why agnostic

A reader asked me to post my objections to religious belief. I object most to monotheism, so I will limit myself to Christianity, the form of monotheism I am most familiar with. I am simply unwilling to worship a deity that sentences all non-believers to eternal punishment. Most societies mete out punishments to offenders that are proportional to the severity of the offense. Evidently, there is no graver offense against Yahweh than lack of belief. But unless I am mistaken, one can also be condemned to eternal punishment for other grave sins, and I think it's just that evil-doers be punished in the afterlife if they avoided punishment in life. The question then becomes, why such a severe punishment for the non-violent, victimless offense of non-belief? Why should Bertrand Russell, to name one atheist, and Adolph Hitler receive the identical punishment? It seems irrational to me that genocide be treated the same as skepticism.

seventh commandment

Reading a number of gloating, self-congratulatory letters to the editor from presumed conservatives, in the wake of election results that pundits credited to the perception of the GOP as being more attuned to the values of mainstream America, I was inspired to hoist these proponents of values by their own petards, so to speak, and point out the inconsistency of posing as defenders of the institution of marriage while having a known adulterer, Rudy Giuliani, as speaker at the nominating convention. Although I may be a liberal, I eschew self-righteousness, yet it amazes me that Giuliani has been mentioned as a GOP presidential candidate 4 years hence. I hope he will be the nominee; it would prove that the GOP will nominate anyone as long as he or she can win. Being an ex-alcoholic didn't disqualify Bush, so why should adultery? Maybe Ted Kennedy can be the opponent, so the decision can be based on policy differences rather than character traits.

quayle sighting

It's hard to take seriously an organization that lists Dan Quayle as a founder, but when it also includes the likes of Gary Bauer, William Bennett, Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, Steve Forbes, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz, it deserves the consideration of our regard. The organization is not so public as the GOP, nor secretive like Bohemian Grove, but rather an exclusive yet public entity calling itself the Project for the New American Century, generally abbreviated to PNAC. Besides having on its roster all the principle architects of the current Iraq War, its notoriety stems from having argued for military action to oust Saddam Hussein and speculating that a "catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor" would be needed to bring about a transformation of the military to exploit the so-called Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) long before 9/11. Rich fodder indeed for conspiracy buffs and acronym addicts, but also a source of insight into the mentality of our newly re-elected leaders.

To see the memorable "Pearl Harbor" phrase in full context, click on
http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf
and jump to page 63 in the pdf file, which is actually page 51 of the print document.

If I may end on an off-topic note, I am seriously running short of topics for the blog. So readers, if there are any, I encourage you to suggest topics I could discuss; otherwise, I may have to delve into personal topics, which may be of little interest to anyone besides myself, not to mention causing me discomfort in discussing.

for the record

The blog is running out of steam. So, lest any readers lose interest altogether, I'll follow-up some recent posts by explaining the rationale behind my positions. Personally, I'm pro-life: I oppose both abortion, with 3 exceptions, and the death penalty. I say personally, because I have a personal reason for being pro-life: my late Japanese mother was counseled by all her relatives to get an abortion, which is legal in Japan, rather than give birth to me. I'm glad she didn't, even though her relatives were correct in thinking her marriage to a GI would not work out.

There is an inconsistency in having voted for the proposition establishing embyronic stem-cell research in California. However, as long as fertility treatments create embryos that are viable, yet aren't implanted in the womb, because they generally create more than needed to compensate for the eggs that don't develop properly, the only strictly pro-life protocol is to freeze the surplus embryos, with the possibility that they be implanted later on. But realistically, it's unlikely all such embryos will be implanted eventually, in which case I don't see a real difference between permanently freezing versus discarding an embryo. As a matter of fact, I would guess embryo-freezing is hardly standard procedure right now, although I haven't checked into it. So, why not use the embryos being merely discarded to improve the lives of people suffering from incurable medical conditions? I have a personal reason for my position, as well. One of my fiancee's brothers is a quadraplegic, and he wants this research to be undertaken, even though the chance that he will personally benefit from it is nil.

for a more detailed discussion of the frozen embryo dilemma, look here:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/res_stem2.htm

a modest proposition

Reading about remarks by Jim DeMint, newly elected Senator from S. Carolina, that single, pregnant women should not teach in private schools, and recalling passage in California of DNA testing of all felons, I put 1 + 1 together and was all set to write a parody on the lines of Swift's Modest Proposal, suggesting collection of DNA from all South Carolina men, in order to determine paternity of all children born to single mothers, and requiring them to marry the father, if unmarried, or requiring the father to provide child support if already married. Alas, Senator DeMint is not so easily ridiculed. He objected to pregnant women with live-in boyfriends, thus making DNA paternity testing over-kill for the purposes of excluding from the classroom teachers whose morals he disapproves of. Why pregnant women without live-in boyfriends are acceptable, I'm not sure, but perhaps he wishes to allow single teachers pregnant because of rape to teach without getting an abortion, which Senator DeMint opposes, naturally.

And I thought I was going to be famous for making this proposal, or even proposition if need be. I even worked out the cost issue; if a woman refuse to name the boyfriend, she pays for all the DNA tests required; likewise, if the bf refuses, but tests show he's the one, he pays. Chances are, tests won't be necessary most times, both parties voluntarily accepting responsibility for their hanky panky; there would be no illegitimate children; and abortions would decline because men won't get a free ride for knocking up women.

the reality-based community

Had no idea there was such a thing, or that I was a member of it, until today. But now I've read the NY Times article of 10/17/04 by Ron Suskind where the phrase was introduced. It's too bad it can't be read from the nytimes.com without paying a fee. I have an academic account that allowed me to read it via lexis-nexis. For those unfamiliar with the term, it refers to those who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality," whereas the unnamed senior White House staffer claims, "That's not the way the world really works anymore. We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality...We're history's actors...and you, all of you (members of the 'reality-based community', that is) will be left to just study what we do." Seems that somebody at the White House is taking post-modernism too seriously.

post checkup

Been neglecting my blog, not that anything momentous has happened. But following up an earlier blog, I've decided to follow doctor's advice and not fret over my cholesterol. As he pointed out, my heart's perfectly healthy, based on high-tech imaging done not so long ago. Also, total cholesterol is so high mainly because it includes about 130mg HDL, which is way above normal, so my LDL is just borderline, and my tri-glicerides are well below normal. And lastly, I feel fine physically.

Besides quick visits to Zoo & Wild Animal Park, where the new Lion Camp was a hilite, the most notable thing I did was read a novel by an author previously unknown to me, Lee Child. The novel, Running Blind, was a quick read. It started with a bang, ended in a whimper, was generally well-written, but a bit too implausible for my taste. I might still try another novel by him, in case he had an off-day with this one, because he has an uncommon gift for creating tension.

irony

It appears Christian and Muslim fundamentalists are united in their hatred of homosexuality, making it a good thing that they disagree on everything else; otherwise, we might witness the first ever genocide based on sexual orientation. In case any homophobes are reading this, I happen to be 100% heterosexual, and 100% tolerant. In any event, I'm agnostic so I'm not worried about how my condoning private behavior between consenting adults affects my chances in the after-life. If fundamentalist beliefs are correct, then I know I will be condemned to eternal hell-fire. I just hope I will be permitted to live a natural lifespan before I face whatever judgement awaits me.

a diagnosis

Had one of my irregularly scheduled medical checkups this morning, and received a clean bill of health with one exception: my cholesterol is high, around 280mg. It was under 230 at the previous checkup. The MD said it was genetics, but I'm puzzled how I could lose 10 pounds while gaining that much cholesterol. We had a little side conversation about dietary supplements, and I found out something I didn't know, to wit, Human Growth Hormone must be injected, not ingested, to be effective. If you take it orally, your digestion breaks it down into amino acids. I don't take HGH. I asked his opinion of what I do take, a combination of Alpha Lipoic Acid and Acetyl-L-carnitine, and he basically told me that there wasn't enough data to conclude how effective this regimen is in slowing down aging.

NEXT BLOG>>>

I've been experimenting with the link that presumably displays a randomly chosen blog. Can't say I found anything tremendously interesting, but I did come across one that tried repeatedly to infect my system with a virus. Nasty. At least it wasn't a high-school misfit with a hitlist.

There was a high-school kid, evidently taking advanced pre-calc, kvetching about having to learn about inverse functions. I thought of posting a reply to his?/her? question, why do you need to learn something you'll never use, but the blog only accepts comments from team members. But you, dear reader, could be privvy to my thoughts on the question, if you just ask politely in a comment. This blog has no restrictions on reader comments.

from my travels, a namesake

I've succeeded in inserting a jpeg, but what I wanted to do is have a graphic that goes with the blog rather than a particular post. It's a good start, at any rate.

postmortem

I had the slight satisfaction, if you can call it that, of writing to Rev. Byron Williams, a commentator who's featured in workingforchange.com, about his prediction of a landslide. Perhaps he'll buck the trend set by Molly Ivins & Pete O'Neal and actually respond to my email, who knows. In hindsight, I suppose I should have seen this coming. I must have been relying too much on newly registered, young voters to make a difference in the outcome. Kerry's strategy of attacking Iraq policy still seems correct to me, but the solution he proposed of holding summits was rather weak, a near admission that he doesn't have answers but he's hoping someone else has a good plan.

Locally, California passed the initiative on stem-cell research, and elsewhere, Colorado elected a Hispanic senator. Otherwise, I'm not thrilled with yesterday's election results.

( late Addendum: Rev. Williams did respond to me. We disagree about inaccurate predictions diminishing one's credentials as a critic, but it was a nice note.)

((final addendum: I just realized Ralph Nader hasn't conceded yet. Maybe there's some hope left.))