Get over it

Today, on a whim, I went to my state capitol building to see my state government and a vocal percent of the state populous in action. All over a sign that said there is no God. That's right, my state is the state of Washington, and I went to Olympia to see what the fuss was about.

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

Atheist display at Olympia

This morning I learned of the Atheist display in the capital building. It was next to the nativity scene. Personally, I am more surprised about the nativity scene, but since it is there, let there be more holiday displays next to it from every belief and non-belief.

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.

We still have a ways to go

Last night I saw a historic event, one I was not sure I would see in my life time. Granted it was only a matter of time before someone who looked black would be elected to the White House, but it is nice that it happened at the start of the 21th century rather then the middle.

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.

Sorry

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. Been very busy with work and other things. I will be posting soon.

Stressed out

I think I am way to stressed lately. I have been under the gun at work and faire is approaching with me having nothing ready. But that is not what I think is sending me over the top. It is that fricking Christian Forums. I really need to take a break from it. There are Christians that do not want rational discussion and what to just dictate dogma from the pulpit of electrons they have made for themselves, regardless of what others, including their own Christian brethren, think.

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.

25% less gas

We did not heed the warning. And we were warned over a generation ago, by President Jimmy Carder during the first gas shortage. We need to conserve, the oil can't last forever. And we as a nation can't pull enough out of the ground to keep up with demand, we rely to much on foreign oil.

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.

Short on gas

Last night I saw a program on CNN about the nation running out of gas. Normally I would consider this a over exaggerated warning, but this time it hit home. This is mainly due to friends saying they may not do something because of the cost of gas. That hit me hard, since many of these people have traveled long distances for these activities before. That hit me hard, and is making me worry more.

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.