Sunday Soliloquy

Sunday, time for some more thoughts on religion.

We are experiencing an increasing number of natural disasters. The "leftist scientists" predict that it's going to get worse.

This means that I will continue to be baffled by images of pious survivors standing amidst the rubble of their destroyed homes and praising God for . . . . killing their neighbors instead of themselves?

Generation Zzzzzzzzzzzzz . . . .

Einstein's predictions in the world of physics were earth-shaking, but I wonder if this might not be his most prophetic legacy:

"I fear the day technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots"

Pin-Up

Here's a copy of the one "pin-up" hanging in my bachelor pad. Today is the birthday of Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950), the poet who gave us:

"I shall die, but that is all that I shall do for death."

Washington And Lincoln Are Spinning Today Faster Than Sean Spicer At A Press Conference

Mr. Trump, here's something you could do to convince the world that you were really elected:
YOU COULD STOP CAMPAIGNING!

Religious Ruminations

Sunday, time again for some thoughts on religion.

The persistence with which people cling to the religion of their families has always baffled me. If you are born into a Catholic family, you are Catholic--if a Lutheran family, you are Lutheran. It's as if religion were inherited like the color of your hair or eyes.
How can you inherit beliefs?

Last Gasps

The main difference between the conservative and progressive mind-set involves the ability to accept change. Right now, we are facing two big changes in America:
1. The end of the fossil-fuel era
2. The end of the WASP era

The current rise of anti-science reaction and racism are simply last gasps against the inevitable.

At the start of the 20th Century, blacksmiths became mechanics and financiers moved their money from timber to oil. The world changes and you can either change with it or be left behind. Reactionaries of the period who clung to the horse-and-buggy were left behind.
At the start of the 21st Century, oil-well riggers might have to become wind-turbine riggers and wise speculators will move their money from coal and oil to solar energy. Reactionary fossil-fuel investors might still make some quick bucks for a while, but they are ultimately pissing in the wind that will power our future generators.

"Alt-right" extremists clinging to their fading era? I suggest that they trade in their copies of Mein Kampf for hummus recipes and salsa-dancing instructions.

                                     Sorry, but the times they are a-changin'

My God Can Beat Up Your God

"People killing each other over who has the better imaginary friend."

This is Napolean Bonaparte's definition of a religious war. Napolean knew a thing or two about war, and he understood the insanity of religious war. I wish that our new ideologues in Washington did.

Steve Bannon and his alt-right thugs are goose-stepping us into what they see as a glorious showdown between Christianity and Islam--a Ninth Crusade.

Our own, homegrown jihadists are a greater threat to this nation than ISIL could ever hope to be. They are willing to trample the Constitution and destroy every principle our American democracy was founded upon to prove that they have the "better imaginary friend." We are being dragged toward the possible killing of millions because some little boys with their toys want to show the world that Jesus can kick Allah's ass.

These lunatics have to be stopped.