On the failings of BELIEF

Truth: the species that includes human beings also includes some OTHER great apes.

The Hominidae defines a branch of the great apes or hominids. Trump wants to be the Branch Manager.

Family Hominidae, the family that includes humans, is also composed of chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. It is closely related to the other genus of apes, the gibbons, which are in the family Hylobatidae.

I am ALL FOR other people (or other apes) voting for "The Donald."

And, I am all for the Tea Party Patriots.

The fellow above is being fare about it all.
You know my motto: "Fewer TAXIS, more pedestrians."

It's good to walk! (while you still can)

What makes humans so special? Nothing. Nothing at all.

Thrift starts in your owm house

Federal law prevents members of Congress from getting full-pay retirement when they leave office. The report says, "By law, the starting amount of a member's retirement annuity may not exceed 80 percent of his or her final salary."

Why don't we - the voters - cut that to 50%?

Ratings for Congress’ overall performance have dipped, but voters are a bit more positive about their local representatives.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just nine percent (9%) of Likely U.S. Voters think Congress is doing a good or excellent job overall, while 63% rate the current Congress poorly. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

As shown in THIS CHART, in 1804 each Representative represented approximately 40 thousand people. Today, the average population of congressional districts is nearly 700 thousand and growing.

Since you don't get the representation that you pay for, you should increase the numbers in the house - by double (at least) and cut the pay in half.

Sign a petition to The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate, and President Barack Obama titled "Congressional Reform - Reduce Pay and Benefits for Politicians".

It is a START.

Then, limit political contributions to $2,500 for everyone - corporate, union, or private.

Majic

Today I wandered into a bookstore just a few blocks from Merritt College.

Fundies can be WIERD and there are a few in the neighborhood. Merritt is NOT a fundie college.

Well, on the reference shelf was a paperback version of THIS little gem:

And, it was DISCOUNTED! That is important because, as an honorary member of the Tribe of Armenia, I don't want to pay retail (e.g. the full retail price).

So I popped it open to a random page and was SOLD on what first caught my eye:

Now, to the magic. The price (including tax) came to $25.37

So I gave the clerk two $20 bills, 2 quarters, and two pennies ($40.52)

I don't need THIS, she said handing me back the quarters and pennies.

Just ring it up, was my reply.

Change = $15.15. One $10, one $5, one dime, and one nickel.

WOW, how did you do that?

I told her I used to do magic tricks on Vaudeville.

There is more to the story, but that is enough.

Thinking - outside of the box

The box, in this case, it PEETS (in a strip-mall, of course).

Inside the box, you have the usual cast of characters: The Bable Study folks, the OuiJa board folks, the Tarot readers, and the cathaholics.

Outside the box, you get freethinkers.

The tables are empty because the Bable folks, the OuiJa folks, the tarot folks, and the cathaholics have just made way for people who think.

Bable is academic slang for 'ignorant' as Pagan is dead Roman's slang for 'village.'

A cathaholic is a person with a compulsive-addictive personality disorder who is addicted to Roman Catholicism.

We've had a dozen people show for the usual discussions - parallel universes, alien abductions, the IMF conspiracies, Jungian quantum psychology, and the debt before Obama was elected and reelected.

Republicans and Xtians TEND TO have selective memories. They seem to remember the 'good' and attribute the 'bad' to liberals, democrats, and "them" who ain't like US (meaning fat, stupid, and gullible).

Lee Iacocca is remembered for a recycled phrase.

Lee Iacocca is not remembered for what he ACTUALLY said: "Safety doesn't sell."

Business ethics?

A quarter-century ago, another Trump named Lee Iacocca trailed Vice President George H.W. Bush by only three percentage points for the Republican nomination. While his political affiliation was questionable, nobody had any trouble identifying Iacocca's favorite target - the Japanese.

The list of "Incomprehensibly Stupid Things Said by Republicans" would fill bookshelves!

Right wingnuts brush it off with: "Well, Democrats do it too."

Really? Send me a list.



At least he didn't ride into Canada on a redneck Harley.

And thank whatever gods may be we don't see one parked in front of PEET's.

let us create...

Genesis 1:26: 'And the God(s) said, Let us make man in our image.'

And that image is:
Bloom Syndrome
Canavan Disease
Cystic Fibrosis
Familial Dysautonomia
Familial Hyperinsulinism
Fanconi Anemia C
Gaucher Disease
Glycogen Storage Disease 1A
Joubert Syndrome 2
Lipoamide Dehydrogenase Deficiency (E3)
Maple Syrup Urine Disease 1B
Mucolipidosis IV
Nemaline Myopathy
Niemann-Pick Disease
Spinal Muscular Atrophy
Tay-Sachs Disease
Usher IF
Usher III
Walker Warburg
3-Phosphoglycerate Dehydrogenase Deficiency
Abetalipoproteinemia
Alport Syndrome, Autosomal Recessive
Arthrogryposis, Mental Retardation and Seizures
Bardet-Biedl Syndrome
Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase ll Deficiency
Congenital Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia
Congenital Disorder of Glycosylation la
Dyskeratosis Congenita, Autosomal Recessive
Ehlers-Danlos VllC
Fragile X Syndrome
Galactosemia
Multiple Sulphatase Deficiency
Polycystic Kidney Disease, Autosomal Recessive
Retinitis Pigmentosa 59
Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome
Tyrosinemia l
Wilson Disease
Zellweger Syndrome
Alpha-Thalassemia
Ataxia Telangiectasia
Beta-Thalassemia (B-T)
Corticosterone Methyloxidase Type II Deficiency
Costeff Optic Atrophy (also known as Type III 3-methylglutaconic Aciduria)
Cystic Fibrosis
Familial Mediterranean Fever
Familial Tumoral Calcinosis
Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydogenase Deficiency (G6PD)
Hereditary Inclusion Body Myopathy (HIBM)/GNE Myopathy
Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy Type 2B
Metachromatic Leukodystrophy
Polyglandular Syndrome
Pseudocholinesterase Deficiency
Spinal Muscular Atrophy
Wolman Disease

For links to specific perfections, see HERE.

Allah would never do this to the Arab Population [a PDF].
Or would he, she (they)?

Scholars are well aware of the problems.

...they are genetic carriers for sickle cell disease.

Who are THEY?

THEY are merely the children of different gods...

It seems gods' chosen few are marked by the disease and misery that they pass on to their progeny.

Try Magic? HERE or not - HERE.

20 minutes of pleasure result in 18 years of poverty for many.

Thank whatever gods may be that we no longer have debtors prisons in the USA.

We have Home Depot, instead.

On planet Earth, let us make stupidity = religiosity. Then, to test our simulation, let us map the planet based on religions. And let us map populations. And let us map misery, poverty, and suffering. We'll call this "a good start."

"Among US states, suffering and belief in god are highly correlated, even after controlling for income and education."

"...Gray and Wegner created a U.S. state-by-state “suffering index” and found a positive correlation between a state’s relative misery (compared to the rest of the country) and its population’s belief in God. To create an objective measure of such relative misery, the investigators used data from the 2008 United Health Foundation’s comprehensive State Health Index. Among other manifestations of suffering, this regularly compiled index includes rates of infant mortality, cancer deaths, infectious disease, violent crime, and environmental pathogens. What Gray and Wegner discovered was that suffering and belief in God were highly correlated, even after controlling for income and education. In other words, belief in God is especially high in places such as Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina— and so is misery, at least as it was defined in this particular study. And that, say the authors, is no coincidence."

Perhaps it's not god (or gods) that are the problem, it's BELIEF.

Example: Thor, being bored, descends to Earth and picks up a young lady who has a lisp in a night club. She takes Him back to her apartment for a weekend in bed and He performs far above and beyond His call of duty. Monday morning he returns to Valhalla but on Tuesday he descends and confesses.

"I am Thor," says He.

Says she, tywisting her face: "You are thor!"

...
Wait, and see...