This is a photo taken by a passing motorist on the Skyway bridge. Dan Aberg was passing by the scene traveling about 50 mph, saw the following and took this cell phone picture. The man in the picture (allegedly) had set fire to the car with his ex-wife in the trunk. That is what we see on fire. Shortly after this photo was taken, the man jumped to his death.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/bloggers/david-gibson
What is an atheist?
Atheists come in two basic types. The first simply lacks belief in God or gods. The second believes that there is no God or gods (positive atheism).
What is a new atheist?
A new atheist is a positive atheist. Further, a new atheist is unafraid to say that he or she is an atheist and insists that his or her point of view be heard and rights respected. New atheists are encouraged by recent surveys that show that nearly 25% of people in the United States don’t believe in God, although some may believe in a higher power of some sort (American Religious Identification Survey 2008). Atheists and other nonbelievers are now a large enough minority to demand a “place at the table” of civic discourse.
New atheists are intolerant of religion; many work to reduce the influence of religion on society and argue that religion should be abandoned as something that humankind no longer needs.
Who are the Four Horsemen?
These are authors of recent bestselling books critical of religion. They are outspoken new atheists and the de facto leaders of the new atheist movement. D.J. Grothe of the Center for Inquiry first called them the Four Horsemen of the Counter-Apocalypse. It is a reference to the Biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: conquest, war, famine and death.
What is the OUT Campaign?
It’s a public awareness campaign encouraging atheists and other nonbelievers who may be keeping silent about their worldview to speak out in order to show that they are a larger minority than many believe and that they are no different than their neighbors, friends and coworkers.
For more info:
Last week, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter released a widely disseminated statement concerning the global mistreatment of women based on religious texts and doctrines. Mr. Carter was so disturbed by the sexism within his own church that he left it after 60 years. In his commentary, Carter quoted the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" and the Bible (Gal 3:28) to demonstrate his own integrity as concerns race, religion and gender. He then remarked:
This view that women are somehow inferior to men is not restricted to one religion or belief. It is widespread. Women are prevented from playing a full and equal role in many faiths... The male interpretation of religious texts and the way they interact with, and reinforce, traditional practices justify some of the most pervasive, persistent, flagrant and damaging examples of human rights abuses."
Carter is to be commended for having the daring—a sad statement in itself that it is "daring" to speak out on behalf of women—to take on the religious tyranny that has ruled this planet for too long. As he says, he is in a later stage of his life and as part of a mysterious group of "Elders" he has been selected to publicize this very enlightened view concerning women and religion. Further displaying this vital courage, Carter declares:
The justification of discrimination against women and girls on grounds of religion or tradition, as if it were prescribed by a Higher Authority, is unacceptable."
We wholeheartedly agree, and we thank Mr. Carter and the Elders for taking this sorely overdue step—let us hope that others will follow suit and that those individuals still engaging in misogyny and sexism, religiously based or otherwise, will feel ashamed of themselves.
"Holy Scriptures" themselves are sexist
Unfortunately, Carter's closing contention concerning the traditional establishers of the three Abrahamic religions, Christ, Paul, Moses and Muhammad, all calling for "proper and equitable treatment of all the children of God" stumbles, for, while it is diplomatic, it is certainly not true. According to the Bible, Moses was responsible for an atrocious amount of genocide, such as at Numbers 31:15-18, where, after his Israelites slaughter thousands of Midianites, Moses asks, "Have you let all the women live?" The great Jewish prophet next gives an ethnocentric reason to murder them all and then remarks:
Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."
What this last line means, naturally, is that the Israelite warriors get to kidnap the young virgin girls and use them as sex slaves.
In the meantime, the "Prince of Peace" Jesus Christ stated he was not here to bring peace but a sword (Mt 10:34), and made other remarks that create enmity:
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these [are] the beginnings of sorrows." (Mk 13:18)
If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." (Lk 14:26)
Paul, of course, repeatedly made derogatory remarks about women, such as:
But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. (1 Cor 11:3)
Sounding very proto-Islamic Paul follows this sexist commentary with a diatribe against women's hair and an exhortation for women praying or prophesying to cover their heads. (1 Cor 11:5ff) After these comments, Paul says that men were not created for women, but women were made for men. (1 Cor 11:8).
There's more woman-dominating speech at Ephesians 5:22-24:
Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands."
At 1 Timothy 2:11-15, Paul goes on a rant that women should be quiet and submissive, because Eve ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, dictating that all women—who are by their mere gender guilty by association—can redeem themselves by bearing children and being modest:
Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet woman will be saved through bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness, with modesty."
And there's more in the "Good Book" that contradicts Carter's euphoric and hopeful interpretation, such as Paul repeatedly exhorting slaves to obey their masters, as at Titus 2:9:
Bid slaves to be submissive to their masters and give satisfaction in every respect."
The pro-slavery and pro-government biblical rhetoric can also be found 1 Peter 2:13-18:
Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing right you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext of evil; but live as servants of God. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor."Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to the kind and gentle but also to the overbearing."
How can we "honor all men" and then allow some to be slaves to overbearing masters? There would seem to be (at least) two voices here, including a propagandist for the emperor.
Nor does the Koran, attributed to Muhammad, speak out against slavery—indeed, fervent followers of Islam often label themselves "slaves of Allah." While Surah 2:256 says there is "no compulsion in religion," this passage is abrogated by later ones stating:
The only true faith in God's site is Islam" (Q 3:19)
He that chooses a religion over Islam, it will not be accepted from him and in the world to come he will be one of the lost." (Q 3:86)
It is not for true believers men or women to take their choice in the affairs if God and His apostle decree otherwise. He that disobeys God and His apostle strays far indeed." (Q 33:36)
Unbelievers in Allah, the Koran and Muhammad are threatened with the hideous punishment of eternal hellfire, as at Surah 2:92-6:
God's curse be upon the infidels! Evil is that for which they have bartered away their souls. To deny God's own revelation [the Koran], grudging that He should reveal His bounty to whom He chooses from among His servants! They have incurred God's most inexorable wrath. An ignominious punishment awaits the unbelievers."
There exist centuries-old Islamic images of Muhammad in Hell watching a demon torture women for uncovering their hair. There is nothing "equitable" about the treatment of women as ordained in the Koran:
Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient.
Concerning a man's right to marry a woman, the Koran (4:24) remarks:
Also, [forbidden to you are] married women, except those whom you own as slaves."
If these slave women are married, there must have been husbands somewhere, and one may presume that they are no longer alive, having been murdered by those who have enslaved their wives. Equitable?
As we can see, there is a serious problem with Mr. Carter's heartfelt commentary, but we can overlook his current sunny perspective, so long as it increasingly becomes understood that the religions and their scriptures themselves are hardly devoid of sexist speech that is merely being "misinterpreted" by men in order to hold sway over women.
Indeed, contrary to Carter's conclusions, the rampant misogyny and sexism found within religion are readily traceable to the attitudes of the alleged founders of organized faiths. We need to get at the heart of the issue, which is that humans possess a strange megalomaniacal quirk causing them to think that the God of the cosmos is writing books especially for them—books full of atrocity, hatred, oppression, enslavement, terror, warfare and genocide. That's the real problem, because books serve as brainwashing propaganda—it does no good at all to talk about "erroneous interpretation" when in fact there is no other way to interpret calls to hegemony, oppression, domination, bigotry, cruelty, discrimination and violence.
What the world really needs are new and improved writings revered for their enlightened content, not for their purported supernatural origins. Championing Dark Age and Stone Age texts will never lead to an evolved and peaceful world, no matter how hard we try to find seeds of goodness in them. Instead of desperately searching for seeds in bloated bags of intellectual refuse, let us obtain fresh sacks of seeds! And then let us plant these seeds of true human enlightenment with all due haste for our future generations.
The setting of Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh is simple, but utilizes powerful imagery, setting the tone for a classic drama of despair and the “pipe dreams” of redemption.
The ironically named “Harry Hope’s” is a drinking establishment on the West Side of New York, which in the summer of 1912 becomes the last refuge of his “friends” and patrons, many of whom are residents of the rooming house directly above the bar. “Harry Hope’s is a Raines-Law hotel of the period,” referring to the attempt by the New York State legislature in 1896 to regulate drinking by passing laws which regulated the sale of alcohol in “hotels” that served food.
Disgraced Harvard Law student Willie Oban’s “loophole of whiskey” drowns the last vestiges of hope for Harry’s patrons, all sitting in various states of drunkenness in the backroom of the bar. They congregate behind a dirty black curtain in an area divorced from the main barroom.
Larry Slade, a former Anarchist (in “the Movement”) and one of Harry’s drunkards, sees the bar as “the No Chance Saloon. It’s Bedrock Bar, The End of the Line Café, The Bottom of the Sea Rathskeller… Don’t you notice the beautiful calm in the atmosphere? That’s because it’s the last harbor.”
Lost in the shadows, dark and grim, drinking establishments have long been associated with a sense of despair, a feeling of hopelessness. The setting is 1912, on the cusp of World War I, bringing an ominous tone to the drama of The Iceman Cometh. The dark spirit reflects in the sad musings of the characters, all of whom are battling past demons (and for former adversaries Lewis and Wetjoen, the Boer War itself) as well as resignation from the social turmoil that eventually would envelope the world. The Anarchist movement of the era is prominent, and helps maintain an air of contention that fuels the character’s desire to retreat to Harry’s, relegated to watching life “from the grandstands.”
It is also a place ripe for salvation, or at least the promise of salvation. History reminds us that grief and anguish are the soil where the seeds of redemption take root. The sparse setting in O’Neill’s drama illuminates the meager confidence in the character’s souls, where they sit motionless and pine for lost “pipe dreams,” waiting expectantly for the arrival of Theodore Hickman (Hickey), a salesman whose yearly appearance for Harry’s birthday brings the promise of good times and free booze.
But not this year.
Hickey arrives not with the expected party, but with a new sobriety and a clarity that he quickly tries to inject into the small remnants of hope at Harry’s bar. Hickey has found his salvation, as with all who claim to be a messiah, declares to have found the way, and is convinced his is the true path. He attempts to hold a mirror to the reluctant souls at the bar, urging them to “salvation” by forcing them to reach out from their misery and attempt their dreams. His logic is in the effort to reach their “pipe dreams,” even if they fail, will release them from the confines of their sad fantasies and bring them peace.
It is at that this point where the drama moves from the depth of Harry’s backroom to the main bar, where grimy windows hint at the outside world and an escape from the prison of whiskey soaked dejection. One by one, characters move out to fulfill their redemption, with the intent to leave Harry Hopes’, never to return.
What Hickey failed to grasp was in a life of drunkenness there is little to cling to but one’s own dreams. Moving from the dark cavern of the soul, seen in the dimly lit backroom of Harry’s bar, to the warm light of the real world quickly becomes harsh and unrealistic.
All those moved to action by Hickey’s sales-pitch energy sadly come back to the darkness of the backroom, disheartened and now without even pipe dreams that kept them alive. The bar is a sanctuary but without the relief of hope. Even Harry cannot find the old respite in drink - the booze having no effect. “What did you do to this booze? That’s what we’d like to hear. Bejees you done something. There’s no life or kick in it now.”
Redemption does come, however, when Hickey confesses to the murder of his loving wife, revealing that madness is the source of his “deliverance.” The dark of the back bar with its heavy curtain become like a church confessional. However, it is not Hickey who is saved; it is his confessors – the startled barflies of Harry’s – who see they were following in the ramblings of a madman and return with relief to the comfort of their old illusions.
The drama ends as it began, in the gloom of a rundown bar, wearily celebrating Harry Hope’s birthday with a melancholy song. Each celebrant, back in their own low dreams, sings a verse of their own, oblivious to the others. For the audience, the bittersweet ending of O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh, written in 1940, punctuates a dark foreshadowing of the social unrest prior to World War I, with the horrors and grief of things to come.
Got nailed for Easter.... Welcome to the home stretch of my second semester.... Imagine some stranger falling back in time from Easter last year to inform me what Easter 2009 would bring, I would laughlingly have him locked up. Margaret, USFSP and the sheer amount of beer I have consumed would be a hard sell to anyone, much less a dumbass as myself. Imagine, if you will, some 40 (or so) year-old slacker such as myself informed they would fall madly in love, find some sort of satisfaction in Academia, and have my two grown daughters finally on their own (somewhat). Well, you can imagine my surprise. But, alas, it is all true.... I cannot believe my good fortune. I am in love, and am moving along here at USF swimmingly (for the most part), and am primed for the best summer I have ever experienced. Margaret says there is an opportunity to go to China this year. Friggin' China! That has been a dream for most my life! We can get a furnished place for dirt cheap, and a round trip ticket for 500 bucks! Holy Shit!
People are milling around, walking slowly along crowded aisles with a non responsive haze in their eyes. Careful movements punctuated by frozen stares directed at displays strategically located along four paths which crossed the long building. Some people were in small groups also moving at a deliberately leisurely pace.
Occasionally a individual looks up and scans a vignette, studying an item on a crowded table, such as a ceramic pots, a plate or vase - many glazed in colorful hues perfectly placed on tables crowded throughout the building. Intermixed with the ceramics were artificial floral arrangements, sparkling glassware, picture frames and items puzzling in their shape and texture. They were all placed in immaculate positions and groupings on every flat surface available.
The walls, painted a soft cream color, were also decorated with a variety of colorful pictures, all perfectly leveled. Many of the pictures were hand painted, mostly incorporating floral themes. They were framed in ornately carved frames of dark woods painted dark cherry with touches of gold. In addition there were several mirrors and metal sculptures of a tropical theme. They were festively shaped and painted to look like birds and ships, using vibrant greens and deep blues, like you would expect in a tropical paradise.
A few people were rushing about, shuttling between the groups, many who have stopped at an interesting point in the aisle. The hurried people had intent looks on their faces, and a few were smiling. Most of them gazed intently at a fixed point in space as they quickly passed.
Pieces of various sizes, some small enough to fit in the palm of your hand to large enough to sit on the floor, many in bright colors such as fire engine red and deep ocean blue, stood out from a sea of dark earth tones, mostly tans and browns. Colors that evoked the sense of a desert mountain bathed in the glow as the sun slowly sets. There were many pieces in a dark brown, appearing nearly black like a cup of strong coffee. They usually were set with a brightly accented item, which would stand out in vibrant contrast.
Amongst the carefully decorated smaller items were several large pieces, the focus of the vignettes, tastefully placed at inviting angles. The pieces were designed to grab attention from approaching passersbys. A variety of colors and textures were represented, some with the smooth of leather, firm to the touch and the reminding the curious of the hide from which it was made. Other items constructed of fabric, soft and fuzzy, as you would expect of a small animal.
Designed for comfort, and accented with contrasting pillows, the pieces, some as large as eight feet in length offered the curious a place to sit and periodically nod slowly. A smartly dressed person would rush to assist the seated engaging them with curious expressions.
Occasionally a burst of air from a strategically placed ceiling fans tore through the stillness, offering brief relief from the choking warmth.
This is starting to look like a mandate....
Let's hope that this is a change for the better... But all life is change, and America is not exempt. The dejection on Fox news is palatable.
If you are in the Obama is Socialist camp, then Socialism must have been in the cards.
Get used to it.
To those who felt it was no real change to elect Obama, I guess an African-American in office is not change enough (it is change enough for me).
To those who voted for Prop. 2... BOO!
I guess equality is only on your terms, and this election of a black man is some sort of aberration. It was not long ago that blacks were NOT equal to the rest of "us."
I would pray for you, if it wasn't a fruitless exercise for an athiest like me. We are all equal, and must strive for peace.
This election can be good, you know. It might be a good thing for the world for a progressive America, since that is the definition of the term "progressive." Did you think of that, that you might be wrong thinking Obama is wrong for America? You could be wrong ("God" forbid)!
I have seen enough politics where I am convinced, at least for now, electing a black man is the coolest thing America has ever done!
Now that there is no hanging chads to argue about, and it is pretty clear how America thinks, lets really work to understand the universiality of mankind. Peace to all.
One last thought... America is more than economics! It is leadership, where cooler heads might have a chance to prevail.
To those who won tonight.....
I'm still in office for two months! Bwahahahaaa!
peace out, boy scouts...
Some More Random Thoughts...
I want to remind people how cool how an Obama win is.
Today, every first grader from every inner-city school is saying: hey, I can be president of the United States. Is that not America, or what?
And the world is saying; "there is hope for America". Remember, we just elected someone to run the country, by the highest vote count ever, who could not even piss in the same bathroom as the whites a generation ago. That was not bullshit, it was the LAW. Is it not a good thing to give a whole generation of Americans the goal of POTUS? Instead of success equating rap stars and sports fame?
My senior year of high school (1979), also the highest recorded marijuana use by seniors, had a SWAT team on the roof of the school. As a result race riots. Blacks agains Italians, and it was about something pretty stupid, in retrospect. (hint: it was about pot!) Doesn't it seem petty now, when equality for all is an achievable goal?
Do you hear the rumbling? It is the collective generations of people spinning in their graves. I am so proud. It is a genuine rebellion.
Never mind the economic policies of Obama, the rebellion envisioned by the 60', 70's and 80's have begun to rear its head!
It is not an economic thing, for those who want to narrow it in purely economic terms. That idea is self centered!
We are seeing social change at is most base.
A person of color to reach the top of the American political structure is something pretty damn special. If you want to call it Socialism, so be it. If you think that Obama will not bring any change, and that the whole system needs a reset, get real! A black man is in charge, is that not change?
A real change has come, and if that is not enough for you, so what? Let's get a dose of reality, the American people will only accept a change on their own terms, and this is it!
So you label President Obama a "Socialist." Do you think any person of the age of the Civil Rights movement would be called anything else? Any notion of equality and fairness, especially in the framework of race, can be decried as socialist.
It is a charge bordering on racism.
The redistribution of wealth is an attractive notion to a class of people who have been denied real wealth their entire lives. As Chris Rock once said; a basketball player is rich, the owner of the team is wealthy! The equality of race, when you reflect, screams of socialism.
Who cares?
This is the change America needs, and Obama is intelligent enough to rise to the challenge.
The saving grace is that a mandate has been an achieved. A decisive victory which will quash any discussion of voter fraud and hanging chads. Thankfully ACORN is history.
If it was even close, we would be arguing this election for months. The election will put to rest any doubt, and any opportunity for the Supreme Court to decide this election.
One last thought... leave it to a black man to clean up the mess of the rich white guy! Good luck President Obama.
Gooooo USA!
