Showing posts with label Awesome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Awesome. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Wednesday Wonder - The Longest Time (The Coral Triangle)



Every now and then I come across and video that makes me both smile and think. This is one of them. As one of the commenters below the video on YouTube pointed out: this is what the video campaign promoting science to girls should have been more like.

Lyrics are in the video. It's a great song (Billy Joel's "The Longest Time") and you will learn something new! Please do watch - it's great!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Tuesday Tonic - My Stand (Tombstone da Deadman)



from the incomparable rationalwarrior aka Tombstone da Deadman.

Lyrics - My Stand

My tolerance for ignorance is nonexistent
why resist it cause faith-based claims can't
go the distance
you're either going to stand up for reality
or surrender to the fantasy
but either way don't care if people mad at me
my criticisms so much bigger than religion
it's about the fact that we're lacking in total skepticism
these days it kind of seems like being a skeptic is a
negative
so my position is that faith's a type of mental sedative
the type of things I rap about are really not cerebral
there's just an overabundance of really stupid people
who get offended when I challenge all their sacred shit
fuss and complain but then abstain from debating it
they want me suppressed so they try to say that I'm
obsessed
the knee-jerk reaction whenever they hear my views
expressed
some of the ones that ain't blind sit on the sidelines
too scared to offend but then defend all those dumb
lies
you really think these theists see you in a different light
because you're the type that's passive you're favorable
inside their sight
you really think they think that you and I are not alike
and that they don't imagine you burning in hell in afterlife?
To them, you're just a sacreligious blasphemy
a tragedy, a heathen who doesn't respect his holy
majesty
my contention you're respected on condition
that you never contradict them or ever speak your
convictions

(Chorus)
I know that you don't see this as imperative
but I refuse to lose and let stupid frame the
narrative
so this is where I making my stand
and now regardless who don't like or how they get
mad
see while they rest of you capitulate and go with the
plan
I'll be beating on this wall until I breaking my hand
so listen while I state official policy
no matter how I'm threaten with hell they'll never 
silence me
I know that you don't see this as imperative
but I refuse to lose and let stupid frame the narrative.

(2nd verse)
Being a skeptic means much more than being
atheist
and until you accept that you won't relate to this
that cognitive dissonance that you experience
is when there's things you claim to believe in but ain't
living it
most of you say that you're the type to question
everything
until I hear the conspiracy theories that you're echoing
and when I scrutinize the things you try to say are lies
expose your sources as suspect I see your logic dies
some still believe in pseudo-sciences...
engage in special pleading
when theists use the exact same reasoning
I've ven seen atheists use arguments from ignorance
and seem hard pressed to tell me exactly just what the
difference is
a skeptic without the ability to analyze
is just as bad as theists cause he probably will accept a lie
just as long as it verifies all his biases
applying it to his knowledge pool and diving in
I'm not saying that some conspiracies do not exist
I'm just saying that a lot of them are some bullshit
so I'mma call a spade a spade no matter who asserts
it
no one is perfect, just one lie and then it's all perverted
bring down the curtain on that sad display
the only way's to question yourself and all the things
you say
start today
and maybe we can rise above and be examples
for others to emulate and that's the way we win the
battle.

(Chorus)
I know that you don't see this as imperative
but refuse to lose and let stupid frame the
narrative
so this is where I making my stand
and now regardless who don't like or how they get
mad
see while they rest of you capitulate and go with the
plan
I'll be beating on this wall until I breaking my hand
so listen while I state official policy
no matter how I'm threaten with hell they'll never 
silence me
I know that you don't see this as imperative
but refuse to lose and let stupid frame the narrative.

Tombstone da Deadman, the Rational Warrior




Thursday, September 27, 2012

Thorsday Tonic - Subway Serenade




A little slice of American life.  Enjoy!

The artist is Jessica Latshaw, and this was an impromptu jam session on a New York subway.

This video illustrates what is one of the best things about the USA. Every day, millions of people move through the streets of American cities and towns; people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. Our "melting pot" is more of a beautiful colorful swirl of amazing human potential.

When we look into each other's faces every day: on a bus or subway, at the corner gyro shop, over the counter at the neighborhood deli, across the aisle in a public school classroom, we begin to move out of our own little worlds and into the larger world of shared human experience. And we see that it can be awesome, that people are people even if they look or sound different from us. We can be citizens of this great country and we can enrich one another's lives.

Get to know your neighbors. Go out of your way to meet people of other cultures who have joined your community. That is the American spirit. It is what built this country and what still makes it great.

e pluribus unum

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Sunday Inspiration - Tim Minchin's Storm


                             Tim Minchin's musical and philosophical genius via stormmovie.



"Science adjusts it’s views based on what’s observed.
Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved."
Tim Minchin, Storm.


It is actually a beautiful, calm, sunny Sunday morning here in the midwest. I was hoping for a nice dark and stormy night to post this, but this video and the Sunday inspiration contained within is impossible to pass up in spite of the inconveniently pleasant weather.

This is an account of the kind of thing experienced by many scientifically-literate humanists. Tim Minchin describes the unexpected confrontation, the attempt to simply keep one's head down and not make waves, and the ultimate inability to stay quiet in the face of egregious and even harmful lies.

Many of us have had this uncomfortable experience, and few of us can manage to stay quiet right to the end of the evening. Tim couldn't either, but his magnificent rant is worth the outburst.

And he does it all with that pitch perfect, amazingly talented Tim Minchin humour!

Sit back, read, listen and enjoy.

Storm

Inner North London, top floor flat
All white walls, white carpet, white cat,
Rice Paper partitions, modern art and ambition
The host’s a physician,
Bright bloke, has his own practice
His girlfriend’s an actress, an old mate of ours from home
And they’re always great fun, so to dinner we’ve come.

The 5th guest is an unknown,
The hosts have just thrown us together for a favour 'cause this girl’s just arrived from Australia
And she's moved to North London and she’s the sister of someone or has some connection.

As we make introductions I’m struck by her beauty
She’s irrefutably fair with dark eyes and dark hair
But as she sits, I admit I’m a little bit wary 'cause I notice the tip of the wing of a fairy tattooed on that popular area just above the derrière
And when she says “I’m Sagittarian”, I confess a pigeonhole starts to form
And is immediately filled with pigeon when she says her name is Storm.

Conversation is initially bright and light hearted but it’s not long before Storm gets started:
“You can’t know anything, knowledge is merely opinion!”
She opines, over her Cabernet Sauvignon, vis-à-vis some unhippily empirical comment by me.

“Not a good start” I think
We’re only on pre-dinner drinks
And across the room, my wife widens her eyes, silently begs me: “Be Nice”
A matrimonial warning not worth ignoring
So I resist the urge to ask Storm whether knowledge is so loose-weave of a morning when deciding whether to leave her apartment by the front door
Or the window on her second floor.

The food is delicious and Storm, whilst avoiding all meat happily sits and eats
As the good doctor, slightly pissedly holds court on some anachronistic aspect of medical history
When Storm suddenly insists:
“But the human body is a mystery! Science just falls in a hole when it tries to explain the the nature of the soul.”

My hostess throws me a glance
She, like my wife, knows there’s a chance I’ll be off on one of my rare but fun rants but I shan't
My lips are sealed, I just wanna enjoy the meal
And although Storm is starting to get my goat I have no intention of rocking the boat
Although it’s becoming a bit of a wrestle because - like her meteorological namesake - Storm has no such concerns for our vessel:

“Pharmaceutical companies are the enemy
They promote drug dependency at the cost of the natural remedies that are all our bodies need
They are immoral and driven by greed.
Why take drugs when herbs can solve it?
Why use chemicals when homeopathic solvents can resolve it?
I think it’s time we all return-to-live with natural medical alternatives.”

And try as I like, a small crack appears in my diplomacy-dike.
“By definition”, I begin,
“Alternative Medicine”, I continue,
“Has either not been proved to work, or been proved not to work.
Do you know what they call 'alternative medicine' that’s been proved to work?
Medicine.”

“So you don’t believe in any natural remedies?”

“On the contrary Storm, actually
Before I came to tea, I took a remedy derived from the bark of a willow tree
A painkiller that’s virtually side-effect free
It’s got a weird name, Darling, what was it again?
M-masprin? Basprin? Oh yeah! Asprin!
Which I paid about a buck for down at the local drugstore.

The debate briefly abates as our hosts collects plates
But as they return with desserts Storm pertly asserts:
“Shakespeare said it first:
There are more things in heaven and earth than exist in your philosophy…
Science is just how we’re trained to look at reality,
It doesn't explain love or spirituality.
How does science explain psychics? Auras? The afterlife? The power of prayer?”

I’m becoming aware that I’m staring, I’m like a rabbit suddenly trapped in the blinding headlights of vacuous crap.
Maybe it’s the Hamlet she just misquothed or the 5th glass of wine I just quaffed
But my diplomacy dike groans and the arsehole held back by its stones can be held back no more:

“Look , Storm, sorry I don’t mean to bore you but there’s no such thing as an aura!
Reading Auras is like reading minds or tea-leaves or star-signs or meridian lines
These people aren’t applying a skill, they're either lying or mentally ill.
Same goes for people who claim they hear God’s demands or Spiritual healers who think they've magic hands.

By the way, why do we think it is it OK for people to pretend they can talk to the dead?
Isn't that totally fucked in the head?
Lying to some crying woman whose child has died and telling her you’re in touch with the other side?
I think that’s fundamentally sick
Do we need to clarify here that there’s no such thing as a psychic?

What are we, fucking 2?
Do we actually think that Horton Heard a Who?
Do we still believe that Santa brings us gifts?
That Michael Jackson didn’t had facelifts?
Are we still so stunned by circus tricks that we think that the dead would wanna talk to pricks like John Edwards?

Storm to her credit despite my derision keeps firing off clichés with startling precision like a sniper using bollocks for ammunition

“You’re so sure of your position but you’re just closed-minded
I think you’ll find that your faith in Science and Tests is just as blind as the faith of any fundamentalist”

“Wow that’s a good point, let me think for a bit.
Oh wait, my mistake, that's absolute bullshit.
Science adjusts it’s views based on what’s observed.
Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved.
If you show me that, say, homeopathy works, then I will change my mind
I’ll spin on a fucking dime
I’ll be embarrassed as hell, but I will run through the streets yelling
'It’s a miracle! Take physics and bin it!
Water has memory! And while it’s memory of a long lost drop of onion juice seems Infinite
It somehow forgets all the poo it’s had in it!'

You show me that it works and how it works
And when I’ve recovered from the shock
I will take a compass and carve 'Fancy That' on the side of my cock.”

Everyone's just staring now,
But I’m pretty pissed and I’ve dug this far down,
So I figure, in for penny, in for a pound:

“Life is full of mysteries, yeah
But there are answers out there
And they won’t be found by people sitting around looking serious and saying 'Isn’t life mysterious?'
'Let’s sit here and hope.
Let’s call up the fucking Pope.
Let’s go watch Oprah interview Deepak Chopra.'

If you wanna watch tele, you should watch Scooby Doo.
That show was so cool because every time there was a church with a ghoul or a ghost in a school
They looked beneath the mask and what was inside?
The fucking janitor or the dude who ran the waterslide.
Because throughout history every mystery ever solved has turned out to be
Not Magic.

Does the idea that there might be knowledge frighten you?
Does the idea that one afternoon on Wiki-fucking-pedia might enlighten you frighten you?
Does the notion that there may not be a supernatural so blow your hippy noodle that you'd rather just stand in the fog of your inability to Google?

Isn’t this enough?

Just this world?

Just this beautiful, complex, wonderfully unfathomable, natural world?
How does it so fail to hold our attention that we have to diminish it with the invention of cheap, man-made myths and monsters?
If you’re so into your Shakespeare, lend me your ear:
“To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, to throw perfume on the violet… is just fucking silly”
Or something like that.
Or what about Satchmo?!
“I see trees of Green,
Red roses too,”
And fine, if you wish to glorify Krishna and Vishnu in a post-colonial, condescending bottled-up and labeled kind of way then whatever, that’s ok.
But here’s what gives me a hard-on:
I am a tiny, insignificant, ignorant bit of carbon.
I have one life, and it is short and unimportant…
But thanks to recent scientific advances I get to live twice as long as my great great great great uncleses and auntses.
Twice as long to live this life of mine
Twice as long to love this wife of mine
Twice as many years of friends and wine
Of sharing curries and getting shitty at good-looking hippies with fairies on their spines and butterflies on their titties.

And if perchance I have offended
Think but this and all is mended:
We’d as well be 10 minutes back in time, for all the chance you’ll change your mind.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

The Edge of the Earth



via Newfoundland Labrador

"The people of the Flat Earth Society believe that this place is one of the four corners of the world...

... the very edge of the earth.

Ah now, that's just foolishness.

Isn't it?"

This beautiful brief video is balm to the weary spirit on the first day of autumn.  I wonder if, when the late-20th century murmurings of revisionist history and anti-science began, did people similarly think it was not something to be taken seriously?

The lure of myth, legend and what the heart wants to believe when overwhelmed - with beauty or with fear or with awe - is a very powerful thing. What is true often hasn't a chance when it is held up against what people prefer to believe.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

xkcd's World Of Wonders





























My favorite freethinking poet, Digital Cuttlefish posted a link to this amazing cartoon by (also my favorite!) always-thinking cartoonist, xkcd.   The cartoon is called Click and Drag and that is exactly what you do - click on the image and drag your curser to open up a huge world of wonders. The artist presents landscapes, people, animals, intriguing mysteries, human innovations, surprises, funny quips, thoughtful moments and even Waldo™ all in his trademark black-and-white, silhouette technique.

It is, in a word, awesome.

One blogger (ComicMix) has mentioned that if you were to print this comic out large enough to read, it would cover the end zone in a football field. Another blogger (boingboing) mentioned that the comic pays tribute to the novel The House of Leaves, as the final panel expands to an enormous world far beyond what a normal cartoon panel could ever hold.

I just think the mountains and the valleys and the surprises and the cartoon people doing things all over this amazing hidden world inside a comic panel is really cool!

Do yourself a favour. Clear your calendar, have a friend hold your calls, and carve out a couple of free hours to enter xkcd's world of wonders. You'll be glad you did!

For those of us who just can't clear that much time at once, don't despair! You can click and drag at will using the permanent link above. I have it open in another tab and can just browse around when I have a few free moments...

OOOhh! I see a giant jellyfish!  TTYL!

This is a still photo of the cartoon. Please use the permanent link for the full click and drag experience.


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Tuesday Tonic - Take A Deep Breath



via Newfoundland Labrador

The cooler fall days are sweeping in on a fresh autumn breeze.  Soon the whale season in Newfoundland will be drawing to a close as the humpbacks head back down to the Gulf of Mexico to over winter. But before they go, there is always time for a little more exuberant fun in their northern playground!

These are busy times - take a deep breath and relax for a minute!

(This is a great video to view in fullscreen)

Thursday, September 6, 2012

I Am My Brother's Keeper


        Sr. Simone Campbell speaks at the Democratic National Convention, September 5, 2012


Sr. Simone Campbell spoke yesterday at the Democratic National Convention and she nearly brought down the house. At times, she could hardly continue because of the applause. Please make time to watch her brief  (6 minutes) and moving speech.

This is the best of Christian ideology. How did the Republican Party's faithful lose their way?

"I am my sister's keeper. I am my brother's keeper!"

"Paul Ryan says his budget is in keeping with the values of our shared faith. I disagree."

Transcript of Sister Simone's remarks. 

“Good evening, I’m Sister Simone Campbell, and I’m one of the ‘nuns on the bus.’ So, yes, we have nuns on the bus. And a nun on the podium!

Let me explain why I’m here. In June, I joined other Catholic sisters on a 2,700-mile bus journey through nine states to tell Americans about the budget Congressman Paul Ryan wrote and Governor Romney endorsed.

Paul Ryan claims his budget reflects the principles of our shared Catholic faith. But the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that the Ryan budget failed a basic moral test, because it would harm families living in poverty.

We agree with our bishops, and that’s why we went on the road: to stand with struggling families and to lift up our Catholic sisters who serve them. Their work to alleviate suffering would be seriously harmed by the Romney-Ryan budget, and that is wrong.

During our journey, I rediscovered a few truths. First, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are correct when they say that each individual should be responsible. But their budget goes astray in not acknowledging that we are responsible not only for ourselves and our immediate families. Rather, our faith strongly affirms that we are all responsible for one another.

I am my sister’s keeper. I am my brother’s keeper. While we were in Toledo, I met 10-year-old twins Matt and Mark, who had gotten into trouble at school for fighting. Sister Virginia and the staff at the Padua Center took them in when they were suspended and discovered on a home visit that these 10-year-olds were trying to care for their bedridden mother who has MS and diabetes.

They were her only caregivers. The sisters got her medical help and are giving the boys some stability. Now the boys are free to claim much of the childhood they were losing. Clearly, we all share responsibility for the Matts and Marks in our nation.
This is part of my pro-life stance
and the right thing to do...
We care for the 100%!

In Milwaukee, I met Billy and his wife and two boys at St. Benedict’s dining room. Billy’s work hours were cut back in the recession. Billy is taking responsibility for himself and his family, but right now without food stamps, he and his wife could not put food on their family table.

We all share responsibility for creating an economy where parents with jobs earn enough to take care of their families. In order to cut taxes for the very wealthy, the Romney-Ryan budget would make it even tougher for hard-working Americans like Billy to feed their families. Paul Ryan says this budget is in keeping with the values of our shared faith. I disagree.

In Cincinnati, I met Jini, who had just come from her sister’s memorial service. When Jini’s sister Margaret lost her job, she lost her health insurance. She developed cancer and had no access to diagnosis or treatment. She died unnecessarily. That is tragic. And it is wrong.

The Affordable Care Act will cover people like Margaret. We all share responsibility to ensure that this vital health care reform law is properly implemented and that all governors expand Medicaid coverage so no more Margarets die from lack of care. This is part of my pro-life stance and the right thing to do.

I have so many other stories but will only tell one more. In Hershey, Pennsylvania, a woman in her late thirties approached us. She asked for the names of some people she could talk to, because she felt alone and isolated. Her neighbors have been polarized by politics masquerading as values. She cares about the well-being of the people in her community.

She wishes they, and the rest of the nation, would listen to one another with kindness and compassion. Listen to one another rather than yell at each other. I told her then, and I tell her now, that she is not alone.

Looking out at you tonight, I feel your presence combined with that of the thousands of caring people we met on our journey. Together, we understand that an immoral budget that hurts already struggling families does not reflect our nation’s values. We are better than that.

So I urge you to join us on the bus. Join us as together we stand with Matt and Mark, Billy and his family, the woman in Hershey and the Margarets of our nation.

This is what we nuns on the bus are all about: We care for the 100 percent, and that will secure the blessings of liberty for our nation. So join us as we nuns and all of us drive for faith, family and fairness.”



Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Tuesday Tonic - Do You Believe in Me?



Your Tuesday Tonic - This is one of the best things you may see all week. It is 8 minutes of awesome.

Dalton Sherman, from Charles Rice Learning Center in Dallas, speaks at the opening convocation in front of thousands of Dallas teachers, and he brings down the house.

"We need you to know that what you're doing is the most important job in the city today...Do you believe in me? Because I believe in me and you helped me get to where I am today. Thank you. Thank you."

via bergmandi, September, 2008.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Sunday Inspiration - The New Normal



via NBC

Oh, this looks so good.  I may have to throw a party for the premiere episode in September!

Quote for the win:

"A family is a family...and love is love."

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Tuesday Tonic - EnCouraging Non-conformity


                      (full screen viewing strongly recommended)

A little Tuesday Tonic for people everywhere.

"In a world oddly bent on conformity, there's something strangely
en-COURAGE-ing about a place that is anything but."

Apropos my post earlier this week: Look at this video and remember 
that finding the courage not to conform can have magnificent results.

via some.org

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Nuns On The Bus!



























A couple of months ago, I wrote a post about the The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, who had come under fire from the Vatican for doing the actual work that Jesus called on his followers to do.  After working on yesterday's post -  thinking about how difficult it was to leave the church I was born into, and how hard it must be for other closeted atheists who, like me, hoped to bring about change from within their churches rather than be forced to leave it because of irreconcilable moral and philosophical differences - I decided to follow up on the story.

And what a story it is turning out to be!

Women coming together to fight
social injustice.
Short recap: The Vatican, displeased with the social work of U.S. women religious, launched an inquisition into their leadership and activities. At the conclusion of the investigation, the Vatican issued a public reprimand of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and announced that its leadership would be assumed by a group of bishops, headed by Archbishop J.Peter Sartain of Seattle, who would be tasked with chastizing, reorganizing and "reforming" the orders of women religious who had been active in the social justice causes which had so disgusted Rome. Garry Wills recites a short list of the sisters' "misconduct": 

Now the Vatican says that nuns are too interested in “the social Gospel” (which is the Gospel), when they should be more interested in Gospel teachings about abortion and contraception (which do not exist). Nuns were quick to respond to the AIDS crisis, and to the spiritual needs of gay people—which earned them an earlier rebuke from Rome. They were active in the civil rights movement. They ran soup kitchens. -- Garry Wills, NYRB, April, 2012.

After a brief period of stunned silence, the LCWR responded:

“The presidency of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious was stunned by the conclusion of the doctrinal assessment of LCWR by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. We were taken by surprise by the gravity of the mandate. This is a brief moment of great import for religious life in the wider Church. We ask your prayers as we meet with the LCWR national board within the coming month to review the mandate and prepare a response.”-- Leadership Conference of Women Religious.


LCWR supporters in Louisville, KY
Far from retreating into chastened silence after the Pope's reprimand, as was the expected response (certainly by the men of the cloth in Rome), the LCWR has refused to be silenced - gently and respectfully to be sure, but with steadfast determination. Moreover, encouraged by the quiet groundswell of support they have received from progressive Catholics and other moderate religious people who share their social conscience and support their work, they took the unprecedented step of challenging the Vatican assessment of them and their work.

The harsh reprimand from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith felt to the sisters like getting a "punch in the stomach". I suppose they should not have been so surprised. Previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition (also known as the Roman Inquisition or Holy Inquisition, names popularly used in reference to the brutal 16th century "tribunals" investigating alleged witchcraft and heresy), the VCDF has a long history of exactly this sort of activity. No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

After a brief period of prayerful regrouping, the sisters embarked on something truly surprising and not a little inspiring. Signaling that they are standing by their principles and they intend to continue standing up for the most vulnerable people in society - even at the risk of losing everything - the LCWR has decided they are all in.  They have devoted their lives to fighting for social justice and they seem prepared to go on fighting. They painted a bus, planned a route and launched the Nuns on the Bus campaign to raise awareness of their mission to fight for social justice.
Sr. Mary Wendlen greets supporters near Chicago.

Jim Winkler, minister of the church, was the first to take the podium at the July 2 noontime press conference in sweltering 95-degree heat, just days after millions in the area had lost electric power during a brutal storm.
"They have been traveling across this nation to speak out for a faithful budget," said Winkler, "and they are here today as our rock stars!"
This was the final stop on the "Nuns on the Bus" tour, which started in Des Moines, Iowa, on June 17 and ended about two weeks later in Washington, D.C., with this press conference.
The tour's stated mission was to stir up outrage over what the nuns called the immorality of lowering taxes for the wealthy while attacking the poor through cutting food stamps and Medicaid, as outlined in the budget plan crafted by Paul Ryan, a Republican representing Wisconsin's 1st District in Congress.
But the tour, which took place in the aftermath of Vatican censure of the nuns' leadership group, was about more than the national budget.
It was also, intrinsically, a demonstration of how devoutly the nuns refused to be muffled.--Samantha Kimmey, WomensEnews, July 12, 2012. (emphasis mine).

I cannot stress strongly enough just how unusual and ground-breaking this is for women religious in the Catholic church. Historically, women have been relegated to silence and invisibility in the church.  Even after Vatican ll allowed for the expansion of their mission and increased self-direction, it was unthinkable for women religious to appear to defy the male church hierarchy. From the meanest Parish priest to the Congregation of the Faith in Rome, all it has ever taken was a look, a word or a secret reprimand to bring an individual nun or order of nuns back into line. 

Oh, those uppity radical feminists!
The defiance of these women religious will not be without great cost - they may endure further censure,  even excommunication and will almost certainly face the withdrawal of financial and pastoral support. In short, they may essentially be unilaterally "divorced" by the church and thrown out of their homes and livelihoods at one stroke of the papal pen. Yet, they are not backing down. 

"Cautious, careful people always casting about to preserve their reputation or social standards never can bring about reform. Those who are really in earnest are willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathies with despised ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences."—Susan B. Anthony

Keep your eyes on these women religious, folks. I hope we will see much more of them in the coming months and years. They embody all that was hopeful and inspiring about the post-Vatican ll church. They restore one's faith in the inherent goodness of humanity, in spite of all its flaws, fragility and failures: they have shown the courage and the will to fight for what is right. How telling it is that, in order to do what is right, the sisters will have to fight the church.  

"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead." —Louisa May Alcott

Read all about it!

Vatican Harangue Makes Stars of 'Nuns on the Bus', Samantha Kimmey, Women'sEnews, July 12, 2012.

Bullying the Nuns, Garry Wills, New York Review of Books Blog, April 24, 2012.

Nuns and the Vatican, A Clash Decades in the Making, Scott Neuman, NPR news, May 3, 2012.

The Vatican's Attack on America's Women Religious, StateOfBelief, May 9, 2012 (transcript of enlightening interview between Rev. Welton Gaddy and Sr. Simone Campbell).

U.S. nuns reject Vatican criticism and reform efforts, BBC news, June 2012 (links to several articles).

Help a Sister Out: Protesters Call for Vatican Support, Not Censure, of U.S. Nuns, Felipa Rodrigues, Mario Jacinto and Reshma Kirpalani, KUTnewsAustin, May 15, 2012.

Nuns Gone Wild, Catholicism in America,  The Economist, April 26, 2012.

LCWR, Leadership Council of Women Religious.

Network, A national Catholic social justice lobby.


A small group of thoughtful people could change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

Thursday, July 12, 2012

You Make Your Own Purpose!



I posted Tombstone Da Deadman's Purpose a few months ago, but I think it is important to post it again. The rational warrior both inspires and challenges in this excellent remix. The music is great, and the thoughtful message is even better.  Enjoy!


LYRICS:
All of my life I was the type that thought that I was worthless
unless defined by some designer that would grant me purpose

I was a clown that was down with religions 3 ring circus
and convinced that daddy would hurt us and throw us in a furnace

I used to think that Lucifer was waiting by the corner
just planting the seeds of destruction and causing all disorder

total illogical thinking adopted from primitive people
from an era where they first tried to define what's good and evil

how could you apply that to what we know today
as if we haven't advanced or learned in the slightest way

when I look back I think about all of the time that I wasted
praying to the sky for nothing and mad cause I can't replace it

so now I've gotta live my life by standards I determine
and not be burden with the sermon of some clergy vermin

far as I am concerning it's ridicule they deserving
and I'll just keep laughing at their dumb ass til my sides are bursting I spend my time sidestepping the meaningless drivel
They tell me I should be nicer but it's hard to be civil

to all those people who demonize me on every level
and really believe that I'm in league with their fictitious devil

see if the human race was suddenly erased from off the face of the Earth
the universe would not even be hurt

so these delusions of grandeur that humans entertain
about how this was all for their benefit is truly insane

trillions of years have gone by while we weren't even here
the universe was doing fine and didn't seem to care

see all your arrogance is painfully apparent when
you don't even get the fact your presence is irrelevant

no matter how you try to be divinely inspired it seems
to just be some foolishness created from your wildest dreams

but my mentality greatly prefers reality and that's what makes me
disregard thoughtless irrationality

It's my way or the highway and not some god that hides away
that claims domination over me and says what I'm allowed to say

cause I accept responsibility for if I fail or if I succeed
nobody can get it or take credit for it except me

and all of my failures are because of lack of ability
no demons no curses will be the thing that ends up killing me

It's my life....it's my time...it's my choice...it's my mind
so I define...my purpose and see the world through my own eyes

no excuses....so keep your god illusions...
I'm feeling that you blinded sight obscured by your delusions

if you're connected to something higher then introduce him
if you're so sure that it's fucking real then please produce him

maybe some evidence...please at least a shred of it
something that's convincing that's overwhelming could settle this

anything except for this fantasy that you're peddling
about a god with nothing better to do but meddling
       ------------------------------------------------

More good work (and you can buy his album) at Tombstone Da Deadman.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Nova - The Elegant Universe Begins 7.11.12 !




Mark your calendars!  Nova's The Elegant Universe will be rebroadcast on PBS beginning on July 11, 2012.

Episode 1 - July 11, 2012

Episode 2 - July 18, 2012

Episode 3 - July 25, 2012

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Freedom Is A Good Feeling



NPR article, My American Dream Sounds Like Nina Simone


Feeling Good,  performed by the incomparable Nina Simone

Lyrics:

Birds flying high you know how I feel
Sun in the sky you know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by you know how I feel

(refrain:)x2
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good

Fish in the sea you know how I feel
River running free you know how I feel
Blossom on the tree you know how I feel

(refrain)

Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don't you know
Butterflies all havin' fun you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when day is done
That's what I mean

And this old world is a new world
And a bold world
For me

Stars when you shine you know how I feel
Scent of the pine you know how I feel
Oh freedom is mine
And I know how I feel

Songwriters: LESLIE BRICUSSE, ANTHONY NEWLEY

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Four Horsewomen of the Netherlands - To The Rescue!



I don't know what I love best about this video:  that it has such a good, satisfying happy ending: that it is an animal video (a hundred horses - what's not to love?) or that it was four resourceful women who calmly and efficiently rescued the stranded, frightened horses.

Best of all -  FOUR horsewomen!  I know it's a little silly, but I do love it.

via Mano Singham (check out his whole post for more smiles!).

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Tuesday Tonics - Hank Fox and Al Stefanelli
























Still out of town, but I had to post briefly to link to two excellent FTB posts.

Hank Fox responded with his usual amazing clarity of thought and spare, straightforward writing to Ian Cromwell's call for essays elaborating on the title "Because I am an atheist". As usual, Hank has read my mind.

This ought to be passed around the blogosphere and hopefully out into other venues of mass communication. Especially this:

"…I understand the incredible human tragedy that religion represents.

Across millennia during which “hope” was measured against the willingness of an unknowable God to fix problems or provide a future of abundance for people, rather than the capabilities of hard-working, educated, compassionate humans, we Earthlings have continued to waste our vast potential, losing out on near-infinite opportunities. During that time, huge amounts of effort and wealth have been bent toward pleasing this or that capricious god, or his supposed Earthly representatives, stealing away the value of human endeavor in order to build castles of worship, create artworks of fear-driven piety, and produce – rather than textbooks for learning – mere holy books, the printed tools for brainwashing billions of hapless victims.

Through those hundreds and hundreds of years, how many have starved, or died, or lived in pain and fear and enforced ignorance while fat priests sat in literal castles, built on the backs of their enslaved fellow men? Because I’m an atheist, I can despise the malignant, manipulative human spiders who spin and maintain those enslaving webs of belief."  Hank Fox, Blue Collar Atheist.

Also this week. Al Stefanelli outdid himself with an amazing and disturbing post about the Christian apologist William Lane Craig, whose veneer of academic credentials hides a pernicious and destructive determination to obfuscate and confuse as many people as possible. Al's takedown of this notorious liar is his usual epic and well-written work.  It is well worth not only reading, but bookmarking, quoting and sending onward.

A sample:

"In case you don’t know, William Lane Craig is an oft-trundled-out source of Christian apology because he has a lot of books out with fancy titles and is a pseudo-academic. As a Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of  Theology in La Mirada, California, Dr. Craig spends a fair amount of time on the lecture and debate circuit, performing feats of mental gymnastics in an effort to explain some of the contradictory principles and answer some ”tough questions” that inevitably come up when one chooses to live their life according to a world view that includes magic, unicorns, giant demigods having sex with human women, wizardry, sorcery, fire-breathing half dragon-half roosters, Satyrs, human birds, bones coming up out of the ground and dancing around, UFOs, dancing and talking animals, flying people, teleportation and all the other batshittery that is in the bible." Al Stefanelli, A Voice of Reason.

Read!  Pass it on!  The internet is the last freethought medium - let's use it to save humanity.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Letting Go of God - A Catholic Journey



This really looks like a great mixture of good sense and humour. This is the trailer, and I am hoping to post the entire thing in short segments over the next few weeks.

Julia Sweeney, Letting Go of God.

For anyone interested in listening to the whole thing at once (it is just over 2 hours and very good) here is a link.

Monday, June 11, 2012

565 Million Years...or More



Balm for a weary mind.

I'm off to the dentist with a broken tooth. I hope this video will sooth you as much as it calms me!

Mistaken Point

Parks Canada

The Drook, Portugal Cove South