A major problem with many religions, especially conservative or fundamentalist religions,  is that, for them, their dogma, tenets, traditions, and beliefs are more important than people. Following their tradition and teachings is more important than the harm that they cause. It is easy to forget that people are affected by your teachings when the teachings themselves allow for the dehumanization of the public in a very similar way that militaries train soldiers. It is about the enemy, soldier, sniper, hand-to-hand combat in a similar fashion as it is about sin, immorality, sinner, faith and salvation.

The entire point of theses religions seems to be the propagation of their religion and it is not really about people. Religions need to shift their focus from being dogmatic faiths to being more humanistic faiths where people are what is important.  Until then we are all going to suffer because “we” are not the focal point of conservative faith and teachings, the dogma and tradition is.

A great example of this hypocrisy is where the Catholic Church in Washington DC threatened to stop all of their social services if gay marriage was passed. Another great example is the Uganda issue which I posted about a while back. With the concerted effort of the Anglican Church and some Fundamentalist Senators they have effectively achieved a death sentence for homosexuals and anyone who helps them in Uganda.  Let us also look at the Stupak amendment to stop abortion for health insurance which is the only real reason that health care reform is not passed. Then there is also the abstinence only education issue too. It has been well proven what damage this causes.

Read More

• Religious Institute to D.C. Catholic Charities: These are NOT Family Values
• Angry But Not Surprised About Stupak
• Wikipedia article for the “Stupak–Pitts Amendment” to the Heath Care Reform package
• Dec ‘09 Milestone: Abstinence-Only Education
• Abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education — It’s back…

Constance McMillen, an 18-year-old senior at Itawamba Agricultural High School, has petitioned her school to allow her to take her girlfriend as her date to prom, and to be be able where a tux. The school board has responded by saying  no and then canceling prom so that they do not have to deal with it. It is not that I would not expect something like this from happening,especially in the conservative South,  but it is sad that it does. Prejudice and fear being acceptable and tolerated keep people from being free.  The ACLU, of course, has filed a lawsuit against the school.

I am proud of Constance and the bravery that she has shown to stand up for what she believes in and to be proud of  who she is. The school board should be very ashamed of their actions.

More Reading

• Canceled Mississippi prom attracts national attention (Clarion Ledger, 12 Mar 2010)
• Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to Prom (Prop 8 Trial Tracker, 13 Mar 2010)
• Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to Prom (Facebook, started by the ACLU)
• Student Nondiscrimination Act of 2010 introduced in US House (Human Rights Campaign, 27 Jan 2010)

Linguistics Evolution and Geographic Isolation

This post is brought to you by the letter “L” for linguistics. I have come to think about his because of my reading about linguistics. In linguistics it is thought that humanity’s languages all stemmed from a single language called Proto-Indo-European, and then as the tribes broke up and migrated to other regions cutting themselves off geographically and culturally from their original tribe, culture, and language their language eventually evolved into the language families that we see today like the romance, slavic, germanic, etc; and then those individual language families evolved into the individual languages that we see today.

The key point here is isolation brings about a different evolutionary path, albeit, in this case,  a linguistic one.

Dietary Evolution and Geographic Isolation

As early homosapiens separated from their tribes and developed unique cultural and linguistic traits they also traveled to areas where the climates and therefore food sources were different, and as thousands of years passed I believe that our bodies developed a physiology more tuned to processing the foods that were apart of  the normal diet for that region, and potentially lost the genes that allowed efficient and/or health processing of other foods which were not staples of their current dietary intake.

People who lived in inland areas where they are used to drinking cows milk and eating wheat products will have the genes to efficiently make use of eating those products.  People who lived by the sea would develop genes to more efficiently eat seafood, sea weed and other sea products while potentially losing the genes for wheat and milk. You can come up with many situational examples like this from region to region as to what is common and what is not.

Genetics and Dietary Requirements

With all of this being said what I am really going to postulate here is that I bet that if we trace where our geographical genetic lineage is based we can have a better idea as to what foods we will most likely be able to take advantage of.  Genetic testing can help us to eat better and be healthier by knowing what foods we may be tuned to take advantage of.

Another Option

Perhaps an easier solution would be to come up with some baseline nutritional food source that has all of the USRD recommendations and then take blood test, urine and fecal tests, etc to find out how we process nutrients and how much our body’s we really need in a day. By knowing how much is removed from the body and so on we can see how much we, individually, really need each day.

We can also do similar tests for specific products like wheat, dairy, etc and see how we respond and process them to determine if our body will process it efficiently and safely.

Here is a very interesting article in the New York Times article titled “Human Culture, an Evolutionary Force“

For a couple of years, Green Power, Inc (GPI) has had a 100 ton per day model plant in Pasco, Washington that turns municipal solid waste (MSW) and other like feedstock such as biomass into high grade fuel.  This technology enables the replacement of limited, fossil-based oil with fuel that comes from garbage, which can be thought of as a form of free, sustainable energy, because as long as there are people on the planet, there will be waste.  What’s more, usually communities pay to get rid of it, so it is a cash-generating feedstock that with GPI’s technology produces a cash-generating product, self-powered by the process as well. …

GPI’s waste-to-fuel process validated by U.S. military (Examiner.com, 19 Feb 2010)

If this lives up to any of its claim, then all I can say is: Wow! US municipalities need to jump on this!

I have been following the Prop 8 Trial for the last week or so via the Prop 8 Trial Tracker and I can say I am really confused with the Defendants – the Pro-Prop 8 people. Their witnesses were to our advantage and their cross-examination of our witnesses yielded pretty much nothing of really use. Both of the witnesses they called came off as incompetent and/or sleazy. It was sad to see … in a good way.

I know that they do not have a rational or logical argument against Same-Sex Marriage, but this was sad almost to the point of hoping that they declare a mistrial because their counsel seemed completely inept and out classed by the Olson/Boise juggernauts. I am happy to see that, because it reinforces the legitimacy of Same-Sex Marriage issue, but it also makes me worry as to what they are really up to.

I am pretty sure they were expecting an appeal regardless of who won this first round, so perhaps they have something more vicious planned for the appellate court. They cannot add new evidence or testimony there, but perhaps they are planning on hiring competent counsel to argue their case. The evidence and testimony that they submitted was not too inspiring. Perhaps they may leave it at losing here at the District Court level and not take it too the Supreme Court to minimize the damage, in hopes that this case will not be used as further precedent for other cases across the country? I am not sure what is going on here, but it is worry-some.

Our evidence and testimony was pretty much on target and unflappable. With Loving vs Virginia and Brown vs Board of Education in our courts to show that marriage is a fundamental right, and separate is not equal, respectively, I am thinking that we have a great case in our favor.

Now we wait for the judge to review the testimony and evidence given, and then the court will take on filings for Amicus Briefs, and then Closing Arguments. I do not like this wait at all. There is so much at stake here, but I am quite hopeful.

If you think that what I am about to write does not affect you please take a look at this quote:

Texas is the nation’s second-largest textbook market and one of the few biggies where the state picks what books schools can buy rather than leaving it up to the whims of local districts, which means publishers that get their books approved can count on millions of dollars in sales. As a result, the Lone Star State has outsized influence over the reading material used in classrooms nationwide, since publishers craft their standard textbooks based on the specs of the biggest buyers. As one senior industry executive told me, “Publishers will do whatever it takes to get on the Texas list.”

Mariah Blake

This article titled Revisionaries: How a group of Texas conservatives is rewriting your kids’ textbooks by Mariah Blake from the Washington Monthly is very saddening to me. I had heard off-handedly through the news that it was pretty bad down there (i.e.  teaching creationism in schools movement), but I did not realize how bad it was until I read this article. There is an all out assault on education to, again, enshrine Fundamentalist Christianity into our culture and education while totally ignoring scientific facts and historical accuracy.

Again, they wish to impose upon the public their theological view points when we, most assuredly, do not ask for it. Our public education system needs to be free from religious interference or view points, for our education system is for everyone regardless of your religious preference. If you want religious knowledge go to church or a seminary, buy a book, or talk to your parents and family. The public education system is not the place for a theological bias.

Religion is a personal choice and our public schools are not. By virtue of teaching Fundamentalist Christian view points we are discriminating against everyone who does not share that view point, and are ensuring prejudice and bigotry towards non-Christians in the next generations. Perhaps a student attending a public might be Hindu, Muslim, Mormon, or Jewish? Should they be subjected to heavily conservative and Christian colored history lesson.

I do believe that we do need to teach about religion in our schools so people know about the different religions out there. We need to teach and not preach a Comparative Religion class.

Who do you want writing your public schools’ text books?

Other Articles

• Why You Should Worry About Texas Education
• One more time
  Texas education board yet again promotes ideology over academics
• Texas Board Delays Vote; Defends Christian Influence in U.S. History

The more I read of the Proposition 8 Trial Tracker BLog’s account of the trial’s testimony the more I believe that there is really no valid argument against gay marriage.  Their Questioning, and their expert witnesses are crushing the pro- Prop 8 people. It is a blood bath in there. The historical evidence supporting the homosexuality has been to subject to demonizing, discrimination, and bigotry throughout history is huge and painful to recount, but consistent. There is also plenty of historical evidence of changing marital laws with slaves, interracial marriage, etc…  I am impressed with the legal work here.

I see good things to eventually come.  Yea!

I just received word the the Supreme Court has affirmed a block on televising the Prop 8 court proceedings. I am saddened by this. Transparency to the public in such a high profile case is important, especially to let the world see the bigotry and lies that are spread by the pro Prop 8′ers. They want to keep this as hidden as possible so they do not look so bad. They are trying to keep as much of their commercials and other propaganda and so on from being admitted for similar reasons.  They hate to have their own work used against them.

New York Times Coverage

• Two Ideological Foes Unite to Overturn Proposition 8
• YouTube Moment on Hold in Same-Sex Marriage Case in San Francisco
• Personal Focus as Same-Sex-Marriage Trial Opens in California (Day 1)
• Same-Sex Marriage Case, Day 2: History Lessons
• Same-Sex Marriage Case, Day 3: The Defense Pushes Back

Here is a link to a live blog detailing the happenings at the Proposition 8 trial: Proposition 8 Trial Tracker BLog from the Courage Campaign.

Read it and get involved. This is one of the most important civil rights issues of our time.

Read about it and you be the judge:

• Uganda considers death sentence for gay sex in bill before parliament (Guardian UK, November 2009)
• Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill: Inspired by the U.S. (Time, December 2009)
• Taboos Silence Opponents Of Uganda Anti-Gay Bill (NPR, December 2009)
• Uganda’s bill to imprison gays for life is an outrage that should be rejected (Washington Post, January 2010)
• Op-Ed: Bearing False Witness in Uganda (HRC Backstory, January 2010)

Contact your legislators via HRC to let them know that this is not acceptable anywhere in the world.

I know what I am about to write here is bitterly sarcastic and angry… but here it is anyhow:

Congrats Scott Lively, Don Schmierer and Caleb Lee Brundidge! This must be a proud moment for you and your Fundamentalist Christian community. Bravo! Bravo! You have worked hard spreading ignorance and lies to ensure the deaths of more people. How proud you must be to know that you will soon have the potential death of many vile homo’s on your hands. Your “Godly” works are now responsible for promoting another tyrannical and oppressive regime like Iran and China where human rights are only a convenience for the state to play with and not a human right. I hope you enjoyed the participatory process in bringing about such stellar and model Christian legislation.

This article in Newsweek titled “The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage
Why same-sex marriage is an American value” is written by Theodore Olson who is a prominent Republican lawyer that served under Bush and Reagan during their presidential administrations. He, along with David Boies, a prominent liberal lawyer, have taken it upon themselves to overturn Proposition 8 all the way to the Supreme Court.

This article states his reasons for taking up the Gay Marriage case with hopes of ending the discrimination and injustice in this country. The Republican party has been struggling with their identity and have been trying to find themselves again. I think that they should take up with Mr. Olson to find out where to go – Freedom, Justice, and Family and not persecutive religious dogmatic status quo’ism.

Please take the time to read his view point. It is very compelling. And if you are really bored you can read my scrawlings on the gay marriage issue too.

Here is a 5 page Psychology Today article titled Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature that follows very closely what I have read in the book about Evolutionary Psychology titled Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters. Evolutionary Psychology is a very interesting as always.

Uliana said her first monosyllabic sounds today – “Ga de de de de!” in protest to being fed her oatmeal/puree food today.

Thorium, which was abandoned in favor of Uranium due to its production of nuclear grade Plutonium, is now working to be the Green Nuclear Fuel of Choice.

Uranium Is So Last Century — Enter Thorium, the New Green Nuke

Long live our new Thorium overlords.