Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Too Furious for a Snappy Title

An old friend shared this on Facebook last night. When I saw it this morning... There just aren't words to describe how pissed it makes me at the source of some of the ideas he has.

Transcript follows. My interjections in italics. Emphasis mine in bold.


Words I needed to share
One day he will not be here. I will have fading memories, dreams and some photos and videos.
 My friend's kid has a genetic disorder. His brain is degenerating, and he will die painfully, almost certainly. There is no cure.
I do believe in a miracle of healing. I don't know how believing can make it happen. I believe it could happen but I don't think it is likely. I don't think God will do it. It is like I have already decided Gods plan for [my son]. I am telling the Lord and myself what will happen. I ...have decided the outcome. Doctors and researcher have decided the outcome.
The cognitive dissonance is thick here, and the desperation. The world doesn't work the way he's been told. Every glurge story, every movie of the week, says that there should be a healing miracle. And there won't be. He knows it. And some part of what he's been told says that it was his decision. Something says that he is to blame for his child's suffering. Something says it is part of God's plan. I'm glad God doesn't exist, because if so, I'd have to foil his plan or die trying.
Lord this is what is. Arms do not grow back, brain tissue does not come back once it is gone. We don't grow body parts and brains. Are bodies can learn to adapt and live.
This is not a stupid guy. He believes in magic and miracles, but he also believes that magic and miracles are not actually going to happen. I'm sure some in his own community would say he doesn't have enough faith, that if he really believed

What does this look like for [my son]. Will his brain and his cells stop deterring, will they stop dying, become less and less functional? Will the process reverse? All the skills he had, the functions will they come back?
I guess there's still a glimmer of hope. Why is that a good thing, exactly? I'd love it if someone could tell me why it's a good thing to take someone in this situation and tell them a comforting lie that will eventually be revealed as false, shattering them yet again.

 I think I am hiding from something. Hiding from pain. Not that I want to cry all the time. I don't know what I am feeling half the time. We are emotions. I am sad, and most of the time I feel nothing. Like i am just there. Sitting on a dry old porch in the hot sun. Evening closing and the sky turning dark blue and black. I don't want to get up from the chair. I could sit and stair into nothing all night.
Where is this going? Not sure.
Guess I should pray. I suppose I all ready am. I should ask something of you Lord.
Not so sure what that is right now.
I will try. No use writing all this down and telling God the heart He ready knows. I see these words are really for me. Some how the Lord is showing me something in all this.

The worst thing that will probably ever happen to him and he thinks that someone is responsible and is using it to ...TEACH HIM A LESSON. This person that I love sounds like an abused spouse. For anyone out there that is an agnostic or on the fence, for anyone that's ever said "What's the harm?" Here's the harm. This person has been so broken on the wheel of religion, that when he knows who is responsible for his child's painful tortuous death, he doesn't want revenge, he wants to find out what message the torturer is trying to send. So he can grow from it...

Like my words reflecting my heart and desires are directing me to His.
Not sure how that works.
It might be true.
I love you Lord. That is one thing I know to be true.
I think Christians got the wrong message out of Job. "Love the lord even in bad times" or something to that effect. The real moral of Job is, "Yahweh is a prick that killed your child over a bet with Satan".

- End Transcript -

It's been awhile since I posted, but this hurt me. This choked me with furious tears. People I love are being mentally abused, and like abused spouses, they're willing participants. There's nothing I can do, but expose it, so that the next generation might say "Only a monster would torture someone to death to teach someone else a lesson".

Friday, July 8, 2011

Skepchick Discovered

So I've run across Rebecca Watson in my browsing. So far, this is one of her funnier videos.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

ERA Today!

When I see things like this, I'm reminded of just how far there is to go in the struggle for equality, and how important it is for all people of good will to identify as feminists. Some of my older family members practically spit the word "feminist" out as if it tastes bad. There is a big image problem with feminism apparently. Our culture portrays feminists as pushy and demanding, as if it's wrong to demand equal treatment with the other half of the human race.


Dan Gilbert on Happiness

This is a fascinating talk on the psychology of happiness and choice.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Rick Perry

This video about potential Republican Presidential candidate Rick Perry is fascinating. His ties to racist homophobic bigots, and his stances on secession and abortion seems like it would make him an ideal candidate on the right (a la Sarah Palin), but in the national stage, I think it might make him almost unelectable.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Florida's New Drug Test Law

Florida Passes Controversial Drug Test Law

Tuesday, May 31st: Governor Rick Scott of Florida signed into law a bill that requires mandatory drug testing for all library card applicants and owners. The testing would be paid for by the applicant, with reimbusement by the state if no drug use is found.

“While there are certainly legitimate needs for public literacy, it is unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addicts,” Scott said. “This new law will encourage personal accountability and will help to prevent the misuse of tax dollars.”

The ACLU opposes this new law. According to a spokesman, they say it violates the fourth amendment of the US Constitution, which protects citizens from unreasonable search and seizure.

“Once again, this governor has demonstrated his dismissal of both the law and the right of Floridians to personal privacy by signing into law a bill that treats those who borrow books like suspected criminals,” stated Howard Simon, ACLU of Florida's head. “The wasteful program created by this law subjects Floridians who are interested in literacy, to a humiliating search of their urine and body fluids without cause or even suspicion of drug abuse.”

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For those that didn't click through to the article, there is no such law. But now there is a law requiring mandatory drug testing for applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. The key comparison is that these are both state programs paid for by tax dollars, but no one is ready to jump on the bandwagon for library card drug screening.

People like government programs that help them. Libraries, public roads, etc. are all paid for by tax dollars and promote the public good. And though some may not realize it, welfare programs promote the public good. It is good when single mothers and their children are not thrown out on the streets to starve.

Similarly, it is possible that any person reading this could find themselves in need of state or federal aid at some point. You could lose everything in a hurricane, become a paraplegic in an automobile accident, and end up broke and destitute.

Which society do you want to live in: the one that treats its poor and homeless as suspected criminals and drug addicts, or the one that helps them get out of their poverty?

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Feminism and Evangelical Christianity

This may be a Poe, but let's assume it's real. I publicly repudiate the positions this site espouses. But I can do that easily, because I'm not an Evangelical Christian. Shouldn't it be more difficult for a Baptist (for example) who believes in a literal reading of the bible? How difficult it must be to be a female Evangelical in the 21st Century.

Sarah Palin 4 Pres!

Is it even news anymore when Sarah Palin says something that is both demonstrably false and that contradicts what any schoolchild should know?

In response to the question: "What have you seen today in Boston and what will you take away from your visit?"


"He who warned, uh, the … the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms, uh, by ringin’ those bells and, um, by makin’ sure that as he’s ridin’ his horse through town to send those warnin’ shots and bells that, uh, we were gonna be secure and we were gonna be free … and we were gonna be armed."

Since then, Wikipedia's Paul Revere page has become the battleground of an edit war waged by those who would make Sarah right.

Climate Change is Real; In Other News, Water is Wet

I stumbled on this summation of the Global Warming debate. It's pretty informative for the lay-person. If you are interested in hearing what the scientific community (specifically the vast majority of climatologists) has found about Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect, this article is for you.

If you don't think scientists know what they say they do, I'm glad to hear it. The fact that you will be refudiating (SP) modern science (medicine, computers, cell phones, transportation) means that you won't be bothering me much. I guess I should wonder how a neo-Luddite found my blog.

If you believe the scientific community is lying as part of some conspiracy, then nothing I or anyone else says will probably convince you. After all, the talking penguin and I probably work for the scientists. This is all part of our evil plan to rule the world by freezing the planet with our Freeze-inator. Please see yourself out.

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At some point in America, it became the new in-vogue thing to disbelieve experts. I don't know where I was on the day that people who were informed and educated on a topic became the new lunatic fringe, but I'd really like things to go back now. Some people say that all of society's ills can be blamed on poor moral values (biblical ones) or on the crumbling family. I blame the low esteem we've given to our smart people (not everything, but quite a bit). Scientists study something their whole lives, finding the sort of evidence that most criminal trials can't match and then the general public says "We know better than you silly scientists. And also you're a nerd. Go back to the lab pointdexter."

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Update:
I just wanted to put this link to NASA's Global Climate Change page. I realized that there might be another group of people listening: those that are interested in hearing the evidence, but don't trust the penguin (or the author). There might be a subset of this group that can't google NASA's evidence page, so I've included the link for you all.

Megyn Kelly on John Stewart

I'm on a new anti-Fox News kick (my stepdaughter is being brainwashed by Fox lately; Hi Ami!) and I ran across this one from last year. As mentioned previously, I love Rachel Maddow's takedown of Fox, but John Stewart has his moments too. Also, he's usually funnier.


It's pretty clear that Megyn Kelly was not chosen for this job based on her journalistic integrity, but for her Republican ideology (her model good looks can't have hurt).