Politics

A Florida church's decision to hold a Qur'an burning event this year on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks is a sad reminder of the hate that can be directed toward a group of individuals as if they were a monolithic entity.  By the way, this is the same church that sent kids to school with shirts that said "Islam is of the devil".  And they have the gall to call themselves the Dove World Outreach Center.

This upcoming event, along with the recent protests of a planned Islamic community center in New York or the planned expansion of a mosque in Tennessee are showing the willingness to vilify an entire community for the actions of a few misguided fanatics.

It would be like saying all Christians are like Fred Phelps from the Westboro Baptist Church and therefore we should be protesting churches across the country because of his actions.  Or condemning the Christians for actions of a few who went around shooting doctors who performed abortions or who vandalized abortion clinics.  Are these actions not terrorism?

It's amazing to me that some within these two religions who at their heart pray to the same God, the God of Abraham, can hate each other so much.  And these types of attacks, although propagated by a minority, fuel the flame of the idea of a religious war being waged between Christianity and Islam.

The US has some history of this type of stereotyping.  We've all heard of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.  You would think we had learned our lesson, but then again, history tends to repeat itself, especially for those who ignore it or fail to learn its lessons.

The United States of America has long been a melting pot for many diverse cultures and faiths.  And because of the idea of religious pluralism, we've all gotten along just fine.  If we forgo this tenet of our society, we could be heading down a path that will lead to internal strife like that seen in countries around the world.  Should we become like Bosnia-Herzegovina? or Sudan? or even Iraq?  Where vying religious factions resorted to genocide to cleanse the country in what became brutal civil wars?

We need to step back and ask ourselves if we would want to be judged based on the actions of another?  Are you willing to let a distorted stereotype define you?  If not, then look at your actions and ask yourself if you're being fair to the community at large.  And then direct your energies in a way that will reflect positively on you and the country.

Does this scare the crap out of anybody else??

Just remember, these people hold the power over what you're children will learn in Texas public schools.

Today, May 6th, other than being the first Thursday in May, is also the National Day of Prayer.  This government recognized day gets the pot of the culture wars boiling over.  It's hard to swing a dead cat without hitting someone who has severely strong opinions about the merits or faults of this event.  It doesn't help that it's sponsored by an organization that is overtly Christian with goals that clearly lean toward intertwining that religion with government.

But for me, this day simply reminds me of a verse from the Bible (KJV), Matthew 6:5-6

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are:  for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.  Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

But with most things in the Bible, I'm sure you can find another verse that completely contradicts this one if you look hard enough.  So let them go ahead and publicly display their prayer, God will take care of them, Jesus said so.  As for me, I'm still waiting for the government sponsored National Day of Reason.  Yeah, I think I'll be waiting a long time, because those two words, Government and Reason, just don't go together.  But, Government and hypocrisy...sure that fits just right.

I've been quietly sitting on the sidelines as the Texas State Board of Education has gone about re-writing the Social Studies curriculum standards that will be in effect for the next decade and could affect textbooks bought in many other states around the country.  I've done this partly for my sanity and partly because I'm sick of seeing these idiots use their position to push their far right religious agenda into the schools by removing figures they see as "liberal" and replacing them with more "conservative" figures.  The change getting the most press is the removal of Thomas "wall between church and state" Jefferson and replacing him with John Calvin.

But on the positive side, Don McLeroy lost his primary election and will no longer be on the Texas SBOE after the next election later this year.  The downside is, he gets to continue to do damage until that time.

Recently, Roger Ebert stepped into the ring to take a swing at this gas bag of an opponent, and he scored a knock-out in my book.  It's worth the read and the associated videos help to underscore the points being made.

The best is saved for last:

"Does it make me a liberal if I believe Jefferson has been more central to American history than Calvin? That Lincoln was our greatest president, and Davis not our President at all? That the Theory of Evolution towers with majesty above those who, in some cases, believe the earth may be 10,000 years old, and that men walked the earth with dinosaurs? No, it doesn't make me a liberal. It makes me an educated, rational being. Unfortunately, in some precincts of Texas that may appear to be nearly as bad."

Ditto.

I haven't been following much of the health care debate going on lately in the Congress.  I kind of tuned out after the infamous (or famous, depending on you affiliation) "You lie!!" comment.  But of course, it's hard to miss the talking points being blasted at us by a media more than willing to skim the surface of an issue for what they feed us as "news".

The most recent ruckus I'm hearing about is the mostly Republican backed amendment to the health care reform bill (that they won't vote for) that would deny coverage/funding of abortions.  Isn't this the same party that keeps harping that government run health care will lead to rationing?  Well, isn't denying a procedure the same as rationing?  The difference is just the degree to which it is unavailable.

The last time I checked, it was legal for a woman to have an abortion in this country.  What other legal medical procedure will they ration away from Americans in the name of our freedoms?  How about denying coverage to have a vasectomy?  Let's not be sexist here and screw with a mans reproductive rights as well as a woman's.

So come on, stop being hypocritical in the name of "family values" and just step back and look at what you are proposing.  You're the ones always saying you want the government to stay out of the lives of citizens, so back off and just leave it alone.  Let the patients and their doctors make up their own minds about what legal procedures they should have and stop legislating your view of "morality" on the rest of us while you prostitute yourselves to the health care companies so you can get re-elected.

A couple of videos came out recently that just need to be shared.

The first is a new Mr. Deity video that features PZ Myers as a Science Advisor to God.  It's got some great humor and the bit at the end with the banana is a bit of an inside joke.  If you like this, check out the rest of the videos at the Mr. Deity website or on YouTube.

The next video is a parody of the defense of marriage...this time, defending marriage against divorce.

Just like the people in the segment Jaywalking from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, you can find a few idiots in any crowd.  The video below is an example of this from the recent Tea Party gathering in Washington DC.

The best quote from the video

"You know this how?"

I would answer that question with this.  All it takes is a little skepticism.  People need to consider who is feeding them the information and what their motives might be.  Try listening to both sides of an issue instead of tuning out opposing views.  Then based on as much information as you can get your hands on, come to a rational conclusion based on real information instead of hysteria and lies.  That's all it takes.  But we're in America and we can't be bothered to work to understand anything.

I'm sure there were some well informed people at the gathering, but I do think the majority are more like the people highlighted in the video, having been easily manipulated by lies and fear to the point of protest.  Somewhere there is a room full of people laughing and patting themselves on the back for what they've accomplished.

I traveled to Tyler, TX this weekend for a tennis tournament for my daughter.  Driving along highway 31 back to Austin on Sunday, I couldn't help but notice a very large billboard with the phrase:

"Where's the birth certificate?"

Of course, this is in reference to the group known as the "birthers", who seem to think that our president isn't a naturalized citizen even though the evidence is clearly there that he was born in Hawaii.  But then again, there's no convincing some people.  What surprises me though, is the tenacity of this "movement".  It won't go away.  I think the basic issue is, there are just some people who will always ignore the evidence if it contradicts their world view.  In this regard, the birthers are no different than the young earth creationists.  No amount of logic or evidence will assuage them from their opinion.  But the size of this group is surprising, numbering in the tens of thousands, maybe even the hundreds of thousands.  And they are a very vocal group.

In the old days, before the Internet, this would have been a small subculture of people and would have had little chance of growing into the movement it is today.  But in the world of the internet, there is a ready environment for any fringe idea to take root and grow, fed by a media that is in search of ratings over facts.  The internet provides a bully pulpit for any subversive or subcultural view to be seen by millions.  And with all the spectrum of opinions available among the billions of webpages, there is no need for anyone to view an alternative opinion to their own.

In fact, we all have our favorite websites, bookmarked in our browsers for easy access or fed to us in our feed readers.  And more than likely they consist of those sites that agree with our opinions or that feed our political leanings.  There's no need to look at dissent or alternate opinions.  No need to try to see things from the other side of the fence.  In fact why should we?  Those alternate opinions were written by individuals who have a bias, right?  While the websites we like are written by those who are thoughtful and knowledgeable.  Why would I waste my time on those other silly opinions?  I already know they can't be right.

And that's the root of the problem.  There's no longer any room for rational discussion or talking about the actual merits of any issue.  No concept of respecting the individual who might have a differing opinion.  There's only room for opinion that is skewed either left or right for consumption by the faithful.  Our surfing habits only foster a reinforcement of our preconceived opinions.  And this leads to a wider polarization of our society.  Those on the left and those on the right, with no need for either side to try to understand the other, only the ability to despise what they stand for as we're told how silly they must be to think like they do.

This narrowly focused view of the issues also allows for mis-information to be easily disseminated.  If the media outlets have a ready audience that is already agreeable to their philosophy, sowing the seeds of mis-information is easy.  They already know their audience is not very likely to fact check what they say.  So we end up with the idea of "death panels" in the health care reform bill, or calls of "socialism".

In this regard, if we're not careful to understand where our information is coming from and to not get our information from a variety of sources, we could all become members of the lunatic fringe.

It's been a while since I've posted anything about the Texas State Board of Education.  I've been pretty fed up with their crap and found that the more I paid attention to it, the more negative it made me feel, so I backed off for a while for my own sanity.  I don't think I even said anything when the science curriculum standards passed (although it was a mixed bag).  But today provides a small amount of hope that things might eventually change for the better.

You see, today the Texas legislature took up the motion to re-confirm Don McLeroy as Chair of the Texas SBOE.  And luckily, he failed to be re-confirmed.  It was close with 19 votes for confirmation and 11 votes against (a two thirds vote is required).  So what does this mean?  Well, it simply means McLeroy will no longer lead the Texas SBOE.  He's still a member, just not its chairman.  Gov. Perry now has to nominate a new Chair and the dance starts all over again.

But for now, I feel a tiny bit better about this state I live in.