Your Intolerance of My Intolerance is Intolerable!

Tags

Allen West, budget, cosmology, economy, FAA, gay rights, GOP, Humor, Jesus, jobs, John Boehner, life, lions, teabaggers, universe

So says perennial douche Allen West (R-Fl). It seems Mr. West was disinvited from a business association speaking engagement when LGBT members threatened to boycott.

West is well known for being on the wrong side of almost every issue, and gay rights is one of them. He, the Coronel drummed out of the service for torture, is opposed to the ending of DADT, and of course echoes the extremist view that being gay is matter of choice.

So in his midget mind, gays are now being intolerant of his right to be intolerant, and depriving the fine business folk of the Wilton Manors Business Association of his fine wisdom. I suspect they aren’t gonna miss much.

♦

For a good many years now there has been much speculation and much research on the question of how life arose on this planet (abiogenesis) and the likelihood that live abounds in the universe at large. A very thoughtful examination of that question is in The Australian’s “Hello, is there anybody out there?”

♦

You may have heard that the FAA was partially shut down due to a failure of Congress to fund it. You may not know that the reason is  GOP intransigence again. The GOP, who ran in 2010 on “Jobs”, has put over 70,000 construction workers out of work by their filibuster. In addition 4,000 FAA employees have been furloughed. Nearly 1.2 billion in revenue is not being collected. This is all over some minor tweaking about rural airports and more importantly the GOP demand that unionization not be made easier.

Oh and the kicker here, is that the GOP is playing the same game of hostage. Either cave to their demands by tomorrow, or the layoffs will continue for another month while the Congress goes on vacation.

Hope all those that voted to give the GOP more power are now happy.

♦

As we mentioned, the GOPers ran in 2010 on a mantra of  jobs, jobs, jobs. They were going to create them. Except they didn’t of course, and a very good argument can be made that they have not even tried. No, instead they have been led around by the nose by the TeaPeople, much as they were during the debt crisis. So it’s been all about repealing the Affordable Health Care Act, screwing women’s health care, defunding PPH, and destroying Medicare.

Where are the jobs Mr. Boehner? I think he said, “Let them eat cake.”

♦

Hey time for some levity! Found this cute little site via Infidel753. The question is what exactly was the ethnicity of Jesus? You might be rather surprised when all the evidence is in.

♦

Now if I were a smart Democrat. Okay, no oxymoron jokes please! Pay attention.

1. John Boehner said last night that he got 98% of what he wanted in the debt ceiling deal. He said he was “pretty happy.”
2. An independent think tank, (Economic Policy Institute) says that the bill will cost America 1.8 million jobs by 2012.

So…………

DEMOCRATS: MARRY BOEHNER TO THE BILL! IT’S HIS ECONOMY NOW.

♦

MoJo brings us timely information on how not to be eaten by a lion. I thought you might be contemplating being in the wild, so. . . Hey, I’m always lookin’ out for my peeps!

1. Stay in the car. “Lions don’t see a car as prey, so you’re safer inside,” our director Giles insists. If you’re in a vehicle, stay in it.  (The above does not apply if you vehicle is named “cougar” or “mustang” or other animally names. Lions are quite literal beasts.)

2. If you go tracking on foot be extra vigilant. (Swing you head from side to side, with eyes open. Turn around every five steps. Put on glasses if you use them. Don’t smear body with gazelle guts before beginning trek.)

3. Always travel with a local guide. (Our team had two local guides with them at all times.) (Guides are there to guide you to the lions. If this is what you want, heck get half a dozen. Note: they may also have information on where the nearest tree is.)

4. Carry a big stick and a firearm. (But use them as a deterrent, never intending to inflict harm on the animal. A hurt lion is a very angry lion.) (Drop the stick and carry two guns. Load it BEFORE you enter lion territory. By all means DO intend to inflict harm on the animal. You want to stop it don’t you?)

5. Keep your eyes open: You’d be amazed how close a 500lb lion can get without you noticing. (Besides walking around with your eyes closed encourages falling off cliffs and falling into rivers. Always look down and not up. Lions are not very skilled at flying quite yet. Look for something tan.)

6. Always have a “spotter.” Just because you’re filming one lion, doesn’t mean there isn’t another behind you.(make sure your spotter is not a mute or suffering from laryngitis. If you see a lion who is whistling, you can be sure his bud is behind you. Whirl and shoot, preferably with a gun. Drop the camera.)

7. Travel in a group: Lions are less likely to attack a group. Our team always stuck together and no one ever went out alone.(Have a few practice “runs” before the trek. Make sure there is at least one person who is slower than you are in the group. You don’t have to be the fastest, just faster than somebody.)

8. Know the signs: a lion spoor (footprint) has one pointed and three oval parts. (Spoor? I thought that was poop? Anyways, think dog print. Only bigger. Also if you are following, don’t keep your nose to the grindstone so to speak. Look up and forward from time to time. Otherwise you may come nose to nose with your new BFF)

9. Don’t interrupt their lunch: If you get between them and a carcass, you could be next on the menu. (After all, you are not photographing a swimsuit model. Wait your turn, there is usually lots of leftovers to scavenge after the lion is finished. Be a good guest!)

10. Know their behavior: Lions are more likely to be aggressive if there are cubs around or when they are mating. But a sleeping lion can spring up and attack in the blink of an eye, so never get complacent. (Before you waste all your time learning all the ins and outs of lions, just remember this: is there a set of bars between you and the lion. If so, enjoy, if not, well, you asked for it.)

So there you have it. My additions are make this list hugely more useful.

Have a good day. 

Related articles

• Republicans Hold FAA Authorization Vote Hostage To Extort Anti-Union Deal (crooksandliars.com)

By the Time I’m 90, I Won’t Know a Thing

Tags

cosmology, near death, physics, universe

They tell me that with age comes wisdom, but the wisdom seems to consist in knowing that as you get older, you realize you really know nothing.

Last night was “science night” in the Peyton household. We watched a bunch of shows about various aspects of science: Is there life after death? What was there before the Big Bang? Was there a Big Bang at all?

My head hurts now. Although I am more than ever convinced that death is not the final end to our story. A varied group of scientists, for a variety of reasons, think there is scientific evidence that points to some kind of “cosmic mind” or that something of us survives to interact with a greater mind than our own. I was content with that.

But then the next show had to upset my apple cart about the beginnings of our universe. It seems that a goodly number of theoretical physicists no longer believe in the Big Bang. This may or may not have to do with human hubris. It’s hard to say. The reason they don’t is that they can’t accept a theory that basically says–we can’t transcend into a realm of no-time/no-space. Our minds are not constructed for that, and besides the math simply breaks down into meaningless gibberish.

Some believe that the entire universe is a mathematical construct in which time and space live. Others believe in waves of energy that bump each other from time to time and explode into a matter-forming “universe”. Others that we are living in a succession of black holes that explode, and ultimately end in another, only to cycle through again. There are as many theories as there are active mathematical minds who love scribbling with chalk upon a chalk board.

What I like most about these folks, is that they get paid to think. I could go for a job like that. They never of course have to produce anything practical, just design experiments costing millions to discover the elusive “top quark”. They have reduced the number of elemental particles to about 12, should you care to know. Now they wonder what is so special about six leptons. Why not 7 or 4? They are good at coming up with questions that justify more thinking, more paychecks, and more fancy equipment.

Some of these guys (and for no reason I understand, most are guys) fancy they can think just about anywhere. So some have nice cabins overlooking lakes in the woods, where they put their feet up and “think.” Like I said, these are grifters of the first quality. I want to be one.

So I was busy last night undoing all the stuff I thought I knew. I see little point in remembering much of this new stuff. In five years, it will be obsolete.

If our information is multiplying exponentially, as it is, I wonder what that means in other areas. It’s crystal clear that what was learned in high school by anyone over the age of 40 is essentially useless today. Soon, it will be twenty years, then ten, and well, you see the problem.

They say we are the sum total of every person, event, experience, feeling, we have ever witnessed or engaged in. Well, won’t humans just burst at the seams one day? I mean you can’t have enough room for everything you need to take in, having no decent mechanism to dump out the old. It seems a problem. Is anybody addressing it?

And if my body is essentially new every ten years (cell replacement) who the hell am I after all? I guess my brain cells don’t get replaced or I would never be able to store more than ten years of information. It’s all confusing.

As I said, my head hurts. I guess we should limit ourselves to one hour of science at a time. Unless of course you have properly worked you way up to larger doses.

Come to think of it, writing drivel like this is pretty much like that “thinking” the theoretical physicists do. But then I don’t have a lab, millions of dollars at my disposal for fancy machines, and certainly no paycheck. So far Bill Gates hasn’t seen fit to punch my PayPal donate button and throw a few bucks my way.

After all, I’m just losing my mind, one word at a time. Tomorrow even more stuff I thought I knew will be declared worthless. I’ll be sure to alert you as it happens, so you can clean house in your head to. If someone could just point me to the wastepaper basket in my skull, I’d be most appreciative.

 

Who’s Your SuperBowl Champs?

Tags

astronomy, Bill O'Reilly, Billy Kristol, cosmology, Egypt, Extreme right-wing, Glenn Beck, GOP, Green Bay Packers, Media, Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin, Superbowl, universe

Doin’ the happy dance, oh yeah, oh yeah.

Who’s your daddy?

Who’s goin’ to Disney World?

Who’s got a peaceful house? ME!

Who’s unfortunately watching a replay of the whole dang game at 10:00 a.m.? ME!

If ya didn’t know, there is an NFL channel. No sane person would know that, only insane ones. Insane—–>Contrarian.

***

Speaking about insanity, the political world seems just chock full of wackadoodles. And a surprise or two along the way.

Sarah “now channeling Reagan” Palin decided to open her big mouth and spew more idiotic rhetoric. She finally gave her “analysis” of the situation in Egypt. Which means, that she read a headline in the WSJ, her ADD preventing her from actually reading an article.

In any event, she orders the President to come clean on what he “knows about who the next president of Egypt will be.” Where she comes by this notion, is anybody’s guess. Probably in a dream that has been interpreted for her by Beck.

She also sternly warns that we “should not stand” for a government run by the Muslim Brotherhood. This from the same hairbrain whose every third sentence is about protecting and regaining our freedoms and liberties.

I guess Sarah doesn’t see that any other people on the planet have the right to their freedoms and liberties to determine their own form of government and those who will lead them.

While it may not be in our best interest to have Egypt run by the MB’s, it is not our call to make. If, in fact we actually believe in democracy.

In a shocking editorial, Billy Kristol, in the Weekly Standard, lambasted Glenn Beck and by implication (although his story appeared before Ms. Palin’s bullcrap) Sarah’s belligerent woofings.

Kristol had this to say about Beck’s crazy conspiracy theories regarding the Radical Left/Radical Islam joining hands to destroy the world:

[H]ysteria is not a sign of health. When Glenn Beck rants about the caliphate taking over the Middle East from Morocco to the Philippines, and lists (invents?) the connections between caliphate-promoters and the American left, he brings to mind no one so much as Robert Welch and the John Birch Society.

[. . .]

Nor is it a sign of health when other American conservatives are so fearful of a popular awakening that they side with the dictator against the democrats.

I fairly reel with surprise in having to say, “spot on!”

***

Outside The Beltway has a full transcript of her remarks and as Doug Mataconis points out, you can’t make sense of it. It’s the typical “word salad” that just seems to go on and on and never make any point, other than somehow she suspicions that Obama isn’t doing it right. She throws in plenty of her clichés here and there, and just runs in a stream of unconsciousness.

***

One has to laugh as Ms. Sarah. She likens herself to Ronnie Reagan. She claims they both refused to “sit down and shut up,” and both her and he were maligned and vilified by the media. Yeah, really. But one has to wonder at the near deification of Reagan by the uber Right. It seems they can find no one else in the Retootlican pantheon, at least in the recent past to hold up for idol worship. 

But the reality is that Reagan did many of the things that Obama is now doing. The extremists on the Right are prevented from seeing this because the red haze of hatred is so thick.  Politicususa strips away some of the mask. So I say, if Sarah wants to compare herself to Reagan, then by all means do, and after reading the post by Rmuse it will establish that this woman shouldn’t be elected dog catcher.

***

I don’t know if you heard about Billo the Clown’s silliness that God is proven because the “tides go in, the tides go out, never a miss communication.” When e-mails poured in explaining gravitational pull from the moon, Billo replied that they were “pinheads” and then went on to ask, “the moon, how did it get there? huh? how did it get there? tell me.” And then he went on to ask, “why do we have one? Why doesn’t Mars?”

Of course O’Reilly is dead wrong again. The moon came from a planetoid that hit the earth billions of years ago, broke up, and then gathered in part from the refuse, held in orbit by that darn gravity again. And Mars has two moons last time I checked.  I guess I’m a pinhead.

No matter, the NYTimes has a nice editorial on how many new planets have been located by the Kepler satellite. If projected across the heavens, Kepler should find upwards of 400,000 planets. This is good news for astronomers and those (exobiologists) who specialize in “life on other planets.” The more there are, the more chance that some support life.

Don’t  bother to tell Billo, it would only make his tiny brain explode.

***

Well, that seems enough for today.

What’s on the stove: Stir-fry, egg rolls.

 

Related Articles

• Kristol calls out Beck over ‘hysteria’ (washingtonmonthly.com)
• A Lack Of Confidence (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)

Just Wiggly with Wampum

Tags

Alan West, Arkansas, Christianity, creation, Darwin, David Barton, evolution, founding fathers, gay rights, God, GOP, John McCain, Lindsay Graham, Michael Steele, Michele Bachmann, philosophy, religious right, Sarah Palin, science, Steven Hawkings, teabuggers, universe

Have you noticed that talking to a GOPer is pretty much the same as conversing with a psychotic or paranoid schizophrenic? I have. Actually, I think I prefer the latter. At least their theories are more interesting. With GOPers, one continually tries to make sense of their words. This is a mistake, but one we continue to make. With the insane, we expect exactly what we get. It’s not so confusing.

I could give you examples but you undoubtedly have examples of your own.

Me, I like a world that has room for foil-capped flying-saucer nuts. Everyone knows the guv’ment is prone to lie, is it so outrageous to think that they lie about alien visitation? See? You can have a good time with these conspiracy theorists, and only realize that something is not quite right when you find an alarm clock in the freezer. You make allowances.

***

I’m not buying the “explanations” about what is going on in Arkansas. Plain and simple, I put this down as a guv’ment cover-up, no matter what they have induced its residents to claim. Proof is in the pudding as they say, or in the Arkansas Family Council which is hosting a 2-day seminar starring the pseudo-historian David Barton. This is all for the benefit of the state’s legislature, to teach ’em about how our country was founded on “Christian principles.” Oh, and while they are at it, bein’ Christian and all, would they mind making sure no gays are allowed to pollute the environs with any of that equal rights crap?

The obsessiveness with which the far religious right attacks homosexuality, suggests that for some reason closet homophobes tend to gravitate to such organizations in droves. “NO, NOT ME. NO, I’M STRAIGHT AS AN ARROW!” Yeah tell us.

***

I’m beginning to think that Sarah Palin’s troubles with “what books do you read” is pretty indicative of the GOP in general. Jon Stewart mentioned that the candidates for the GOP leadership were asked this and Michael Steele, said “War and Peace,” and then quoted from it: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Tolstoy and Dickens exchanged graves at this point. Another lady chairperson wanna be, said, “the kitchen table.”

Now we learn the Michele Bachmann, that bastion of educational superiority, notes that she was a Democrat but was so incensed by Gore Vidal’s hatred of the founding fathers in Burr that she instantly became a Republican. Make any sense? Of course not. We said Michele Bachmann didn’t we?

The full article at Salon is actually very good, and well worth your link up.

***

Atheists believe,  but cannot prove that empiricism is the only basis for discovering truth. Hawking claims that philosophy is dead, fallen to the god, science. Now I revere science as much as the next gal, but I think First Things (a publication I normally don’t much cotton to) makes a very excellent point. Hawking in the end just “kicks the can” further down the street, by positing an empiricism that is subjective to the model used. Sorta like multiple realities emanating from rationally generated multiple models. Or, philosophy?

***

Of all the new teabuggers in Congress, Alan West (R-FL) may be the wackiest. Now he’s claiming that sharia law is just infesting our systems! Yikes, get out the bug spray. I am guessing that most of those fine Florida voters must have been ironing the wrinkles from their skin every time West opened his mouth, and missed just how insane the man is. Or perhaps they misheard–Adam West? Thought they were electing Batman?

***

Biologos does a great review of Conor Cunningham’s book, Darwin’s Pious Idea: Why the Ultra-Darwinists and the Creationists Both Get it Wrong. In the end, we learn what many of us, most of us perhaps, have always known. There is no “issue” between Darwin and faith. From the review it seems like a most worthwhile book to pick up. Eerdmans is the publisher if that helps your assessment.

***

John McCain is getting to be a bore. Mr. Walnuts as he is called by some is just a crotchety old man who can’t get over being rejected twice for the job that he feels America owes him–the Presidency. Everything he now does is explained by that fact.

Sarah Palin is getting to be a bore. Everybody, even boring people can come up with Palin jokes. I mean you don’t have to even be witty. She’s such a huge target. Will she? Won’t she? Palin is just a woman from nowhere in particular, stuck in a backwater state, doing nothing in particular. She wanted to be rich, and she wanted to be famous. Everything she now does is explained by that fact.

I’ve decided that my new idiot par excellence is (drum roll) LINDSAY GRAHAM. The perpetual bachelor whom everyone knows is gay. He hitched his sled to Johnny, who failed. He couldn’t hide behind Johnny’s pant leg any more, so he extracted his nose from the Walnutz ass and decided to become a full-fledged wacko all by his self.

He’s a weasel, he whines, he snivels, he moans that it’s just so hard being a senator that the Democrats like to wore him out asking him to put in full days of reading and thinking during that lame ducky thing. He’s pouty. And me thinks he is running scared, since he did that whole Mavericky thing with Johnny, and now the teabuggers are none too happy with him, so he’s swung to the opposite pole, and is getting his tips from Bachmann and King, and DeMint.

Lindsay has hitched up his pants and said he will vote NO!!!! dammit to raising the debt ceiling. He is gonna play the game of brinksmanship. No statesmanlike status for him. Oh no, he prefers the buffoonery approach.

I say, let us stare the fools down. Do they really want to do that? I suspect even they will blink. Otherwise we, Obama, that is, might as well back and leave Washington and give them the entire ship of state.

***

What’s on the Stove: Venison Stroganoff, with noodles and salad with blue cheese, and rolls.

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• Watch: GOP Audience Gasps as Michelle Bachmann Tells Them She Was Once a Democrat, Worked for Jimmy Carter (towleroad.com)
• Senator Lindsay Graham calls for permanent U.S. presence in Afghanistan (redantliberationarmy.wordpress.com)
• Graham Joins Loonies, Plans Government Shutdown (littlegreenfootballs.com)
• Debt ceiling: DeMint threatens to blow up government; Ryan, Graham look for hostages (dailykos.com)
• Lindsay Graham: The Warrior Queen…. (tagg-lines.com)

Hurrah, Cindy McCain Has Ovaries!

Tags

astronomy, birthers, Cindy McCain, DADT, gay rights, John McCain, Obama, physics, taxes, teabaggers, universe, wingnuts

At the rate that time is speeding up, I figure to be dead within a month. Seriously, each week is now only about eight hours long.

So, when the first article in my reader today was about Cindy McCain I nearly flipped out.

I have a long-held  secret sympathy for Cindy, wife of one of the uglier humans on the planet. If you believe a number of writers, he is guilty of some forms of emotional abuse, and not in private either.

Looking at Cindy on the campaign trail, one couldn’t help see the resemblance with another long-suffering woman, Pat Nixon. Remember that pinched unhappy face? All the misery of being married to the dark force Richard was etched horribly across her sad face.

Cindy took on that look. I have little doubt that she breathed a sigh of relief when John lost. Imagine living with a man who has such a poor opinion of women that he thought Sarah would fly?

Well, Cindy seems to have shaken off any need to be the ever-suffering wife. She has come our four-square for the repeal of DADT. She has done a video, featuring other celebrities laying out the case for fair treatment for our LGBT community. John, on the other hand, has done an about-face, now essentially against it. He once said the generals should decide, and when they did, he blatantly changed his position, ignoring their opinions.

It seems that the women in John’s life have got backbone and ovaries. He, on the other hand, is embarrassingly without any cahones at all.

***

As I reported a bit earlier, rumors are getting louder that Obama will back down on letting the tax cuts for the rich die. We’re now talking about “compromise” in some effort to appear bipartisan to the electorate. This seems odd to me, when every poll I’ve seen, suggests that there are clear majorities in the public arena favoring this position.

I was told on NBC news last night, that Democrats fear being labeled as “tax raisers” if they pursue asking the damned wealthy to pay a fair share for a change. I exploded, “So, we do the wrong thing, because the GOP might  accuse the Democrats of being tax raisers? How ’bout telling the public they are liars!”

The President authorized an appeal from the DADT ruling and has yet to explain how this agrees with his stated position that DADT was wrong. If there is an explanation, the great explainer has failed to tell us.

That is exactly what I don’t get. I’m more than willing to believe that Obama has some grand plan that will be impervious to GOP meddling, but Jeeeeebus, will you let us in on it? That in my opinion is exactly why so many of us on the left are so deeply disheartened. Eugene Robinson speaks directly to the issue in a nice post at Truthout.

As I recall, President Truman, with a stroke of a Presidential pen, integrated the armed forces. How did that stand up? He did it because it was right. When oh when, will we get states men and women back? You might vaguely remember that they once existed. You know, people who did what was right without conducting five internal polling tests to make sure it wouldn’t hurt re-election chances?

***

When I read this, I just swore, “well that tears it!” There are not a lot of things I wish to see before I join that choir of angels singing finally in perfect pitch,”Hallelujah”. One of them was certainly that I could peaceably to my Maker knowing that the universe was finally a unified place.

I mean I believed with the same soul-felt fervor that as God is in heaven, all four forces would one day be united in a singular glorious and elegant equation that had the unmistakable imprimatur of God’s finger upon it. I had no doubts. This was not a case of “I believe, God help my unbelief!”

I now understand there are voices in theoretical physics that may be saying no. No, no unification, that which has been sought with eagerness for some 35+ years. Perhaps this is it, perhaps we are un-unified, imperfect, and inelegant.

I mean it causes me to think of having the vapors and taking to my fainting couch. Next they will be telling me that Lassie is not still romping in heaven.

(actually the book may be well worth your buying. Hell of a read they say.)

***

I’m enjoying the dance. You know the one I mean.

“I’m against earmarks!”

“Well, perhaps not the ones having to do with getting my state’s fair share!”

“I’m against all earmarks, seriously!”

“Cut those deficits! How? Well, wait for the commission.”

“Cut those deficits! How? Line by line through that budget, lookin’ for places to cut!”

“Where? That’s a typical political question. We have to sit down and look through all the departments,  cut out the excesses!”

“Where? Hey leave me alone–I was elected to cut deficits, that’s it!”

Yeah, still waiting GOP and teabuggers. Still waiting on jobs too Boehner. Still waiting.

***

This last is just here to remind you that you are superbly sane. Alan Keyes, you remember that douche right? Ran for president in the GOP, nobody paid any attention? He writes for the WorldNewsDaily now, that so-called “Christian” hate internet source. Yes, I knew you would remember.

It seems Keyes suggests that the GOP will have no credibility until they get on the bandwagon and address the “real” issue that is burning in the minds of all real Merikans–that Barack Obama is no real Merikan at all, just a filthy usurper from the country of Hawaii, that land of pagan Polynesians–you know what I mean.

Actually what is even more proof that you are sane, is that there are a number of GOPers who actively support this crazyhead thinking. Vitter, and Blunt, to name a couple.

Related Articles

• SPEAKING UP: Cindy McCain criticizes DADT (politico.com)
• “Cindy McCain Blames Gay Teen Suicides and Bullying on DADT, Her Husband” and related posts (nymag.com)

Three Cheers for Imperfection!

Tags

astronomy, big bang, cosmology, God, perfection, universe

I must have read or seen renditions of the Big Bang a hundred times by now. Thought I pretty much knew what it entailed. However, last night while watching Stephen Hawking’s show, I learned something new.

Let me explain for all you novices out there. (*smirk*). Okay, so I’m no expert. I am however, pretty good at relating information that I may not actually understand all that well.

So. Once upon a time all that is our universe was compressed into what is called a singularity. A meaningless concept to astrophysicists and cosmologists (having nothing to do with hair–that’s cosmetologists, but they might be related given the change of but one letter which seems really odd to me, but I digress).

Singularities are pinpoints of “space” which are giganticus when it comes to matter. Got that? Well, I agree it’s much easier to visualize a pinprick of a head like Glenn Beck’s with NOTHING in it, but try to imagine a tiny tiny dot which contains all that is in our universe today.

Kay. Now for no reason we know, it explodes. And with no light mind you, cuz light requires a fusioning sun and we ain’t got there yet. So anyway, all these particles (sub-atomic, meaning smaller than an atom) are spewing out in all directions. Now, if that was all that happened, well, nothing ever would have happened and you wouldn’t be enjoying this post. The various laws such as electromagnetism, strong and weak forces and gravity would exactly balance out, and all that spewed out stuff would have just sat there.

But, and here is the NEW INFORMATION: the “stuff” didn’t spew out EXACTLY evenly. It had a few places where it was a little more or less dense. And thus, gravity could operate and cause the heavier concentrations to be stronger and thus attract more and the weaker, less, and well you get it I’m sure. When they got dense even, these particles were banging into each other harder and then faster and then all that caused heat, and then one turned on–it’s hydrogen began to fuse  and energy was given off, and then there was LIGHT!

From there some really big stars went through a process of getting so hot and compressing and fusing  into helium and then on and on until carbon and oxygen and all the elements were formed in it’s tummy until it blew up and spewed (word for the day!) all over the place. From this our sun and our earth (iron!) were born.

Phew! Okay, so from all that, we learn that the only way that we came to be is because the universe from it’s very beginning was IMPERFECT. Had to be so. And thus we came from imperfect beginnings.

I immediately thought of Plato and his forms. Now I will no doubt screw this up, so you brains out there who are philosophy freaks can come in and clean up my analysis. But Plato talked about what he saw as obvious: there was a material world and there was a real one. Note that folks. The material one was the one we see and feel and taste and so forth. The real one is the one we don’t. For every horse in the material world, there was a form horse in the real world–a perfect horse, the idea  of what a horse is, and presumably a perfect horse.

Smart people, according to Plato, sought to mold their lives toward the ideal variety. They, being thus the smartest, should govern, since they were not burdened like most folks with materialism. Sound like us today?

So given that our universe is imperfect by definition, I mean could Plato have been wrong about his ideal forms? I mean is there perfect beauty? Or perfect compassion?

We certainly attribute such perfection on say Jesus don’t we? He was at the least perfectly obedient wasn’t he? Perhaps we need conclude that only God holds all perfection? Horror of horrors, he does not create perfectly except in a metaphorical sense, of things being created perfectly to accomplish his goal of creating a living, growing  universe.

Now, the atheist would argue (ignoring the entire Plato thing no doubt) that it was random chance that our universe turned out to be imperfect thus allowing it to develop. They would claim that perhaps kazillions of other universes exist, and thus every range of possibility is met. So in some, a steady state of nothing exists, in others they went crazy and cycled through in a week, so sentience lasted maybe three minutes. You can see what they mean.

On the other hand, one can say, “wow, what an amazing God we have. Who but God could have realized that his perfect laws needed a push.” Kinda of like dipping a finger in a placid bowl of water, he disturbed the chaos which wasn’t really chaos, just enough to set  the dominoes a crashing.

I take great comfort in that notion and in another one as well. I mean, given that the material creator (the workings of natural laws) that created me was flawed, well heck, how can I be expected to be perfect either? That takes a lot of burden and weight off me I tell ya.

Next time I burn the roast and the Contrarian looks at me with consternation (never happened yet but it might!), I can shrug, and say, “hey, who knows but this imperfection is exactly what is needed to keep the universe ticking away.”

Ya never know, I say. Ya never know.

Thanks God, you always have my back!

What’s Up? 05/27/10

Tags

abortion, American History, ancient mystery cults, astronomy, atheism, dictionaries, fundamentalism, Islam, lifestyle, Literature, racism, religion, Roman Catholicism, Sarah Palin, synthentic life, theology, universe

Wow, what a lovely day today. Sun is just bursting forth and not a cloud in the sky. It’s warm and not nearly as muggy. The Contrarian is out in the garden weeding. The turkeys have not been able to penetrate the 48″ high fence around the tomatoes and so all is well in the world of produce becoming.

Well, Lee won American Idol, and I can’t say I’m disappointed, though I thought Chrystal is perhaps a bit more talented. As these things go, both will no doubt have fine careers and they deserve it.

Lazy food today, hamburgers and homefries (roasted really), and maybe coleslaw if I feel really energetic.

First off, let me thank Jan from Yearning for God, for e-mailing me this link. It’s an amazing site called visuwords.com. It is a functional dictionary but also a word orgin generator and thesaurus. It builds from the word you choose and developes a neural network. It’s hard to explain by try it and just be amazed. Perfect for students and all writers.

Mary Beard does a nice review of Hugh Bowden’s book, Mystery Cults in the Ancient World. She draws some interesting ties to the reply of some of the Early Church fathers to these cultic practices in Greece and Rome. This comes via 3quarksdaily.

By now you have heard of the “creation” of life synthetically by scientists. An article in the Daily Bruin, examines the ethics of playing God. This also comes from 3quarksdaily.

Sister Margaret was excommunicated for signing off on an abortion at the hospital where she sits on the Ethics board. The moral leader of the world? the Catholic church, strikes again.

Religious Dispatches answers Terry Sanderson’s “scathing” indictment of theology found here, in a piece called Can Atheists Simply Ignore Theology? I always find the comments of equal interest to the piece itself.

Anxious to know how the universe will turn out? I don’t plan on being around (in this form at least) at the time, but there are plenty of scientists who can give you a good idea.

In case u dint git propurly edjukated the uther day by Missy Sarha Paylin on the Crischun origens of our cuntry, then u kan go hear and git a few thengs she missed.

And Sarah’s insanity and whining poor me continues with her self-starting feud with her new neighbor and now Beck is involved threatening Random House. (I cannot make this stuff up!) Is it me or do the Palins sound more and more like the Flintstones/Simpsons–meaning mere caricatures of real people?

I heard this story last night on the news and Salon does a nice job with it. The ugly face of racism in this country just reeks. All because in Manhattan, building a mosque has been approved near “Ground Zero.” It literally makes your stomach turn to hear this hate. This is about race war in the writer’s opinion. Take a look.

Your self-help offering for the day: The 4 Addictions that destroy your dreams. Not what you think. Interesting read.

I brought you into a plentiful land

to eat its fruits and its good things.

But when you entered you defiled my land,

and made my heritage an abomination.

– Jeremiah 2:7  (Thanks there PB, and to all of us who have been silent for too long)