A Locke for the Reality Challenged

Oh now I feel safer.....

2006-03-21T13:40:00.000-08:00

I just talked to one of my friends who happens to run a comic book and gaming store here in town. He just returned from the 2006 GAMA Trade Show which took place March 13-16 at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. He said he had a great time but was disturbed by something he saw at the Exhibiters Hall. While he was walking down the aisle he noticed several 'men in black' suits (his words not mine) talking to people and handing out their freebee. He stopped and took a little closer look at them because they were so out of place at the convention. Keep in mind this is a Gaming convention - where people who like to play card games or board games attend. Or really the people who run the stores who but they games to sell to others. These men in black were from the Department of Homeland Security. They were handing out GOLF TEES as a free giveaway. HUH? You know the little pieces of wood or plastic you set your golf ball on when you start a hole. He said almost everyone who they handed the tees to asked what they were! Maybe its because gamers wouldn't go outside in direct sunlight unless they had to. Talk about missing your target audience. Somehow it doesnt make me feel any safer.

Laughing Out Loud.....

2006-03-15T14:42:00.000-08:00

I ran across something today which made me laugh out loud. The minor league hockey team in Las Vegas, Nevada is having a Dick Cheney Orange Hunting Vest promotion for the March 17th game. The vests will be given to the first 1000 fans and they say on them ..."I'm Human, Don't Shoot!'. That just brightened up my day. Man I wish I could get one.

Objective reality...

2006-03-08T03:34:00.000-08:00

I have had a couple of comments about one of my past posts which spur me to reply. One commenter asked if Democrats weren't just a left version of the right cultists. I would reply no. They are not. The simplist answer is usually the best. They are not the same because of one thing - objective truth. I think Democrats believe in it and the Republicans in power now do not.
Its evident in a million different ways. If the Repubs dont like something they just attack it. When they are caught in a lie they just deny it. They talk about creating a 'new reality'. But all the while they ignore the things that are really going on all around them. The funny thing is the Repubs also cling to a religious belief in Jesus. But Jesus was a open believer in objective truth. See John 16:4.
The Repubs also violate the Law of Non contradiction (A is not non A - Opposite Truth claims cannot both be true. For example, if an atheist believes God does not exist and a theist believes God does exist, it is impossible for both to be right). Foe example, Bush is obviously a liar just by the video which came out this week showing that he was informed the NOLA levees could break. He said previously he didn't have any idea they could be breached. No spin just objective truth. But there will be those neo-con cultists who, even though they were in New Orleans, will still defend Bush. That is the difference.

The Road Trip from Hell....

2006-03-04T06:55:00.000-08:00

I am sorry I haven't written for awhile but I helped two of my friends move from California to the midwest. It was a long drive and not at all what I envisioned. One of my friends had his nephew help us. He was a knuckle draggin idiot from the shallow end of the gene pool. We stopped in Albuquerque,NM at a mexican resteurant. I knew when we walked into the place it would have great food because there were not a lot of caucasians in there. They had not one but TWO bands playing to the patrons. One was a spanish guitar trio and one was a brass band with trumpets. I was excited to sit down and eat. The nephew (lets call him Jethro) says when he first comes into the lobby (where there are about 15 people waiting) "We don't belong in here. We are the only white people in here. We're gonna get stabbed." Everyone, and I mean everyone, in the lobby turned and looked at him. I could not believe it. I said " I can't wait to eat". Then the next morning at a little breakfast place Jethro asks the waitress "Are you a Samoan?" She doesn't blink but responds that she is Navaho. My friend looks at his nephew and asks him if he has to say everything that comes into his mind. Jethro says he doesn't like Samoans. Again my friend tells his nephew to keep his thoughts to himself. It was very interesting. No one wanted to ride in the car with him (we took two cars). He's only 22 but I don't remember being that stupid at 22. And he is ,of course, a Bush supporter.
He doesn't have a job and he sponges off of his relatives. Just like George!

The answer to the quote is....Barry Goldwater. Some people question it but later in life Barry became very tolerant of others.

New Feature - Who Said It....

2006-02-17T15:24:00.000-08:00

"The big thing is to make this country, along with every other country in the world with a few exceptions, quit discriminating against people just because they're gay."

OK. who said it?......
Leave your answers in the comment section.

What Science is.....

2006-02-15T15:43:00.000-08:00

As I stated previously I have been posting on a conservative website. There is an appalling lack of belief in science in this community. I found a great response to their non-thinking non-belief in science. It said..." Newsflash -- scientific consensus isn't "an opinion lots of people agree with." It's not a goddam popularity contest.

Science doesn't change if your feelings get hurt. Science doesn't change if you don't understand. Science doesn't change if its explanations don't fit with your theology.

The only thing that changes science is more science. Better science, better data, more facts, a new idea that explains existing facts better.

You can say you don't believe in science. But sweetheart, that doesn't make science wrong. So go ahead, don't listen to scientific explanations. But don't be surprised when the folks who believe in science keep being right and you keep being wrong.Which would be much more helpful criticism -- not that this is the orajones' fault -- if the administration ever felt any shame at being wrong."

Great thought. I also have to say that this includes what is oxymoronically called "Intellegent Design". This is because there is also a problem with what is Theory and what is not. Theory must be supported by emperical evidence. Theory must be consistent with FACTS. The only way to disprove a Theory is by emperical evidence. Not by an idea or of a philosophy but by emperical evidence. I am sick of the anti-intellectual ideas being presented as an alternative to real science. I can only hope the American public wakes up.

What I've been doing lately

2006-02-11T17:37:00.000-08:00

I am sorry for not posting anything for awhile. I have been busy reading and posting at a blog called "The Museum of Left Wing Lunacy". Yes really. And while I have been posting I have been trying to evaluate the mindset of the conservative posters there. I have come to some interesting conclusions. First there are different levels of conservatives posting responses.

1. The seriously conservative - these posters have valid points and try and have a serious discussion of salient points.

2. The crazy conservatives (or neo-cons) - these posters show no sign of being able to evaluate a good point or admit one. They also take portions of others posts out of context and cuss at the ones who have a liberal/progressive viewpoint.

Most of the posters are from the second group (big surprise), but there is one poster who seems to go back and forth between the two groups. Depending on how s/he feels I guess.

Something kept bothering me though. For awhile I couldn't figure it out and then it hit me. They were acting just like a cult! Everything fell together then. I studied cults in seminary and remember some of the characteristics of them...

- The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader and reguards his belief system,ideology and practices as the Truth,as law.

- Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged and even punished.

- The Leadership dictates ,sometimes in great detail, how memebers should think,act, and feel.

- The group is elitist,claiming a special exalted status for itself,its leader(s), and members.

- The group has a polerized us-versus-them mentality,which may cause conflict with wider society.

- The leader is not accountable to any authorities.

- The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify whatever means it deems necessary. This may result in members participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered reprehensible or unethical before jioning the group.

- The leadership induces feelings of shame and/or guilt in order to influence and/or control members. Often, this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion.

- Members are encouraged to socialize with other group members.

- The most loyal members feel there can be no life outside the context of the group. They believe there is no other way to be and fear reprisals if they leave the group.

Sound just like the Religious Right Wing of the Republican party !

Corprate Scam.....

2006-01-28T20:19:00.000-08:00

Wow! Thats exactly my thought today. This is the best scam since Enron. Only the scammer is the CEO of United Airlines, Glenn F Tilton. I quote from the NY Times article....

"United is one of the proudest names in airline history. It has long been a synonym for fine service and extensive, convenient routes. In the early 1990's, when some investment bankers were casting around for a way to make tens of millions of dollars, they came up with a doozy: the employees of UAL would give up some of their salaries and benefits in exchange for stock in UAL, eventually becoming UAL's largest owner through an employee stock ownership plan.

The deal went through — with staggering compensation to Wall Street — and in 1994 the American employees of UAL, as a group, became its largest owners. Within a few years, overseas personnel were allowed the privilege of tossing their life savings into UAL, too.

Trouble was not far behind. The employees found management demanding pay cuts, big (and, for passengers, inconvenient) changes and cuts in scheduling and services, and even silly changes in their once-great flight attendant uniforms. Then came the blows of 9/11 and a recession, and then rising fuel costs. There were demands for more cuts in pay and benefits and more layoffs. That was not enough. About three years ago, UAL was "forced" to enter bankruptcy to stay alive.

This step meant that UAL could drastically cut workers' pay — and it did. Pensions were simply jettisoned and made the burden of the federal government's Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which meant cuts of close to two-thirds in some pilots' pension payments. And, of course, the bankruptcy simply eliminated all of that equity in UAL that the employees had bought with their hard-earned savings.

Thus, in a series of evil events, management of UAL basically ruined the lives of the employee-owners, if that is not putting too fine a point on it, by taking away their savings, incomes and pensions."

Well thats just peachy. But I bet that some of my old IBM friends are just a little uneasy. Someone better stop these bastards or we will all be eating gruel when we retire, except for the CEO's and other upper officers. When will the average citizen wake up and start electing officials who are not fascists? Thats a teaser for my next post.

DRM against Apple?

2006-01-27T04:33:00.000-08:00

I bought a DVD yesterday and when I looked at the summery on the back I happened to read the fine print at the bottom of the page. This is what it said.......

This DVD will not work in a CD-ROM drive and the DVD-ROM features are not available on Apple Macintosh.

What I want to know is why are they discriminating against Apple? I use an ibook for my laptop and when I travel I take it and usually some DVD's with me. But obviously I will not be taking this DVD with me. And I will write New Line Home Entertainment about this.

Now if they will only do it here !

2006-01-25T13:02:00.000-08:00

The Union of European Beverages Association has agreed to limit their 'youth advertising' and control sales in schools. The European Union has determined that obesity will become a significant health problem for its citizens and a drain on its health care resources. Its too bad this can't happen in the US. But our schools (most of them, anyway) seem to 'need' the money from the soda/pop machines. The school district my children go to have pop machines in the school but they do not allow you to drink it in the school. Then I learned last week they had an important meeting because the revenue from the machines were not meeting expectations. Hmmm, wonder why? Sure wish the schools would just teach the students how to think. I suppose I am asking too much.
Link to story.....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4646942.stm

A New Begining......

2006-01-24T05:57:00.000-08:00

This is a new blog about many eclectic subjects. This will be for the reality challenged and those who believe in the power of reason. I will be discussing just whatever strikes me that day. It might be a conversation I have had or an article I read on the net or one of the talking heads on the TV. I hope you enjoy what I have to say or at least you will know I made you think. That will be my objective. Thank you.