2006-10-31
NO MORE SEX!
The Washington Monthly
From Kevin Drum: The Bush administration is now in the business of encouraging adults to stop having sex? Seriously? And they accuse liberals of using government power in the service of utopian social engineering?
This bit from a commenter is great:
Ah, blessed are the single atheists, for we have all the guilt-free sex we want.
Amen to that!
From Kevin Drum: The Bush administration is now in the business of encouraging adults to stop having sex? Seriously? And they accuse liberals of using government power in the service of utopian social engineering?
This bit from a commenter is great:
Ah, blessed are the single atheists, for we have all the guilt-free sex we want.
Amen to that!
2006-10-26
Conservative Moral Superiority?
This is a great quote and it's so very true.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy: that is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
-John Kenneth Galbraith
Found here: This Modern World » Blog Archive » A Tolerable Form of “Murder”
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy: that is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
-John Kenneth Galbraith
Found here: This Modern World » Blog Archive » A Tolerable Form of “Murder”
2006-10-19
YouTube - Where do atheists get their morality ?
YouTube - What is an atheist
2006-10-17
"Go fuck yourself, D'Souza"
2006-10-12
The America I Believe In Does NOT Torture.
Sign the Amnesty International Pledge HERE:
The America I Believe In doesn't torture people or use cruel, inhumane treatment. . . doesn't hold people without charge, without fair trials, without hope, and without end. . .doesn't kidnap people off the street and ship them to nations known for their brutality. . .doesn't condone prisoner abuse and excuse high-ranking government officials from responsibility for that abuse. . .doesn't justify the use of secret prisons. . .and does not rob people of their basic dignity.
I'm joining with Amnesty International USA to restore The America I Believe In. The America I Believe In leads the world on human rights.
I'm committing to tell friends and family about the campaign. I'm also committing to contacting my members of Congress and my local media to tell them that the America I Believe In defends human rights and justice for all.
The America I Believe In doesn't torture people or use cruel, inhumane treatment. . . doesn't hold people without charge, without fair trials, without hope, and without end. . .doesn't kidnap people off the street and ship them to nations known for their brutality. . .doesn't condone prisoner abuse and excuse high-ranking government officials from responsibility for that abuse. . .doesn't justify the use of secret prisons. . .and does not rob people of their basic dignity.
I'm joining with Amnesty International USA to restore The America I Believe In. The America I Believe In leads the world on human rights.
I'm committing to tell friends and family about the campaign. I'm also committing to contacting my members of Congress and my local media to tell them that the America I Believe In defends human rights and justice for all.
2006-10-09
OKCupid! The Religious Nut Test
| The Atheist The results are in! You scored 1%! |
| You generally do not believe in the existence of a higher power. Actually, you are pretty damn sure that there is no such thing. Religion has no place in your life, and you want it to stay this way ! |
 |
My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:
|
| Link: The Religious Nut Test written by megascargot on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test |
God, evolution, and guns
Orcinus: Let's be frank about what is involved in a majority of these high-school shootings: a psychotic reaction to a high-school culture that permits intensive and incessant bullying and social intimidation. The latter is decidedly a product of an authoritarian mindset; returning to a system of school-sanctioned fundamentalist religious beliefs -- with all their authoritarianism intact -- would only heighten these tendencies, creating greater stratification along religious lines and drawing clearer "in group" and "out group" classes.
Indeed, what's worth noting is that the most effective programs in defusing situations like those at Columbine and elsewhere are those that try to attack the culture of bullying. One of the foremost of these is the Teaching Tolerance program that focuses on promoting an environment of inclusiveness in our schools and short-circuiting the cliqueishness and bigotry that travels hand-in-glove with bullying behavior.
However, these same programs are under attack by the religious right precisely because they promote cultural tolerance and try to prevent bullying -- including the most common kind, gay-bashing. And of course, being multicultural in their orientation, these programs tend to undermine right-wing authoritarianism as well.
If fundamentalists want to point the finger of blame, they should be pointed to their own back yards.
After all, it should be noted that the ad above can easily be read another way: Not a Christian? Then your life is forfeit. This is a mentality that fits readily into the Christian warrior video-game mentality that keeps bubbling up from the religious right.
Fundamentalist Christians, in truth, have their own version of "survival of the fittest": Only those who are "saved" are worth saving, and the rest are condemned. If they want to know where kids get these attitudes, they should examine the messages they send them. This black-and-white worldview plays out in social groupings, in cliques, in deciding who gets bullied.
Where do kids get the idea that life is cheap, that the strong dominate the weak, that morality, honor and decency are irrelevant in a culture where winning is all that matters? They don't get taught that in their biology classes.
No, they get it every day in their schools from participating in the culture: from the jocks and "in group" kids who dominate; from the teachers who coddle them; and from the larger world around them, where the ethics-deprived are more likely to become rich and the ruthless more likely to succeed -- all part of a system of "free enterprise" capitalism that the fundamentalist right celebrates.
And if you don't fit in? Well, you're just worthless. A non-entity. Your life forfeit.
Indeed, what's worth noting is that the most effective programs in defusing situations like those at Columbine and elsewhere are those that try to attack the culture of bullying. One of the foremost of these is the Teaching Tolerance program that focuses on promoting an environment of inclusiveness in our schools and short-circuiting the cliqueishness and bigotry that travels hand-in-glove with bullying behavior.
However, these same programs are under attack by the religious right precisely because they promote cultural tolerance and try to prevent bullying -- including the most common kind, gay-bashing. And of course, being multicultural in their orientation, these programs tend to undermine right-wing authoritarianism as well.
If fundamentalists want to point the finger of blame, they should be pointed to their own back yards.
After all, it should be noted that the ad above can easily be read another way: Not a Christian? Then your life is forfeit. This is a mentality that fits readily into the Christian warrior video-game mentality that keeps bubbling up from the religious right.
Fundamentalist Christians, in truth, have their own version of "survival of the fittest": Only those who are "saved" are worth saving, and the rest are condemned. If they want to know where kids get these attitudes, they should examine the messages they send them. This black-and-white worldview plays out in social groupings, in cliques, in deciding who gets bullied.
Where do kids get the idea that life is cheap, that the strong dominate the weak, that morality, honor and decency are irrelevant in a culture where winning is all that matters? They don't get taught that in their biology classes.
No, they get it every day in their schools from participating in the culture: from the jocks and "in group" kids who dominate; from the teachers who coddle them; and from the larger world around them, where the ethics-deprived are more likely to become rich and the ruthless more likely to succeed -- all part of a system of "free enterprise" capitalism that the fundamentalist right celebrates.
And if you don't fit in? Well, you're just worthless. A non-entity. Your life forfeit.
2006-10-06
Religion is terrifying | am i patriotic?
