Ahem…

As stolen from Tom Yonker’s Facebook profile:

“However dominant in terms of numbers, Christianity is only a thread in the American tapestry – it is not the whole tapestry. The God who is spoken of and called on and prayed to in the public sphere is an essential character in the American drama, but He is not specifically God the Father or the God of Abraham. The right’s contention that we are a ‘Christian nation’ that has fallen from pure origins and can achieve redemption by some kind of return to Christian values is based on wishful thinking, not convincing historical argument.”

–Jon Meacham, NEWSWEEK Managing Editor, author of “American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation”

Indeed…

Need I say more?

So, I was flipping through Daily Kos (who was interviewed on The Colbert Report a few weeks back, so I’ve been checking out the blog recently) and saw this posting referring to an article at Think Progress regarding a new policy by our friends in the government regarding funding for abstinence education. Think Progress made the following highlights:

“In addition to being costly, inaccurate, and ineffective, the programs must now operate under a strict new definition of abstinence:”

Abstinence curricula must have a clear definition of sexual abstinence which must be consistent with the following: ‘Abstinence means voluntarily choosing not to engage in sexual activity until marriage. Sexual activity refers to any type of genital contact or sexual stimulation between two persons including, but not limited to, sexual intercourse.’

Later, the guidelines explicitly define marriage:

Throughout the entire curriculum, the term ‘marriage’ must be defined as ‘only a legal union between one man and one woman as a husband and wife, and the word ?spouse? refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.’ (Consistent with Federal law)”

Seriously…can’t people simply stop persecuting the people who a). they don’t understand and b). they don’t agree with? What damage, exactly, would pre-marital sex and homosexual relations have to America (or the world)? Isn’t it worse to get married just to have sex, and then have a baby, and then get a divorce? Are they going to outlaw birth control next?

…there are times, yo…I swear…

Oh, ignorance…

So, Slashdot has run a few stories in the past few days about global warming.?? According to a recent poll, 71% of Americans are now ready to believe that global warming is real and is a problem.? This is after researchers, for years, have said that it’s a problem.? Science Magazine, in Dec. 2004, reported that out of 928 scientific papers published in research periodicals, 75% accepted the “consensus view” that global warming is caused by humans, while the other 25% didn’t say either way; none of them said explicitly that humans are not the cause.

So, with overwhelming evidence, why is it that many people refuse to believe it? I mean, there’s a girl in my class that refuses to believe that global warming is caused by human involvement!? She admits that it’s happening, but says that it’s caused by the “natural cycle” that Earth goes through between ice ages. Perhaps most disturbing, researchers are finding it difficult to report their findings due to pressure from the Bush Administration, being told to remove references to global warming from web sites and their reports.

…so wtf?!? I mean, so far as the Bush Administration goes, they just want to keep us under an oil-based economy so they keep getting kickbacks from the Middle East, but why does the American public go along with it?!? Are the just stupid? What is with that remaining 29% that makes them not believe that humans are the primary cause of accelerating global warming?

…as with many social issues, I guess I just don’t get it…

So, I was driving on I-64…

…and I saw a billboard.? I’ve actually seen a similar billboard somewhere else (I-44, I think), but it was this one that caused me to go by their website.

“Question homosexuality,” says their slogans.? “Freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ,” says their website title. Their website continues to explain their position as such:

“…Christ offers a healing alternative to those with homosexual tendencies. EXODUS upholds redemption for the homosexual person as the process whereby sin’s power is broken, and the individual is freed to know and experience true identity as discovered in Christ and His Church. That process entails the freedom to grow into heterosexuality.”

So, overall, what have we learned here?? This group, Exodus, says there’s a “cure” for homosexuality.? They say that homosexuality “is a choice” and that homosexuals can be “reoriented.”

Well, geez, while we’re at it, do you think Exodus could “cure” the Communists?? How about the Jews, or Muslims, or Hindi, or any other religion that isn’t Christian?? Why not Cubans, Iraqis, Chinese, Bosnians or Mexicans?? I mean, these are all “choices” that take them “further from Jesus Christ” and that “reorientation” toward Christianity will solve all our world’s problems.

…pity there isn’t a “cure” for so-called “Christians” that persecute people they don’t understand, rather than simply trying to promote Christianity as the loving and understanding religion it’s supposed to be…

Hehehehehehe…

“The Vice President is standing by his decision to shoot Harry Whittington. Now, according to the best intelligence available, there were quail hidden in the brush. Everyone believed at the time there were quail in the brush. And while the quail turned out to be a 78- year-old man, even knowing that today, Mr. Cheney insists he still would have shot Mr. Whittington in the face. He believes the world is a better place for his spreading buckshot throughout the entire region of Mr. Wittington’s face.”

— Rob Corddry, “The Daily Show”

That one’s for you, Liz… 😉

More reasons why Republicans are dumb…

As reported in the February 9, 2006 episode of The Colbert Report, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez said the following to the senate judiciary committee regarding President Bush’s wiretapping shenanigans:

“I gave in my opening statement, Senator, examples where President Washington, President Lincoln, President Wilson, President Roosevelt…have all authorized electronic surveillance of the enemy on a far broader scale…”

— Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzalez
“I can’t believe he said that!? Those are precious state secrets!? No one’s supposed to know about George Washington’s covert electronic surveillance program!”

— Stephen Colbert

Seriously…who the hell appointed that guy?? Oh yeah…the Republicans…what a big surprise…

So, I was sitting in class…

…and Dr. Ryerse was talking to us about Gap Junctions. Basically, these are connections between cells that are made up of proteins. Think of them like connecting two pieces of cloth with a hollow rivet… They are very important in a variety of cellular functions, but perhaps most importantly, in synchronizing all of the cells in the heart (and muscle in general) to make one single contraction and pump our blood.

Anyway, in talking about these, he brought up a few points (most of which I can’t remember…) that got me thinking about how much of ourselves we know nothing about. In the physical sense, our bodies “just work”…but how and why? I mean, we go walking around every day and the general public doesn’t know (or care…) about how the cells in our heart know how to contract at the same time and pump our blood.But we’ve been working on “science,” in the general sense of the word, for thousands of years yet we’ve only scratched the surface.
Shouldn’t we care about these things? Shouldn’t we be more interested in learning all that there is to know about our bodies, so we know how to fix the problems there, rather than the problems between bodies in foreign countries? If I remember right, Bush plans on cutting a variety of programs, generally social, educational and scientific interests, in favor of more money to finance his Iraq vendetta. Does this make sense?
I guess it’s just human nature, but here’s the point: people don’t care how something works, only that it continues to work. People don’t care about science until it affects them. Funding for scientific endeavours is only readily available to people working on health-related fields, while funding for other research (such as ecology, sociology, etc.) is harder to come by. We save the minimal amount of funding to pay for “important” things like helping fix lung cancer (caused by cigarettes) or funding faster propulsion (so we can blow up other countries) or funding research into lower emission vehicles (because we have to drive big SUVs rather than using the smaller vehicles we already have).

Seriously, I think if the USA just saved a third of the money being poured into Iraq and other worthless ventures (congressional salaries, military stockpiling, tax cuts for the rich, etc.) and instead put it into general scientific (physics, biology, chemistry…) and social (arts, humanities…) research, the world would get a lot better really quickly.

At the very least, we, as a culture, would be seen as less hypocritical in the eyes of our enemies…’cause that’d solve a lot of other problems…

…it’s amazing what thoughts can come out of a discussion on gap junctions, eh?

Faith in Government

My faith in the US Judicial System has been restored…somewhat… According to CNN, the judge overseeing the Intelligent Design case in Dover, PA has ruled the teaching of ID in public school as unconstitutional. To quote the judge:

“It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy.”

He apparently left a 139-page opinion on the subject. Needless to say, I’m glad it turned out this way. At least our classrooms and children are safe from the religious right yet again…

…for the time being…

Good ol' O'Reilly…

Here’s something amusing for your day…from Chortler.com

Winning Entries In The Say Something Nice About Bill O’Reilly Contest

10) He’s not Ann Coulter.

9) I like his tie.

8) His pointer finger is very well muscled.

7) They’ve been doing a better job with Bill’s makeup lately. He looks almost life-like.

6) He?s not a twin, is he? If not, that would be good.

5) …..(still thinking)…….I got it! O wait, no……..

4) There is no odor when I watch him on TV.

3) Bill O’Reilly is not solely responsible for the demise of American democracy over the past five years.

2) It’s very nice of Mr O’Reilly to consider leaving!

1) At least he’s not Kevin Federline.