Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

Stella and Eddie At 5 Months

Yes. Yes, they are adorable.

Senator Byrd Has Had Enough

Enough of what is subject to debate.

Dana Milbank – Preaching to the Chorus – washingtonpost.com
” ‘Mission accomplished’ has turned into a commitment to have our grandchildren patrolling Baghdad into the middle of this century!” the chairman [Byrd] chided.

The chorus laughed.

Absolutely true.

“Instead of a coalition of the willing, what we really have is a coalition of contractors!” he admonished.

“That’s right!” the chorus agreed.

Also absolutely true.

And so it continued until Harkin — assisted by “boos” from the hecklers — asked the soon-to-retire Pace about his “very hurtful” views on gays in the military. Pace repeated his view that homosexuality is “counter to God’s law.”

Pace is an idiot. Who’s God?? I don’t think Ganesh cares about homosexuality. Oh…wait. Pace is talking about his personal notion of what the Christian God cares about. And we should base our national policies on Pace’s personal religious beliefs because…. why again??

With that, the chorus erupted, shouting down Pace with a series of chants. Even Byrd decided he had “tolerated all I can stand” and ordered the room cleared.

“The Iraq people have a right to their home!” one of the hecklers shouted as police led her away.

“Senators,” the chairman retorted, “have a right to have a hearing.”

Yeah… well, Byrd did let things get a little out of hand. And, if you read the entire article, you’ll see that he went a bit berserk himself. But he had good reason — the Bush administration has asked for $190 billion dollars to fund the fuckarow in Iraq. Just try wrapping your brain around a figure that huge. Imagine how much alternative energy research that $190 billion could fund. We could put ourselves into a position where we’d never again need to rely on oil from the Middle East. Wouldn’t that be wonderful!

Screw-Up In Minot

Missteps in the Bunker – washingtonpost.com
Just after 9 a.m. on Aug. 29, a group of U.S. airmen entered a sod-covered bunker on North Dakota’s Minot Air Force Base with orders to collect a set of unarmed cruise missiles bound for a weapons graveyard. They quickly pulled out a dozen cylinders, all of which appeared identical from a cursory glance, and hauled them along Bomber Boulevard to a waiting B-52 bomber.

The airmen attached the gray missiles to the plane’s wings, six on each side. After eyeballing the missiles on the right side, a flight officer signed a manifest that listed a dozen unarmed AGM-129 missiles. The officer did not notice that the six on the left contained nuclear warheads, each with the destructive power of up to 10 Hiroshima bombs.

Maybe instead of spending billions of dollars perpetuating the civil war in Iraq, we ought to be fixing problems like this one. Gee… ‘ya think?

Lose The Lawn

Turf Wars – washingtonpost.com
For half a century or more, we have used synthetic chemicals to feed and medicate that universal icon of the American home, the lawn.

But in nurturing our own environments, many believe we damaged the broader world by relying on fertilizers and pesticides.

“Many believe…”? What an odd way to put it. It’s a well established fact that grass lawns and the chemicals used to maintain them have damaged the environment.

“Many believe…”? You’ve got to wonder whose feelings are being protected with a statement like that.

Grass lawns damage the environment in several ways. The obvious one that most people first think of is that chemicals applied to lawns can get into the ground water or run off into streams and rivers where the herbicides and fertilizers wreak havoc with the natural flora.

The less obvious way that lawns wreck the environment is in how they destroy natural habitats. Most animals need a lot more plant diversity than is found in a turf grass lawn. When there’s nothing for the native insects to eat or lay their eggs on, there’s nothing for the native insect-eating birds to consume, and there’s nothing for the larger predators who eat those birds. Our entire environment suffers.

This Washington Post article doesn’t even mention that the ideal approach to landscaping is to limit oneself to a very small turf grass lawn — if any lawn at all! — and, instead, landscape with native plants. Native plant landscaping requires considerably less care than a lawn — no mowing, no fertilizing, and generally no watering — and, in my opinion, it’s a LOT more attractive. Best of all, a yard planted with native flowers, grasses, and shrubs is going to have many more birds and butterflies than a grass lawn. What’s not to like?

It’s easy to find information about landscaping with native plants, but if you live in Virginia and you need a place to start, check out the Virginia Native Plant Society.

What’s The Point Of Having A Democratic Majority If They Don’t Do Anything?

Senate Fails to Pass Measure Expanding Detainee Rights – washingtonpost.com
A Republican filibuster in the Senate today shot down a bipartisan effort to restore the right of terrorism suspects to contest their detentions and treatment in federal courts, underscoring the Democratic-led Congress’s difficulty with terrorism issues.

It underscores the Democrats difficulty in accomplishing much of anything at all. What the hell is wrong with these people? We vote in a Democratic majority and not a damned thing has changed. Okay, I can sort of understand their difficulty in ending this insane war in Iraq — but, honestly, you’d think the least they could do is restore some basic human rights to the people being held prisoner by the United States.

But no. What a bunch of fucking weanies. It’s enough to make a person want to move to New Zealand.

Susan Jacoby on Religious Cults

Susan Jacoby: OnFaith on washingtonpost.com
“Controlling” religious sects engage in brainwashing and apply severe social penalties to force members to do what free human beings normally find revolting.

Brainwashing??! Please!

It’s been fairly conclusively proven that there’s no such thing as “brainwashing”. People believe what they need to believe in order to live the life they want to — or must — live. All people. In all kinds of circumstances. And when the conditions of everyday life change, beliefs change accordingly in order to relieve cognitive dissonance.

Studies of Korean War prisoners* who had supposedly been “brainwashed” by their Chinese captors reveal that, after they had returned to civilian life in the United States, the great majority of those who had espoused communist sympathies while prisoners fairly quickly returned to their pre-war political beliefs.

Some “brainwashing”, eh? If the communist Chinese — the supposed masters of the craft — couldn’t permanently wash people’s brains, I very much doubt the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Scientologists would be more successful.

I’ll say it again: People believe what they need to believe in order to live the life they want to — or must — live.

One person’s “brainwashing” is another person’s “religious conversion”. The human brain is a whole lot more malleable than the outdated notion of “brainwashing” suggests.

——
* For a brief description, see this article on the Bryn Mawr web site.

Maryland Joins the Ranks of the Backward States

Md. Ban On Gay Marriage Is Upheld – washingtonpost.com
In reversing a lower court’s decision, the divided Court of Appeals ruled that limiting marriage to a man and a woman does not discriminate against gay couples or deny them constitutional rights. Although the judges acknowledged that gay men and lesbians have been targets of discrimination, they said the prohibition on same-sex marriage promotes the state’s interest in heterosexual marriage as a means of having and protecting children.

Say what??

Since when does heterosexual marriage have anything to do with having or protecting children? I’ve got a news flash for the judges of Maryland: LOTS of heterosexuals have children without being married. LOTS of heterosexuals who are married and have children wind up getting divorced, and many gay couples have children through adoption or with the help of a sperm or egg donor.

There is no evidence that heterosexual couples are better parents than homosexual couples. So, if it’s “in the state’s interest” to protect children, Maryland should legalize gay marriage. That way the children of gay couples will be financially protected if the couple later chooses to split up. (I’m talking about an order for child support in a divorce decree here, folks.)

I can’t even begin to guess what fairy tale world the Maryland Court of Appeals judges are living in when they make the absurd claim that denying the benefits and responsibilities of marriage to gay couples “does not discriminate against [them] or deny them constitutional rights.” Excuse me?? You’re denying them the right to marry! There should be an amendment to the US Constitution that guarantees the right of ALL adults to marry any other adult (or adults) they want. That’s part of the reason we have a federal government and a national constitution — to protect all citizens from unjust laws any of the states might come up with.

I’m disgusted and angered by the bigotry the Maryland courts have demonstrated.

While I’m on the topic of homosexuality, let me briefly talk about why people are gay or straight or bisexual or transgender or whatever. I was reading another blog (sorry — don’t remember which) where the person made a really good point — which I will reiterate here. In previous posts I’ve described how homosexuality is apparently the result of both genetic and evironmental factors. Human sexuality is very complicated and the honest truth is that we may never know exactly why people are gay. Opponents of equal rights for gay people will, however, tell you that homosexuality is entirely a chosen behavior. Okay. Just for the sake of argument, let’s say being gay IS “chosen”. So what? So what??? How would it being “chosen” be enough justification to deny gay people the right to marry? Obviously, what it all falls back to — and, of course, we already knew this — is that homosexuality offends some people’s religious sensibilities. It’s yet another example of government being informed by religion. That’s bad. What’s really kind of perplexing, though, is that we let Buddhists get married! After all, Buddhism is a “chosen” behavior that contradicts many of the Bible’s teachings. In fact, being a Buddhist probably breaks waaaay more Biblical injunctions than homosexuality. So… why are Buddhists allowed to marry? I guess it doesn’t matter that they don’t believe in the “One True God” — just as long as they’re not both men or both women. Hmpf. So much for “obeying God’s law”.

I believe that equal rights for homosexuals is one of the most pressing civil liberties issues of our time. Once gay people can get married (and divorced!) just like straight people, we’ll be well on our way to having a society where religion isn’t the final test of what’s right or wrong.

Washing Up

Study Sees Rise in Men Not Washing Hands – washingtonpost.com
The gender gap has widened when it comes to hygiene, according to the latest stakeout by the “hand washing police.” One-third of men didn’t bother to wash after using the bathroom, compared with 12 percent of women, said the researchers who spy on people in public restrooms. They reported their latest findings Monday at a meeting of infectious disease scientists.

Well, that is disgusting. It doesn’t bother me so much that 12 percent of women don’t wash their hands after using a public bathroom. After all, people using a public bathroom are more likely to be urinating and — let’s just be up front about it, okay? — women don’t typically get urine on their hands when they’re peeing or when they’re wiping. It’s not how it is with men. We don’t generally have any reason to be handling ourselves in a public restroom.

Men, though… jeez. Wash up, for Pete’s sake! That’s disgusting!

I can’t believe I’m writing about this.

Secular Humanism On The Rise

In Europe and U.S., Nonbelievers Are Increasingly Vocal – washingtonpost.com
The majority of nonbelievers say they are speaking out only because of religious fanatics. But some atheists are also extreme, urging people, for example, to blot out the words “In God We Trust” from every dollar bill they carry.

That’s the Washington Post’s idea of “extreme”?? Ha! The day a bunch of atheists band together for the purpose of killing religious believers — THEN they can legitimately be called “extremists”.

I don’t have a problem with scribbling out “In God We Trust” on dollar bills — but I doubt it will be terribly effective in persuading anyone of anything. I agree with the general sentiment, though. I believe there should be NO religious references in anything having to do with our government. No “In God We Trust”, no “One nation under God”, and certainly no “Ten Commandments” in the courtrooms. It’s not because I think religion should be wiped out entirely — I think there can be great good from religious belief — rather, it’s because a Democracy oughtn’t favor one kind of religious belief over another, or over no religious belief. Religion and government should be completely separate.

The Lies They Tell

9/11 Linked To Iraq, In Politics if Not in Fact – washingtonpost.com
The reason to emphasize al-Qaeda, aides said, is simple. “People know what that means,” said one senior official who spoke about internal strategy on the condition of anonymity. “The average person doesn’t understand why the Sunnis and Shia don’t like each other. They don’t know where the Kurds live. . . . And al-Qaeda is something they know. They’re the enemy of the United States.”

This actually makes no sense. Shocking, I know.

People don’t need to understand why the Sunnis and the Shia “don’t like each other”. They only need to know that there’s a civil war happening in Iraq and we’re in the middle of it — and that’s something the average person is quite capable of understanding. If Bush were to admit to that, though, there’d be quite a few more people asking why the hell we’re over there. So, in an attempt to make this huge waste of tax dollars and American (and Iraqi) lives more palatable, the Bush administration parades out the scary specter of al-Qaeda. Everyone has heard of al-Qaeda! Never mind that they’re a relatively minor player in Iraq. Never mind that they were a non-player in Iraq until our invasion set this mess in motion.

I’ve said it already so many times — but it really needs repeating. Terrorism is NOT A PHILOSOPHY. It’s a TACTIC. “The terrorists” are many and diverse. And they’re diffuse. Relatively few of “them” are in Iraq. The way to fight terrorism is a) to improve our national security, and b) to quit giving so many people such good reasons for hating us.