David Hancock
Chester
Politicians and Diapers
Cogitating about our discombobulating political quagmires and debacles—especially during the lame-duck, quack-quack Congress—reminds me of Eric Arthur Blair (a.k.a. George Orwell, 1946):
We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: The only check on it is that sooner or later a chimera (false belief) bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield.
Sadly, it appears that many of these mendacious, Machiavellian knaves (politicians) cannot think clearly enough to understand that they are not thinking clearly. The problems we face will not be solved by the minds that created them. However, reading One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future by Ben Carson, MD, seems to be a panacea, in my opinion.
Maybe Will Rogers was correct when he said, “Things will get better despite our efforts to improve them.” Or maybe Winston Churchill when he said, “Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.” Or maybe Voltaire when he said, “Every wo(man) is the creature of the age in which s/he lives; very few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the times.”
Conclusion? Politicians and diapers need to be changed—often for the same reasons. What’s the opposite of pro? Con! What’s the opposite of progress? Congress!
David A. Hancock
Chester
Laughter Happens Too
One of my colleagues, who teaches political philosophy, invited me to attend one of his classes. The assignment was for students to think of creative definitions with humor. It was based on some of the writings of Henry David Thoreau, the brilliant, unconventional, iconoclastic heretic.
I hope that we all enjoy some laughter. His students did not disappoint us. Here they are.
The religions:
• Taoism: ___ happens.
• Hinduism: This ___ has happened before.
• Confucianism: Confucius says, “___ happens.”
• Zen: What is the sound of ___ happening?
• Islam: If ___ happens, it is the will of Allah.
• Jehovah’s Witnesses: Knock, knock, ___ happens.
• Atheism: There is no such thing as ___.
• Agnosticism: Maybe ___ happens, and maybe not.
• Protestantism: ___ won’t happen if I work harder.
• Catholicism: If ___ happens, I deserve it.
• Judaism: Why does ___ always happen to me?
• Televangelism: Send money or ___ will happen.
Politics:
• Conservative: The courts have allowed too much excrement.
• Independent: ___ happens.
• Democrat: ___ is a vast right-wing conspiracy.
• Republican: The rich deserve more ___.
• Moderate: We must also consider ___’s right to happen.
• Liberal: ___ will happen if we don’t spend enough.
• Reform: We can’t get our ___ in a group.
• Socialist: Support the equal distribution of ___.
• Communist: Come the revolution, ___ will not happen again.
• Libertarian: Legalize all kinds of ___.
• Green party: Compost happens.
There is no answer key.
David A. Hancock
Chester
Faith Needs No Proof
I would like to settle the quagmire, debacle, ad infinitum, ad nauseam of the creationism-evolution debate written by several polemics during the past year.
Check out www.skeptic.com and read the following: “How to Debate a Creationist: 25 Creationist Arguments and 25 Evolutionist Answers for Enlightenment”; the Baloney Detection Kit; Why People Believe Weird Things and How We Believe: The Search for God in an Age of Science, both by Michael Shermer.
In conclusion, what is the relationship of science and religion? Evolution theory cannot replace faith and religion, and science has no interest in pretending that it can. The theory of evolution is a scientific theory, not a religious doctrine. It stands or falls on evidence alone. Religious faith, by definition, depends on belief when evidence is absent or unimportant. They fill different niches in the human psyche.
To fear the theory of evolution is an indication of a shortcoming in one’s faith, as is looking to scientific proof for justification of one’s religious beliefs. If creationists have true faith in their religion, it shouldn’t matter what scientists think or say, and scientific proof of God or biblical stories should be of no interest.
Enough said. Now let’s choose some other topics of interest and more important things to write about and discuss, OK? This nonsensical nonsense is nonsensical. Let’s discuss taxes, war, jobs, community environment, human behavior disorders, education, parenting, politics, public policy, health, legal issues, etc.
“A union of Government and Religion tends to destroy Government and degrade Religion” (Justice Hugo Black, Engel vs. Vitale, 1962).
David A. Hancock
Chester
Warning. Warning, Warning
The indelible Warning to Patriots by Naomi Wolf (social critic, political activist, cofounder of the Woodhill Institute for Ethical Leadership-American Freedom Campaign and author of The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot) references the ten steps to a dictatorship: “All dictators: invoke an external threat; develop a paramilitary force; create a secret prison system; track ordinary citizens; arbitrarily detain and release them; harass citizens groups; target writers; intimidate the press; recast dissent as ‘treason’ and criticism as ‘espionage’ and eventually subvert the rule of law.”
At times, in our own history, our commitment to freedom has faltered. The Alien and Sedition Act of 1793 made it a crime for Americans to speak critically—to “bring into contempt or disrepute”—of then-President John Adams and other US leaders. But Thomas Jefferson pardoned those convicted under these laws when he took office. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, effectively declaring martial law in several states. Approximately forty thousand Americans were imprisoned by military authorities during the war, many for simply expressing their views. But when
