Just Sayin'

Regarding the title I chose, I heard an NPR editorial rant a few days ago against the usage of this phrase. Just thought I'd mention that...

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There are three big billboards signed "God" I pass by on my way home from work. As I recall, the center one says, "One nation under me... Pray! Pray for what? And why? It's kind of interesting at times to see the absurdities in things so common we take them for granted. Just a brief analysis of that statement could open several lines of thought. Does this nation we live in have special status under "God"? I'm sure many evangelicals would answer in the affirmative. What about the rest of the world? Are they second class nations? And is this "pray!" thing a desperate plea or a commandment? Is this God really insecure or merely a celestial dictator seeking servile, cringing behavior? Just sayin"...

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Heard today that an assumed Homo sapiens tooth that was 400,000 years old was found while excavating a cave in Israel. That's at least twice as old as the date assumed for the earliest member of our species. The claim was that, if verified, this discovery would "change the whole picture of evolution". I hate these kinds of grandstanding, melodramatic proclamations. It wouldn't change anything of the sort. Evolutionary theory remains as solid as ever with multiple scientific fields all pointing in the same direction. Humans are only one tiny part of evolution. It would change the current picture we have of human evolution by simply pushing the date back. I don't get it. Just sayin'...

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Weird how the whole 9/11 thing became framed in such defining terms. I'm well aware that speaking of 9/11 in anything less than reverential terms is unlikely to be popular but I would argue it's become a symbol of something far bigger than its actual impact. A few points: 3000 people died. And yes, by any measure that was a tragedy. But medical errors kill 400,000 every year and that doesn't even rate a headline. Much less get seared into the national consciousness so deeply that Ground Zero is now thought of as sacred ground. So it obviously wasn't just the numbers of people who died. Or the property damage. Our response caused the further deaths of another 4000 American soldiers and several hundred thousand Iraqis and Afghans. And the economic costs estimates are somewhere between 1 and 3 trillion dollars. So some seriously deranged religious lunatics flew some planes into buildings and killed 3000 people and that event backblasted through our society with a force that probably won't be fully understood for years, if ever. Then recently we have Jon Stewart (Hey Jon, I love you, man, but seriously? Couldn't you find a cause that has an impact for humanity proportional to your influence?) shaming Congressional Republicans into dropping their objection to the 9/11 responders health bill. Let me walk that "shaming" thing back a little. I suspect a sense of shame is a rare attribute in politicians. More likely was a sense that voting against funds for 9/11 heroes might not be a popular postion. Just sayin'...

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Speaking of deranged religious lunatics, I recently heard the always eloquent Sam Harris giving a talk about his new book "The Moral Landscape". He was speaking of the special dangers posed by radical Islamist suicide bombers and made the point that from their perspective it's impossible for them commit a morally wrong act when they blow themselves up in a crowd and kill indiscriminately. They and any other good Muslims who die will go straight to paradise and the unbelievers (anyone besides good Muslims) will go to the eternal torments they deserve. It's a total victory with no way to lose! He also contrasted this death- seeking Abrahamic religion of Islam with the totally passive non violence of the Indian religion of Jainism, that forbids harm to all living beings. I think that includes animals. An amusingly well made point was that "the crazier a Jain gets the less we have to worry about them". Apparently the truly fanatical Jains are virtually paralyzed from passivity and must walk with their eyes on the ground lest they accidently step on a bug. I doubt if they do much proselytizing either. And that's gotta be a good thing. Just sayin'...