Existential Ennui

~ Searching for Meaning Amid the Chaos

Existential Ennui

Category Archives: Death Penalty

What Would Jesus Do?–Apply Only When Convenient

11 Saturday May 2013

Posted by Sherry in An Island in the Storm, Death Penalty, Editorials, fundamentalism, Individual Rights, Inspirational

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Christians, death penalty, fundamentalists, human rights, Individual Rights

woman_9I try not to go all Jesus on you, at least on this blog. And truthfully, I’m not really. I’m just trying to illustrate a point. Today’s discussion revolves around the death penalty.

The reason it came to mind today for me, is that Maryland’s governor, Martin O’Malley, recently signed a repeal of the death penalty bill, ending that state’s long association with murder by government, and becoming the 18th state to move to the side of life.

What is perhaps most interesting, or draconian, as you see it, is that at the same time, Florida moves to make the killing of its citizens more easy for the state to accomplish. Florida wishes all those on death row executed within 180 days of “a warrant being signed”–presumably from a valid conviction and sentence. This awaits the governor’s signature at a time that Florida ranks first in overturned death penalty cases, a stunning 24 people having been exonerated, since 1970.

When you look at a map of the country, it is easy to see that the 18 states who have abolished the death penalty, almost all reside in the north and east,  my own state of New Mexico being a happy exception. More and more, the killing is confined to the deep South, Ohio being the only exception to that rule. You can check out all the statistics in your state here.

In 2012, 140 countries had abolished the death penalty, 39 more have de facto eliminated it by not using it for a number of years. Fifty-eight still impose it, the US of course among them. Of the fifty-eight, there is not one single what we would call “modern” country, save Japan that does so. We are in the company of Syria, North Korea, the Congo, Cuba, Pakistan and Afghanistan with our penchant for murdering our own citizens. Only Iran and Saudi Arabia beat us in the numbers killed each year (China refuses to divulge such information and the numbers for them is thought to be in the thousands)

It confounds rational beings in this country that we continue this barbarism. In many countries, vigils are held at US embassies when an execution is imminent. Many countries will not extradite prisoners to this country because of its death penalty. Our claims about human rights violations are laughed at across the globe when we so viciously execute our own in the face of growing numbers of those later found innocent.

Yet we continue to do so, and it begs the question why? Why is the deep South, home of the Bible Belt, people by so many who advocate the death of their fellow citizens? Why do so-called Evangelical Christians, or Born Agains stand so steadfast for this legalized murder? How do they square all this with their manual of life, the Bible?

We can’t answer that question, because it is in fact unanswerable. These same people will argue that it is both right and proper for state legislatures to impose all kinds of controls on women to make sure that any fertilized egg is produced as a live birth. In fact, taking their arguments and legislation to its logical extension, absolutely nothing is “too far” when it comes to a fetus. They would allow for women to be imprisoned to insure that she is eating properly. They would allow for an investigation into the circumstances of any “miscarriage” to determine whether there was either deliberate or negligent causation of the loss.

They tell us that life is sacred, given by God. They say this of course, while we know that their interest begins and ends there. They are not generally willing to support that child once born. Many of them later will label that same child a “taker”, a 48%’er, a lazy, or other such appellation suggesting that they are unworthy of their charitable largess. And indeed they wish to reserve that right of “charity” to those persons deemed “worthy” as defined by them.

They engage in this ying-yang dichotomy of what God demands. God demands we preserve life at conception. God is ignored when in the guise of Jesus, He demands compassion and care for the least of God’s children. In the biggest effrontery of all, they accomplish this by proclaiming that God made his manual understandable to everyone, and therefore their self-serving interpretation is sacrosanct. They even have the gall to point to scripture for this proposition–beware of false prophets–everyone who tells them differently are of course the false prophets. It’s all neat and tidy.

However, the facts tend to get in the way. I offer the story of the adulterous woman from the Gospel of John, from Chapter 8.

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

Note how the Scribes correctly state that the penalty for adultery is death. Stoning was never a punishment of pain, it was a death sentence. Yet Jesus precludes the use of the penalty, telling the woman to “go forth and sin no more”–an impossibility of course to any mortal human being. He forgives her. He in a real sense rehabilitates her. He sends her forth to resume her life, hopefully with a new outlook and a better approach to community living.

Yet these fundamentalists who insist that there is but one way to read the bible, and that is literally, seem able, as is always the case with them, to manage to avoid the obvious literalness of this passage.

They are quite happy to merrily go on judging others and condemning them to death. They continue to usurp the right of God (from their previous logic) to control matters of life and death.

It is why they forever deserve not only our ridicule, but our condemnation as Christians. They are simply users of scripture to accomplish their own personal desires. As such their opinions carry no weight.

So just jump in and rant away good readers!

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Let’s Hear It for Louis the Lunatic!

22 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by Sherry in 2nd Amendment, Brain Vacuuming, Death Penalty, Essays, GOP, Humor, Inspirational, Satire, teabaggers

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

death penalty, GOP, Karl Rove, Louis Gohmert, teabaggers

Gohmert_Louis-Dummy-2Ah dang, he’s gone and done it again. Put me into a dilemma as to who is the dumbest TeaBibber of them all.

And I really really object to the poor elephant being subjected to association with this band of misfits. It’s, well, elephant abuse!

Anyway, Louis, cuz he’s dumb as a bag of hammers, finally let the cat out of the bag. (Like all those metaphors doncha?) What did he reveal unintentionally?

Oh what the REAL reason for the hoopla over gun safety is about. You see it’s not about the lil children and their safety. Nor the pregnant woman home with three squalling babes having to fend off sixteen rapist-mad snarling sub-humans. It’s not about protecting oneself from evil criminals. No, it’s never really been about that.

It’s all about protecting ourselves from the Evil man in the White House and his black ops helicopter crews and their drones come to ferret out the true Americans from all the takers in the land.

Yes old Louis says we need those big clips for ammo precisely because as you no doubt already know–you can’t take down a government drone with only a few bullets. It will take a BIG clip. And you just know it’s gonna happen. Why else have you bought all that camouflage gear?

Do you think anybody walks down the hall in Congress and sees Louis without snickering?

Oh, in case you didn’t have this information at the ready, Louis says it takes 50 bullets to accomplish the task. So buy accordingly.  And he got his info straight from some yahoo in Alabama or Georgia–the repository of all good solid knowledge in America.

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One of the true joys of living a long time is the very real chance to see complete and utter butt asshats get theirs. No, I’m not vindictive. I don’t actively go out and try to get back at anybody who wrongs me or mine. I am utterly convinced that bad shit will eventually happen to bad people. It’s karma.

That seems to be what is happening at last to Karl Rove, the little dough boy who is sicker than your average serial killer. Karl has some more dirty crap that most people could do in seven lifetimes, and after wasting millions of dollars ($400 or more) in the last election, he’s trying to resurrect himself by blaming it all on the Tea Bibbers.

Now, I’d be the first to say that they are a major player in the joke that has become the GOP, some of it falls on dear old Karl himself and various other idiots from Grover Norquist, to Willard Romney, to the extreme right-wing religiosity gang. In any event, Karl wants you to think it’s the Tea Toters, and that it would be a good idea to give him more money so that he can rectify the good ship GOP.

To that end, he started his new super Pac, Conservative Victory Project, to make sure that none of those stupid Christine McDonnell and Ted Akin wannabe’s need apply to run for any office, especially for the House or Senate. Well, as you might assume, the afternoon tea sippers are a might testy at that, trying to limit the public’s right to nominate idiots.

Proving that there is no familial love within the party, plenty are suggesting that it’s time for old Karl to jump back inside his biscuit tube and roll away. Preferably to an underground cave somewhere in the middle of North Dakota.

Ahh revenge, it is best served cold.

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You know, I recall that when Ricky Perry was trying to convince the country that he wasn’t quite the idiot people thought he was, he said I believe very directly that after all the folks he had signed off of and allowed to be snuffed out by a “legal” execution by the state and citizenry of Texas, he never suffered from an inability to sleep.

Such a remark of course is only said by a complete dolt.

It turns out that states are starting to move away from this hideous and barbaric crime against humanity. Maryland seems poised to repeal its death penalty law and return to being a civilized group of folks.

I’ve lived in four states in my life time, Michigan, Connecticut, Iowa and now New Mexico. Only one, Connecticut had the death penalty and they have not used it in decades I don’t believe.

Texas leads the nation with executing better than 450 since 1976, four times more than the next in line, Virginia. After that, it falls off hugely. Mostly the South is still kill happy. The link has a state-by-state rundown. See how your state fares.

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Well, it’s Friday. I wish you all a great weekend, though I shall be posting tomorrow, but seriously, you need to stop reading all this gloom and doom and have some fun. Or get inspired. Or get stinky high on whatever floats your boat. Here’s some pretty for you to begin with.

Birds-of-A-Featherbuttfartssnowmonkey-935maui

 

 

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It Goes Without Saying. . .

04 Tuesday Oct 2011

Posted by Sherry in African American, Death Penalty, Entertainment, Herman Cain, Humor, racism, Rick Perry, Satire, Sports, teabaggers, What's Up?

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

capital punishment, Chris Christie, ESPN, Football, GOP, Hank Williams Jr, Herman Cain, Humor, racism, Rick Perry, Sports, teabaggers

Herm, my main man! (or Herb as sista Sarah so fondly calls ya). Listen up dude.

It’s not always easy to learn the ways of the House, so a bit of re-education is in order.

Now we very much liked your statements to your people that they were “brainwashed”. Course that is true, and it is not inappropriate at all to inject race in such a “right” way.

But your condemnation of Ricky (homeboy) Perry for being “insensitive” by not obliterating that sign on his family-leased retreat playground, after all these years? Well that, buddy, was not right.

You look confused?

Okay, Herm. Here’s how it goes. You are like a Spartan warrior, with your big old shield of protection. You stand between them (all those uppity folks black and white and brown, heck any color at all who are always with that socialist/Commie agenda of given away health care and housing and food for free) and us, the God-fearing, God-lovin’ God-blessed patriots of the real America.

You got that? Okay.

When they claim that we are racist and all that bilge, you say “uhuh, no way. Cuz, I’m a black man, and I’m with them, and they are supporting me as a candidate for president of the US of A. Therefore, they aren’t racist, no way, no how.”

You see how that goes Herm?

So, when you jump on our boy Perry, who’s one of us, (never mind that rock man, it was from a long time ago, and we are so over race now–remember MLK and “content of character, not color of skin!”) man you really send the wrong signal to us, your peeps.

See, we accuse all them blacks who call us racists, racists. And that is way cool, because it deflects attention from us, and places it where it belongs–on them. They are “playin’ the race card” and you know we hate that.

So man, when you jump on Perry, you are doin’ the black thing, ya see, “playin’ the race card.” And we can’t have that in our House Negro. It violates your very purpose of being. If ya wanna go that way, then we are gonna stop dribbling money your way to keep your candidacy alive.

And if we don’t throw you a bit of change now and then, dude, you’re toast. You gettin’ the picture Herm? You’re the shield. You don’t think. You just do your job and we’ll all be fine.

Now you go out there and walk back that criticism of Rick. And we’ll see about lettin’ ya have a bit more green for your pretend run at the White House. White House? Get that? White?

~~

I told you he would get in trouble for his “criticism” yesterday. And so it goes. If you don’t believe me, read Chauncey de Vega. Twice, read him here too!

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Even the moronic group of Fox Morning Gag were taken aback when Hank Williams Junior, compared President Obama to Hitler and called him the enemy. ESPN promptly cancelled his opening theme song for NFL games.

But of course, Hank is now the darling of the TeaNutz®. They are urging a boycott of ESPN until they return Hank to the opening of Monday Night Football. And lo and behold, old jackass Hank is contemplating a run from Tennessee for Congress. Well bless his little old shrunk and bloodless heart.

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And the great rotunda speaks! And the answer is no. And we knew it would be. And the right-wing blubberers will have to continue the search for somebody, anybody, who can speak without making a jackass out of themselves and NOT be Mormon. (Wonder what’s going on in Sarah’s brain case?)

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There is a reason that I oppose capital punishment. In fact there are several reasons. First I like to think that we are evolving as a nation and as a race (the human one I mean). Murdering the murderer is simply the easiest, most thoughtless way of dealing with a problem.

But paramount to all my reasons is the fact that we live in an imperfect world where humans still make mistakes, and the judicial system has forever known that it was capable of making plenty of them.

It seems to me that it was the illustrious Oliver Wendell Holmes who said that it was better that a hundred guilty go free than that one innocent be convicted.

Convicted! Not executed.

In Texas, a man, incarcerated for twenty-five (25) years, has been released based on DNA evidence that proved conclusively that the man was innocent. He was serving a life sentence. If he had been given the death penalty, in all likelihood he would have been dead by now.

And Perry says he sleeps well at night. And the right-wing express claps its hands in glee at the thought that Texas leads the nation in killing off its prisoners. And innocents die.

And if Troy Davis’ death is to mean anything, we must continue to fight for life. Oh yeah, the lifers, those right-wing fanatics that can’t wait to rush into the womb of any woman and control her body in the name of life, well they purely see it so very different when it comes to this don’t they?

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I Always Knew I Was Right, NO! Not Right, Right, But Correct

22 Thursday Sep 2011

Posted by Sherry in Congress, Death Penalty, Economy, GOP, Humor, Islamophobia, John Boehner, Muslim, Psychology, Satire, SCOTUS, Sociology, teabaggers, What's Up?

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

death penalty, evangelical nutcases, GOP, Humor, Islamophobia, John Boehner, psychology, SCOTUS, sociology, teabaggers, Ted Haggard, Troy Davis

We’ve had the argument about violence more than once here. Are we by nature violent? Or was it learned behavior.  I’m of the latter persuasion surely.

Plenty of factors contribute to our willingness to harm others in pursuit of our own interests, and I found this article a few days ago and found it quite informative on the issue.

Take a look at Why is There Peace? written by Harvard professor Steven Pinker. I have voiced a number of his arguments at one time or another, but I think he puts it all together quite well. Take a look and see if you agree.

(I thought the pic would appeal to the creationists who no doubt recognize humans using their dinosaurs in pursuit of warfare.)

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Congressional Republicans continue to act like dodo birds. Did anyone tell them that that bird is now extinct?

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As some other blogger (sorry, forgot who) said, a job creator is not a job creator until they creat: JOBS!

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Class warfare? Oh yeah, picking on 1% of the population is now class warfare. Keep on with that argument robot generic GOP stooge.

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But another example of Islamophobia: 

 

 Oh and don’t miss the sponsor listed as ATLASSHRUGS.COM.  You go Paul Ryan. This is what you support eh?

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Oh happy stupid days. This just made me laugh my moneymaker off. It seems that disgraced evangelical and sometimes gay man, Ted Haggard is so down and out that he has signed up for “Celebrity Wife Swap.” No doubt Haggard misunderstood and thought it meant something quite kinky. But then again, it could. Turns out he’s swapping wimmmin with none other than Gary (I even look crazy) Busey.

One almost–I did say almost, wants to watch this. Almost.

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Beeryblog has something to say about the Troy Davis execution, and if you are smart you’ll go read it. Beery can write, he makes me jealous of his talent. I can only try harder to say less and more at the same time. Damn good writing. Damn good thinking.

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Boehner’s butt cheeks are now as orange as his face, given the spanking he got by his own party TeaNutz®.

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Michele Bachmann says another stupid, mindless, inaccurate thing in Iowa. Oh wait, this blog is about NEWS.  Nothing to see folks, move along.

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New game: watch the GOP thingie called a debate and see which candidate is trying the hardest to channel Reagan. Is he the ONLY hero they have?

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Oh, the $16 muffin scandal at the DOJ was all a myth. It was just a shorthanded means of invoicing by the hotel, who was given a budget, and didn’t want to list every piece of food, so stuck the charges under just a few categories.

Don’t look for the GOP to change their tune though. They are loving them so muffin-gate.

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The “Ground Zero Mosque, which was really a Community center, had its official grand opening with nary a protestor in site. The first event was an exhibit of children’s pictures against hate.

God, also known as God, Allah, Yahweh, Higher Power, and other endless appellations, was seen touring the photograph and thoroughly enjoying His/Her self.

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Here’s some “strict constructionism” that makes the Crazy Right just search for that vibrator cuz it TURNS THEM ON: This from that icon of logic against all common sense, JustUS Antonin Scalia:

There is no basis in text, tradition, or even in contemporary practice (if that were enough), for finding in the Constitution a right to demand judicial consideration of newly discovered evidence of innocence brought forward after conviction.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it. You convict ’em, we kill ’em, no questions asked or answered.

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What’s on the stove? Oh some high falutin’ chicken breasty thing with white wine, goat cheese, oven-dried tomatoes, garlic and butter, lots of butter. Along with steamed new potatoes and broccoli steamed as well.  If the chickeny thing turns out as good as it sounds, I’ll be posting that recipe, maybe even today.

Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Coming Out of the Bunker

21 Wednesday Sep 2011

Posted by Sherry in Budget, Current Issues, Death Penalty, Economy, Election 2012, Foreign Affairs, Humor, John Boehner, Michelle Backmann, Recipes, Rick Perry, Satire, Voting, What's Up?

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Boehner, death penalty, DODT, economy, elections, electoral college, GOP, Michele Bachmann, Pennsylvania, Rick Perry, the Fed, voting rights

I took a peek out of the bunker this morning, having no clue what I might find.

I was wary to say the least. But, oddly enough, the sun was shining, there was a light breeze, and nothing seemed untoward.

I scratched my head and wandered to the television to see if they could straighten out my puzzlement.

But not a word.

Not a word of all the mayhem and destruction that I was expecting. I mean Pat Robertson and Bryan Fischer and all those right-wing evangelicals had assured me that the minute, nay the very second that DODT was ended, that God’s wrath would descend upon the Old US of A.

I can only conclude that God is tricking us, waiting until all us bunkered-down types feel safe enough to sleep in our own beds. Then he’s gonna whack us. Yeah, that must be it. Robertson and all the rest couldn’t be wrong could they?

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Ironic when you realize that yesterday we, in our ending of DODT, re-affirmed the fullness of life, and the reverence for it being full, long and filled with open love. Today, Georgia is hell-bent it seems to kill. Troy Davis’ appeal to the Parole board has been denied and he is scheduled to die this evening.

I don’t know a lot of the particulars. I just know that as a lawyer, I know all to well the limitations of eye-witness testimony. It is often faulty, and in this case there is even more reason to think it thus. It may as well be the result of intimidation by those with power against those with none.

I always wonder this. It may be more likely that the convict is guilty, it may be most likely in fact. But if there is any doubt, any reasonable doubt, and surely recanted testimony should be deemed so, and most assuredly when there is no scientific and physical evidence, then isn’t it just sensible to err on the side of life?

Beyond all the ideological reasons why capital punishment is or should be a relic of a less evolved creature, beyond that is simple decency. How do you find closure as the family of the victim when you will FOREVER have the nagging knowledge that the killer still walks the streets? 

Yet, when at a recent debate, when it was asked of Perry how he slept at night given that Texas executed well over 200 people, leading the nation, before Perry to smartly proclaim that he “slept very well,” the audience of Republicans shouted with approval and joy at the killing field that is Texas. 

Where do you go from there?

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 It’s becoming pretty common knowledge that the GOP is set upon letting the economy flounder rather than pass anything that Obama could be credited with. To that end, Robert Reich reports that House Speaker Boehner sent a letter to the Fed, actually telling them to do NOTHING to stimulate the economy.

While, as always, it is couched in terms of “not doing anything that is not proven to improve things” the threat is obvious: “nothing you could do is proven as far as we are concerned.”

As Reich points out, it is “highly unusual” to comment on the Fed at all, as the Fed is “above politics” and it is not just a breach of etiquette, but rather a dangerous interference with global economics. It just goes to show how much the GOP is willing to do (meaning screw America) in their goal of returning themselves to power.

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Two tidbits from the wacky world of the Silly Candidates forum:

  • Michele (where are my peeps?) Bachmann proves her stupids once again. Standing in front of dead beef carcasses in a meat-packing plant, somewhere in Iowa, Ms. “Eyes” said something to this effect: “I call upon President Obama to deny entry to the United States to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”  Please tell the idiot about the UN’s INTERNATIONAL status!
  • Ricky (I’m readin’ a book about foreign policy right now!) Perry, intervened in the expected move by Palestine to ask for recognition as an independent state, saying all kinds of nasty things about Obama, and declaring that “as a Christian” he is called upon to support Israel.” Well, even Joe Scarborough thought Perry ventured too far. He slammed both Perry and Mitt (It’s slippin’ away from me) Romney who also tried hard not to be ignored on the issue. Andrew Sullivan weighs in as well.

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And of course, it wouldn’t be a day in America without another example of how Republicans strategy is to win elections not with votes anymore, but by rigging the election so that their minority party will still win. None other than Ricky (oh don’t Google me please)Santorum explains how Pennsylvania Republican Governor, Tom Corbett’s plan, will insure the Republicans win no matter what.

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Just a short word on the blog “What’s on the Stove?” I’ve got about twenty recipes up now, and a shopping list that you may find useful to cut and paste into Word and then columnize. Also, I revised the “menus” from here, and included another page for that. And in addition, there is now the bare bones of a “tips and tricks” page which might be useful to some. Enjoy it or not as you see fit. I add about three or so recipes a week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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What’s Up? 07/26/10

26 Monday Jul 2010

Posted by Sherry in 1st Amendment, Constitution, Death Penalty, Essays, fundamentalism, GOP, Humor, Muslim, Newt Gingrich, Psychology, racism, religion, Sarah Palin, Satire, Sociology, What's Up?, Zoology

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

chimps, Fox Noise, freedom of religion, GOP, human error, Jane Goodall, Muslims, Newt Gingrich, prisons, religious wacko right, Sarah Palin, Shirley Sherrod, Ted Haggart

Mercy mercy me. It’s been a crazy weekend hasn’t it? I mean did ya hear? Fox Propaganda folks and Rush Limpbaugh are suggesting that the White House planted the tape on Shirley Sherrod in the hopes that one of it’s crazy right wing thugs would snap up the bait, and make them all look bad. Yep. I swear.

And Newt and Laura are claiming that they only went with the story because they “trusted” the White House had seen the entire tape. Just another instance they now claim of just how incompetent Obama and his minions really are.

I just love people who can turn on a dime, and actually speak with incredulity such utter poppycock! Oh I love that word. I think I shall poppycock through this post. Word of the day!

Speaking of poppycockers. That would be Ted Haggart. Speaking of himself in the third person, he declares, “Ted Haggart needs to leading a church.” Moreover, he has uttered the words ” I have over-repented.” Now that may be a first. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a human being say that. The cured gay dude wants to put all his “massage gone awry” behind him. And you didn’t think there was humor in Christianity? Oh yes there is! What is apparent here is that Ted needs and more importantly, wants money, and doesn’t want to change occupations, since being a blow-heart evangelist is so lucrative.

Remember when we linked you to the wacko right’s utter shock that Obama used the phrase freedom of worship rather freedom of religion. And that the totals were 9-124 as to the usage, and that Bush used the same two phrases 33-124 times? Well, never one to do their homework, the right wing Faith and Freedom Institute has sent a letter to our Prez, telling him to stop that dangerous talk immediately or they will personally secure his impeachment for this and sundry other violations of the Constitution (one of them being of course his birth certificate non-production). I believe the Prez has gone to his bunker to protect himself from this overwhelming present danger.

Sadly the book Being Wrong, by Kathryn Shultz, will not be read by the above morons, since looking in the mirror is dangerous to vampires. A fine review of  this interesting book can be had at this link. We humans don’t like being wrong, and we sure don’t like admitting we are wrong. But of course, that’s part of growing up–taking responsibility and being an adult. This looks like a most interesting read.

I am alarmed at the utterly ugly rhetoric around the proposed Muslim center being  built two blocks from “ground zero.” I simply am in agony over the hatred being voiced, and the fact that people like Newt and Sarah give voice to this kind of “otherness.”  I’m not surprised, since the GOP in general seems to have adopted in all it’s vileness every form of them against us they can come up with. Do they realize that in the end, all the non-whites add up to more than the whites? The New Yorker has the anti Mosque video and commentary by Amy Davidson.

In a prelude to her upcoming book, Jane Goodall reminiscences on her 50 years in Gombe, in an article in the WSJ. No doubt you have, as have I, watched many a National Geographic on her study of chimps over the years. We have learned much about them, and of course about ourselves in the process. A nice read.

Killing the Buddha has a really amazing interview with Caleb Smith, author of The Prison and the American Imagination. For anyone interested in the state of our penal system and how it came to be as it is, this looks like the book. Read the interview and see if this appeals to you. As an aside, a lifetime ago, I wrote a very long (100 pager) paper on the death penalty in Michigan. Solitary confinement was considered more tortuous than execution. It turned out to be true, and eventually prison authorities pleaded with the legislature to allow the lifers time in the yard. Solitary was driving them quite mad. Smith addresses the history of solitary confinement.

And from Brilliant at Breakfast, we have a delicious look at the cream of the GOP contendahs or hopefuls in some respect. All the nasties are here including the corpse of Ronnie, who may have the best chance of all. Funny stuff.

Okay, enough already. Enjoy your day!

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What’s Up? 07/12/10

12 Monday Jul 2010

Posted by Sherry in Death Penalty, Evolution, Human Biology, Philosophy, Psychology, Sarah Palin, Voting

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

beliefs, death penalty, Election 2012, evolution, fairness, information, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, Sarah Palin, voters, wisdom

It was a so-so weekend. Rained some, didn’t rain some. Watched the soccer final which was awfully boring.

Last night we had a bit of a treat. We located (I think on the science channel) a rerun of the old Cosmos series with Carl Sagan. Carl was one of those heroes of mine. It was weird and fun to see how much astronomy and astrophysics has progressed. Still, he had a wonderful way of explaining difficult subjects that was understandable.

This first piece is scary for sure. More and more people are starting to think that if the stars align correctly, Sarah Palin might be unstoppable. Shudder, and get your passport ready. One person argued, (it might have been Andrew Sullivan–the link is embedded in the link I’m giving you) that she can use the “that woman is an idiot” to her benefit. After all, she can say, look what the so-called intellectuals have done–two wars, a nearly destroyed economy. Maybe just plain old average people like me can do a better job. The National Interest gives a scenario. As I said, keep you passport close at hand.

If you are interested in wisdom as perhaps an abstract entity, then you might want to take a look at the review of Stephen S. Hall’s new book, Wisdom: From Philosophy to Neuroscience. Professor of philosophy, A. C. Grayling gives his opinion in an excellent review. More and more science claims to be on the verge of telling us why we are the way we are in every respect. More and more we are, it seems, at the mercy of much that we have little control over.

Along a similar vein, The Chronicle looks at the issue of whether there is a basic instinct for fairness in the human person. Reflecting on how anger seems often triggered by claims of unfairness, it is an interesting proposition. Are we fair minded from birth? Hint: the research involved capuchin monkeys and cucumbers! Now that ought to heighten the anticipation! And they did some tests on humans too!

The first official execution in this country was for an alleged traitor. The second and third were Quakers who had not left as banishing Massachusetts had ordered them to do. (We hadn’t yet got to “freedom of religion” of course). A morbid subject perhaps, but Last Words of the Executed by Robert K. Elder, documents something important that we might learn a great deal from. Read the review at the NYTimes Review of Books.

—“What time is it? I wish you’d hurry up, I want to get to hell in time for dinner.” (John Owens (AKA Bill Booth), executed for murder in Wyoming on March 5, 1886).

When asked where he wanted to be buried, Charles Birger, convicted murderer executed in Illinois on April 19, 1928, joked: “A Catholic cemetery because that’s the last place the devil would look for a Jew.”

Our country is at based in some part on the belief that an informed citizenry will ultimately make the best choice. Given that we have the ability to acquire knowledge better than ever before, many of us wonder why we seem determined to make the worst choices over and over again. The GOP has become expert at exploiting the “know-nothing” by design mentality of their followers. They are first to prove that lies do work.  We might get some answers from political scientists who say recent studies show that people, even when exposed to truth, cling to the misinformation they want to believe in. This is so far the must read of the day.

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