5.20.2009

The only thing we have to fear ...


I've neglected the blog, but that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about things. Here's a half dozen or so ideas for blog posts that I've crammed into one.

With the announcement of the 'missing link' fossil you couldn't help but hear the drumbeats pronouncing "science is king!" Even Google got in the act by using a fossil graphic on its home page. Personally, evolution makes sense to me, but you can almost hear its most vocal proponents going "nyah! nyah! nyah! ... your Bible is wrong! Here's proof that religious people are ignorant!" I don't think the Bible is a science text book. For their sake, I hope they don't turn to science for spiritual answers.

Liberals like to invoke evolution as an example that, like life, morals and society and laws must change; the constitution is a "living" document. If they truly embraced evolution and natural selection, then why do they endorse corporate bailouts, welfare, social security and universal healthcare? Doesn't that undermine the natural selection process and create a less productive, less efficient species? Can any of these types of government sponsored programs be rationally supported?

It seems like the whole point of declaring "science is king" is so that the corollary, "And I, as human, am King of Science!" can be invoked. God is a threat to these rational types, not because he's going to physically strike them down, but because at some point, God forces you to humility. Royals can't have that, can they?

As long as we are talking about the Bible ... a scripture reading at church planted the seed of an idea for a blog post. The scripture is John 15:15 and it says:

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
Typically, I try to avoid using scripture in blog posts ... primarily because some people will immediately put you in the 'ignorant' category (see above) ... but this one struck me. I've often commented on Obama's arrogance and the general arrogance of leaders who think they know better than me when it comes to my running my own life. People like that think of others as servants, someone from which they can demand a sacrifice (heard any commencement speeches lately?). I think they have the relationship backwards.

As long as I'm quoting scripture, why not go whole hog. When is the appropriate time to invoke morality? Is it when you are choosing abortion, or before you had the sex which created the baby? Why are we indignantly moral concerning the so-called torture of enemies, but morals become irrelevant (or simply relative) in the abortion debate?

Why is it that "sex is natural and you can't prevent teenagers from having sex so you must give them condoms ... sexual behavior can't be legislated", but its okay to have a myriad of eating laws including taxes on fat and sugar "for our own good." Is eating not natural, too? What about our appetite to succeed? You can't ask teenagers to keep their pants on, but you can dumb down their education and instill a sense of entitlement in them?

Speaking of entitlement, how in the hell did Joe Biden EVER get this far in life? He must have been the star pupil in his 'Independent Living' class. All that time he bragged about commuting on the train no one ever mentioned that it was the 'short' train. What a maroon. Seriously. The people of Delaware should be ashamed. I defy anyone to find where he has ever made a completely intelligible speech. I pray for Barack Obama's health and safety every day because his backups, Biden and Pelosi ... well, I can't even bear to think about it.

From the privileged Joe Biden, good ol' workin' man Joe, we move on to the famous and extravagantly wealthy ... Gates, Winfrey, Buffett, Soros, my uncle Ted ... who recently met in New York to discuss charity and the impact that the 'economic crisis' is having. God bless 'em, they give a LOT to charity, but seriously, do you think they have any concept of 'real life'? If you told any of them they would have to live on a million a year, could they do it? What percentage of the million would they donate? I'm happy for them, I'm glad they are successful and I wouldn't begrudge them a penny of the money they've earned, but don't you think this could have been handled with a conference call or an emailed Powerpoint presentation? Executives get belittled for flying corporate jets, but no one thinks twice about the wastefulness of our celebrity class.

Speaking of billionaires, I hear that some of them are leaving NY and CA because of the tax burden. I think Texas should make a commercial and run it in Los Angeles and New York City and invite them all to move on down here. We love billionaires. I also think getting George W. Bush to star in the commercial is an excellent idea ...

Y'all come on down. There ain't no state income tax, we got killer Tex-Mex and you don't have to pretend to be all liberal and enlightened. It'll be fun. You'll see.
Wouldn't that be delicious? Does anyone have W's email address? Maybe I'll just run this over to his house later on.

And finally, there's this. There are a whole host of folks still giving Obama the benefit of the doubt. It could be typical American apathy. It could be they think they are being kind and generous and patient. It could be that they are trying to compensate for all those right wing extremists. Maybe it's a white guilt. It could be any of those things, but I'm sensing that underneath it all, people are afraid. They're afraid he's going to succeed, or (for the weak minded) that he won't. He used 'Hope' to get elected, and now that he has the power he's got a new theme. Fear.