Think Progress put together a list:
"Like many judges presiding in the Gulf region, Feldman owns lots of energy stocks, including Transocean, Halliburton, and two of BP's largest U.S. private shareholders -- BlackRock (7.2%) and JP Morgan Chase (28.3%)."
It's all spelled out in detail here.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Texas GOP - Evil incorporated
Just when I think things can't get any worse in Texas, things get worse in Texas!
Don't get me wrong: I like Texas. I lived in Texas for 14 years! But I am ashamed of Texas. I am ashamed that the people of Texas have elected such a stupid governor and so many stupid legislators. I'm ashamed of the Texas State Board of Education. I am particular ashamed that so many Texans affiliate with what is arguably one of the most reprehensible and ignorant political parties in our national history - the Republican Party of Texas.
Think Progress has the story.
"Just months after the Republican Attorney General challenged a same-sex couple's request to divorce, the state GOP is pushing even further in their new 2010 platform. Taking a page from the heinous Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill, the GOP both wants to criminalize marrying a same-sex couple and reinstate a sodomy ban."
The entire article is here. Read it and weep for Texas.
Don't get me wrong: I like Texas. I lived in Texas for 14 years! But I am ashamed of Texas. I am ashamed that the people of Texas have elected such a stupid governor and so many stupid legislators. I'm ashamed of the Texas State Board of Education. I am particular ashamed that so many Texans affiliate with what is arguably one of the most reprehensible and ignorant political parties in our national history - the Republican Party of Texas.
Think Progress has the story.
"Just months after the Republican Attorney General challenged a same-sex couple's request to divorce, the state GOP is pushing even further in their new 2010 platform. Taking a page from the heinous Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill, the GOP both wants to criminalize marrying a same-sex couple and reinstate a sodomy ban."
The entire article is here. Read it and weep for Texas.
Let's pray, Louisiana!
Did you know that yesterday, Sunday, was designated a day of prayer by Louisiana legislators?
The problem, it seems, is that science and technology haven't been quick enough to stop the multitudinous gallons of crude befouling what was once the pristine Gulf of Mexico, so these Louisiana dingbats decided that as a last resort they should resort to the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent deity to whom they all bow their collective knees.
You know, maybe god, being god, can help. Maybe.
So thus it was that Loonysiana state Senator Robert Adley read a statement which saith: "Thus far efforts made by mortals to try to solve the crisis have been to no avail. It is clearly time for a miracle for us."
I am not making this up!
Welcome to the 16th century. Don't these dingbats have any brains whatsoever? The evidence is all around them, smothering their coastlines in black/brown slimy goo: the deity doesn't give a damn!
And don't you think it might occur to doofuses like Adley that if the deity did give a damn he/she would have stopped this disaster before it started - being omnipotent and omniscient and all?
Furthermore, the resolution by the Loonysianian lawmakers didn't designate a deity which is a fatal mistake! It "called" on people of all religions to pray.
To who? Whom? Yahweh? Allah? Buddha? Krishna? Zeus? Osiris? Talk about causing confusion in the heavenly realms!
All of this would be funny if it weren't so sad!
God is gonna get you - via the Christian Reconstructionists via Sharron Angle
Political hackery walking hand-in-hand with stupidity and weirdness seems to be the norm among the so-called "conservatives" and Tea Party tinkerers.
There's been much written about the broomstick known as Sharron Angle. From every account she is a danger to herself and Nevada and the U.S. of America.
And while what follows is not really a "new" twist, it bears further public airing and debate. If you thought the Nazis in the 30s posed a threat to Germany, you ain't seen nothing yet!
B. E. Wilson, erstwhile reporter on the fantasies of the religious right, has discovered (on Angle's website) an endorsement from the NFRA (National Federation of Republican Assemblies) prez, one Rod Martin. Angle, saith Martin, "will uphold true conservative values for the citizens of Nevada and the nation."
What in the world could that mean? What "conservative values"? Nobody knows for sure but Martin's connection with the Christian Reconstructionist movement provides a few answers - answers sane people ain't gonna like!
Mr. Wilson quotes Frederick Clarkson, doubtless one of the most significant students of Christian Reconstructionism:
It would, notes Clarkson, "replace democracy with a theocratic elite that would govern by imposing their interpretation of 'Biblical Law.' Reconstructionism would eliminate not only democracy but many of its manifestations, such as labor unions, civil rights laws, and public schools. Women would be generally relegated to hearth and home. Insufficiently Christian men would be denied citizenship, perhaps executed. So severe is this theocracy that it would extend capital punishment beyond such crimes as kidnapping, rape, and murder, to include, among other things, blasphemy, heresy, adultery, and homosexuality."
Read Wilson's article here and note the links to information tying Angle to the Christian Reconstructionist Movement.
And here's another article noting her penchant for armed insurrection!
There's been much written about the broomstick known as Sharron Angle. From every account she is a danger to herself and Nevada and the U.S. of America.
And while what follows is not really a "new" twist, it bears further public airing and debate. If you thought the Nazis in the 30s posed a threat to Germany, you ain't seen nothing yet!
B. E. Wilson, erstwhile reporter on the fantasies of the religious right, has discovered (on Angle's website) an endorsement from the NFRA (National Federation of Republican Assemblies) prez, one Rod Martin. Angle, saith Martin, "will uphold true conservative values for the citizens of Nevada and the nation."
What in the world could that mean? What "conservative values"? Nobody knows for sure but Martin's connection with the Christian Reconstructionist movement provides a few answers - answers sane people ain't gonna like!
Mr. Wilson quotes Frederick Clarkson, doubtless one of the most significant students of Christian Reconstructionism:
It would, notes Clarkson, "replace democracy with a theocratic elite that would govern by imposing their interpretation of 'Biblical Law.' Reconstructionism would eliminate not only democracy but many of its manifestations, such as labor unions, civil rights laws, and public schools. Women would be generally relegated to hearth and home. Insufficiently Christian men would be denied citizenship, perhaps executed. So severe is this theocracy that it would extend capital punishment beyond such crimes as kidnapping, rape, and murder, to include, among other things, blasphemy, heresy, adultery, and homosexuality."
Read Wilson's article here and note the links to information tying Angle to the Christian Reconstructionist Movement.
And here's another article noting her penchant for armed insurrection!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
The monster god
The problems we face in our world today are monstrous! Which is fitting, if, as it would appear, the God of the three major faiths is, in fact, a monster.Theodicy, the attempt by humans to explain why god does what he/she does, is whistling in the wind. Those who engage in such attempts to justify the acts of a creator god who they claim to be benevolent, omnipresent and omnipotent, find themselves laughingstocks in the face of reality.
Let's take just one example - the scourge of malaria. If this god created all things, he or she created malaria.
From Time magazine, June 21, 2010, pp. 39ff:
"The history of malaria is a long one. Originating in West Africa, it spread to half of mankind by the mid-19th century and has killed tens of millions more, including eight American Presidents. [Betcha Palin doesn't know that!] Malaria played a role in stopping Alexander the Great in India. It contributed to the fall of Rome, the relocation of the Vatican and the U.S. defeat in Vietnam. It still rages in the poverty-stricken world: it killed 863,000 people in 2008--89% of them African, and 88% of those people children under 5--and infected 243 million more, says the World Health Organization (WHO)."
A great effort is currently underway to halt this terrible disease, caused by the bite of "a deadly subspecies of mosquito, Anopheles Funestus, which feeds almost exclusively on humans, with an appetite to shame a vampire."
And if the anti-malarial efforts are successful, it will NOT be because of the intervention of any deity, nor will it be because a deity has "revealed" a good and proper way to fight malaria. It will be because of years of work by dedicated scientists!
Some will remember the old Sunday School ditty, "Jesus Loves The Little Children." Well, Jesus does not love the little children, nor does his Father, Yahweh! Jesus is quoted in the Gospels as saying that God's people are of intrinsic value. Look at the lowly sparrow, saith Jesus. God takes care of the sparrow, so just think how much more he will take care of you.
This, my friends, is obviously a crock! Nobody takes care of the sparrows; they are left to fend for themselves, often against the worst of odds. Jesus creator god does not exist. If he did, he would be a monster!
There is no one "up" there or "out" there looking after anybody. In truth, as Victor J. Stenger has said over and over again, the universe is exactly as we would expect if there were no god!
Which means it is up to us! Maybe if we understood this and shed our religious superstitions, we would realize we're in this mess together: we are all we have and if we want to survive we'd better figure out a way to get along and take care of one another.
Which also means that all those TV preachers and scummy "evangelists" and other religious leaders prancing around in fancy robes reading mumbo jumbo from discredited ancient texts should be shut down or arrested for defrauding the human race!
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