Neural Gourmet Archives | Feed Your Brain
Neural Gourmet Archives | Feed Your BrainIn keeping with my newfound interest in all things law, I caught an NYT piece this morning that I wanted to direct people's attention to. It's discussing the fact that we're number 1 (Go USA!) in incarceration rates:
The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners.
Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations.
Criminologists and legal scholars in other industrialized nations say they are mystified and appalled by the number and length of American prison sentences.
The United States has, for instance, 2.3 million criminals behind bars, more than any other nation, according to data maintained by the International Center for Prison Studies at King’s College London.
You can read the rest of the article here. While it is pehaps not news to many people that we're leading the way in locking people up, what I found interesting was that there was a comparison to the rates in other 1st world nations such as Germany and England (as the usual retort to this sort of thing is that the numbers don't include people who are disappeared) and that the US is also a standalone in imprisoning people for minor property crime.
Just got a message from Eugenie Scott via Facebook asking everyone to link to Expelled Exposed, the National Center for Science Education’s debunking (that should read, “pummeling with facts”) of the fraudulent documentary Expelled hosted by pseudo-intellectual Ben Stein. The idea is to spread the word, and the links, so that whenever someone googles “expelled” they’ll end up with Expelled Exposed at the top of their listings. There’s already a wealth of information at the Expelled Exposed website already but Eugenie says we can expect even more on April 15th.
I realize that is has been blogged about before, by bloggers much more capable than myself, but it has been a while since I visited the website for the upcoming movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed and I see that there is now a good deal more information available on it. It's coming out in February 2008, and stars everyone's favorite Nixon speech writer and former second-banana to Jimmy Kimmel, Ben Stein. Tongue firmly in cheek, Stein stars as a "rebel" student at "Big Science Academy" who, from what information I can gather, claims that "Big Science" is keeping "smart ideas" out of the classroom. Translation: scientists won't allow intelligent design to be taught in classrooms because they say it's not science, and that's just mean!read more »
Last week about a dozen other bloggers and myself attended Americans United For Separation Of Church And State's national meeting and 60th anniversary reception in Washington, DC. In addition to getting to meet and discuss issues with a large number of enthusiastic, committed activists, chapter leaders and bloggers there were sessions designed to hone our organizing, fund-raising and lobbying skills. Personally, it's sometimes disheartening observing the casual abuse and disregard of our first freedom in this time when religious extremism holds such sway. However the opportunity to join together with both believers and non-believers alike was a great reminder that very many people do take separation of church and state seriously and went a long way toward giving me renewed hope that this freedom that so many take for granted won't be thrown aside because AU will be there fighting for as long as it takes.
So when Beth Corbin, AU's National Field Director and proprietrix of Yikes! volunteered to host this edition of Carnival of the Liberals it was only natural to make church-state separation the theme and dedicate it to AU. Beth's edition is up now. Go read and enjoy.read more »
Yikes! Carnival of the Liberals #52 is almost here, or there as it were. There being Yikes! of course, this Wednesday, November 21st. In honor of Americans United For Separation of Church and State's 60th anniversary we're trying to make this a church-state separation themed carnival. So if you have anything you've written recently related to the separation of church and state, feel free to send it along. If you haven't, then there's still time because the deadline isn't until Monday, November 19th at 11:59PM. As always, blogcarnival.com does the job.
Also, I'd like to note that this is the very last edition of Carnival of the Liberals in our 2nd year. Next time will be our best-of edition where everyone who has participated in Carnival of the Liberals this past year sends in what they consider their best post of the 2006-2007 season. And finally, I'm scheduling hosts for year three of CotL so if you'd like to volunteer, just drop me an e-mail.
Most of you reading this are probably familiar with the problem of evil as it applies to Judeo-Christian theology. For those who aren't however, a quick rehash:
The problem of evil holds that the mere presence of suffering and evil in this world are inconsistent with the notion of an all-powerful, all-loving, and all-knowing God. This is so, as because if a God is all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful then it would seem to follow logically that such a being would not allow us humans (who are referred to on occasion as “his children”) to be subjected mercilessly to horrors that defy description here.
That being the case, it would seem that the following scenarios are likely:
1. You have a God that is all-powerful, all-loving, but not all knowing. God simply does not know about the horrors in the world, otherwise he would surely put an end to them.
This strikes me as absurd on the face. If there were an all-powerful, all-loving being then surely he could get cable news wherever he resides. You don't have to look too hard to see the suffering in this world.
2. You have a God that is all-loving, and all-knowing, but not all-powerful. God knows of the horror in this world, and wishes to cease it, but is simply unable to.read more »
I've had a great time this weekend in Washington, DC at Americans United For Separation Of Church And State's national meeting. And while the programming and training sessions have been stimulating and informative the best part has been meeting and networking with a great bunch of people who have collectively been defending the wall of separation for 60 years! Oh, and I can't help but mention how much fun it's been hanging with PZ Myers, Phil Plait, Blue Gal, and many other fine bloggers. The only downside has been the crappy WiFi in the hotel (this is Washington-frigging-DC! you'd think they'd at least have decent WiFi!) and Amtrak losing my luggage. Ah well, a small price to pay for an amazing few days. I'll most likely have a lot more to say later.
Blue Steel over at Pollyticks.com has your bi-weekly fix of the all that's good in the liberal blogosphere. As always it's great to see some new faces amidst all our old friends.
I also wanted to mention that I'll be headed to DC this weekend. Americans United for Separation of Church and State has invited myself and several other bloggers down to participate in organizing, fund raising and lobbying training, not to mention help AU celebrate it's 60th anniversary. I'm not sure who all is coming but I'm told that among those attending will be Blue Gal, DCup, Phil Plait, and PZ Myers. Wonder if I can finally convince DCup and Phil to host Carnival of the Liberals? In any event it'll be great to meet so many of my bloggy friends in real life.read more »
The relative success of Trutherism has peaked and is now on the decline. Its genesis lies in right-wing populist conspiracism that was repackaged post-9/11 to appeal to left-of-centre consumers who felt traumatised and disenfranchised as a result of GOP dominance of US politics to 2006. An explanation of 9/11 as a plot masterminded by Bush or his associates appealed to some on the left, as another example of the illegitimacy of the Bush Administration and an example of their evil.
One of the greatest blows to the Troof Movement was when the Democratic Party took Congress in the 2006 Mid-terms. It destroyed the notion of "BushCo" as an all-powerful clique that controlled space-time, controlled all media, and could steal any elections it wanted. As Katrina, Iraq, and Afghanistan have unfolded, the capability of the Bush Administration to orchestrate the greatest deception of all time has been severely dented.
Since 2006, Trooferism is returning to the right-wing populism from which it was originally-derived. Trooferism's love affair with Ron Paul(1) is rather indicative of this, as well as Trooferism's bolder assertions that the Democratic Party was also "in on it". On the progressive messageboard DemocraticUnderground, resident Troofers are becoming bolder in smearing leading Democrats such as Bill Clinton and John Kerry.read more »
I know it has been some time since I have posted here, and it has been even longer since I have posted anything here worth reading. Well I was feeling a bit sentimental today, so I dug up a moldy-oldy I posted to the Democratic Underground a couple months back that didn't get a whole lot of play...so I am resurrecting it. Enjoy!read more »
Double standards: Right wing talking head John Gibson wonders why the Democrats can get away with religious metaphors when Republicans would be castigated for similar remarks. Cartoon courtesy of Pollyticks.On Monday John Gibson questioned why there was no outrage about Barack Obama's recent "Kingdom on Earth" statement while addressing an evangelical church in South Carolina. Apparently Gibson feels there's some double standards at play here. Well, I have to admit that all this god talk by Democrats makes me more than a little nervous, especially considering both Obama and Clinton's ties to evangelical Christianity. But evangelical Christianity is not fundamentalist Christianity and I have no true concerns that any Democratic candidate would want to condemn and tear down the wall of separation between church and state that has grown ever more shaky under Republican leadership. Therein lies the difference. One party uses religious metaphor in an attempt to relate to its constituents among the faithful while the other shamelessly panders to fundamentalist Christians who would be quite happy seeing theocracy on Earth. Just like John Gibson does when he talks about double standards. Of course I wouldn't exactly expect cogent political analysis from someone who thought, out of all the pressing issues of the day, that Obama's nicotine addiction was newsworthy.
Mojoey has been doing all of us atheists a favor by keeping the definitive list of atheist blogs. I've sported Mojoey's Atheist Blogroll on the sidebar for over a year now. Unfortunately because of the way Technorati changed the way it indexes sites the links don't count toward a site's authority it seems. So taking my cue from the many atheist bloggers who have been posting the entire list uncut in recent days (I've seen it posted at quite a few places, Atheocracy being the most recent to catch my attention) I'm now doing my part to help boost our collective blogospheric stature by doing the same.
Just as a note, I don't agree with every blog/blogger on this list. In fact I vehemently disagree with quite a few and likely many would disagree with me. No big surprise there as I can be quite the contrarian when I want to. However, I don't see this as a negative thing. Rather it helps illustrate the fact that if someone tells you that they are an atheist then they've told you remarkably little about themselves. Actually, all they've said is, "I don't believe in gods".
Beyond that atheists are as rich and varied a bunch as any random group of people you might find. There are liberal atheists, socialist atheists, conservative atheists, libertarian atheists, anarchist atheists, materialist atheists and even spiritual atheists with the only thing in common being our lack of belief. The one type of atheist you will never find however are "fundamentalist" atheists as atheists lack any coherent set of principles or doctrine on which to rigidly adhere to a fundamental interpretation.read more »
So I encourage everyone to pick a half dozen or so blogs off the list below that you've never heard of before and go give them a read. You might hate what you find there, you might love what you find there. Who knows? The one thing that is for sure though is you will have broadened your horizons just a little bit more. Enjoy. (listing below the fold)
Here's some quality blog carnivals for your Sunday reading pleasure.
Carnival of the Godless #68 can be found at The Uncredible Hallq
The 63rd meeting of The Skeptics' Circle took place at Relatively Science
Carnival of Space #8 took off from Universe Today
A brief note to blog carnival organizers too... It makes your carnivals much easier to find if you update your blogcarnival.com listings. They have feeds set up for each carnival so when you update blogcarnival.com, those of us who subscribe to the feeds for our favorite carnivals find out about them much quicker. That means more incoming links and wider exposure for your carnival.
Good grief it has been a while since I've been around these parts. For those who are interested or who don't know any better, I'm doing okay. I won't bore anyone with the details at the moment. I wanted to make a post to let people know that I'm still alive, and also because there has been something on my mind I wanted to try and get other people's input on.
What I've been wondering is just this: what is the difference, if any, between spirituality and religion? A good synopsis I have heard is that spirituality is something that is defined from within whereas religion is defined from without. Also, spirituality (at least in my opinion) is one of those words that has the potential to be misused or at least given a wide berth with respect to it's usage in the lanuage. Any thoughts?
Oh, and it goes without saying but I hope everyone else is well also.
Richard Dawkins reads from the
paperback edition of The God Delusion
On a recent trip to the Galapagos Islands, Richard Dawkins' read the new introduction to the forthcoming paperback version of The God Delusion in which he addresses many of the common (and often weak) criticisms of The God Delusion, particularly those critics of the "I'm an atheist but..." school. Love him or hate him, Dawkins will always make you think. I'm currently listening to the audiobook version of The God Delusion and I've got to say there's not much there that would be new to a lot of atheists but perhaps theists will read (or listen) to the book and be posed with questions and thoughts they don't get from their Sunday sermons or the media. About twenty six and a half minutes.
Updated: Video working again. The original video seems to have been deleted and reuploaded at Google Video so the video wasn't working for a while.
If we're really going to defeat Christianity (and that is our goal as atheists right?) then we clearly need more atheist owned and operated coffee shops well stocked with Islamic reading materials (or perhaps more coffee shops owned and operated by deconverted Muslims -- it works either way). I don't know why this never occurred to us before, it's so blindingly obvious, but thankfully Chuck Colson let it slip the other day that the three biggest threats to Christianity are Islam, atheism and coffee shops. Now we just need to unite this perfect trinity of anti-Christian forces into the single most powerful, irrestible force against Christianity ever! I forsee a chain of franchises all across the nation. Who wants to buy into this amazing business opportunity that will allow you to maximize your earnings potential all the while having fun, enjoying great coffee and insuring the destruction of all that's good and holy?
I'm up late packing for the move. More like procrastinating packing for the move, but I can't resist one more blog post, especially when it concerns this great letter to the editor in today's Washington Post concerning Newt Gingrich's recent tirade about 'radical secularists'. Why is this man even given a voice by the media? Doesn't it just make you queasy to see Hillary Clinton palling around with the guy? Anyway, it really is a nicely crafted letter and really short to boot so I'm just going to disregard copyright infringement for the nonce and hope neither Bernard Singer or WaPo minds:
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, speaking at the commencement ceremony at Liberty University, decried a "growing culture of radical secularism". He went on to say "in hostility to American history, the radical secularists insist that religious belief is inherently divisive."
Of course it is. As a history professor, Mr. Gingrich should know that because of the divisiveness of religious beliefs, even the word "God" was intentionally left out of the preamble and the Constitution. The Founding Fathers also saw fit to say, in the First Amendment, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus establishing a firewall between church and state.
Hail the Founding Fathers, the first "radical secularists."
BERNARD SINGER
Springfield
Simply brilliant! Who says liberals aren't good at framing? Oh sure, I don't know that Mr. Singer is a liberal but I like to think secularlism is a particularly liberal idea. At least Gingrich has shown that it's not a particularly conservative one.
Mitt Romney: Former Governor of MassachusettsFrederick Clarkson over at Talk To Action has restarted his classic Theocrat of the Week series. In e-mail Frederick mentioned to me that he was restarting the series at least partly in response to Ed Brayton's post on the misuse of the term theocracy that I talked about in Carnival of the Godless #64. Frederick's purpose is to discuss the term and why specific people deserve to be so labelled. Obviously, the U.S. is not a theocracy — yet. However some people, such as this week's Theocrat of the Week, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, are so adroit at enabling and supporting theocrats that they themselves are worthy of the term. Be sure to give Frederick's excellent article a read and look for the e-mail address to send your nominations for Theocrat of the Week in comments at the Talk To Action.
Dawkins vs. O'Reilly
April 23, 2007
It was an interesting move for Richard Dawkins to go up against Bill O'Reilly. First of all, Dawkins message does not lend itself to this sort of format. To (badly) paraphrase Chomsky, concision is the enemy of rational thinking. But more than that, the right wing talking head shows are inherently biased toward the viewpoint of the host and O'Reilly is notorious for talking over and shouting down guests.
That being said, I thought Dawkins did remarkably well. O'Reilly primarily employed argument from ignorance, appeal to authority and what I think was a form of the association fallacy (Stalin was an atheist, Stalin had no morals, therefore atheists have no morals). No surprise there as these are common arguments from theists when confronting atheists about their lack of belief. Dawkins held his own though and didn't let O'Reilly faze him. All in all O'Reilly treated Dawkins with kid gloves, was fairly respectful and it was a pretty solid showing for a 4 minute segment.
The only question though is did Dawkins accomplish anything? After all, I find it hard to imagine he even sold more than a few copies of The God Delusion as a result of his appearance much less changed any minds. I don't know though. I think his appearance on O'Reilly's show was a good thing. At the very least a large segment of the American population was confronted with a strong, articulate atheist. That's something Americans don't encounter every day. For many people in the U.S. the only exposure they have to a publicly outspoken atheist are 30 year old memories of Madalyn Murray O'Hair on the Phil Donahue show and as much as Dawkins et. al. are branded extremists, the so-called "new atheists" don't hold a candle to O'Hair in combativeness. So in the sense that Dawkins came off as rational and likable I think it was a net positive.
Welcome, welcome, one and all to the 64th edition of the blog carnival for infidels and heathens everywhere, Carnival of the Godless! As per usual, we have a bumper crop of posts covering a large array of topics so let's not waste time and get this show on the road.read more »
