http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/86033-james-veverka-5-12-885
To the Editor,
It seems that Steve Earle would like a say in what I write about. From his hole in Hill he seems clueless regarding America's ongoing religious culture war where religious crazies poison the environment with their political Christianity. My letters were responses to Demakowski and Ewing. If they want to say things that just propaganda, I'll want to rebut them. I present the academic view; the Constitution is based broadly on Enlightenment values which have Classical and Renaissance inputs. I am talking about the actual text of the Constitution. If Mr Earle can find one sentence in the Constitution that reflects any Biblical doctrine, have at it, Hoss! Texas' Tom Delay says the Constitution was written by God. Tea Potty Time!
Mr Earle is clearly doesn't know that the European Enlightenment was all the rage in the coastal and university regions of America. America's distilling of that enlightenment movement underlies our Constitution. For instance, the idea of separate powers in government is derived from the ancient historian Polybius' writing on the mid-Roman Republic's form of government in a section of his "The Histories" called "The Constitution of the Mid-Republic [1], and Baron Von Montesquieu's wildly popular "The Spirit of the Laws".[2] Steve thinks going back some 1000 years helps him but it hurts him. The founders declared A New Order For The Ages.
Into the trash heap with the old! The Old Legal Order of the Ages is the religiously intolerant Judeo-Christian governments that predated the US Constitution. Religious test-oaths for public service, church attendance requirements, religious tests for trade membership, "approved church" membership requirements for public servants, church and state alliances, and more. Europe became Christian much by force of law, force of troops and the stripping of civil rights of religious dissidents. In 380CE, Emperors Theodosius and Gratian issued their decreed which legally wiped out religious diversity and any religious diversity that remained. Recorded in 16.1.2. of the Theodosian Code of Law the edict stated,
"We desire that all peoples subject to Our benign Empire shall live under the same religion that the Divine Peter, the Apostle, gave to the Romans, and which the said religion declares was introduced by himself, and which it is well known that the Pontiff Damascus, and Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolic sanctity, embraced; that is to say, in accordance with the rules of apostolic discipline and the evangelical doctrine, we should believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit constitute a single Deity, endowed with equal majesty, and united in the Holy Trinity. We order all those who follow this law to assume the name of Catholic Christians, and considering others as demented and insane, we order that they shall bear the infamy of heresy; and when the Divine vengeance which they merit has been appeased, they shall afterwards be punished in accordance with Our resentment, which we have acquired from the judgment of Heaven."
These kinds of religious laws actually began under Constantine the Great but Theodosius set it in stone for the next 1300 years; a Judeo-Christian tradition of an intolerant religious hegemony . A violence plagued tyranny that took possibly 100 million lives in wars, imprisonments, tortures, beheadings, burnings, banishments, and more. The enlightenment helped end all that. So you can have your European Christian tyrants and I will take the "new order for the ages". When the Reformation came, it didn't get better except there was a new choice of crazy and they had the printing press which the Enlightenment had a ball with. Protestants and Catholics murdered each other by the millions until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. How are those Judeo-Christian Values workin' out for ya? Want more? Let's take a look at our colonial religious order which is noting more than more radical religious laws on the books. The Virginia Charter of 1610 stated in these clauses,
"2. That no man speak impiously or maliciously, against the holy and blessed Trinity, or any of the three persons, that is to say, against God the Father, God the Son, and God the holy Ghost, or against the known Articles of the Christian faith, upon pain of death."
"3 That no man blaspheme Gods holy name upon pain of death......"
"5. No man shall speak any word, or do any act, which may tend to the derision, or despite of Gods holy word upon pain of death:...Nor shall any man unworthily demean himself unto any Preacher, or Minister of the same..."[3]
Sounds like Judeo-Christian values are a bit like Sharia, eh? Well, duh. We still have Christian Sharia nuts all through the religious right and Tea Potty Land. I have an essay on line which examines all the "Judeo-Christian" laws and requirements in over 40 colonial compacts, charters and constitutions from 1610 to 1767 called "The Colonial Religious Order.[4] Nobody in their right mind would want any of these Judeo-Christian "values" except religious fundamentalists. A statute in the Carolina Charter of 1665 states, "No man shall be permitted to be a freeman of Carolina, or to have any estate or habitation within it, that doth not acknowledge a God, and that God is publicly and solemnly to be worshipped."[5] So when someone says Judeo-Christian values, I know what they are. Old Order. Old Hat. Old Equipment. Past its sell-by-date. Probably moldy.
[1] http://thelatinlibrary.com/law/polybius.html
[2] http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/montesquieu/
[3] http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/694
[4] http://www.stopthereligiousright.org/constitution2.htm
[5] http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/nc04.asp
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Indiana's Religious Fascism, Religious Tests, and Liars For Jesus 5-7-2015
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/85918-james-veverka-5-7-375
To the Editor,
Besides being wrong about the Indiana RLRA, Don Ewing is wrong about the foundation of our nation. The United States Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land. Judeo-Christian values do not underlie this supremacy in any way, shape or form. There is no mention of God, Jesus or Christianity. They ignored God in writing the Constitution. It is a Godless and secular document. Article 6 not only states that the the Constitution is the supreme law, it bans religious test-oaths for public service which clearly places the Constitution in neutral territory regarding religion. It is not Judeo-Christian in the slightest. Don Ewing is part of that Christian reconstructionist crowd that keeps trying to revise history so they can use the government as a policy tool. Also mentioned in Article 6 is that treaties made in pursuant to the Constitution are part of this supreme law. The Treat of Tripoli stated unequivocally in Article 11 that"the government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion..." See treaty image here.[1] I also highly recommend the book, Liars for Jesus by Chris Rodda which delves into all the ways the revisionists lie about our founding era.
We all know about Thomas Jefferson's letter that declared the First Amendment to be a wall of separation. Jefferson meant both ways but Liars for Jesus say he just meant keeping the state from interfering with the church. This is more nonsense which tries to keep alive the ancient and medieval relationship where the church could dictate religious matters to the state. Destroying the one way wall of the fundamentalists is a letter written by one of the main architects of the Constitution. On March 2, 1819, more than thirty years after leading the way in drafting and framing the United States Constitution, James Madison's wrote to Robert Walsh,
"The civil Government, though bereft of everything like an associated hierarchy, possesses the requisite stability, and performs its functions with complete success, whilst the number, the industry, and the morality of the priesthood, and the devotion of the people, have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the Church FROM the State." See letter here.[2]
Read it again. Total separation -From- the State, Don.
To the Editor,
Besides being wrong about the Indiana RLRA, Don Ewing is wrong about the foundation of our nation. The United States Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land. Judeo-Christian values do not underlie this supremacy in any way, shape or form. There is no mention of God, Jesus or Christianity. They ignored God in writing the Constitution. It is a Godless and secular document. Article 6 not only states that the the Constitution is the supreme law, it bans religious test-oaths for public service which clearly places the Constitution in neutral territory regarding religion. It is not Judeo-Christian in the slightest. Don Ewing is part of that Christian reconstructionist crowd that keeps trying to revise history so they can use the government as a policy tool. Also mentioned in Article 6 is that treaties made in pursuant to the Constitution are part of this supreme law. The Treat of Tripoli stated unequivocally in Article 11 that"the government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion..." See treaty image here.[1] I also highly recommend the book, Liars for Jesus by Chris Rodda which delves into all the ways the revisionists lie about our founding era.
We all know about Thomas Jefferson's letter that declared the First Amendment to be a wall of separation. Jefferson meant both ways but Liars for Jesus say he just meant keeping the state from interfering with the church. This is more nonsense which tries to keep alive the ancient and medieval relationship where the church could dictate religious matters to the state. Destroying the one way wall of the fundamentalists is a letter written by one of the main architects of the Constitution. On March 2, 1819, more than thirty years after leading the way in drafting and framing the United States Constitution, James Madison's wrote to Robert Walsh,
"The civil Government, though bereft of everything like an associated hierarchy, possesses the requisite stability, and performs its functions with complete success, whilst the number, the industry, and the morality of the priesthood, and the devotion of the people, have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the Church FROM the State." See letter here.[2]
Read it again. Total separation -From- the State, Don.
The Elephant's Poop Chute - Tea Party Potty Tricks 5-4-2015
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/85840-james-veverka-5-4-695
To the Editor,
The Elephant stands awaiting and the chute is in place. What GOP candidate will announce themselves next? Welcome to another edition of Tea Party Potty Tricks brought to you by the Center for the Study of Absurdity. In the tradition of Charlie Hebdo, we bring you best of the ridiculous. Falling for the "job creators" myth sold by corporate monks, Kansas has had revenue shortfalls, credit downgrades from Moody's, and now has to close public schools down early because they don't have enough money. The inanity of Libertarian economics dies again. Governor Brownback has also implied that forcing women to have children is good for the Kansas economy. Michelle Bachmann is back. She says The Rapture has been moved ahead of schedule because, well, its Obama's fault. There's bad news for the anti-vaxxer wackjobs. Two more major studies again confirm there is no link between vaccinations and autism. In a fine display of epic cluelessness, anti-vaxxer and organizer Rosemary Woods said, "let me know when there is a study that confirms what I know in my heart". As Russ Wiles might say, "isn't it kind of suspicious that every credible study on the subject says the same thing?". Ya think? Did you see Republican Dog the Bounty Hunter on Fox? The four Fox women were all giddy until he soiled their carpet by saying he supports Hillary and trusts the Dynamic Duo.
Over in the world of religious circuses, the fear mongering propaganda coming from the revival tent meetings. Taking their signals from Huckabee, they claim that legalizing gay marriage will criminalize Christianity. Tortured logic much? Some Christian jihadist blowhards are talking armed revolution if equality wins over the fossilized traditions of religion-based bigotry. In their apoplectic fits (slain in the Spirit!) they are calling for the impeachment of the Justices who vote for equality. Gay marriage is sure to bring down our civilization. Nasty stuff, that freedom and equality.
Fox News' favorite Catholic Priest, Jonathan Morris, claims we can't have an atheist President because he would not fear God. You mean he might be logical? Wouldn't that be oppressive! Shall we ask Bugs Bunny for a comment on weapons-grade stupid? Did you know that rape and incest can't be verified? Yup, another insane religious conservative has escaped her rubber room. Tennessee State Rep. Sheila Butt blocked exemptions for rape and incest in the new abortion bill because she claims they are not verifiable. On today's 700 Club, Pat Robertson warned that God will soon remove his hand of protection over America because people are mocking fundamentalist preachers like himself. The old Fossil complains “People mock the word of God and those who proclaim it are laughed at as fundamentalists. Well, we need the fundamentalists because if we don’t have them this nation is doomed.” Yes, Pat, we need more crackpots who might even believe that 6000 years ago a talking snake deceived a couple who had no belly buttons to eat some fruit. Pat also gave us five predictions if gay marriage wins. We will be hit with War (revolution!), Floods, Terrorism, the Apocalypse and the Anti-Christ! Fox News commentator Todd Starnes, while on Pastor Hagee's show says if gay marriage is affirmed, Pastors will end up in jail. For what? Pedophilia? Embezzlement? Sounds good.
America's village idiot, Louie Gohmert appeared on Glenn Beck's television program the other night. He claims Obama won't help the government of Nigeria fight terrorism until the country legalizes gay marriage and abortion. Also in Texas, where wide open spaces include the heads of Texas lawmakers, H.B. 2510, espoused by Texas State Rep. Matt Schaefer will force a woman to carry a nonviable fetus to term. No, you didn't read that wrong. What could be the reason for bringing a brain dead fetus to term? Well, what better way to create more more Texas politicians! Oklahoma is also a scary country full of wide open spaces. While speaking in the Senate, Kevin Calvey threatened to go across the street and torch himself with gasoline if they passed state Senate Bill 548, which would increase funding to the court system. Why? Because the court has struck down some abortion laws.
To the Editor,
The Elephant stands awaiting and the chute is in place. What GOP candidate will announce themselves next? Welcome to another edition of Tea Party Potty Tricks brought to you by the Center for the Study of Absurdity. In the tradition of Charlie Hebdo, we bring you best of the ridiculous. Falling for the "job creators" myth sold by corporate monks, Kansas has had revenue shortfalls, credit downgrades from Moody's, and now has to close public schools down early because they don't have enough money. The inanity of Libertarian economics dies again. Governor Brownback has also implied that forcing women to have children is good for the Kansas economy. Michelle Bachmann is back. She says The Rapture has been moved ahead of schedule because, well, its Obama's fault. There's bad news for the anti-vaxxer wackjobs. Two more major studies again confirm there is no link between vaccinations and autism. In a fine display of epic cluelessness, anti-vaxxer and organizer Rosemary Woods said, "let me know when there is a study that confirms what I know in my heart". As Russ Wiles might say, "isn't it kind of suspicious that every credible study on the subject says the same thing?". Ya think? Did you see Republican Dog the Bounty Hunter on Fox? The four Fox women were all giddy until he soiled their carpet by saying he supports Hillary and trusts the Dynamic Duo.
Over in the world of religious circuses, the fear mongering propaganda coming from the revival tent meetings. Taking their signals from Huckabee, they claim that legalizing gay marriage will criminalize Christianity. Tortured logic much? Some Christian jihadist blowhards are talking armed revolution if equality wins over the fossilized traditions of religion-based bigotry. In their apoplectic fits (slain in the Spirit!) they are calling for the impeachment of the Justices who vote for equality. Gay marriage is sure to bring down our civilization. Nasty stuff, that freedom and equality.
Fox News' favorite Catholic Priest, Jonathan Morris, claims we can't have an atheist President because he would not fear God. You mean he might be logical? Wouldn't that be oppressive! Shall we ask Bugs Bunny for a comment on weapons-grade stupid? Did you know that rape and incest can't be verified? Yup, another insane religious conservative has escaped her rubber room. Tennessee State Rep. Sheila Butt blocked exemptions for rape and incest in the new abortion bill because she claims they are not verifiable. On today's 700 Club, Pat Robertson warned that God will soon remove his hand of protection over America because people are mocking fundamentalist preachers like himself. The old Fossil complains “People mock the word of God and those who proclaim it are laughed at as fundamentalists. Well, we need the fundamentalists because if we don’t have them this nation is doomed.” Yes, Pat, we need more crackpots who might even believe that 6000 years ago a talking snake deceived a couple who had no belly buttons to eat some fruit. Pat also gave us five predictions if gay marriage wins. We will be hit with War (revolution!), Floods, Terrorism, the Apocalypse and the Anti-Christ! Fox News commentator Todd Starnes, while on Pastor Hagee's show says if gay marriage is affirmed, Pastors will end up in jail. For what? Pedophilia? Embezzlement? Sounds good.
America's village idiot, Louie Gohmert appeared on Glenn Beck's television program the other night. He claims Obama won't help the government of Nigeria fight terrorism until the country legalizes gay marriage and abortion. Also in Texas, where wide open spaces include the heads of Texas lawmakers, H.B. 2510, espoused by Texas State Rep. Matt Schaefer will force a woman to carry a nonviable fetus to term. No, you didn't read that wrong. What could be the reason for bringing a brain dead fetus to term? Well, what better way to create more more Texas politicians! Oklahoma is also a scary country full of wide open spaces. While speaking in the Senate, Kevin Calvey threatened to go across the street and torch himself with gasoline if they passed state Senate Bill 548, which would increase funding to the court system. Why? Because the court has struck down some abortion laws.
Climate Denier's Claims Easy to Debunk 4-26-2015
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/85633-jamesveverka-4-24-662-sea-ice
To the Editor,
Don Ewing was wrong about the war on women and the tea party's parasitic relationship with corporate funding; now he is wrong about the Little Ice Age (LIA). Russ Wiles used a site that has an demonology expert for his anti-vaxxer claims and now he is mostly wrong about polar ice. Mr Ewing wants to equate the warming that began around 1850 with our present warming but that claim ignores important data. The best evidence for the cause of the warming trend of the mid-1800s is that solar activity increased. A decrease in volcanic activity is also in the cards. Contrary to what climate change deniers claim, volcanic activity causes global cooling due to the release of Sulfate aerosols. The problem with Mr Ewing's explanation is that around 55 years ago, solar activity began a trend downward while warming continued to pick up. This cooling reversed itself after a decade for about a decade but for the last 35 years the sun has been on a cooling trend.[1] What this clearly suggests is that while post-LIA warming may be connected to increased solar activity, its rather imaginative to claim the climate forcing of the 19th century is responsible for our present trend. Solar activity, which brought us warming, has decreased overall since 1960 yet the warming continues. Solar activity and global warming are going in opposite directions.
Mr Wiles chimed in recently, "The Antarctic has record levels of ice while the Arctic has regained much of the ice lost over the past decade". Not so quick, Russ. The Arctic sea ice reached its annual maximum ice extent on Feb 25, 2015. The Winter peak extent of Arctic ice this year is the lowest on record and one of the earliest since satellites went up in 1979.[2] The Arctic has not regained any lost ice over the decade. On the contrary, satellite data shows that Summer Minimums and Winter Maximums have declined and the Arctic has lost an average of 20,800 square miles of ice a year.[3] In the matter of the Antarctic there are two kinds of ice to be measured because it is a continent while the Arctic is mostly sea ice and some of Greenland. Continental ice is not the same animal as sea ice. Also consider that while ice advances and recedes in two dimensions, how thick is it and what is its volume? Measuring ice is a three dimensional job. Using satellite laser and radar altimetry, the elevation and thickness of land ice across the Antarctic ice sheet can be measured. The data so far says the West Antarctic and Antarctic Peninsula sheets are losing ice steadily while the East Antarctic sheet has gained slightly. Added up, the Continent lost 1,350 billion tons of ice into the oceans between 1992 and 2011.
On the other hand, Antarctica sea ice has gained some. According to to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, Antarctic sea ice covered a record 7.72 million square miles on September 19, 2014.[4] The average maximum extent in Antarctica between 1981 and 2010 was 7.23 million square miles. The Arctic has lost a yearly average of 20,800 square miles of sea ice while the Antarctic gained 7300 square miles. The Antarctic sea ice gains make up only a third of the ice lost each year in the Arctic. Thats a net loss of 13,500 square miles of sea ice a year while the continent is losing around 70 billion tons of land ice each year. Greenland is no longer stable and is losing 286 billion tons of ice per year.[5]
Just about everything else Mr Wiles and Mr Ewing claim can also be refuted quite easily but space prohibits today. I will certainly take them up if they wish. Next up? Another edition of Tea Party Potty Tricks!
After Mr Ewing's response: My rebuttal 4-29-2015
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/85770-james-veverka-4-29-370-the-sun
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/85770-james-veverka-4-29-370-the-sun
To The Daily Sun,
Don Ewing is in full bladder mode again. In his latest rambling letter as chief corporate shill, he did not provide a single rebuttal for my science-based claim that the post-Little Ice Age warming trend was not the same warming trend we're are presently in — as he claimed in a previous letter. Mr Ewing gets his science from right-wing sites like CATO and AEI, which I have also read. Right-wing economic sites lick the corporate boot and shine their shoes if they ask. Corporations help run them and fund them, too. Mr Ewing speaks for fossil fuel giants. Fossils love fossils!
Not once did he use "sun" or "solar" to refute my scientific data about the sun. It's because he can't. So he changed the subject to more corporate propaganda instead of addressing the central point of my argument: Solar irradiation. Mr Ewing, running with his tale between his legs, could not answer this simple question: If increased solar irradiation ended the Little Ice Age 160 years ago, why hasn't it started cooling? In fact, in the last 35 years, the sun has not bumped upward once but has steadily cooled unabated. Why isn't it getting colder? If the increase in the sun 's energy made us warmer in the mid-1900s why doesn't the decrease in the solar irradiation make it cooler. Why is it getting warmer if the sun is cooling? Come on, big boy!
The next time Mr Ewing wants to refute a claim, he should actually try to refute it instead of side-stepping it in favor of more right wing nonsense which is also so easily refuted. His letter reminded me of a spasm. His claims about CO2 are misinformed but I am waiting for Mr Ewing to provide a rebuttal for my solar activity claims which support human interference hypotheses before I put the silver spike in his CO2 fairy tales. He can just concede and we can move on. If he can't refute my solar energy claims then provide an explanation that isn't just right wing propaganda. Let's see some science, big guy. Concede on the sun and then we can move on to your other claims, one by one.
AND again!
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/86182-james-veverka-5-19-610
Climate Models Predict Trends 5-19-2015
To The Daily Sun,
I guess Don Ewing is not up to the challenge. He would rather make excuses, like discarding my rebuttal of his claim the warming trend of 160 years ago is also responsible for the present warming as minutiae. An increase in the sun's output is responsible for our leaving the LIA behind but the sun's output dropped significantly, beginning in the 1950s.
If the sun caused the 19th Century warming, why is warming accelerating if the sun began to cool more than 60 years ago? Don? Because he can't answer, he goes back to the standard CATO-Koch Brothers parroting and cherry picking. Nice try, Don, but you didn't answer the question, and again in this last letter just went rambling off into the usual right-wing cloud of unsourced talking points. I debunked two other bits of minutiae in the same letter. Russ Wiles made false claims about the polar regions which were easily refuted with scientific data and the technology we use. Footnotes were provided from NASA and more. Minutiae!
It takes far fewer words to make a claim than to provide a rebuttal. So it's easy for Don to ramble off a lot of Exxon-supported, unsubstantiated claims in a short time. Rebuttals demand constructing faceted explanations so that is why I chose just three of the popular myths of the denial crowd. As you can see by his latest letter, Mr. Ewing strings together the same old right-wing propaganda. Complicated answers are required for simplistic claims, so he may consider it just troublesome minutiae to be found in error. "Saying it's so" is how Mr. Ewing rants, while never citing sources or references. Of course, his sources are corporate-funded, too. Everything he writes can be refuted, but it has to be done claim by claim. Science brings many lines of evidence together to make a case so counter claims have to be addressed in similar fashion.
So while we are at it, let me get to some more minutiae. Besides the fact that Mr. Ewing has no answers as to why the sun's output and temperatures are going in opposite directions now, Mr. Ewing states, "based on the failed predictions of the consensus of his "scientists" over the last 20-30 years, is unpredictable." Unfortunately for the purveyors of pseudoscience, the predictions have not failed. The IPCC predictions on sea level are right in line with satellite data and tide gauges over the last 25 years. [1] Tide gauges show that the sea level has been rising since 1970, when installed.
Furthermore, forecasts of global temperature rises have proved to be remarkably accurate according to a paper published by the journal Nature Geoscience. Myles Allen and colleagues at Oxford University accurately predicted the warming in the past decade 1999-2010, relative to the decade 1986-1996, to within a few hundredths of a degree. [2] Predicting greenhouse gases will warm the planet isn't new. In 1861, chemist and physicist John Tyndale predicted eventual warming due to CO2. Nobel Prize-winning chemist Svante Arrhenius (1859-1927) was a Swedish scientist who claimed in 1896 that fossil fuel combustion may eventually result in enhanced global warming.[3] He was also a physicist.
Climate models predict trends, not events. Climate is not the same as weather. If Russ Wiles had known the difference between weather and climate, he would not have cited the views of meteorologists as relevant on climate change consensus. Consensus among climate scientists is very strong. I will explain in my next letter. I hope I didn't waste any of Don's time with the minutiae of debunking his claim about predictions. Of course there are many more examples of accurate predictions but, hey, this isn't a thesis.
Faith, Evidence, and the God of the Shrinking Gaps 4-23-2015
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/85604-james-veverka-4-23-450
To the Editor,
The emptiness of the theistic argument is front and center in the title of John Demakowski's latest letter. "Existence of supernatural world is all around: how did we get here?" There is no evidence because the natural world evidences itself, nothing more. Every time we dig, we find more natural explanations, processes and questions. Mr Demakowski's argument is the typical ages old 'argument from ignorance'; the God of the Gaps argument. The appeal is, "well, golly, how did the big bang or life happen?". Well, we really don't know, do we? We may never know. But it sure is easy to appeal to people's ignorance with the hubris of pretending revelatory knowledge.
The history of knowledge is a story of an ever-shrinking space within which to say something is an act of God. We used to think thunder and lightning were some expression from the supernatural. Nobody in the sky is angry. The same is true of disease, insanity, pestilence, plague, infertility, famine, drought, crop failure, and mass murdering floods. The Bible is full of ludicrous claims about God using natural disasters to punish people. None of it had to to do with any God and so it may be with the entire universe.
Mr Demakowski claims "God at His choosing allows His children to see into this supernatural realm through dreams and visions and less often actual experience in it". This was the belief of ancient and medieval times. There isn't any evidence that any of these experiences occurred for any other reason than neurologic ones. MRI brain scans can actually watch these experiences unfold and provide a degree of explanation. As we skeptics, say, its likely all in your head. In the past, we also thought things like voices, visions, and religious dreams originated in the supernatural world. Now we see they are neurologic in origin and if troubling enough can be treated medically. The same goes with some seizure disorders that exhibit blinding lights, temporary blindness, voices, and religious auras.
To say, "Yet the most full proof is the Holy Spirit living in believers' hearts" is absolute nonsense because believing something is not proof of anything. Such a claim is untestable and unverifiable. Mr Demakowski needs to look up the words faith, evidence, and proof in the dictionary. He clearly does not know their fundamental meanings. According to Pew Surveys, 7.5 million people lost their religion since 2012. People aren't buying what people bought in the past. Maybe theists can blame the internet for breaking open the necessary closed information system of religion. Fully one-third of all Americans under 30 identify religiously as "nones". Two-thirds accept evolution. This is very good news to rationalists.
To the Editor,
The emptiness of the theistic argument is front and center in the title of John Demakowski's latest letter. "Existence of supernatural world is all around: how did we get here?" There is no evidence because the natural world evidences itself, nothing more. Every time we dig, we find more natural explanations, processes and questions. Mr Demakowski's argument is the typical ages old 'argument from ignorance'; the God of the Gaps argument. The appeal is, "well, golly, how did the big bang or life happen?". Well, we really don't know, do we? We may never know. But it sure is easy to appeal to people's ignorance with the hubris of pretending revelatory knowledge.
The history of knowledge is a story of an ever-shrinking space within which to say something is an act of God. We used to think thunder and lightning were some expression from the supernatural. Nobody in the sky is angry. The same is true of disease, insanity, pestilence, plague, infertility, famine, drought, crop failure, and mass murdering floods. The Bible is full of ludicrous claims about God using natural disasters to punish people. None of it had to to do with any God and so it may be with the entire universe.
Mr Demakowski claims "God at His choosing allows His children to see into this supernatural realm through dreams and visions and less often actual experience in it". This was the belief of ancient and medieval times. There isn't any evidence that any of these experiences occurred for any other reason than neurologic ones. MRI brain scans can actually watch these experiences unfold and provide a degree of explanation. As we skeptics, say, its likely all in your head. In the past, we also thought things like voices, visions, and religious dreams originated in the supernatural world. Now we see they are neurologic in origin and if troubling enough can be treated medically. The same goes with some seizure disorders that exhibit blinding lights, temporary blindness, voices, and religious auras.
To say, "Yet the most full proof is the Holy Spirit living in believers' hearts" is absolute nonsense because believing something is not proof of anything. Such a claim is untestable and unverifiable. Mr Demakowski needs to look up the words faith, evidence, and proof in the dictionary. He clearly does not know their fundamental meanings. According to Pew Surveys, 7.5 million people lost their religion since 2012. People aren't buying what people bought in the past. Maybe theists can blame the internet for breaking open the necessary closed information system of religion. Fully one-third of all Americans under 30 identify religiously as "nones". Two-thirds accept evolution. This is very good news to rationalists.
The Bible is not an Historical Document 4-16-15
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/85436-james-veverka-4-16-267-no-god
To the Daily Sun,
It takes one to know one is a common term. John Demakowski has alluded that our cordial professor, Mr Cracraft, may be afflicted with hot air. A misreading of course. Mr Demakowski's hot air is straight from his make-believe Bible's lake of fire where he has it in his tormented mind that you will be tortured with fire because you deserve it if you don't accept the beliefs of people who didn't know where the Sun went at night. Got that?
Now let's get to hot air. Firstly, there is no evidence for any supernatural realm, beings, or deities. Zero, so stop pretending there is to make yourself feel warm and fuzzy. Ignorance of natural processes in the universe is not grounds for faith. It is grounds for awe and wonder and curiosity.
Secondly, there are no primary contemporary sources for the life of the Bible's Jesus. In my opinion, Jesus is a mythical construct, a synthetic person made by synthesizing Pagan mystery cults, Hellenism, and Judaism. All three represented the major religious currents of that Roman era. Nor does archaeology support the Pentateuch.
The Bible is not a history document; it is a religious document not unlike the Quran or the Bhagavad Gita or the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Mr Demakowski speaks of his Biblical literacy but in my view that is as important as claiming one is well studied in Harry Potter novels, the Dune Trilogy or the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov.
Pretending to know things is not a virtue. Its the virtue of a wolf.
To the Daily Sun,
It takes one to know one is a common term. John Demakowski has alluded that our cordial professor, Mr Cracraft, may be afflicted with hot air. A misreading of course. Mr Demakowski's hot air is straight from his make-believe Bible's lake of fire where he has it in his tormented mind that you will be tortured with fire because you deserve it if you don't accept the beliefs of people who didn't know where the Sun went at night. Got that?
Now let's get to hot air. Firstly, there is no evidence for any supernatural realm, beings, or deities. Zero, so stop pretending there is to make yourself feel warm and fuzzy. Ignorance of natural processes in the universe is not grounds for faith. It is grounds for awe and wonder and curiosity.
Secondly, there are no primary contemporary sources for the life of the Bible's Jesus. In my opinion, Jesus is a mythical construct, a synthetic person made by synthesizing Pagan mystery cults, Hellenism, and Judaism. All three represented the major religious currents of that Roman era. Nor does archaeology support the Pentateuch.
The Bible is not a history document; it is a religious document not unlike the Quran or the Bhagavad Gita or the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Mr Demakowski speaks of his Biblical literacy but in my view that is as important as claiming one is well studied in Harry Potter novels, the Dune Trilogy or the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov.
Pretending to know things is not a virtue. Its the virtue of a wolf.
2016 Presidential Candidates - Tea Party Potty Tricks 4-6-2015
Published in the Laconia Daily Sun 4-6-15
To the Laconia Daily Sun,
Clown car drivers, start your engines! The 2016 Presidential race is now unfortunately here. Welcome to another edition of Tea Party Potty Tricks where we continually strive to keep quality stupid in the news. Ted Cruz is getting Obamacare because its more affordable than COBRA, Rubio says he isn't a scientist but he knows climate change isn't happening and Huckabee will be soon spreading magic dust to cure our "secular theocracy". Jeb Bush wants to eliminate the minimum wage, likes the first Indiana law, and again, Tony Boutin is wrong. Chuck Schumer, who co-introduced the Federal RFRA in 1993 says that claiming the two laws mirror each other is "completely false" and "disingenuous". Sorry, Tony. It appears that Scott Walker isn't a scientist either. During an interview, Walker was asked if he was comfortable with the idea of evolution and did he accept i?" Walker's tail shot between his legs and he said, “I’m going to punt on that one". Isn't this going to be fun, circus goers?
Indiana has clearly taken over as America's least luminous state. Every Hoosier was relentlessly hosed last week because in Indiana and other Fundy No-Go-Zones, personal liberty is synonymous with the freedom to discriminate and parade the pig-headedness of George Orwell's Animal Farm. But all is not lost because America's own Senator Seditious, Tom Cotton, has graced us with his adolescent wisdom. "Tehran Tom" now claims gays have it good in Indiana and you should "be thankful you’re not living in Iran, where they hang gay people." Last week, Cotton pushed for forceful dealings with Iran because they have already taken the city of Tehran. Yes, the Persians took Tehran.
Christian Sharia advocates in Arkansas and Georgia saw the waves of disdain and ridicule flooding Indiana and quickly did what was prudent. Arkansas changed its RFRA and Georgia completely dropped its version because, shucks, what's the point of passing it if we can't discriminate? In the angry and gloomy netherworld of right wing radio, Liberty Counsel's Pastors Staver and Barber equated the humiliating blowback against the Indiana law with how the Nazis demonized Jews in Germany. Over on Rick Wiles' End-Times radio show, Jennifer LeClaire from Charisma Magazine reported "a recent prophetic experience she had in which God warned her that "a tsunami of perversion and all manner of wicked sin is headed towards this nation". God said so.
Fox Noise's fake-outrage machine perpetually pimps persecution of Christians. Fox's view on Madison, Wisconsin's law adding atheists to the city's non-discrimination code is that its Anti-Christian. Huh? In Fundy-land, Freedom is being able to legally discriminate. Glen Beck chimed in that gay rights activists have become modern-day Nazis who are leading an Inquisition that will turn into a Christian holocaust. One of Huckabee's political preacher buddies was on the Lars Larson radio show the other day. His take on the changes in Indiana's law was "This is all about unilateral coercion, it’s political correctness with the regimentation and force that Nazi Germany would be proud of." Well, no, actually. The Nazis arrested, imprisoned and executed homosexuals, despised multiculturalism, banned abortion, hated immigration, and went after contraception and family planning. Sound familiar?
To the Laconia Daily Sun,
Clown car drivers, start your engines! The 2016 Presidential race is now unfortunately here. Welcome to another edition of Tea Party Potty Tricks where we continually strive to keep quality stupid in the news. Ted Cruz is getting Obamacare because its more affordable than COBRA, Rubio says he isn't a scientist but he knows climate change isn't happening and Huckabee will be soon spreading magic dust to cure our "secular theocracy". Jeb Bush wants to eliminate the minimum wage, likes the first Indiana law, and again, Tony Boutin is wrong. Chuck Schumer, who co-introduced the Federal RFRA in 1993 says that claiming the two laws mirror each other is "completely false" and "disingenuous". Sorry, Tony. It appears that Scott Walker isn't a scientist either. During an interview, Walker was asked if he was comfortable with the idea of evolution and did he accept i?" Walker's tail shot between his legs and he said, “I’m going to punt on that one". Isn't this going to be fun, circus goers?
Indiana has clearly taken over as America's least luminous state. Every Hoosier was relentlessly hosed last week because in Indiana and other Fundy No-Go-Zones, personal liberty is synonymous with the freedom to discriminate and parade the pig-headedness of George Orwell's Animal Farm. But all is not lost because America's own Senator Seditious, Tom Cotton, has graced us with his adolescent wisdom. "Tehran Tom" now claims gays have it good in Indiana and you should "be thankful you’re not living in Iran, where they hang gay people." Last week, Cotton pushed for forceful dealings with Iran because they have already taken the city of Tehran. Yes, the Persians took Tehran.
Christian Sharia advocates in Arkansas and Georgia saw the waves of disdain and ridicule flooding Indiana and quickly did what was prudent. Arkansas changed its RFRA and Georgia completely dropped its version because, shucks, what's the point of passing it if we can't discriminate? In the angry and gloomy netherworld of right wing radio, Liberty Counsel's Pastors Staver and Barber equated the humiliating blowback against the Indiana law with how the Nazis demonized Jews in Germany. Over on Rick Wiles' End-Times radio show, Jennifer LeClaire from Charisma Magazine reported "a recent prophetic experience she had in which God warned her that "a tsunami of perversion and all manner of wicked sin is headed towards this nation". God said so.
Fox Noise's fake-outrage machine perpetually pimps persecution of Christians. Fox's view on Madison, Wisconsin's law adding atheists to the city's non-discrimination code is that its Anti-Christian. Huh? In Fundy-land, Freedom is being able to legally discriminate. Glen Beck chimed in that gay rights activists have become modern-day Nazis who are leading an Inquisition that will turn into a Christian holocaust. One of Huckabee's political preacher buddies was on the Lars Larson radio show the other day. His take on the changes in Indiana's law was "This is all about unilateral coercion, it’s political correctness with the regimentation and force that Nazi Germany would be proud of." Well, no, actually. The Nazis arrested, imprisoned and executed homosexuals, despised multiculturalism, banned abortion, hated immigration, and went after contraception and family planning. Sound familiar?
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