That's How the Light Gets In

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grooming

Political parties have long used wedge issues to encourage their members to turn out to vote. Sometimes these issues are inflammatory, employing demonization, occasionally to the point of being dangerous. I fear that this year, we are witnessing such an issue: the accusations of pedophilia. I realize that the Q-Anon conspiracy theorists have made this an issue for a couple of years now, but there is a new, and much more dangerous twist, that is surfacing that may turn out to be far more insidious. Rather than merely accusing all Democrats and liberals of being child-trafficking pedophiles who drink children’s blood, they have broadened out the accusation to include grooming children for pedophiles. A bit of background: you may remember the ardent believer who took a gun into a New York pizza parlor where he was told children were being kept in the basement by a cabal of pedophiles led by Hillary Clinton among others. Fortunatel...

Bannon Up! This analogy is far from perfect, but it represents to me a futile mindset. A sacrifice bunt in baseball involves giving up an out to advance a runner into a better position to score a run. Occasionally, a pitcher tries so hard to throw pitches that are difficult to bunt, that he ends up walking the batter, which moves the lead runner into scoring position, gets no out, and puts another runner on base. I’ve heard former coaches and players announcing games cry, “He’s trying to make an out. Let him!” I believe Steve Bannon wants to go to prison, to make himself a martyr and hero to the right-wing nuts who support him. I say, let him. I’ve heard some pundits worry that convicting him would further infuriate the right-wing nuts. I think it’s time to abandon that type of thinking. We have seen time after time that making concessions to appease these people is completely unproductive. They see conces...

Musings

Right-To-Lifers Don’t Go Far Enough I was pro-choice, but I’ve changed my mind. The problem is not that the State should govern what a woman does with her body, the problem is that the State has not gone far enough. The argument is that to protect the life of a fetus, the State must overrule a woman’s privacy and bodily autonomy and regulate her body for her. Fine. If we want the State to be in the business of protecting life through bodily regulation, then go all in. Stick to the prime directive. Protect all life. The State should govern both men and women to protect life. The State should tell any healthy person what to do with their body in order to protect life. So, if someone needs a kidney, liver, or any organ transplant to save their life, the State should find someone and take whatever parts are needed to save that life. If not, then we are allowing organ-icide. (...

The Divine Watchmaker Fails to Persuade

The Divine Watchmaker Fails to Persuade Some Thoughts on an Old Argument I b elieve that actual philosophers have created far better treatments of this, but I haven't read them. So, I can proceed without intimidation (maybe a little trepidation). Christian fundamentalists argue that a clock could not possibly be created by evolution. The complexity of it requires that there must be a watchmaker. Likewise, complex creatures, such as humans, must have been created by the Creator. To me, it suggests the opposite. Many creatures have clock-like functions built in, e.g. circadian rhythms, jet lag, etc., which are more biological and less mechanical in our way of categorizing, For some reason, two unconnected examples also have popped into my head, sleep and mosquitos. ...

The Trump Legend What is the Trump story? It will be quite different for followers and detractors. I believe the reason that so many people can have completely opposite views of the same person and events lies in great part to our American, and perhaps human, myths. I had occasion once to be watching a televangelist in the company of some fundamentalist in-laws. Seeing this person crying while singing a hymn, I thought he was the phoniest person I had ever seen. But one of my wife's aunts turned to me and said, "Isn't he the most sincere person you've ever seen?" I didn't answer, but it occurred to me that we were sitting in the same room watching the same event with completely opposite views. I love studying history, but I am now more careful to try and research the historian. Some of us like to believe in heroic leaders following their ...

On Coronavirus

On Coronavirus On July 28th, in his corona virus update, President Trump said that there are large areas of the country that are free from the virus. He was immediately attacked for that statement. That attack was unfair because, contrary to his normal struggles with integrity, in this case he was exactly correct. Three undeniable examples confirm this. Firs29t, take deserts for example. The high deserts of the northwest states combine with the Mojave, the Sonoran, and the other southwest deserts to comprise an area of 200,000 - 300,000 square miles which are almost completely plague free. Add in Alaska, almost all of which is covid free, and which is nearly one third the size of the contiguous states and you have an extremely large area. Second, lakes. The Great Salt Lake is great. Don't forget Lake Tahoe, a million lakes in Minnesota, and the Everglades and other swamps. Then there are the ...