Leftdog

Amazing isn't it? For all that every religion claims that it is what stands between us and barbaric behavior, it's pretty hard not to notice that the most barbarous of activities usually come from these same self-styled peaceful organizations.

Let me know when you hear of people killing each other in the name of humanism.

What would you put into the Ten Commandments if you could re-write them?

More than once, in reference to the Ten Commandments' supposed perfection, I've been asked. "Do you think you could you do any better?". Well, I have to say, I've never been impressed with them and yes, I think almost everybody could do better. I'll give you mine, then if you're willing, I'd love to hear your own if you want to take the time.

OK, here’s my attempt:

1. Treat your fellow human beings and all living things with love, honesty, and respect.
2. In all things, strive for dignity of others, protecting and caring for the weak and
vulnerable.
3. Make decisions based on reason and facts, rather than superstition and hope.
4. No human may be regarded as private or public property.
5. Look after the health of your own mind and body.
6. Oppose injustice of any sort.
7. Never stop trying to learn.
8. Don’t do unto others what you wouldn’t have them do to you.
9. Balance personal rights with social duties.
10. Practice tolerance and open-mindedness towards the choices and life styles of others.

Now, compare these to the Ten Commandments found in the Old Testament. The first three commandments simply deal with how to properly fawn to god. No morality to be found there. The fourth is a ritualistic commandment, again, no morality involved.

The fifth through ninth commandments deal with morality by and large, but are really fairly obvious. Stealing, killing, and lying are pretty obviously not good for a society. Even many “lesser” animals and birds (especially those who live in packs or groups) react in a negative way to this kind of behavior. Plus, I have to wonder how many people have decided not to commit murder because it says “though shalt not kill” in the Bible. Honoring you parents is good general advice, unless your dad is Hitler or something. Not an impressive showing.

Finally, we round off the ten with not coveting other’s things. This seems like a pretty odd thing to end with. Couldn’t think of anything better?

No room for anything about slavery, no room for anything about racism, nothing about tolerance, nothing about dignity, nothing much there at all. I’m very happy we don’t actually use the Ten Commandments as a base for our morality.

Now, like I said, give is a try! Let’s see what you’d come up with.

Of course, the Jains managed to beat the Ten Commandments in one sentence. "Do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture, or kill any creature or living being." Not bad!

Christianity claims the mantle of selflessness as one of its most treasured tenets. Indeed, you’ll find that throughout its history many of its proponents have made the assertion that the human ego is the one thing most likely to stop one from attaining a true connection with god. However, it’s hard to reconcile this with the mental position Christians actually take. Let’s take a look at these beliefs.

Christians believe that they’ve been created in the image of the omnipotent, omniscient creator of the universe (as someone once pointed out, if this were true it seems we’d all be invisible, hehe!). Christians believe that this all-powerful being is intimately concerned with them. Not just concerned, but obsessed with them.

Most Christians would tell you that this being, which they call God, talks to, directs, or even does favors for them. They believe that by talking to this being (prayer), they can influence him/her/it. They believe that the forces, which move the stars and direct the atoms, are contingent upon the preferences of their human heart.

Christians are convinced that their smallest actions and thoughts are of great concern. They consider themselves to be a higher life form than any other and that the world, indeed the very universe itself in all likelihood, was created for them.

All one has to do is look at how Christians have reacted historically to anything which threatens their view of themselves as being anything less than these things to see how seriously they feel about this. Whenever this has happened, it’s been met with denial, anger and often hostility. Bruno was burned at the stake for daring to say that the Earth wasn’t the center of the universe. Others were arrested or tortured for saying the same. Today, many Christians are offended even by the idea that they may be related to the other apes. “I’m no monkey’s uncle!” goes the cry. No amount of proof will be enough for such people since their ego doesn’t allow for it. They need to believe otherwise. The examples could go on.

One can’t help but think that Christian’s preoccupation with immortality has to come from this same well of self-obsession. No amount of life is enough for them. There’s terror in them for the idea that this life could be all they get. Why is this?

Christian ego tends to lead to the belief that they are a chosen people, thinking that they’ve found the truth out which so few others today or throughout history have. They tend to believe that they have a better understanding of their “holy” book than anyone else who disagrees with them. This is exhibited by the literally hundreds of different sects which exist. It’s pretty hard to believe this without some serious ego present.

Now, of course, this description would fit other religions as well, however, not all. Many Eastern religions don’t fit into this egocentric way of looking at the world, nor does humanism. It’s often claimed that atheists are conceited, but atheists like myself are totally fine with telling anyone that we may be wrong. That’s not a position I’ve heard more than a handful of times from a Christian.

One last note (for now). Saying that Christianity is egocentric in nature doesn’t mean that all Christians are egocentric, no more than claiming that capitalism is based on greed means that all capitalists are greedy. One would hope that would be obvious.

There are finite resources we have at our disposal. At the same time, the human population has a net growth rate of 229 thousand people a day. Every day, the people that already exist use more and more resources than they did, on average, than the day before.

We are living in an unsustainable way. Environmentalism isn't a matter of being liberal or conservative. However, denial is all to often a choice made by many. We as a species have an abysmal record of looking to the future and dealing with problems like this. We tend to be incredibly shortsighted. Sure, we knew how to create a tsunami warning system for the indian ocean. However, it would have cost us tens of millions of dollars to install and implement.

So we didn't. Then after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami killed a quarter of a million people and did untold billions of dollars of damage we decided maybe we should put one up after all.

I'm reminded of Jared Diamond's excellent book "Collapse" and his observations. He wondered if there was anyone on Easter Island who felt a bit uneasy as they cut down the last tree on the island to make the mechanisms to create/move their statues dedicated to their gods.

This sort of behavior happens over and over. History is littered with cultures that used of their resources and died because of it. In the past, this was limited to groups, tribes or at most nations like the Inca Empire. However, what we're looking at now is something much larger and much more devastating.

What would you pay to save society as we know it?

Linking to a P.Z. Myers post here. I think it makes a very good point. Often, I hear from conservatives about how they think liberals act "elitist". They talk about how they feel that liberals come across as people who think they know more or are superior to others.

Funny enough. They often can't seem to see the same traits in themselves. What liberal do you know that would be so self-assured and overbearing as to tell you what artwork you should be able to look at? Yet the far Right is often more than happy to try to dictate to us this sort of thing.

The ugly end of the far left ends in Communism. We know that this is a very bad thing. We all agree on this. The ugly end of the far Right ends in Fascism. For some reason, many conservatives don't seem to be able to accept that this is also evil.

What will it take for them to wake up? The collapse of our economy due largely to the deregulation hasn't seemed to make an intellectual impact with them. They seem unable to learn anything from history. Ironic, considering that they like to point to themselves as the only ones who pay attention to it. In actuality, they only take away the lessons they want to. That's intellectually dishonest. That's a real problem.

Sometimes people wonder what atheists have to be thankful for. This question is usually related to another more common one "What do atheists have to live for?". The truth is, we have as much to be thankful for as everyone else does. The only thing that's different for us than theists is that while they're usually thankful for their god's forgiveness or some similar belief, we're thankful to be able to live free from superstition.

For all of us, we can be thankful for the following, and I hope you are!

People! Not just our friends and family, who we owe a special thank you too, but for humanity itself. Be thankful for the veterans who have served to preserve your freedom, be thankful for the scientists and doctors who have extended you lives and made them so much more comfortable, be thankful for teachers who give so much so selflessly, be thankful for the farmers who supply you with nutritious food at low prices, be thankful for engineers who have given us a life that was unimaginable only a generation ago, and be thankful for volunteers who give selflessly to help others they don't even know.

There are many more, I know. I'm sure you can think of them easily.

I feel bad I didn't get around to commenting on this yesterday, but here it is now.

Friday the 13th. Boo! Did you feel scared? How about this, did you change your behavior at all yesterday because of the date? Believe it or not, as many as 21 million people did. In Canada alone, hardly known for being a particularly superstitious country, it's estimated that between 700 and 800 million dollars in business is lost every Friday the 13th from people deciding not to shop, travel, etc. on that day.

I wish I were amazed by this. Sadly, I'm not. Sadly, it doesn't appear we're getting any smarter about this sort of thing. While only 13% of people admit to believing that the date is unlucky, 30 percent of 18 to 24 year-olds think it is. Not a good sign.

Hopefully you made it through your Friday without any major calamity. If you didn't, I'd say it's probably because you didn't pray hard enough and didn't carry a lucky rabbit's foot with you all day. Go ahead, prove I'm wrong!

Fareed Zakaria - To deal with the deficit, let the tax cuts expire


There's been a lot of hand-wringing lately by conservatives about the deficit lately. It's the Big Bad Bogeyman they pull out constantly to warn you of the terrible future we have in front of us.

Now I actually sort of kind of agree with them to a point. We really should care about the deficit and we should try to have a balanced budget, like Clinton had. However, unlike them, I'm willing to do something that would immediately help out in this regard; let the Bush tax cuts expire.

Letting the irresponsible tax cuts to the richest of Americans expire would cut our deficit by around 300 billion dollars. Three hundred billion! That's real money even by government standards. That's about a quarter of our entire deficit. Doing so would still keep our tax rate lower than during most of the Reagan years. If we're serious about trying to be fiscally responsible, this is a good place to start.

Unfortunately, the chances of this happening are slim. There's at least a small chance that the tax rate for those making over $250,000 a year may return to the norm, but the Democrats will need to stand strong against the Republicans to accomplish this. The Republicans hate taxes more then deficits, no matter what they say in public.

The Bush tax cuts where a terrible move. They didn't bring on economic growth, they ushered in deficits of unprecedented scope. Let them die and lets try to get back to true conservative values like paying for things that we want.

I find the human brain, indeed all brains, fascinating! Understanding that our brain equals the mind is hard for some people to accept. I realize this. However, our brain really is what makes us who we are, each one of us as individuals.

Understanding how the brain works and why we have the brains we have gives us a better understanding of who we are and why we do what we do. To me, it's exciting to learn about this. There will always be mysteries. For those who fear that understanding too much will lead us to a joyless existence I have to ask, does understanding that the basis of what we call "love" lies in chemical reactions in any way diminish how you feel about your partner, child or parent?

I find that knowing what the sun is, what powers it and how it was created and how it will end only deepens my pleasure when I look up at the night sky. It's similar with music and art. The greater the understanding, the greater the joy.

So take a second to read this article and learn a little more about what makes us human. Hopefully, you'll feel more wonder afterwards than you did before.

On a hot summer day in Hiroshima, Japan 65 years ago today, mankind unleashed its first and most deadly nuclear attack on itself. The bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy", killed approximately 80,000 people immediately. Another 70,000 were injured. Eighty thousand more Japanese would die within four months of various effects attributable to the attack.

In 1997 I lived in Iwakuni Japan, about a 20 minute train ride from Hiroshima. I visited Peace Park more than once, always being overwhelmed by the event and my emotions. It's hard to explain what it's like to stand at the spot where tens of thousands of people were vaporized. However, I can tell you that the feeling and belief that nuclear weapons are not the answer to our problems does come through loud and clear.

The word "terrorism" gets bandied about a lot now days. I would defy anyone to say that what we did in Hiroshima and Nagasaki doesn't fit the definition of that word. Today we remember the first of those two terrible events. At least I hope we remember, and I hope we think about what those acts can teach us.

Hitchens is not my favorite atheist, nor is he my favorite spokesperson for atheism. Still, I have respect for him. When I read the drivel that others are spouting, I almost have to hold him up as a hero.

http://dyn.politico.com/members/forums/thread.cfm?catid=17&subcatid=58&threadid=4339825&start=1&CurrentPage=1

What complete crap! "There are no atheists in foxholes." I damn well disagree! I've been in a foxhole and I was an atheist at the time. What a bunch of conceited bullshite! Don't pretend that your weak, egocentric views of the world are the same as everyone else's.

Fight the good fight, Hitchens! Both of them. Fight against the cancer in your body and that of the irrationality that is the heart of religion.

Anderson Cooper 360: Blog Archive - Hitchens on cancer diagnosis: 'Why not me?' « - CNN.com Blogs

Today we saw a judge doing what they're appointed to do. We saw him uphold the Constitution. Because of this, he's been labeled an "activist" by some and there's much wringing of hands about how the will of "the people" has been ignored.

I've got news for these people. Being in a democracy doesn't mean that whatever is popular is right, nor does it mean that if over 50% of the populace believe something that it's true.

It's anybody's guess how this will all end. It will almost assuredly go to the Supreme Court eventually. Still, on this day, we can be proud that our system of government still works.

Our country isn't like American Idol. Civil rights aren't to be determined by a popularity contest. As Judge Vaughn Walker stated, Prop 8 proponents failed to "advance any rational basis" to deny gay men and lesbians a marriage license.

Even more damning, he goes on to say "Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights to gay men and lesbians. The evidence shows conclusively that Proposition 8 enacts, without reason, a private moral view that same-sex couples are inferior to opposite sex couples."

Nicely put, Judge. Nicely put.

AFP: Judge overturns California gay marriage ban

No, it's not another comment on solar flares and activity. This one's about solar power, about energy.



You might not have heard about it from the mainstream media, but we're at an historic crossover point concerning solar power. According to new research, electricity from new solar installations is now cheaper than electricity from proposed new nuclear plants. Read that again. It's a game changer. For decades, the biggest argument against solar power has been its cost. However, new technological advancements have changed the game and are expected to continue to do so.

http://www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/NCW-SolarReport_final1.pdf

Now, I'm not against nuclear power. I think it's one of the tools available for us to become less dependent on fossil fuels which are a problem for us in many ways, including our national defense. However, there are drawbacks to using nuclear power which must be acknowledged. The processing of nuclear material has inherent dangers and liabilities including us currently having no answer for how to properly manage spent waste material. No such problems exist for solar power.

There are other problems, of course. We need to fund research to create batteries which can take better advantage of solar power. Still, we've crossed into new territory now. Good territory.

A dark ideology is driving those who deny climate change | Robin McKie | Comment is free | The Observer

To give you an idea of how old I am, I've been following the global climate change debate for so long that I can even remember when one actually existed. That, as opposed to the hollow, politically driven barkings we hear now from those who deny global warming.

I have to say, back in the 1980's there was still good reason to doubt whether or not global warming was real, if it were, were we effecting it and to what extent, if we were, would the effects be more positive or negative, etc.

With Reagan's election, conservatism linked itself to global climate change denialism. This is something they've steadfastly held to despite the mountains of evidence that we've accumulated to show it's very real existance and effects. There was a brief period of time, during the early 2000's, when even most conservative voices quieted their "skepticism". This changed drastically and radically in 2006 with the release of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth."

This movie awoke the slumbering conservative forces of denialism like few other things could have.

It's always dangerous to hold political views so strongly that we don't allow reality to change them. Conservatives like to point out Neville Chamberlain's inability to accept what Nazi Germany really was as an example of liberals doing just this. Not surprisingly, there are far more examples of conservatives exhibiting this behavior. That's because of the basic nature of both ways of thinking. One is resistant to change and fears it. One is accepting and even desirous of it.

In regards to global warming, conservatives have been very successful in their efforts to keep the public at large from accepting its existence. This has led to political victories over attempts to lesson its impact, as well. However, this will be a pyrrhic victory for them. The costs to them and all of us will be such that their minor fears will seem small in view of the major problems they've helped create.

Incoming! The Sun Unleashes CME at Earth : Discovery News

Looks like those of us in the northern hemisphere might get a chance to see some pretty good action if we look up in a couple days. Get yourself outside, get your friends and kids outside, get your camaras out and hope for the best. : )

Stevie Wonder playing Sesame Street in 1973.

"When you believe in things
You don't understand,
Then you suffer,
Superstition aint' the way."






Superstitions often become self-fulfilling prophecies. For instance, If you expect Friday the 13th to be unlucky, you’ll find evidence to support that. On that day, you'll look harder for evidence which supports your irrational belief. If you believe that chain-letters, be they the old-fashioned snail-mail versions or the much more common e-mail versions around today actually work, you'll look for evidence that supports that belief as well.


A superstition is simply:

1 : a - a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation
     b - an irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural, nature, or God resulting from superstition


2 : a notion maintained despite evidence to the contrary

As a skeptically oriented blog, these terms matter to me. I don't think we should be making any decisions in our life based on ignorance, fear, unfounded trust, lies or irrationality. This includes all aspects of our life, even cherished ones and/or ones we've held for a long time or been taught by those we trust. Unfortunately, people who think this seem to be in the minority. This is and always has been a dangerous way to go about creating a society we can all live happily in together.

I don't believe that ignorance is bliss. To quote Edmund Way Teale:

"It is morally as bad not to care whether a thing is true or not, so long as it makes you feel good, as it is not to care how you got your money as long as you have it."
With that said, anybody got a favorite version of this song? Hard to beat the original by Stevie Wonder but the Stevie Ray Vaughan studio version is amazing as well. Then there's the live version on Live Alive... stunning.

All for now!

OK! So here it is, my first somewhat serious attampt at blogging. I've decided to give FB and the rest a rest and use this format for some of my communication with the rest of the world.

I'd like Leftdog to be primarily focused on politics, religion and atheism, human rights, science, culture and humor. Of course many of these topics overlap and there are others that I will feel the need to delve into, but I thought I'd at least try to get a grounding point set out there at the outset.

I hope you find this experiment interesting and helpful. I really do look forward to hearing from a wide variety of voices.

Peace, out!