Sunday, December 7, 2008
Get over it
For the record, while I support the right for the sign to be there, I do not support the message on the sign. It is to inflammatory for my taste and doesn't really say anything positive for the holidays.
For those that are unaware, this is an interesting turn of events in a long history of our state not publicly supporting religion. Both the Governor (a Democrat) and the State Attorney (A Republican) have made statements that they are following the Supreme Court ruling that they can put up displays as long as they let everyone that asks to display (within a set of guidelines). This reassures me that if one of the displays goes, all will go. But I thought I would go down and see the fuss for myself, and to make sure that just one sign wasn't taken down.
They did get lot of people there for the protest, they filled the steps at one point. I did manage to get by them to see the sign before they began and then I went outside to see the protest. At that point I heard someone saying "There better be no dirty atheists back here!" (meaning the top of the stairs) and decided that wasn't the best way to get back into the building. That and some of the signs convinced me that, despite of what the organizers of the event said, this wasn't a peaceful rally in some of the protesters minds. They where offended, and wanted to make it clear they thought their religion was the only one that mattered.
They couldn't even agree in how you get saved. At one point before the rally began there was a man preaching to the waiting crowd. At one point he said you must believe in Jesus to be forgiven, and some of the crowd shouted back that you must ask for forgiveness to be saved. This degraded to shouts of "Read your Bible" from both sides, with the man continued preaching until the start of the rally.
There where a few nice things about the protest, like when they sung Christmas carols, but mostly it was a cry that their God is real and that no atheist is going to take Christmas away. I didn't think a sign in the Capitol Building could do that, no matter how horrible the message was. Several times they would say they love Atheists, just before they would say something hateful about Atheists.
And speaking of the sign, it and all the other signs and display are behind a roped off area now with a state trouper guarding them. The nativity scene is on its own on one side with the the signs all on the other. Sad to say all of the signs are offensive, dumb or both. A few of the signs writers need to read up on history (we have not been celebrating Christmas for 2000 years, for example, nor was the country solely founded by people that believed in the Bible).
There where counter protesters there as well, with the signs "Get over it" on the steps of the Hall of Justice across the way. (oh the irony) At this point I wish that is what everyone would do about this.
Oh, and it is already in the news.
http://www.komonews.com/news/35678604.html
Friday, December 5, 2008
Atheist display at Olympia
Gregoire herself doesn't agree with the display (the Atheist one) but says that it has a legal right to be there. And I have to agree. It has a right to be there, I just wish the message was more positive and less of an attack on those of faith. I understand that for some Atheists any religious display is offencive, but you can still meet them halfway and still stand for your non-belief.
Next year I think I will see what my local Atheist group can do as a display that is more positive (this guy was from out of state, he should have at least worked with a local group).
Update: The sign has been stolen.
Now that is rude and make me cheer on the person who put the sign there in the first place.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
We still have a ways to go
People are now calling this a new age for the country. A new age for the middle class, for minorities. But looking across the nation at some state initiatives I say we still have a ways to go.
In Arizona and Florida gay marriages were banned with California not being called yet but the yeses are leading this morning. Even as the greatest achievement of the civil rights movement has happened, some of us are still denying rights to a group we don't agree with.
So do celebrate, but remember there is still work to do.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Sorry
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Stressed out
Now nothing is decided on a web forum, so I know I am giving these guys way to much credence, but damn it, some of the things they say really make my blood boil. (Excuse me for not going into detail on what makes my blood boil, else I will derail this blog.)
So it is time for me to remove this pebble of stress from my mind. Maybe I will return when I have a better outlook on the whole thing.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
25% less gas
We where warned back then, but we didn't listen. Sure, gas efficient cars came to market, people bought smaller cars and started carpooling and taking the bus. But then the gas shortage ended and we went right back to burning oil like there was no tomorrow. And now we are looking at the highest gas prices ever. And from the look of things the price of gas will go up (some predicting 6 dollars at the end of the year) or if we are lucky stay the same, but they will hardly go down to the cost at the beginning of the year.
So what to do? Well if you want the price of gas to go down it is simple, use less of it. If the nation as a whole used 25% less gas, the price will drop. I don't know how much but it will drop. Just 25% less gas.
Now I know 25% less gas is a lot for some people, though some can lower their personal gas usage by 25% or more by just taking the bus, train, or carpooling to work. For others it will mean giving up driving to the mall every day, or not taking the kids to soccer. Hard choices, but the extra cash in the bank from not buying gas will be worth it.
So those that can drop your gas usage by 25% go for it, if you can do it on a regular basis you will better off if the gas prices go up anyway. For those of you that can't, you may be forced to cut back later when the prices climb.
25% less gas. Save now, or pay later.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Short on gas
How much of our economy is based on tourism? How many small towns are dependent on it? And how long before it starts effecting those with long commutes that drive to work for more then an hour and can't afford to do that anymore?
I think we may be looking at a bigger collapse of the economy if gas prices keep rising and people do not conserve.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
That dastardly sheriff
Packing light on the commute
I use to carry a CD player and a case of CDs, now I carry 50 times that amount of songs in my mp3 player. I use to carry a book to read, now I carry a small library in my Kindle. I use to carry a big personal orginizer, now I carry a small computer (though I could do the same with just a PDA.) All of this weighs less then what they replaced and gives me more capacity to do things.
Just point me to the nearest wall socket please, all the batteries are out.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Break
Lately I have been finding myself snipping at people rather then discussing things in a rational way. Somewhat due to me posting in other areas other then evolution and creation, but mostly because the posts I have read are from the radical right as well as radical Christians. Their posts are filled with such nonsense and hatred that I end up getting pissed and answering in kind. Which is not the best way to answer them, since I do say things that I regret later when I am heated since some of the comments I make not only piss off the person I am posting to, but the Christian friends I have on the forum as well.
Maybe I should just spend some time away and cut back on the coffee. But I think some time away will help, and remembering to take my time to respond. And remembering to walk away if I have nothing good to say.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The Internet Lens Effect
It can be quite embarrassing.
This was happening enough times that I started to trace it back, and found it had to do with my Internet usage. Mostly my forum discussions on certain topics. I get drawn in to these long discussions where it feels like your battling with titans, and to gain any edge you research and read and learn everything you can find on the topic. It becomes the focus of your life for a while until reality splashes you in the face.
I call it the Internet Lens Effect. Where you get so involved in a topic discussion that is encompasses your world view so much that you see very little else. Where you inflate the importance of the topic to the point that it is just about all you think about.
The cure for this for me is to back down and limit my use of the forums I visit. Find more time for other activities and remember there are real people out there that don't know about the topic, or they do and they just don't care.
Nothing gets decided in a forum, remember to leave the discussion in there.
Don't comment on the weather
The thing is that when you bring in global warming your no longer talking about the weather. Your talking pollution, energy policy, and the bottom line. Your talking politics. Global warming, for better or for worse has become a loaded word, Full of vastly different meanings that are not the same for everyone. Which is probably the reason why the term climate change was invented, because one thing we can agree on is that the climate is changing. But even with that term there are people that don't agree with it.
This mornings paper is a good example why. The Seattle papers are reporting we are colder then Tomsk, Russia in Siberia and Oslo, Norway, both in the 70s last weekend, while we are in the cool 50s. This of course makes people ask around here what global warming, but just looking at the temps in Norway and Siberia should answer that question. Places that are normally cool are rather warm right now. Not that any of these data points really show anything for or against global warming, it is to small of a sample to really tell what is going on. The trend in the global temperature average over years is much more telling and it is going up.
But, despite all of the data supporting global warming, people do have reasons to deny it. Mainly because anything you need to do to help the situation is going to impact their lives in a way that they perceive as negative. Ignore the facts, I still want the freedom of movement. Which is where it becomes political, because they will not change their option on it just with a discussion (if they are civil) or argument (if they are not). Not a goo way to start a conversation.
Which is why I don't comment on the weather in public anymore.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Skeptical Treat
Dr. Myers is a staunch atheist, it is core part of his personality and he makes no apologizes for this personal belief. But his personal belief should be received differently then his science and what he has to say about it. The ones that most needed to hear what science is and how it describes the world and the life on and within it where the ones most turned off by his atheism. This is unfortunate, since the science can exist without atheism, unlike their own personal beliefs.
In the future I would hope that PZ Myers would relax on his atheist outlook when giving these lectures so that the message of science would spread further, its seeds implanted in more minds to sprout and grow. Maybe in the future he will, until then I will still gladly take what insight into science that PZ Myers provides.
Lowering the price of gas
And if enough of us do this, the gas prices should go down because there will be a surplus. Just realize that to keep it down you will have to keep riding the bus...
Monday, June 9, 2008
A shout into the void
Well these days with the amount of traffic on the internet is will be more like a whisper, but this is my shout. My cry into the vast void of the internet about whatever I feel like talking about.
The reason for this is that I have found myself fragmented and compartmentalized. I can't talk to my gaming buddies about the same things I can talk to my rein faire friends about, or my family about. This is nothing new, everyone has parts of their life that don't combine well. But since becoming a skeptic, and more recently an atheist, I have found that I can't to any of these groups about things that are becoming more important to me. Hence this blog.
Here I plan on talking about the latest skeptic news that interest me, what fundamentalist rantings have set me off, and other things that strike my fancy to divulge behind my mask of anonymity. Don't know where we will end up, but it should be interesting.