Life

Mencken’s Creed

Posted on by Timothy Foreman

I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind–that it’s modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.

I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious. . .

I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of witches, and deserves no more respect.

I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech . . .

I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run.

I believe in the reality of progress.

But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.

H. L. Mencken was such a good writer. I think I need to check out some of his books.

Family

Talking with a CoWorker about God

Posted on by Timothy Foreman

I sent the YouTube links for Richard Dawkin’s The Root Of All Evil show (part 1, part 2 and part 3) to a co-worker today, triggered by a conversation we had over coffee.

She wrote back with the following comment:

But it’s fanaticism, not really religion that is the problem. Not all religions are like this… there are wonderful things that believing in a god can bring to society.

So I challenged her to name three.

She came back with the following three statements – I’ll interleave my replies with them:

– a sense of responsibility to a higher power, something unworldly and therefore more powerful.

Why do I need this? Why does believing in some “sky daddy” help me in my life? Because I can blame him for all that goes wrong and not take any personal responsibility? It was “God’s will”?

Why do I need to pretend that there is something living in the sky and watching everything I do (Santa Claus)? What possible use is this to me?

As for a sense of responsibility, I have that. I have responsibilities to my family. I have responsibilities to my community. I have responsibilities to my job. Hell, I have responsibilities to the world. Why do I need some “god” to be responsible to? I don’t need a “higher power”, I have plenty of things that I am already responsible to.

– the value of forgiveness and redemption.

Why do I need to be forgiven? I have not done anything. “Sin” is a concept created to get people to go to church. The whole forgiveness thing bothers me. I can go out and do bad things and the only thing that I have to do is ask the priest for forgiveness, and then pray a couple of times and I’m a good person? And this promotes good behavior how?

Redemption? Isn’t that what you do with green stamps? What does redemption mean? That I’m going to some fairy tale “heaven” when I die? Sorry, I don’t buy that.

– promotes faith. faith is a great thing, it gives some people hope and comfort.

Faith is not a good thing. Faith means you believe in something without any evidence or proof. Faith is wooly thinking and leads to making bad judgments based on your beliefs instead of the real world.

How does believing in a “sky daddy” give me comfort and hope? If this “god” is all powerful and beneficent, why does he let people die horrible deaths? Because they are not “saved”? Because they don’t “believe” in him? Or perhaps because he doesn’t exist?

I’m sorry, but when you die, you are dead. You are gone. You don’t come back as a bug, an animal, another person. You don’t go to some magical place in the sky.

The Islam suicide bombers believe that when they die, they go to a heaven with 72 virgins. And we don’t believe this. We think it’s crazy. Yet Christians believe that when we die, they go to some magical place where they will see all our friends and family again. Or we go to some place of eternal torture if we are “bad”. How is this less crazy than the Islam beliefs?

Why are they wrong and we are right?

I call bullshit.

I believe there are more bad things that come from religion than good. I think it’s a blight and a virus that should be wiped out.

Politics

It’s about damned time

Posted on by Timothy Foreman

Finally. Congressman Murtha has introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives calling for the immediate resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Whereas —-

After 9/11, the United States government had unprecedented support from international allies as well as the American people for military action against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan

The initial phase of the war in Afghanistan was successful in dismantling al Qaeda operations, removing the Taliban authority which was harboring al Qaeda, and allowing for the Afghani people to establish a representative government

The Secretary of Defense imposed a cap on the number of ground forces in Afghanistan prior to the war in Iraq

The Bush administration concluded in April 2002 that Osama bin Laden was in Tora Bora, Afghanistan during the battle for Tora Bora in December of 2001 and that the failure to commit the sufficient number of ground forces directly resulted in the failure to capture him

A resurgence of Taliban influence and violence is now occurring in Afghanistan

In the months prior to the war in Iraq, The Secretary of Defense repeatedly and forcefully asserted to Congress and the American people that there was no question that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that they were a threat to the United States, which is now known to be false

The Secretary of Defense rejected estimates from top military commanders regarding the troop strength that would be required to secure Iraq, failed to anticipate the level of violent opposition among Iraqis to US occupation, and publicly doubted the war in Iraq would take [longer than] six months

The Secretary of Defense expressly forbade his staff to develop a plan for post-war Iraq and threatened to fire anyone who raised the issue

The Secretary of Defense failed to ensure that US troops had adequate protective gear for their mission at the start of the Iraq war, including a shortage of 40,000 protective body armor units, radio frequency jammers to thwart remote detonation of improvised explosive devices, and up-armored high mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWVs)

You can read the rest of it over at Crooks and Liars.

Not that it will happen or anything.

Security

How Copyright Broke

Posted on by Timothy Foreman

Cory Doctorow has a nice article in Locus about copyright and how it is broken and how it should work.

So this is where copyright breaks: When copyright lawyers try to treat readers and listeners and viewers as if they were (weak and unlucky) corporations who could be strong-armed into license agreements you wouldn’t wish on a dog. There’s no conceivable world in which people are going to tiptoe around the property they’ve bought and paid for, re-checking their licenses to make sure that they’re abiding by the terms of an agreement they doubtless never read. Why read something if it’s non-negotiable, anyway?

The answer is simple: treat your readers’ property as property. What readers do with their own equipment, as private, noncommercial actors, is not a fit subject for copyright regulation or oversight. The Securities Exchange Commission doesn’t impose rules on you when you loan a friend five bucks for lunch. Anti-gambling laws aren’t triggered when you bet your kids an ice-cream cone that you’ll bicycle home before them. Copyright shouldn’t come between an end-user of a creative work and her property.

Worth a read.

Politics

Conservative Logic

Posted on by Timothy Foreman

I got this in an email forward today, and most of these strike pretty close to home.

  • Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary.
  • Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush’s daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush needed a “we can’t find Bin Laden” diversion.
  • Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.
  • The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.
  • A woman can’t be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.
  • The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans’ benefits and combat pay.
  • If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won’t have sex.
  • A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.
  • Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism. HMOs and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.
  • Global warming and tobacco’s link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.
  • A president lying about an extra-marital affair is an impeachable offense, but a president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.
  • Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.
  • The public has a right to know about Hillary’s cattle trades, but George Bush’s driving record is none of our business.
  • Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you’re a conservative radio host. Then it’s an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.
  • What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the ’80s is irrelevant.

Friends don’t let friends vote Republican.

Misc-Other

Safe. Not Safe. WTF?

Posted on by Timothy Foreman

Jeebus. Enough already!

Condi Rice said:

“I think it’s clear that we are safe — safer — but not really yet safe,” said Rice, who was President Bush’s national security adviser when al-Qaida masterminded the attacks of Sept. 11,2 001.

President Smirky said:

“Today we are safer, but we are not yet safe.”

AHHHHH! You can’t have it both ways people!

You can’t say we are safe and then say we are not safe.

Jeebus!

Politics

Do You Want The Terrorists To Win

Posted on by Timothy Foreman

Go take the quiz. I hope it’s intended as humor.

Your ‘Do You Want the Terrorists to Win’ Score: 100%

You are a terrorist-loving, Bush-bashing, “blame America first”-crowd traitor. You are in league with evil-doers who hate our freedoms. By all counts you are a liberal, and as such cleary desire the terrorists to succeed and impose their harsh theocratic restrictions on us all. You are fit to be hung for treason! Luckily George Bush is tapping your internet connection and is now aware of your thought-crime. Have a nice day…. in Guantanamo!

Do You Want the Terrorists to Win?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz