Bush's colonoscopy

The headlines on CNN.com read:

"June 28, 2002
"Bush to have colonoscopy under anesthesia"

Was he planning to have it some place else?
Also, while the doctors are in there, maybe they can hunt around and look for his head.

I'm sure it's in there, somewhere.....

Good or Weavel, you decider.....

The Washington press reports that Pres. Bush has had a steady stream of ministers and theologians visiting the White House. Bush has invited them to discuss "Good and Evil." While I applaude Pres. Bush's efforts to try to figure out which is which, I think I can save everyone some time here.

Short Answer:

Invading another country, without provocation, and killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people is Evil with a big "E"

Long Answer:

I am becoming more and more convinced that there are a lot of people out there who simply don't understand "Good and Evil." Most of us ordinary people are born with a basic notion that we should not do harm to others. But that still leaves a lot of people out there who just don't seem to get it. It's like they have fetal-alcohol syndrome or some other congenital condition that confuses their "moral compass." Essentially, they are morally disfunctional.

Ironically, the same people who have no moral compass also tend to develop a curiousity about all this "Good and Evil" stuff that people talk about. And many of these people, lacking a moral compass, decide to become ministers, priests and theologians.

We see the same phenomenon in Psychology, as many people who become counselors and psychologists have, themselves, severe psychological problems. They, in effect, become psychologists in an effort to cure themselves ("Physician heal thyself")

The same thing is true with people who have no moral compass. They study religion and ethics and try to figure out what "Good" is and what "Evil" is. They always put good and evil into capital letters because, to them, these are abstract concepts, not actual behaviors. All that they understand about good and evil is what other people tell them. And once they become "experts" they are ready to start telling everyone else what to do (and not to do). They become incredible bores and arrogant bullies, always blovating about how "Evil" Clinton was to get a bj from a young woman and "Good" Bush is to kill thousands of muslims.

William J. "Bill" Bennett, the former Sect. of Education, is a good example of this kind of blovator. He even wrote a book about his "moral compass" though he still seems to be unable to find his. Maybe it's under the sofa... or maybe it fell behind the buffet.....

Or maybe he lost it at the race track.

More corruption & scandal

This has been a difficult week for institutional corruption. The Catholic Diocese of Los Angeles has committed to paying out $660 million dollars to victims of sexual abuse. This is the largest amount paid out ... so far.

Meanwhile US Senator David Vitter has finally come out of hiding (unless you count hiding behind his wife's skirts) and admitted that he was involved with prostitutes in two cities. Vitter is the same creep who said that Pres. Clinton should be impeached for violating his marriage vows (Clinton's, not Vitter's). Now his bizarre right-wing pronouncements have come back to bite him (you know where).

There are various news reports that Vitter paid upwards of $300 for the services of these prostitutes. I think this alone is reason to censure him. How can the voters of Louisiana trust him with their tax money if he is willing to overpay for services? Can you imagine if Vitter were on a Senate committee and an Air Force General said they needed to spend $200 on a toilet seat for a B-52. Vitter would say (to himself) "Well, that's less than I spent on that hooker last night ... must be a pretty good deal!" See, we just can't trust Sen. Vitter to give the taxpayers real value for their hard-earned money. Vitter has to know that no one in Louisiana pays more than $150 for a hooker, even in the best neighborhoods of New Orleans.

On the other hand, we have Florida Republican State Representative Bob Allen. Allen was arrested by police in Florida after he approached an undercover cop and offered to give him a blow-job for $25. Now here is a congressman who really understands giving good value. I think that Bob Allen should be elected to the US Senate, because he knows the value of a dollar. If some General asks Bob for $200 for a toilet seat, Bob would demand that they go to Home Depot, or maybe even Big Lots and buy a cheap seat for $29.95 -- just like the rest of us do.

What's Wrong with Scooter?

George W. Bush has commuted the sentence of "Scooter" Libby. Libby no longer has to go to jail, but he does have to pay a $250,000 fine. Of course he is not actually going to pay the fine out of his own pocket. The Right Wingers have already rased millions of dollars in a fund-raising campaign, much as they did for Ollie North.

They have already sent out the mass mailings and made the phone calls, as thousands of poor and middle-class conservatives were asked--once again--to contribute to keeping another criminal out of jail. Meanwhile the really deep pockets are busy contributing to Presidential campaigns where it will go to buy even more influence and power.

Perhaps some jail time would have helped Scooter straighten out his priorities. But of course if Libby goes to jail there is always the chance he will rat out his boss, Karl Rove. Bush can't afford to take the chance that Libby will turn on his masters and start talking about the high crimes of his bosses in the White House.

It's amazing that the Right Wing pundits have compared this commutation to Clinton's last minute pardons in 2000. Clinton didn't pardon anyone on the White House staff in order to cover up his own actions. Libby, on the other hand, probably knows where all the bodies are buried, and neither Bush nor Cheney can afford to have him start talking to prosecutors.

The Legacy of Jerry Falwell

Earlier this week Rev. Jerry Falwall passed away. A great bloated and obscene presence has left this world and moved on, leaving a vacant hole that can only be filled by another (walking and talking) vacant hole. I'm sure one will step up to the plate pretty quickly.

Early on in his religious career, Rev. Falwell decided that God was against the civil rights movement. So Falwell proclaimed from the pulpit that God was against civil rights (at least for black people). He even described it as the "civil wrongs" movement. Rev. Falwell also told his fellow ministers that it was evil to get involved in politics. Getting into politics was a sure pathway to Hell. Jerry also thought the racist goverment in South Africa was a pretty nice thing.

Then, twenty years later, Rev. Falwell saw the growing Neo-conservative movement and decided that God was for it. This time *not* getting into politics was a sure pathway to Hell. Also, he could see that supporting Ronald Reagan was a sure path to fame and fortune for Rev. Falwell--so how could he refuse God's will?

So clearly since Rev. Falwell both stayed out of politics and then went into politics, he must have gone against God one way or the other. So it's fair to assume that Rev. Falwell is, right now, in Hell.

If you have any doubts about this fact, then go to your local mall and stand very quitely. Listen, and in a few moments you will hear a faint sound, much like a cell phone ringing. This is proof that Rev. Falwell is in Hell, because every time you hear a bell ring, it means a devil is stabbing Jerry in the ass with a pitchfork.

I still remember seeing Jerry Falwell when he was a guest on William F. Buckley's television program "Firing Line." Falwell had just had a run-in with the faith healer Ernest Angley--a short, fat froggy-looking evangelist who is famous for healing people through their television sets. Angley tells people to put their hands on the tv screen and feel God's healing power enter their hands.

Rev. was all upset about the way Angley was (he felt) deceiving his followers. Rev. Falwell was clearly agitated about Angley and his faith healing. According to Falwell, "He can't heal people through the television set. Those programs are taped two weeks in advance!"

Let's sum up Jerry's theology:

1. God created the whole universe in only six days.
2. God wrote the Bible, a very large book which is absolutely accurate and without error.
3. God can heal people through a televison set, through "live" programs.
4. However, God can't heal people through a pre-recorded broadcast. Sorry!

What was really amazing is that William F.Buckley kept a straight face throughout Falwell's tirade. The fact that Falwell said these things, and actually believed what he was saying, proves that Falwell was mentally impared. Whether it was evangelical theology that impared him, or whether he was simply drawn to evangelical religion because he was already impared--no one can say.

We know that Rev. Falwell's father was a bootlegger. So maybe Falwell was a victim of fetal alcohol syndrome... at least that would be my guess. People affected by fetal alcohol syndrome are often selfish and amoral--only interested in attaining power over others. Yep, sounds about right.

When Does Life Begin?

Pythagoras of Samos (580-500 BCE)

Pythagoras of Samos, the famous Greek mathematician, is also know for starting a philosophical and religious movement based on the idea that everything is based on mathematics (which seems obvious) and that numbers were the basis for reality. This movement is now called Pythagoreanism.

Pythagoras is generally credited for creating the Pythagorean Theorem, though in fact he may have simply borrowed this idea from the Egyptians. Less well known is his effort to create a secret religious society. Very little is known about this group, except for its reverence for numbers and its strict vegetarianism.

Evidently Pythagoras influenced the development of Platonic philosophy and, to some extent, the development of various magical and esoteric traditions, such as Rosicrucianism. His ideas were also important to the development of Numerology.

There is a story about the death of Pythagoras, which is worth repeating. According to the story, Pythagoras was running away from his enemies. He was being pursued by a group of men who meant to kill him. As he ran, Pythagoras came up to a field of beans. Pythagoras stopped short, because he believed that beans were sacred. This was part of his strict vegetarianism, that no one should harm beans—because they possessed a living soul.

Needless to say, his enemies quickly caught up with him and murdered him there on the edge of the bean field. Perhaps some of them might accidentally have trampled a few beans in the process. We can only hope—for the sake of his soul—that they did not damage or destroy any beans in the process.

We are, today, in a similar situation with respect to stem cell research. Our Fearless Leader, George W. Bush, believes that the human embryos—even those that are discarded by fertility clinics—have a soul. These bits of human tissue are therefore “sacred” and should not be harmed or destroyed. This idea ignores the fact that the eggs are about to be discarded anyway, and there is virtually no chance of them being implanted in a womb. These eggs are, quite frankly, no different from the many trillions of eggs and sperm that are “lost” and discarded each day, washed away in the laundry of homes all over the world.

Still, George W. Bush—and the right-wing religious nut-jobs who support him—believe that these eggs are somehow “sacred.” And they are quite willing (perhaps not to die themselves right now) but at least let many thousands of people die of horrible diseases instead of using these discarded eggs in genetic research.

We may be puzzled by the way Pythagoras died. But we are, in our own way, just as foolish. We allow a rather bizarre religious idea—an idea which runs counter to early Jewish and Christian ideas—prevent us from using these eggs for medical research, even though stem-cell research holds great promise.

It’s worth noting, too, that Pythagoras is said to have decided that beans were sacred because, “the beans create a wind in the gut that is foul, and thus proves that beans should not be eaten.”
This certainly sounds reasonable, in that preventing people from eating the sacred beans also prevents the development of gas and foul odors. Clearly, Pythagoras was a humanitarian.

At the same time, the right-wing religionists have decided that “life begins at conception.” And for this reason a mass of human cells should be equivalent in importance (in God’s eyes) to a fully-grown human. We should “respect life” because it is, well, life.

Obviously the “life begins at conception” idea is false. After all, what was it before conception? Mac and cheese? Potatoe salad?

Life exists and it continues until it dies. Human beings die, as life reaches its end—usually when something happens to stop its continued existence. All life is like this. It exists and it continues until it stops, at which time it becomes dead—a mass of flesh that is “lifeless.” A fertilized human egg did not spring to life out of nothingness. It was made up of the cast-off cells, the seed or germ of two parents. To claim that life somehow begins at conception is only a playing around with words—it is a theological game that is as foolish as the claim that beans have a soul.

Mencken "On Government"

Mencken "On Government"

H.L. Mencken's essay is even more relevant today, in the wake of
9/11, than it was when it was first written. Everyone can
benefit from these sentiments:

"The great pox of civilization, alas, I believe to be incurable,
and so I propose no new quackery for its treatment. I am against
dosing it, and I am against killing it. All I presume to argue
is that something would be accomplished by viewing it more
realistically--by ceasing to let its necessary and perhaps useful
functions blind us to its ever-increasing crimes against the
ordinary rights of the free citizen and the common decencies of
the world. The fact that it is generally respected--that it
possesses effective machinery for propagating and safeguarding
that respect--is the main shield of the rogues and vagabonds who
use it to exploit the great masses of diligent and credulous men.

"Whenever you hear anyone bawling for more respect for the laws,
whether it be a Coolidge on his imperial throne or an humble
county judge in his hedge court, you have before you one who is
trying to use them to his private advantage; whenever you hear
of new legislation for putting down dissent and rebellion you may
be sure that it is promoted by scoundrels. The extortions and
oppressions will go on so long as such bare fraudulence deceives
and disarms the victims--so long as they are ready to swallow the
immemorial official theory that protesting against the stealings
of the archbishop's secretary's nephew's mistress' illegitimate
son is a sin against the Holy Ghost. They will come to an end
when the victims begin to differentiate clearly between government
as a necessary device for maintaining order in the world and
government as a device for maintaining the authority and
prosperity of predatory rascals and swindlers...."