Sunday, June 21, 2009
The Journey to Faith in God
Some excerpts ...
Want to know how Atheists see the rest of us?
I grew up learning from my father that Atheism is rational, and therefore, religious belief is irrational; Atheism is defined by logic, religious faith by fantasy; and science is real while religion is make believe. Faith, I was taught, requires a willful stifling of reason.
The Torah, the Gospels, the Qur'an? All woefully inaccurate, laughably inconsistent fictions used to encourage belief in an illusion for the purpose of social control.
...
You see, for liberal Atheists, the only thing worse than religion is the Religious Right, a term they use to encompass all Christian conservatives. And what better way to siphon fuel from the Religious Right than to convince Americans that the government is perpetually on the verge of becoming a theocracy?
...
Pope-slandering buffoon Bill Maher, something of a patron saint among Atheists, has called religion "the ultimate hustle." Last fall, Maher's fellow liberal Chris Matthews, a self-described Catholic, roundly criticized Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for talking about prayer in a "secular environment" and complained that she made the Republican Party look more like a church tent than a big tent. In March, Matthews complained, "Why does everything sound like the '700 Club' with this Party now?" Such examples of anti-religious bias can be found every day on cable news, network television, and in the pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post.
As my politics strayed right of center after college, I realized I wanted no part of that Maher/Matthews worldview based in elitism and the ridicule of others. I made the transition from Atheist to atheist to agnostic, and have since discovered why it is often said that religion is experiential.
There was a time when I would have preferred any manner of torture to admitting the possibility of a higher power. These days, I'm proud to say I lost my faith in the Atheist creed.
A reader replies:
What is assumed by so many today, because it is falsely claimed by Atheists, is that atheism is based on a scientific understanding of the universe. This is incorrect at all levels. Whether we consider the origin of the universe, the origin of life, or the origin of consciousness, science is incapable of answering these questions.
The current answer to the fact that our universe is 'finely tuned' is the cosmological supposition -- based on no evidence at all -- that an almost infinite number of worlds exist, and therefore one of these just **must** have been as finely tuned as the one we live in.
There is no reason to believe in multiple universes, nor in various 'universal constants' differing in these hypothesized universes. The whole idea is a metaphysical belief proposed by an atheist physicist who was admittedly unhappy with the Christian's metaphysical belief system. So he proposed an infinite number of invisible worlds to replace one invisible God. Big deal!
The theories of the origin of life are just as metaphysical, but who's got time for that endless argument.
And finally, there IS NO theory of consciousness in modern science. No one has the slightest idea how an atom or collection of atoms can become aware. Yes, we can design logic circuits, and these can "calculate" but they are not "aware".
Finally, the basis of matter itself in modern science is at question. After forty years of searching for the particle that is supposedly responsible for mass (the Higgs boson, aka "The God Particle") scientists have convinced themselves that the particle will be found this year or next, at the Large Hadron Collider in Europe. If it is NOT found (I don't believe it will be) then the basis of the Standard Model of science will be nonsense! This is truly an exciting time for science and for religious belief. (Too bad it's such a pathetic time politically-speaking.)
For an in-depth discussion of these and other relevant issues, I again recommend the book, "The Atheist and the God Particle" by Edwin E Klingman.
After several years in which loud-mouthed atheists published scathing rants about God and religion, there has been a counter offensive by scientifically well informed believers. The above book is an excellent one. Another is "The Wonder of the World" by Roy Varghese. Another very readable book is "The Irrational Atheist" by 'Vox Day'. There are other good ones, but these will get you started.
One of the reasons I began posting pictures of the universe is that they are a manifestation of the God who is so mighty as to create not just all of creation but "reality," yet who cares enough to wish to save us from our transgressions against him and his creation.
Bless us Lord on this your Thy day. And for the test of you, Happy Father's Day.
The coup de grâce of capitalism’s murder is at the hands of its most successful child.
Which only goes to show that the real threat often comes from those you believed to be your trusted allies instead of those you viewed as opponents.
Jeff Immelt managed to drive the stock price of GE down by 90% from its peak, yet until recently he retained the loyalty of his shareholders, employees and the investing public.
Now he is exposed as a butt kissing Obama sycophant; a corporate streetwalker. Jonah Goldberg puts it well.
Everywhere we look we see the great and once-great beneficiaries of free markets running to the state for protection from the cruel bullying of competition. On health care, insurance companies and others repeat the mantra that they want to be “at the table rather than on the menu,” all the better to be positioned as a tax collector of the welfare state. General Motors and Chrysler have gone from being pimped-out prostitutes of the state to outright chattel more akin to the leather-bound gimp in Pulp Fiction, eager to do the bidding of the president and the UAW.
Once-proud companies like GE have become seduced by global-warming schemes because they recognize that there’s more money to be made selling white elephants to Uncle Sam than there is selling competitive products consumers want. Indeed, cap-and-trade taxes promise to deliver precisely the protectionist industrial policies the Left has dreamed of for decades, only under a “progressive” label
It's time for GE's board to fire jeff Immelt.
The collusion of government and big business has a name: it's call Fascism.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Obama and Custard
Obama Takes the Girls For Frozen Custard
Washington Post - Michael A. Fletcher - 3 hours ago
President Obama and his girls motorcaded over to Alexandria from the White House this afternoon. Malia had a waffle cone of vanilla custard and Sasha had ...
Obamas Stop for Custard, Bringing Custard Shop to a Stop New York Times
Obama and daughters snack on frozen custard The Associated Press
Father's Day for the Obama Girls ABC News
We Love DC - NewsBlaze
all 333 news articles »
Team Obama’s Iran Strategy in Tatters
That’s a bit simplified perhaps, but let’s connects the dots. Obama’s Cairo speech was a repudiation of the Bush doctrine. Henceforth we would treat with Islam as if it were a nation, not a religion. No more “if you are not with us you are against us.” No more war on terror. No more concerns about terrorist support by Iran. No more support for pro-democracy programs in the State Department. No pre-conditions for talks with the government in Iran. Team Obama put pressure on Israel to give in to Palestinian demands and attempted to undermine the political base of a conservative Israeli government.
The Great Satan was busily being transformed to the Great Dhimmi, but then fate intervened; fate in the form of an election so brazenly corrupt that it brought crowds into the streets. The crowds grew larger and it stopped being about a fake election, and became a challenge to the entire regime.
And Team Obama – and the United States - is now faced with the possibility that the mullahs will be overthrown. And if they are replaced, will the new government want to deal with an American administration that sided against them and with their oppressors?
Team Obama never saw the Iranian people as partners in liberty. They had the same view of them as Chicago pols have of that city’s black underclass: a mass of voters who can be bought off with minimal public assistance, decrepit public housing, and the generous use of graft to keep the “leaders” loyal. The Obama administration does not understand the anger and rage that can develop in a people who yearn for more than handouts and race baiting speeches like those delivered by the likes of Reverend Wright.
Team Obama may have scored a “two-fer:” the contempt of both the American and the Iranian people.
UPDATE: The leader of the opposition has put up a statement that echoes my view:
From the Office of Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi
To the President of the USA, Mr. Barack Hussein Obama:
Dear Mr. President,
In the name of the Iranian people, we want you to know that when you recently made the statement "Achmadinejad or Mousavi? Two of a kind,” we consider this as a grave and deep insult, not just to Mr. Mousavi but especially against the judgment of the Iranian people, against our moral conviction and intelligence, especially those of the young generation that comprises a population of 31 million.
It is a specially grave insult for those who are now fighting for democracy and freedom, and an unwarranted gift and even praise for Mr. Khamenei, whose security forces are now killing peaceful Iranians in the streets of every major city in the country.
Your statement misled the people of the world. It was no doubt inspired by your hope for dialogue with this regime, but you cannot possibly believe in promises from a regime that lies to its own people and then kills them when they demand the promises be kept.
By such statements, your administration and you discourage the Iranian people, who believe and trust in the values of democracy and freedom. We are pleased to see that you have condemned the regime’s murderous violence, and we look forward to stronger support for the rightful struggle of the Iranian people against the actions of a regime that is your enemy as well as ours.
NEWS ON IRAN
More coverage from The Spirit of Man.
"Tehran protesters coming in waves, will go on till dark & beyond. This no longer rally but street fighting".
From Revolutionary Road...
Tehran full of fire and blood
7:01
People gathering at Vanak SQ
7:02
Plain cloths bikers attacking non-protesters near Vali-asr sq
7:03
They shoot at people and take those wounded with their vans
7:04
Shiraz: Intense conflict in Alam sq
7:05
Gunfire/sirens heard Tohid SQ
7:05
The Girl Shot Dead by Bssij, At Karegar St.(See Video above)
7:06
forces dont let ppl use cell phones. they beat anyone with a cell phone in hand
7:07
1 young man shot dead near Vali Asr Cr
7:08
Basij in EVERY square in Tehran
Whatever happens in Tehran, there's no going back to the Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic Republic.
It is the crudeness of it all that is so revealing and damning.
Michelle Malkin Saturday in Iran
Hot Air Clashes in Tehran: I’m ready for martyrdom, says Mousavi; Videos: Woman murdered in cold blood, police beat women with batons; Update: Obama calls on regime to end violence; Rumor: 30-40 dead in Tehran?
Fearless forecast: the mullahs are finished.
NEWS FROM IRAN
Iranian students are shot right in front of the camera
And Team Obama ...
Obama Erases Pro-Democracy Money for Iran
Friday, June 19, 2009 2:40 PM
By: Kenneth R. Timmerman
Even as Ayatollah Khamenei blasted the United States for fomenting unrest in a defiant Friday prayer address in Tehran, President Obama has kept silent, focusing instead on domestic policy.
Obama spent more time with TV personality Stephen Colbert, taping a segment for a comedy show, than he did addressing the turmoil in Iran this week.
Newsmax has learned that the Obama administration also has zeroed out funding for pro-democracy programs inside Iran from the State Department budget for fiscal 2010, just as protests in Iran are ramping up.
Do you want to know what side the Obama administration is putting the US on? The side of the killers; the side of the nuclear bomb makers; the side of the violently anti-Semitic holocaust deniers who want to wife Israel from the map.
Is that the change you were hoping for?
I may not understand. It could be a black thing.
NEWS AND VIDEO FROM IRAN
"Original source - Facebook: Basij shoots to death a young woman in Tehran's Saturday June 20th protests At 19:05 June 20th Place: Karekar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Salehi st. A young woman who was standing aside with her father watching the protests was shot by a basij member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house. He had clear shot at the girl and could not miss her. However, he aimed straight her heart. I am a doctor, so I rushed to try to save her. But the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that the bullet had blasted inside the victim's chest, and she died in less than 2 minutes. The protests were going on about 1 kilometers away in the main street and some of the protesting crowd were running from tear gass used among them, towards Salehi St. The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me. Please let the world know."
And from Obama ... silence.
Letter to my congressmen and senators on health care.
I am writing to oppose any further government interference in health care.
I do not want socialized medicine. I do not government mandated medical insurance. I do not want health care benefits taxed. I do not want the government telling doctors and hospitals what procedures to use. I do not want the ever-encroaching hand of government in my personal, private medical decisions. I do not want a Trojan Horse of government health insurance destroying the finest health care system in the world. Patients come from Canada and the rest of the world to the United States for high quality health care, not the other way around.
My opposition is both a philosophical position and a prudential one.
Philosophically I support the position of maximizing freedom. This country was founded on individual freedom. When individuals are coerced by the government into becoming groups, that reduces freedom and is a repudiation of the basis of America’s ideals.
From a practical perspective, government does not do anything well or efficiently. Government services, whether here in the United States or in other countries are inefficient and costly. Private enterprise – including our health care - is not only more efficient, but it is more flexible, more compassionate and more thoughtful.
Get your hands off my health care and leave me alone.
Removal of an inspector
A telltale sign of misrule
In firing AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin last week, President Obama probably thought he and his wife, Michelle, were the ones "sending the message."
After all, dispensing petty political retribution on behalf of one's crooked friends is the "Chicago way," is it not? And the firing of Mr. Walpin would no doubt have lasting benefits for the Obamas, too, seeing as inspectors general throughout the federal government would get the message that "FOBAMs" - or "Friends of Barack and Michelle" - were not to be touched in the future.
What Mr. and Mrs. "Hope and Change" failed to take into account was that when you circumvent the law to protect political hoodlums, you have a way of becoming political hoodlums yourselves.
Read the whole thing
Friday, June 19, 2009
What Obama Said About the Murder of Pvt. Long
Why do we care?
There are several reasons.
First, it would be nice if the Commander in chief of the Armed forces said something when one of his troops is murdered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Obama is on TV more often than any other President in history, spending more time in front of the cameras than most network anchors. Some of his supporters are complaining of his overexposure.
Second, it would be nice if we could trust the media to report the facts, instead of having to doubt their veracity on this issue along with everything else.
Third, the sounds of silence on this issue says something. It says that the murder of an Army Private by a follower of Islam in the United states is much less important to Mr. Obama than the murder of an abortion doctor by an anti-abortion activist. One conclusion that can be drawn from this is that the anti-abortion foes are seen by this administration as a bigger threat to Americans than Islamic terrorists. In view of 9/11 that is certainly an interesting view; one that may not be shared by most Americans.
Via the Mudville Gazette -which cares more about the military than the MSM - we find someone who has done a little digging (go to the story for links)
CJ Grisham has been going where the media fears to tread - and he's got a hell of a good story for his efforts. To bring you up to speed quickly, other than an AP claim to the contrary there's actually no evidence available that the White House (or President Obama himself) has issued a statement regarding the murder of Private William Long in Little Rock earlier this month. (See C.J.'s post here, previous Mudville entry here.) The White House maintains a comprehensive collection of presidential statements, speeches, and press releases and there's no mention of Private William Long to be found there.
I can't say whether or not the AP appreciates being the sole source of presidential decrees, but while some might be content to accept an independent news outlet's role as Presidential Press Office C.J. has been combing that White House archive (where my follow up search for "Private Long" yielded only documents related to private long-term health insurance) for an actual statement from the President - and found no such document. In hopes that that omission was merely an oversight by an over-worked staffer he's been talking and emailing with them, too - more on that shortly.
From CJ at "A Soldier's Perspective" ...
CJ gives us a quote from a press briefing by Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary to the White House press corps:
Q This is really just out of curiosity more than anything — how do you guys decide which acts of violence prompt a White House response and which ones won't? There was a statement that went out about Dr. Tiller. How was the decision made that that would get a presidential statement whereas the military recruiter in Arkansas shooting would not?
MR. GIBBS: Well, I believe a statement did go to many stations in Arkansas regarding that.
Q Oh, okay, it did? Okay.
For some reason, I get flashbacks to the Saturday Night Live Weekend Update skits, "Really?!" I mean, really! A REAL reporter would follow up with, "Oh okay, it did? Can you provide that please?" Or, "why wasn't it provided nationally like all the other statements?" Or, "Why wasn't the Dr. Tiller statement only released in Kansas like the Arkansas shooting statement?"
The facts are this: there was no statement. The White House has yet to release one and is embarrassed that they screwed this up. That has to be the reason.
When I wrote my last post, I mentioned another part of the email that I was withholding pending more information. That information never came. Therefore, I think it's important that the rest of my correspondence be made public now because it really speaks volumes about this administrations treatment of our troops.
On June 11th, I received an email from a Senior Administration official in response to my query about the absence of an official statement. In that communication, the official made the following comment that I initially refrained from publishing: "… the President is attempting to call the family of Army Pvt Long."
Ladies and gentlemen, the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES does not ATTEMPT to call any families of murdered troops. Within 24 hours of the shooting, the media was already interviewing Mr. Daris Long, father of PVT William Long who was killed in the shooting. 11 days after the shooting the President was still "attempting to call" the family?! Really?!
This smacks of disrespect for our troops. This smacks of a cover-up by the media, incompetence from the White House staff, and lack of follow-through from the most senior people in the administration. We can't get a simple statement about the murder of our troops on American soil by a sworn enemy of the United States, but we'll get a statement from the President regarding New Zealand tax protocol. We got a statement on the Holocaust Museum shooting. But, when I asked for a statement, I'm directed to a fake excerpt of a statement provided in a link by the AP instead of the actual statement. To add insult to injury, after 11 days the President is still "attempting" to contact the family. The leader of the most powerful nation on earth (well, it used to be) can't get in a phone call in nearly two weeks? Come on. Really?!
Just to make sure I was not being taken in by unsubstantiated Internet rumors, I went to the official White House website in which you too can search for Private Long and come up empty on the young man who was murdered on Obama's watch. The White House lies, and moves on.
At the White House Garden Party
To this end there were Remarks by the First Lady at the White House Garden Harvest Party via The White House - Press Office. Here are some excerpts harvested verbatim from the transcript. Note the role of the children.
MRS OBAMA: Like adults, kids have a very simple approach to food. What do you guys like about food? If it tastes good, right?
CHILDREN: Yes.
MRS. OBAMA: If it tastes good, you'll eat it, right? You don't care what it is! How many people pulled a snap pea off the vine and ate it today? And it was pretty good, right?
CHILDREN: Yes.
MRS. OBAMA: And by making this whole process fun -- and we've got some advantage because we have the White House, right? It's fun being here, right?
CHILDREN: Yes.
MRS. OBAMA: I'm going to miss you over the summer, but this garden will be here, and we're going to keep doing more around the garden. So by the time you're in 6th grade and 7th grade -- I never want you to get too old or too cool to come back and see me in this garden. You promise?
CHILDREN: Yes.
Why the Left is Trashing Sarah Palin ... Fear!
The best and the brightest on the left go into politics. The best on the right run their own businesses. So it is no surprise that the left is far more adept, even expert at the art of hardball politics. And they are telling us something profound.
The left is telling us something many feel, many find as a hunch, that Sarah Palin is the most dangerous threat to the Obama administration with no close second. The left is telling us this by their "over the top" attacks. Not just the Letterman assaults, but the constant barrage of grievances filed against her in Alaska. The attacks every day on Palin for no apparent reason -- except that the left seems to see her quite differently from any Republican candidate. A difference of kind, not of degree.
They would never do this to Romney, Huckabee or Newt, at least not to this level. There is a clear reason -- these guys couldn't fill up a high school stadium unless they were giving out free beer.
...
Whenever she chooses, she will take her first trip to Iowa to campaign for some obscure congressional candidate, and when she does, the liberal media cannot ignore the screaming crowds. And they will not be crowds manufactured by an advance team. They will be fired up mothers, working people who do not want to pay for deadbeats' mortgages, people who are now going to grass roots tea parties.
The television age gives "it," charisma, more power than ever before. Charisma is magnified through television. How else to explain how a 2 year senator few knew could derail Hillary in a few months. How else to explain how an anti-charisma John McCain, someone television does not flatter or magnify, saw his crowds surge when Palin was next to him. Palin, an obscure, unknown governor of our most distant and most unknown state, walked onto the national stage and ignited a burst of energy that may well have taken McCain over the top, until his Queeg-like pausing of his campaign to work on a financial crisis and then vote for a bailout.
...
The left is telling us something and they are the experts. They are telling us not to make Palin the conservative candidate because if we do, it will be humiliating. I agree with them and I take them at their word.
It will be the undoing of Obama, and it may be overwhelming.
Fiddling as Tehran burns.
When it comes down to it, I pity the President right now: he doesn’t have the right personal mindset to handle this mess. His predecessor the idealist would have picked an answer consistent with his personal moral code and regulated his actions accordingly; and his predecessor’s predecessor the cynic would have at least done something useful. Instead, we’re going to get detachment. And no matter what the result is, we will be told that it was for the best, in this best of all possible worlds.
... and we'll get the media echo chamber amplifying that sentiment.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Death is cheaper
When I was young medical care was cheaper … a lot cheaper. It was also a lot less effective. For you youngsters, old people like me retired at 65, got a gold watch, were put out to pasture which lasted perhaps two years. The people who attended your retirement party attended your funeral a few years later.
Heart disease or pneumonia or cancer took you away and the care that you received was bed rest until you died.
With the advent of modern technology and medical procedures, we are now able to repair hearts, lungs, livers and kidneys. We can replace crippled limbs, hips and knees. We can scan the body to discover ailments that left the last generation of physicians puzzled as their patients died. With all these wonders, how can a society that promises universal health care at no “cost” to you control the cost of providing you all these services? Simple: the wait list.
Limiting the supply of services, (we have to control costs somehow) but promising their delivery has an easy and cheap solution. The cost of putting you on the wait list means that death, the cheap answer to controlling health care costs, will take you before the expensive treatments need to be delivered.
That’s the answer to the medical cost problem in Canada. If universal health care is enacted in the US, it will be the answer here.
UPDATE: Another commenter has noted that this also solves a lot of other problems ...
It would also solve medicare, medicaid,social security.
And if enacted would give govt 50% of your estate upon death.
What a payoff, and citizens are clamoring for it to be enacted
Perhaps dying is patriotic.
Pentagon Exam Calls Protests 'Low-Level Terrorism,' Angering Activists
“Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorism?”
— Attacking the Pentagon
— IEDs
— Hate crimes against racial groups
— Protests
The correct answer, according to the exam, is "Protests."
Obama and the 'South Park' Gnomes
Step 1: We have a grave crisis which only the government can solve.
Step 2: Then a miracle occurs.
Step 3: Problem solved.
Consider the 1998 "Gnomes" episode -- possibly surpassing Milton Friedman's "Free to Choose" as the classic defense of capitalism -- in which the children of South Park, Colo., get a lesson in how not to run an enterprise from mysterious little men who go about stealing undergarments from the unsuspecting and collecting them in a huge underground storehouse.
What's the big idea? The gnomes explain:
"Phase One: Collect underpants.
"Phase Two: ?
"Phase Three: Profit."
Lest you think there's a step missing here, that's the whole point. ("What about Phase Two?" asks one of the kids. "Well," answers a gnome, "Phase Three is profits!") This more or less sums up Mr. Obama's speech last week on Guantanamo, in which the president explained how he intended to dispose of the remaining detainees after both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly against bringing them to the U.S.
The president's plan can briefly be described as follows. Phase One: Order Guantanamo closed. Phase Two: ? Phase Three: Close Gitmo!