President Bush has put forth a challenge tonight that I simply can’t ignore. The president yesterday said, he wanted those who are critical and questioning of this port deal to, “Step up and explain why all of a sudden a middle eastern company is held to a different standard than a great British company.”

1. Well first of all Mr. President to equate any country to your principle partner in the coalition ignores that special relationship this country’s enjoyed with the United Kingdom for decades and decades.
   
   


2. This also is not just a British company and an Arab company as I think you well know. Peninsula and Oriental Steam Navigation is a British privately owned company. Dubai Ports World is a UAE government controlled and owned company. You see the difference of course.
   
   


3. The money used to fund the 9/11 attacks, most of it in fact was sent to the hijackers through the EAE banking system.
   
   


4. In fact two of the hijackers were originally from the UAE.
   
   


5. The UAE stonewalled US efforts to track Al-Qaeda bank accounts after 9/11.
   
   


6. The Emirates does not recognize Israel as a sovereign state.
   
   


7. The UAE was a transfer point for shipments of nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya.
   

If those are not good enough reasons I would just suggest I am at a complete loss to offer what might be considered good reasons.

Ecerpt from the report:

14.2 million American seniors (including millions of our sickest and most vulnerable seniors) are stuck in a complicated, expensive, and inefficient Medicare prescription drug program because the Republican Congress and the Bush Administration allowed lobbyists from the insurance and pharmaceutical industries to design this program.

60 million American families who heat their homes with natural gas and 8 million families who heat with heating oil are paying higher bills this winter, even though the Republican Congress recently passed their "national energy plan" into law. Although this plan gives the energy industry billions in new tax breaks and subsidies, it doesn't lower prices for consumers or make our country more energy independent.

The 150,000 U.S. troops currently deployed in Iraq may not have the equipment they need because of waste, fraud and cronyism by the Republican Congress and the Department of Defense. While Halliburton and other companies with Republican connections get their contracts, our soldiers still don't have the body armor and armored vehicles they need to fight the war.

750,000 households in the Gulf regions are still displaced today, more than 5 months after Hurricane Katrina hit that region, at least in part because the political hacks the Bush Administration put in charge of crucial homeland security functions were not adequately prepared to prepare for or respond to this disaster.

More than 10 million students and their families will have larger student loans to repay because House Republicans, led by new Majority Leader John Boehner working hand-in-hand with his commercial loan industry allies, cut $12 billion from the student loan program in the recent reconciliation bill and shifted the costs on to students and their families.

1. Did you know that the US Federal Government’s 2006 Budget includes roughly 123 million dollars for the study and promotion of alternative medicine.
   


2. Did you know that the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative medicine, which is part of the national institutes of health, funded more than 1,200 projects at some 260 research institutions last year.


3. Did you know that 62% of people in a recent survey of 31,000 Americans responded that they regularly use alternative medicine.
   


4. Did you know that the heavily promoted alternative medicine combination of glucosamine  and chondroitin is about as effect a placebo for most people with Arthritis. According to a major national study released this week headed by a University of Utah researcher.

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.
-Galileo Galilei

1. Bush has intentionally lied to the entire planet about WMD in Iraq which led the Americans into war. As of Feb 24, 2006, 2,283 American Solders have died in a war that was achieved through lies.
   


2. Bush has drastically ruined the separation of church and state. He’s funneled millions of dollars to religion which is truly against the First Amendment.
   


3. Bush has sold the people out by allowing and enabling congress to pass laws written by our corporations. This include the latest Medicare laws that causes millions of Americans to pay much more for the already expensive medicines they need.
   


4. Recently, Bush has defend a deal that will put the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in control of 6 major US ports possibly creating security risks that would make September 11, 2001 look like a joke.
   

The Presidential Oath.

”I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”

The PNAC, is a Washington, DC based think tank. The group was established in spring 1997 as a non-profit organization with the goal of promoting "American global leadership". The chairman is William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard and a regular contributor to the FOX News channel. The group is an initiative of the New Citizenship Project, a non-profit 501c3 organization that is funded by the Sarah Scaife Foundation, the John M. Olin Foundation and the Bradley Foundation.

The PNAC is a controversial organization. Many have raised concerns that the project has been proposing military and economic, space, cyberspace, and global domination by the United States, so as to establish American dominance in world affairs (Pax Americana) for the future—hence the term "the New American Century", based on the idea that the 20th century was the American Century. Some analysts argue that the American-led 2003 invasion of Iraq, commenced in March of that year under the code name Operation Iraqi Freedom, is the first major step toward implementing these objectives.

New American Century official website

The Political Compass

Economic Left/Right: -7.13
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.92

Dallas News / CNN
Taken From:
(http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-funeralprotests_20tex.ART.North.Edition2.910c703.html)
(http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/21/funeral.motorcyclists.ap/)

Gay-hating church's protests at funerals provoke restrictions

Protests by preacher Fred Phelps, who demon- strated at the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka earlier this month, are the target of legislation. The day before his town was to honor a local soldier killed in Iraq, Chief Hobbs received word that a Kansas church group would picket the funeral to promote its belief that the deaths of U.S. troops reflected God's wrath against America's tolerance of homosexuality.

"It was hard to take," he said. "These people were just unbelievable."

Such demonstrations by members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., and the publicity-loving Rev. Fred Phelps have led at least 14 states, from Vermont to Mississippi, to weigh measures that would make it more difficult to protest at funerals.

In Mr. Phelps' case, that means preventing funerals from being used as a platform for anti-gay messages. One fear is that the protests could lead to violence.

With help from two other police agencies, Chief Hobbs and his officers managed to keep the peace, even dissuading irate residents from taking matters into their own hands.

But the potential for violence didn't escape some Oklahoma lawmakers: They think it's time to restrict what they regard as hate speech and appalling behavior.

In Oklahoma, the Senate has passed a bill, and the House is expected to consider one this week, despite concerns that such laws could produce unintended consequences for free speech and assembly, not to mention costly, protracted legal challenges by church adherents.

Mr. Phelps, who has led the Westboro church since 1955, said state lawmakers know their proposals are "manifestly unconstitutional" and likely to be challenged in court.

"It's irresistible to these amoral, unprincipled demagogues masquerading as statesmen," he said. "The rabble is roused, and it's great politics.

"I doubt there's even one out of 1,000 that could even quote the First Amendment. They're blatantly un-American and lawless. That's the truth," he declared.

Mr. Phelps' group has protested during at least one Texas funeral, gathering outside Dimmitt's Immaculate Conception Catholic Church for the funeral of Sgt. Jacob "J.J." Dones, killed in Iraq on Oct. 20.

The Texas Funeral Service Commission said there are no laws restricting demonstrations at funerals in Texas.


According to experts, the Westboro church is primarily composed of members of Mr. Phelps' family and is not affiliated with mainstream Baptist organizations. Mr. Phelps, 76, is a disbarred attorney and father of 13.

His group has trumpeted its anti-gay message in many contexts, many of which have no explicit connection to homosexuality. From the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 to the Columbia shuttle disaster, any occasion in which Americans are killed is interpreted by the group as divine retribution for tolerance of gays.

For example, the group's adherents showed up recently at a memorial service for 14 West Virginia coal miners who died in two separate January accidents.

Rep. Paul Wesselhoft, a retired Army chaplain co-writing one of the Oklahoma measures, said state lawmakers and elected officials from Vermont to California have requested copies of his measure, all hoping to defuse "an inflammatory situation."

He decided to pursue a new law last summer after learning the group picketed outside the funeral of Army Spc. Jared Hartley in Newkirk, a town of 2,000 or so near the Kansas border, about 90 minutes north of Oklahoma City.

"It could have gone either way," said Chief Hobbs. "It was pretty volatile there for a while. Thank God it didn't turn out to be a free-for-all."

When Mr. Wesselhoft made public his proposed legislation, Westboro members showed up at his church, the First Southern Baptist Church of Del City, Okla., protesting outside Sunday services.

Mr. Phelps said his church "couldn't have asked for a more effective" means to spread its message than for "these legislatures to get in a furor" over the funeral protests.

He likened the legislative responses to the Muslim outcry over a Danish newspaper's cartoon depictions of the prophet Muhammad, noting that he grabbed headlines this month when he referred to Kentucky lawmakers as "the Kentucky Taliban."

"God is through with this country," Mr. Phelps said. "It is now Brokeback Mountain territory. This nation is doomed.

"It's a powerful message, and it needs to be delivered," he declared.

Counterdemonstrators have shown up at many of the funerals where Westboro members picket. About 100 bikers were at the Del City church, revving their engines to drown out the Westboro protesters' comments.

Both the Oklahoma measures seek to restrict the time and location of funeral protests – establishing, for example, 500-foot buffer zones from the property lines of funeral homes, churches, mosques, cemeteries or other locations where services are under way.

The House version would prohibit demonstrations two hours before, during and two hours after services. The Senate-passed plan would ban protests an hour before, during and four hours afterward.

Both would make violations a misdemeanor under Oklahoma law. Proposed penalties include a range of possible fines – from $500 to $2,500 – and possible jail terms – from 30 days to 60 days – depending on which plan is approved.

The House could take up its version this week. A joint House-Senate conference committee may be necessary to iron out differences between the two.

"This is an inflammatory situation," said Mr. Wesselhoft, who is from Moore, a south Oklahoma City suburb. "I'm surprised somebody hasn't been hurt. I'm very concerned about it."

But Mark Thomas, executive director of the Oklahoma Press Association, sounded a cautionary note during a House hearing.

While stressing his trade organization representing the state's newspapers is not opposed to the measure, he reminded lawmakers that constitutionally they cannot restrict groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church without also banning counterdemonstrators – some of whom, for example, might want to show support for troops.


State lawmakers insist they are not proposing new limits on free speech and assembly without giving careful thought.

"I'm a strong supporter of the First Amendment," Mr. Wesselhoft said. "We cannot regulate content of speech – but we can regulate time, distance and manner.

"This is for families, grieving, laying their loved ones to rest. They have a right to do it without harassment."

FT.com (Financial Times)
Taken From:
(http://news.ft.com/cms/s/1dae4e34-a27e-11da-9096-0000779e2340.html)

US scientific leaders have launched a new assault on political attempts to undermine the teaching of evolution in schools. The American Association for the Advancement of Science, supported by 30 other scientific and educational organisations, adopted a declaration denouncing "anti-evolution" legislation that is pending in 14 states.

The bills varied in language and strategy but "all would weaken science education", said AAAS president Gilbert Omenn, professor of medicine at the University of Michigan. "They threaten not just the teaching of evolution, but students' understanding of the biological, physical, and geological sciences."

Some of the bills would require schools to emphasise "flaws" in the theory of evolution or "disagreements" within the scientific community, the AAAS said. Others would encourage teachers to explore intelligent design and other alternatives to evolution. But the declaration, released at the AAAS annual meeting, said: "There is no significant controversy within the scientific community about the validity of evolution."

Eugenie Scott, director of the National Centre forScience Education, said: "We'd like the mainstream religions to do a betterjob making clear that evolution is consistent with their theology."

Death of a Nation Music Video [Lyrics]

When all you need was a little motivation
They pointed fingers and yelled dead generation
When all you need was a little care
You get nothing but an old white hair bland stare
Have you ever needed an ounce of love
And all you got was a whole lot of fucked
So say your prayers
It's the death of a nation
Say your prayers
For the dead generation
Condescending broad generalizations
Get real old real fast
Just because most hippies and their parents have sold out
Does not mean that you, your children and their kids won't last...
So say your prayers
It's the death of a nation
Say your prayers
For the dead generation
Agressivness is godliness
Combativness is holiness
Destructiveness is faithfullness
Deadliness is devoutness
Praying to a god that they created
And know damn well does not exist...
We find them on their knees

WHEN Colin Arnott and Trisha Rankin sat down to plan their wedding, they quickly reached an impasse with the traditional options. Lacking firm religious beliefs, they rejected a church service as hypocritical. A civil ceremony, on the other hand, struck them as impersonal and bureaucratic.

It was only when they discovered humanism – with an emphasis on moral and ethical values without recourse to religion – that it seemed right. However, the couple, who come from Glasgow and now live and work in Edinburgh, first came across humanism at a funeral.

"It might sound gloomy," says Colin, a 27-year-old property man-ager, "but the celebrant at the funeral explained the ideas behind humanism and they seemed to fit in with our own beliefs and values." The service, held two years ago, made a similarly profound impression on Trisha, also 27, who works as a fraud officer at the Royal Bank of Scotland. "The celebrant gave the ceremony a personal touch and there was a lot of comfort in his voice."

Trisha and Colin are among an increasing number of couples turning to humanism as a way of lending gravitas to occasions over which organised religions have traditionally held sway. Since they started keeping records in 1998, the Humanist Society of Scotland has noted a tenfold increase in the number of funerals it has presided over, with around 1800 conducted last year. A total of 85 weddings were held last year and 300-400 are expected to take place this year.

Permission to have a humanist wedding was granted to Scots in June last year after a landmark ruling by the registrar-general conceded that barring them could infringe upon couples' human rights. Despite humanists reporting a similar demand south of the border, Scotland is still the only place in the UK where such ceremonies are legal.

On numbers alone, humanism might appear to be a minnow swimming in a much bigger nuptial pool. There are 30,000-plus marriages held in Scotland each year, one-third of which are conducted by the Kirk or Catholic Church. But humanism has grown to the extent that it now rivals smaller established religions, such as the Baptist Union of Scotland, United Free Church and United Reformed Church, in the number of services conducted.

Ivan Middleton, secretary of the Humanist Society of Scotland, says the philosophy has filled a gap left between traditional weddings and civil ceremonies, one that dates back to 1837 when the latter were first officially sanctioned. But, unlike religious services where couples seek the blessing of the church and God, couples choosing a humanist celebrant do so for varied reasons.

Those who approach Middleton asking him to conduct weddings include "part-time Christians" who would previously have had a religious wedding for appearances' sake. "Quite a lot of ministers are pleased about that," says Middleton. "People come along to them and say 'can you marry us, but take it easy on the God bit?' The minister can say 'do you know about the humanists? They're maybe more for you'."

The ceremonies can also appeal to couples from different religious backgrounds whose families have difficulty agreeing which faith should preside. "In these cases, we can provide common ground," he says. Divorcees seeking to celebrate a wedding without feeling guilt or the need to seek forgiveness have also opted for humanism instead of a religious service, he adds.

A major difference between humanist and civil weddings is in the freedom to choose the venue. Although the Marriage Act (Scotland) 2002 allowed for a civil ceremony to be held outwith registry offices, the locations are still restricted to licensed premises, typically hotels and function rooms. By contrast, humanists are free to conduct services anywhere they deem safe and dignified.

The first official humanist wedding in Scotland, between Karen Watts and Martin Reijns, was held in Edinburgh Zoo on June 18 last year. Others have opted for equally unlikely locations – back gardens, converted churches and country fields.

Another attraction of the humanist ceremony is it can be tailored to individual wishes to a greater extent than it religious or civil counterpart. In preparation for their wedding in September, Trisha and Colin are preparing their own vows, a process they feel will add value to the words they say on the day.

Typically, the vows include a promise to love and care for each other, says Middleton. But they can also include more humorous asides. "I conducted one wedding where the man promised to make the bed in the way shown to him, using hospital corners," he said.

"Another man's vow was to allow his wife to add to her already extensive shoe collection. In return, she promised to allow him to play golf and watch sport on TV. That wouldn't suit everyone, of course.

I related this story to another bride and she immediately said 'there's no point making promises you can't keep'."

By contrast, couples seeking to have poetry readings or singing during civil wedding services have often found themselves falling foul of laws which place a strict ban on including material with a religious connotation. St Paul's biblical passage On love, Robbie Williams's song Angels and the poetry of Kahil Gibran have proved popular with atheists, but are usually barred from non-religious ceremonies.

Though still a relatively small phenomenon, the humanist wedding appears to have potential to expand among Scottish secularists. The Humanist Society recently applied to double the number of officially registered celebrants operating from 12 to 24 to cope with the new workload. However, Paul Parr, deputy-registrar general for Scotland, could only license a further eight people, arguing that the numbers should be limited in relation to the society's membership. Though this presents a temporary headache for celebrants with bustling diaries – especially in the Lothians and Highlands – Middleton is optimistic about the long-term trend.

"Every time we conduct a wedding, the couple automatically become members of the society so membership is going up," he says. "We're also gaining a younger membership, which is in stark contrast to the declining and ageing congregations that churches are seeing across Scotland." The roots of a healthy future for humanism have already been laid.

For weddings and a funeral

Weddings:

• The service must be conducted by an official humanist celebrant. There are 12 in Scotland but the Humanist Society of Scotland plans to register a further eight.
  


• The location for humanist weddings is decided by the couple, but must be approved by the celebrant. The location must be safe and dignified.
  


• As with civil and religious weddings, humanist ceremonies require a marriage schedule provided by the local registrar, which is signed by the couple, the celebrant and two witnesses.

Funerals:

• Around 1800 humanist funerals were held in 2005.
  


• An element of humour is often injected, but the content of the service depends to a great extent on the people organising it.
  


• There are currently 50 celebrants registered to conduct funeral services across Scotland.

For further details, and contacts for individual celebrants, see www.humanism-scotland.org.uk or email secretary@humanism-scotland.org.uk

Lauren Becker - Park Ranger working in the Bible Belt

The summer before my senior year of college I worked as a park ranger guiding hikes in one of the most beautiful state parks in the country.  Its central feature was a 256-foot waterfall that plunged down through a gorgeous natural amphitheater, cutting through bands of limestone and sandstone and collecting in a deep pool, the perfect hangout for summer swimming.   My favorite program was the hike to the base of the falls.  Layers of rock are like chapters in a history book and this canyon, carved so deeply, told an ancient story.  Standing at the bottom, calling out over the roar of the falls, I got to teach the exciting conclusion, “The layers of slate and shale beneath our feet tell us that 300 million years ago, this deciduous forest was a tropical jungle.”

“What book d’ya get that out of?” came the reply one day.  And thus it began, for this waterfall was not only located in ancient rock, it was also in the heart of the Bible-belt.  I had heard there were people who believed the Earth was only 6,000 years old, but I never thought I would actually meet any.  That summer, and every other summer I worked teaching science to the public, I met a lot of them.  Though most objectors would just walk away from the program, some mothers would cover their children’s ears to protect them from the “blasphemous park ranger.”  One man, after I patiently explained how we know the age of rocks, finally just threw up his hands, exclaimed, “The Devil made that rock look that old to turn you away from God,” and led his family back up the trail.

At the time, to a college kid with a summer job, these responses seemed bizarre but relatively harmless – they were local, “everyone’s entitled to their own beliefs”, “no skin off my back”, “whatever”…  But now, 15 years later, I understand these taunts to be the threat they truly are:  dangerous beliefs made more dangerous because more and more people believe them.

How does believing a 300 million year-old rock is only 6,000 years old become dangerous?  It is a reflection of where and how we find answers.  A 300 million year-old rock is the answer resulting from decades of observation, research, field study, laboratory testing, comparative studies and critical thinking.  A 6,000 year old rock is the answer because God said so.

Is the accurate age of a rock really important?  Interesting, yes, but important?  Maybe not.  But what if the question is about Polio?  Should we seek an answer from decades of observation, research and field study, discover a vaccine and destroy a worldwide plague or does the answer lie in God’s plan?

What if the question is about food?  Decades of observation, research and field study have shown us there is only so much arable land that can produce only so many calories of food energy.  Currently, we burn 10 calories of oil energy to make 1 calorie of food energy.  Our world population of 6 billion people is barely sustainable, let alone the 12 billion projected in another 40 years.  Should we answer with conservation or with prayer?

What about your right to vote or just your rights in general?   Eons of history, research, comparative studies and critical thinking have brought us to the advantages of a representative democracy based on individual rights and the checks and balances of limited governmental power.  Is government of, by, and for the people the answer for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness or would we prefer one nation, under God, defined by his will and authority?

Let’s think about this: If, as many people are demanding today, we want our government to be based on God’s authority, the first problem is to decide exactly which God we want to follow.  There are many.  God is a very ambiguous, schizophrenic deity.  This is why, as Carl Sagan explained, “When you ask, ‘Do you believe in God’, if I say yes or if I say no, you have learned absolutely nothing.”  So we have to be more specific.  How do we get 300 million people to agree to a specific definition of God’s identity and will?  We can’t, of course. A democratic populace with the freedom to think for itself never will.  Okay, forget individual freedoms.  The answer is a theocratic dictatorship that can force the people to live according to its particular interpretation of God’s will.

And that’s how a 6,000 year old rock becomes dangerous.

But it was just a little rock!  Yes, but it is a big metaphor.

The man who claimed that the Devil had made the rock look that old to turn me away from God was trying to warn me that I shouldn’t believe everything I see.  He believes the Devil works through deception so anything learned from observation can’t be trusted.  The church tells him Satan sends demons to trick his senses and his mind. Consequently, according to him and the 30 million Americans who agree with him, we can be saved only through faith.

Of course, there’s no denying that our minds can be easily fooled.  After all, it is the basic premise underlying all marketing, entertainment and campaign policies.  But the idea that we must turn to faith for our salvation is fundamentally flawed.  Credulity is a disastrous reaction to deception.  If we wish to succeed in life, we need a more skeptical way to react to the world around us.  How can we possibly work through the deceits of the world and the whims of our minds and come to a true understanding of reality?

That answer is the Scientific Method.  It is a process of constant questioning, testing, verifying and questioning again, until the smoke and mirrors are removed and reality is revealed.  Then you do it all over again.  It is an adaptive mechanism, a hybrid of contemplation and observation and the best technique we’ve invented to help us figure stuff out.  Constant questions.  Constant testing.  If an idea doesn’t hold up, we throw it out.  It’s ruthless, but it works.  There is no “argument from authority” because authorities make mistakes.  And, as Sagan reminds us, “Intellectual brilliance is no guarantee against being dead wrong.”  Nothing is sacred and that is how lots of very diligent people figured out that a 6,000 year-old rock was really 300 million years old.  Cherished ideas often must fall by the wayside, but at its best, the method keeps us honest.

Honesty is difficult.  It requires heroic efforts of introspection and self-awareness.  This honest portrayal of reality is at the heart of the conflict between science and religion.  While science is a natural response to reality, religion demands that we distrust our senses and our intellect, instead relying on a supernatural explanation.  In this way, faith robs us of the best tool we have for learning about our world and understanding our true position within it.  Religions, especially fundamentalist religions, get stuck because they are based on an immovable, unchangeable, unquestionable authority.  But without doubt and questioning, there is no way to acknowledge, much less correct for errors. That is how a 6,000 year-old rock becomes dangerous.

It also explains the hostility on the hike that day because the danger goes both ways.  If we want to believe that the universe was created for our benefit, almost every scientific discovery of the past 400 years has been a real downer.  First we find out that the universe, literally, does not revolve around us.  Next, we discover that our Sun is really a quite average star and, not only that, we live out in the boon-docks of an average spiral galaxy that is just one of 20 other galaxies (given the appropriately non-superlative name The Local Group) zipping through space outward from the center of the cosmos which, did we mention, is very far away from us.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, this planet that was supposedly created for us was hanging out for almost 5 billion years before we even showed up and, by the way, we didn’t look like this when we first got here.

If your sense of self-worth, your purpose in life, is based on the belief that you and the universe were created specially for one another, science is truly a harbinger of doom.  You can shoot the messenger, but ignoring reality is no guarantee that it will go away.  Like a talk-show celebrity, the significance you desire is, sadly, based on unmerited importance.  Truth be told, though the performance was entertaining, your show is just a dot among 6 billion dots on a bigger dot flying around a brighter dot lost amid a billion, billion more dots separated by vacuous space.

But here’s the cool thing:  at least you are a dot.  I am a dot, too.  This means that, though we are insignificant to the cosmos, we are incredibly significant to each other.  We and our fellow dots.  What should we do?  Don’t be afraid.  The lack of a deity is not an opening for chaos.  It is a call for responsibility.  Besides, there are some really smart dots over there that have figured out how to learn and they can teach us how to survive.  It’s all really quite amazing.  Did you know that this rock is over 300 million years old?

Our species has continuously found meaning, purpose and comfort in the idea of god or gods.  Unfortunately, if we want to know what is actually going on, and our survival depends on understanding reality, religion is utterly bereft of explanatory power.  A belief in god’s existence is a useful and powerful illumination of our own desires for life, but it is not a reflection of what life is.

The discovery that a rock is 300 million years old is the result of lots of questions by lots of people who devised lots of different ways to ask the Earth about itself.  Much to our delight, she is talking.  Science is how we listen and the scientific method is how we understand what she says.

To deny that a rock is 300 million years old is to deny the process that got us to that understanding.  Since this process of inquiry is our best tool for succeeding in the world, its denial is a grave threat to our future prosperity.  Far from making us stronger, faith cripples us because it takes away our greatest advantage: our ability to question, to learn, to adapt and, therefore, to live.

de-lu-sion [noun]

false belief: a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence, especially as a symptom of a psychiatric condition

What is Star Trek

Star Trek collectively refers to a science-fiction franchise spanning six unique television series, 726 episodes and ten motion pictures in addition to hundreds of novels, video games, fan stories and other works of fiction all set within the same fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry in the mid-1960s.

It depicts an optimistic, almost utopian future in which humanity has largely overcome such traditional frailities and vices as sickness, racism, poverty, environmental destructiveness, intolerance, religion and warfare on Earth, and has united with other intelligent species in the galaxy; the central characters explore the galaxy, discovering new worlds and encountering new civilizations, while helping to promote peace and understanding.

What Really Happened at the State of the Union

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Cindy Sheehan

Dear Friends,

As most of you have probably heard, I was arrested before the State of the Union Address tonight.

I am speechless with fury at what happened and with grief over what we have lost in our country.

There have been lies from the police and distortions by the press. (Shocker) So this is what really happened:

This afternoon at the People's State of the Union Address in DC where I was joined by Congresspersons Lynn Woolsey and John Conyers, Ann Wright, Malik Rahim and John Cavanagh, Lynn brought me a ticket to the State of the Union Address. At that time, I was wearing the shirt that said: 2245 Dead. How many more?

After the PSOTU press conference, I was having second thoughts about going to the SOTU at the Capitol. I didn't feel comfortable going. I knew George Bush would say things that would hurt me and anger me and I knew that I couldn't disrupt the address because Lynn had given me the ticket and I didn't want to be disruptive out of respect for her. I, in fact, had given the ticket to John Bruhns who is in Iraq Veterans Against the War. However, Lynn's office had already called the media and everyone knew I was going to be there so I sucked it up and went.

I got the ticket back from John, and I met one of Congresswoman Barbara Lee's staffers in the Longworth Congressional Office building and we went to the Capitol via the undergroud tunnel. I went through security once, then had to use the rest room and went through security again.

My ticket was in the 5th gallery, front row, fourth seat in. The person who in a few minutes was to arrest me, helped me to my seat.

I had just sat down and I was warm from climbing 3 flights of stairs back up from the bathroom so I unzipped my jacket. I turned to the right to take my left arm out, when the same officer saw my shirt and yelled; "Protester." He then ran over to me, hauled me out of my seat and roughly (with my hands behind my back) shoved me up the stairs. I said something like "I'm going, do you have to be so rough?" By the way, his name is Mike Weight.

The officer ran with me to the elevators yelling at everyone to move out of the way. When we got to the elevators, he cuffed me and took me outside to await a squad car. On the way out, someone behind me said, "That's Cindy Sheehan." At which point the officer who arrested me said: "Take these steps slowly." I said, "You didn't care about being careful when you were dragging me up the other steps." He said, "That's because you were protesting." Wow, I get hauled out of the People's House because I was, "Protesting."

I was never told that I couldn't wear that shirt into the Congress. I was never asked to take it off or zip my jacket back up. If I had been asked to do any of those things...I would have, and written about the suppression of my freedom of speech later. I was immediately, and roughly (I have the bruises and muscle spasms to prove it) hauled off and arrested for "unlawful conduct."

After I had my personal items inventoried and my fingers printed, a nice Sgt. came in and looked at my shirt and said, "2245, huh? I just got back from there."

I told him that my son died there. That's when the enormity of my loss hit me. I have lost my son. I have lost my First Amendment rights. I have lost the country that I love. Where did America go? I started crying in pain.

What did Casey die for? What did the 2244 other brave young Americans die for? What are tens of thousands of them over there in harm's way for still? For this? I can't even wear a shirt that has the number of troops on it that George Bush and his arrogant and ignorant policies are responsible for killing.

I wore the shirt to make a statement. The press knew I was going to be there and I thought every once in awhile they would show me and I would have the shirt on. I did not wear it to be disruptive, or I would have unzipped my jacket during George's speech. If I had any idea what happens to people who wear shirts that make the neocons uncomfortable that I would be arrested...maybe I would have, but I didn't.

There have already been many wild stories out there.

I have some lawyers looking into filing a First Amendment lawsuit against the government for what happened tonight. I will file it. It is time to take our freedoms and our country back.

I don't want to live in a country that prohibits any person, whether he/she has paid the ulitmate price for that country, from wearing, saying, writing, or telephoning any negative statements about the government. That's why I am going to take my freedoms and liberties back. That's why I am not going to let Bushco take anything else away from me...or you.

I am so appreciative of the couple of hundred of protesters who came to the jail while I was locked up to show their support....we have so much potential for good...there is so much good in so many people.

Four hours and 2 jails after I was arrested, I was let out. Again, I am so upset and sore it is hard to think straight.

Keep up the struggle...I promise you I will too.

Love and peace soon,

Cindy