Republican convention comments

She came fom the pole north,
to help McCain poles headed south.
She'd polarized the election mayor,
and taken farms while running on prayer.
McCain elected and dead she'd be pharoah,
her good friends just call her Sarah.

If you don't know what I mean, read this NY Times article: Palin’s Start in Alaska: Not Politics as Usual

At the Republcan convention, Giuliani is recycling his "never run anything" lack of executive experience argument against McCain to use it against Obama and Biden. Palin is recycling the "guns and religion" argument from the primary against Obama.
A nonprofit with ties to McCain recycled the Weathermen argument against Obama. I think I've even heard a reference to Rev. Wright recently used against Obama. I hate Republicans. It's too bad they have such a solid, polarized platform and there are only two parties. Otherwise my hate would be spread out across a lot more people. I can hate you all the same if you're all the same. A diverse group moves around too much to aim at.

Commie dairy farmers living the American dream

What's the difference if dairy farmers get a direct subsidy from the government, from taxes, or from the marketplace through a government price setting scheme? A price set by the government is still NOT a marketplace price, no matter what the dairy industry would have us believe.

Literature vs. politics

Imaginative literature - science fiction and fantasy - is much more than escapism. By creating new cultures and scenarios, we create a rare opportunity for people to step outside their own reality, and freely consider the real issues in their lives. The mythology we are creating in this age is the cure for ethnocentrism. And no, Virginia, we are not going to cram ourselves into the Western Judeo-Christian conception for our stories. I don't think a black and white fantasy world, no matter how many millions we spend on the special effects, is going to get people out of the current black and white thinking which dominates American culture and led us to be the largest negative influence on the world.

Film With Same-Sex Parents Splits School District

In one town in New Jersey, half the parents think they can shield their children from the fact that some parents are same-sex. They want to discuss it in the home, rather than let an award-winning documentary director relay the truth through a video shown at school. Rather than let a montage of children, like the third grade viewers, tell them that same-sex couples are real and (blasphemy) actually healthy loving families.
The kids in the video are probably just like the kids your child will meet at school. Some of your child's classmates are bound to know about gay people and may even come from a family with two dads. Do you want to risk that they start a conflict by saying "your parents are both faggits" or "they're not your parents"?
You fundamentalists must be shaking in your boots. Divorce didn't go the way you wanted it to, and society may be better or worse (people are evenly divided on that, though I personally think marriage is underrated). Divorce didn't go your way either, and society didn't fall apart so you may be wrong. Hell, back i nthe day when slavery was illegal and women couldn't vote you didn't want to change. Now things are so different, and what's next but acceptance of different sexual lifestyles. If a homosexual family comes across to your kids as healthier than your own, you're done. Either that, or there'll be some new societal advance to stop from evolving. That reminds me, shouldn't we keep evolution out of schools? Yet another place where America is evenly divided.
If people can't agree on what God is, if God is, and most of all on what God wants with the SAME EVIDENCE, how the hell can a person who refuses to expose themselves and/or their children to some of that evidence hope to know the truth? This country is proof that humans don't know squat, and news like this is proof that 50% of humans don't know we don't know. See quote in last post.

Wealthy Killers - on Abortion

I today read an argument against abortion by a Christian doctor. He called doctors "wealthy killers" of "silently screaming" babies.
It made me think. First, I remember the strongest argument in the area of abortion which I heard during college philosophy classes. A woman said that abortion would be wrong so long as we lived in a society filled with people who could afford to adopt children as an alternative. So, views against abortion would be weaker in a weaker economy. Second, I remember that religion is strongest when an economy is poorest.
So, speaking from a mathematical perspective, religion is inversely proportional to economic health. The strength of pro lifers, a religion-motivated movement, should also be inversely proportional to economic health. I know, it makes my head hurt too.
My extrapolation is thus: So long as America is rich, Christianity will not have the pull it wants, but abortions will remain relatively uncommon. If the economy falters, Christianity would strengthen, but not without limits. There would be a breaking point, after which abortion would become a good idea, especially in the absence of birth control which some sects oppose.

Christian history of America - Jamestown vs. St. Augustine

Funny how quickly people forget. The '400th anniversary of America' was just celebrated in Jamestown. WND.com lamented that the Christian edict from England which created Jamestown to Christianize the savages wasn't given weight.
I remember learning in history class that St. Augustine, Florida was the oldest city in America. It is. It was established 42 years before Jamestown. It was Spanish and Catholic. Why don't people argue that we are a Catholic nation or that the national language should be Spanish? It has nothing to do with actual history. It has everything to do with the tradition dictated by those who won, the English. The English and German colonists in the north were more numerous and more successful. The Germans became 'aliens' several hundred years later when American nationalism peaked during World War I. Then we became an English Protestant nation by tradition, but historically speaking things are much murkier.