Haiti and Education

I offer this comic from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.




What does this have to do with Haiti? Some facts. . . First of all, a deal with the devil centuries ago did not cause the earth quake. Earth quakes are caused by very understandable actions between the tectonic plates that make up the earth. That's just that TV guy being funny, right? How many Haitians were taught about plate techtonics - standard fare in junior high science in the US and elsewhere?

More importantly, Haiti was a miserable place before the earth quake. Why? The history is interesting and what is shows is that Haiti has suffered through a number of 'governments' that were primarily interested in lining their own pockets rather than do anything for the people such as, libraries, streets and sanitation, and education. Education is the key.

Ignorant people can be controlled with violence and religion. Organized religion is a great way to keep the general population ignorant. If people are allowed and even encouraged to attend church and learn their catechisms ONLY then they won't know what they're missing in the form of real education, critical thinking, skepticism, and scientific inquiry. A totalitarian government goes hand in hand with keeping the people ignorant and religion can only help that government.

Would an educated and reasonable people build such fragile buildings? If the country had universities, scientists, and engineers and a government that supported free thought for the betterment of the people they would also have had some building codes. Would they also then have some structure to their civilization that included heavy equipment, fire departments, police, hospitals, and so forth. We've seen now that other countries have had to bring all of that to Haiti not just support what was already there.

Like most Americans (Rush Limbaugh being the exception) I feel real sorry for the Haitians. I feel sorry on a couple of levels. The obvious is just the huge hunk of suffering that is going on right now. Of course. On another level I'm saddened by the Haitians either thinking that God is punishing them or somehow saving them while killing their friends and neighbors. I was saddened by the woman on CNN who said that while she was entombed for 50 some hours she just prayed and prayed. I wondered how much more quickly she might have been found if she had hollered for help once in a while. I'm always amazed by the human ability to see their prayers as being answered while others are apparently not and them not wondering why that is or making the big leap that maybe prayers had nothing to do with any of it. You can't have that thought without being educated as to the reasonableness of the natural world. Effects have causes that are understandable but it takes an education to know that and it takes religion to NOT know that.

Money is going to be flowing into Haiti now for years to come. If they want to truly pick themselves up and join the 21st century they will funnel as much of that money as possible into real public education and not leave that to the Catholic church but if they have to, leave it to the Jesuits!

This just in from CNN. . .

Many observers have a simple explanation for what makes Haitians so devout.

"Because in all poor countries, you have to believe in something," said Agnes Pierre-Louis, the Haitian-born manager of her family-owned hotel. "If they don't have that, they don't have anything."

Added Diederich: "They leave everything in the hands of God. When you have so little, what else can you turn to?"

I think this makes my point very well. "You HAVE to believe in something" - sure when you are completely uneducated. It is completely understandable that people with nothing including no access to variety of thought, science, nor critical thinking will inevitably turn to religion as the answer to everything. Is this a good thing though? Is it taking them anywhere? Will it make Haiti a better place in the future?

I'm a little bothered by the portrayal of the spontaneous religious ceremonies and singing on CNN as if it were something cute or miraculous. Maybe in the case of Haiti it is a sad thing since they have nothing to balance their outright submission to religion and these demonstrations are really just another example of their abject ignorance and lack of education.

Haiti, God and CNN

I never watch CNN or any other TV news but the reports and images from Haiti via CNN have been riveting. As an uncommon viewer of CNN I have some observations.

- CNN is about 1/3 reporting, 1/3 advertising, and 1/3 telling us how great they are with their "people on the ground". By this they mean people in Haiti who are not filled with helium apparently.

- A woman was rescued after being entombed for 50 some hours. At first she could hear people below her but then all went quiet and not for a good reason. After rescue she said she just kept praying and never stopped. I can't get on people for this kind of thing with my usual snarkiness. In a scary situation (living in Haiti WITHOUT an earth quake for example) whatever gets you through the night. And, if prayer and faith helps the survivors get through the next several YEARS as they rebuild so be it.

Two very cool technology things:

1. The guy who shows the before and after pictures using google earth on a huge touch screen. He's like a maestro!

2. You can give money by texting to various numbers. You text in a number and boom, $10 goes to help. This is a great! Millions of people lobbing in a lousy 10 bucks turns into, well, TENS of millions of dollars. How great is that. Praise be to Google/Gates/Intel/AT&T/etc.

Speakng of numbers. . .

China has donated 1 million dollars. There are more than 1 billion people in China but let's say it's a billion to make it easy. That meas that China donated 1/1000 of a dollar for each citizen. I think maybe America should do the same. there are about 250 million Americans at 1/1000 of a dollar per person... OK, America donates $250,000. Seems fair but, wait no, America has put up 100 million with no doubt more to come. hey China. . .BITE ME!

Who the hell are the crazy orange suited guys from, of all places, Iceland! They were there instantly and have rescued people out of the rubble. They're like super heroes. Iceland? Maybe they are just happy to be in a warm place!

I'm standing by waiting for similar rescue squads from Saudia Arabia, Iran, North Korea, etc. (See China for my opinion of these countries).

Next time you feel like complaining about building codes. Don't.

Government Models

It occurred to me that with all the chest thumping and street screaming about how Allah is good and great and all that, and therefore so is Islam and we need death to the infidels (America) and so on and so forth. . .well, I thought, "What is the model you are striving to achieve"? Show me the Islamic country that is leading the world in . . . anything. If you're living in Bumblfuckistan and you have a particle of brain and two shekels to rub together do you want to send your kid (that would be your SON by the way) to the local university (terrorist camp) or get him a student visa and send him to a university in the infidel state known as the USA? Well, look at the state of foreign students getting advanced degrees in the US.


Interestingly and maybe not all that suprising most are from China (there are more than a billion Chinese) and as I look at the pie chart I cannot find any of the most popular (infamous) Muslim countries although I'm not sure what 'East Asia' means. What the hell? Does this mean no one is getting educated at all in the Muslim countries? Really?

Now I'm actually for free dissemination of knowledge and it probably is the best thing for all of us if foreign students do get their education here. That only makes for better relations and more understanding even if it does screw the curve in math class. But the fact that you simply cannot become an engineer, doctor, or physicist of any regard and go to school in your own shit hole, Muslim indoctrinated country should say something about your said shit hole!

So, here's a link to mainly Islamic countries and you tell me, where do you want to move to?

Ironically, it is right in the heart of Islam where I was taught was the "Cradle of Civilization". Right there at the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Islam invented the number 0 and alphabetized the letters. This is big stuff! Now? Well, it's been a rare thing when anyone from any Muslim country has won a Nobel in a science. The only one I can find is Ahmed Zewail an Egyptian, in Chemistry in 1999. Oh but wait, here's his education. . .

• Ahmad Zewail was born on February 26, 1946 in Damanhour and raised in Disuq. He received bachelor's degree and MS degree from the University of Alexandria before moving from EgyptUniversity of Pennsylvania with advisor Dr. Robin Hochstrasser. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley.

Click on his name and see that this guy is totally at Cal Tech and not a real product of any Saudi higher education.

Speaking of how great Islam has become as a model for civilization we now have the firebombing of churches (wait, are they empty?) in Malaysia because the Christian churches (their invisible guy is named Jesus) is using the word Allah (one of the names of the invisible guy's dad) and THAT WORD is reserved for Muslims only. Jeezus, who didn't know THAT? So anyone who thinks that religion doesn't make this a better world, just look to Malaysia and maybe not vacation there anytime soon. Like we know where that is anyway.

Now then, which end of the egg do you open?

Shot in Church?

Of course this story comes from the south . . .

And it's very sad and of course ironic. For all the blathering on that people do about how God is their protector, savior, and font of all that is good here we have a kid getting shot in the head while in church. Makes you think. Well, it SHOULD make you think.

Tons of examples like this. When a tornado hits a small town there is usually someone to interview who will say that they only survived via the grace of God. Really? What about your poor dead neighbor? Or, better yet, how about not sending the tornado down on you in the first place?

I know, it's just a test. God likes to test your faith by knocking off a few of the faithful (in spectacular fashion) and then seeing if the rest will still pony up at collection time. Assume this previous sentence is true. What would an all powerful creator get out of doing such a thing?

Or. . .

Is this all not better explained by natural phenomena with nobody at the controls. Anybody can just be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Look at the dinosaurs. I guess the idea of nobody at the controls is scarier to most people than to have a murderous psychopath at the controls.

Catholics come home dot com

I was innocently watching tv and was then surprised by a nice little commercial for catholicscomehome.com.

Really. And below is a little hunk from that site . . . with my snarky comments inserted. How could I resist?

Moral Issues

Making moral choices in our modern world can be confusing and difficult.

Actually it's not that hard if you have a freaking brain. Be nice to people. Share. Admit when you're wrong. Say, "Can I help you with that" a lot, Move on.

With so many temptations and influences pulling us in all directions, and the pressures of life driving us toward the seemingly "easy" path, it is comforting to know that Jesus Christ, through His Church, has blessed us with clear moral framework to guide us toward a happy, fulfilling life.

Where to start. . . Why do I have to accept the premise that I am necessarily being driven to an "easy' path. Really? Now, if you are comforted to know that a guy who lived 2000+ years ago "blessed" you and that then somehow figures it all out, well ok. God (!) knows it gets lonely and scary at night. On the other hand, if you read the bible I'm not sure you'll find the framework all that clear. Happy? Find me one happy person in the bible!

It makes perfect sense that our Creator,

Gee, do you think that anything has been assumed here?

who made us and designed us to work in a certain way,

Huh? I'm guessing that that 'certain way' doesn't include gay people.

would know what’s best for us.

Based on WHAT? Like volcano eruptions are best for us? How about the holocaust? Plane crashes? Abductions of children? Oh I could go on and on. . .

Fortunately, He gifted the Church with His advice on how to live our lives in such a way that we could be free and happy.

Sure, if you're white.

By giving us a roadmap, Christ gave us the ability to be freed from the negative effects of immorality and unhappiness, because true freedom allows us to live fully.

Hmmm...seems strange then that some very religious and Christian people get into some messy business! Plus, it's easy for them to free us from the negative effects of immoraltiy when you also get to define what it is to be immoral. Circular argument?

The Church never forces anyone to believe what she teaches.

She? Who let the freaking nun in here? Whasn't this Christ's church a few paragraphs ago?

Faith itself must be free (CCC 160). But to help guide us to choose what is best for ourselves, according to the way He made us, He gave us the Church and all her moral teachings.

Somehow I'm not feeling so good. I'm being guided to choose? Is this like 'Work makes you free??

In this section you will find many valuable resources explaining the Catholic Church's teachings on matters of ethics and morality. Please consider the reasonable and beautiful truth found in the Catholic teachings regarding these important issues in our culture:

If this was a book report in a freshman english class it would be a D and I'm an easy grader.

What if. . .

I wonder. . .

Tim Tebow, by all accounts, seems to be a good guy. He's helped the poor, carried groceries for old ladies, visited at the children's hospital, fed the hungry, etc and so forth. But what if he had done exactly what he has done in his life but put this message on his eye black patches instead of the obscure (Ephesians? Really?) bible references?

I think it's safe to say that he would be considered to be a 'wise ass'. He would be pilloried for trying to make a political or philosophical point via his status as a ball player. Headlines would shriek. Editorials would be written for those 8 people in Florida who still read 'the paper'. The president would probably have to step in. It would be bigger than the Tiger Woods deal. Think about it. It really would.

But Tim can put his belief in invisible beings on his face (used to be on people's sleeves) and he is considered to be a 'good guy' by default. I have no problem with Tebow himself, although the whole public display of one's religious beliefs has become a little passe, but am troubled once again by the weird double standard of elevated status given to those public displays and the derision given displays of rationalism or common sense.

Bible Correction

What if the Bible had happened to be written this way. . .

From Genesis

In the beginning God built a wondrous framework whereby more complicated creatures could naturally emerge from less complicated ones. Yea did he arrange it so that that which did not work so well did not make so many progeny and verily did the best of best go forth and multiply to the immense joy of God. It worked! What joy when after eons and eons his thoughtful and reasonable children emerged from the ooze and gave praise to him.

From Job
It also came to pass that Job asked God, "why Lord do I stick so mysteriously to thy earth"? And God said, "Lo, I say unto you, I have made the earth sticky whereby all the plants and animals may understand which way is up".

Now, a few thousand years after the bible first came out would it be heresy to teach Newton's law of gravitation? Or Einstein's expansion of that theory? Would the devout accept evolution because it was outlined in the bible AND verified by experiment and the preponderance of the evidence and decry evil gravity as the work of the devil even though it could stand the test of experimentation but defied the teachings of the Bible?

hmmm...I wonder? Of course the devote will miss my point entirely and just say, 'Well, it wasn't written that way so end of story'. But, since the Bible was written by people who didn't know shit from Shine-0-La it actually COULD have been written any way at all! Now we have idiots in Iowa and elsewhere who want 'creation science' (I just threw up in my mouth a little) ruining our educational system and pretty much making America the laughing stock of the rest of the educated world.

One more thing...How about a creation scientist asking the nobel committee if he has any chance of winning a nobel prize in Biology?

'Nuff said!

Hickabee?

Hey looks like Hickabee (sorry) is getting press again. Less we forget, here's his answer to whether or not he 'believes' in evolution. Actually seems like an ok answer for a bit and then he goes off on ridiculing the idea that we descended from primates.

WE ARE PRIMATES YOU MORON! AND we didn't descend from 'monkeys'. We descended from earlier versions of us like all of the other billions of life forms have done over the eons.

Here's an idea...Read a damn science book for a change you dumb ass!

Big Foot?

Here's a typical piece from the national news media (CNN).



Big foot? If this wasn't already an urban myth of sorts no one would even consider 'big foot' as a possible explanation of the grainy (isn't it alway?) photograph. A true skeptic looks at something like this but does not consider magic as possible explanation of what is being seen. Why? Because to date there have been zero provable, repeatable instances of 'magic' happening!

The guy seems reasonable and doubts a Big Foot but of course the reporters put that 'explanation' high on their list. Let's face it a garbage bag (my top explanation) blowing through and being caught in a frame is not news worthy. A Big Foot sighting of course is. . . even though THERE IS NO SUCH THING!

"virgin" Mary. . . MY ASS!

The virgin birth of one, Jesus H. Christ, is a corner stone of the religion that bears his name. A little research shows that the word 'virgin' used to mean other things than it does today! Here's a good link that discusses this problem of semantics.

The short version. . . One ancient definition of the word 'alma or almah' is that of simply 'young girl'. Also remember that the whole bible is a translation subject to the whims and beliefs of the translator. By the time we get to the modern age the word 'virgin' has only one meaning. This coupled with the fact that the idea of virgin birth was quite common in Greek mythology and other places.

People need Jesus to be a god and one way to get there is to be conceived by God himself. The evidence that this actually happened though is tenuous at best and probably better understood in terms of etymology and the evolution of language. There is contention among biblical scholars about the proper translation of the word 'alma or almah' which may or may not connote 'virgin' as we think of it today. It may simply mean 'young woman'. I imagine like a lot of words it is the context that tells you what it means. Suffice it to say that the 'FACT' that the bible predicts (in Isaiah I think) the virgin birth of a son of God is NOT a slam dunk by any means.

Cult Mom Pleads Guilty In Son's Starvation Death

This just in...Take a look at this story.

Yeah, She starved her 16 month old son because he refused to say amen and had a rebellious spirit. I hope I'm not the only one to see that without crazy ass religion this kind of crap does not happen. There is no reasonable person that would starve a 16 month old. The list of evil committed in the name of religion is WAY longer than any perceived good religion has done.

This just sickens me and I don't get why people keep turning to magic instead of trusting their own good reasoning skills.

Faith Based Programs

White House panel will guide faith-based programs

Well this is an interesting twist. Apparently the government gives money (500 million) to faith based programs such as church groups that feed the hungry. While that may seem noble on the surface of it to me it smacks of a violation of separation of church and state. While feeding the hungry is noble, the government has its own programs for that so why not let the churches get their own damn money.

The twisted part is that to qualify for federal money you may not discriminate who gets to be in your club based on race nor religion! Get it? That means that Jewish groups MUST allow Muslim members. Catholics must allow Jews. And Baptists, well, they’ll take anyone (but NO IRISH!) Funny how these typically self-righteous groups may find themselves in violation of anti-discrimination laws.

This is why a reasonable government cannot get itself wrapped up in funding faith based programs. Reason and faith simply do not go together and a collision will happen somewhere along the way. Churches already get HUGE tax breaks. I’m for that because I don’t want them having a say on policy based on how much they’ve invested. Those tax breaks and tax breaks given to those who contribute to their faith will just have to be enough to sustain whatever programs they have going.

The Resurrection

OK, let's face it. They key piece to the whole Christian ball of wax is the resurrection. Without that there is no church, no molested alter boys, no Notre Dame football! So I can rant all I want about the virgin appearing on a grilled cheese sandwich but really it all comes down to the resurrection. Without that Jesus was just a good public speaker and others would come after him and all would have been forgotten. But, the aledged resurrection makes the whole religion machine work.

Here's an interesting site that goes into great detail PROVING that the resurection really happend. It's well written in it's own way by Josh McDowell and I've not got enough biblical nor historical knowledge to challenge this document outright but would like to comment on one paragraph.

Christians believe that Jesus was bodily resurrected in time and space by the supernatural power of God. The difficulties of belief may be great, but the problems inherent in unbelief present even greater difficulties.

Supernatural power. To me here is the weak link. You have to believe that there is such a thing as the supernatural in the first place to accept this argument. If Jesus rose bodily into heaven, not ghostly Jesus but the flesh and blood guy, then where did he go? Moreover, how does supernatural power work? If it is a real thing and the author of the site is claiming it is a real thing, then it must have a mechanism by which it works. As usual the theist wants it both ways. He wants magic in the world but wants it to be real as well. You can't have it both ways.

Additionaly I found this site: Why I Don't Buy the Resurrection by Richard Carrier which point by point nicely refutes each of McDowell's claims. Be warned if you go to the two sites I've linked to, both these guys are VERY wordy! Good stuff though for a rainy afternoon.

And another thing. . . The story is that God sacrificed his only son so that he (the son) could die for our sins. But Jesus didn't die. He got up 3 days later so how much of a sacrifice is this? Again, everybody wants it both ways. Jesus died for us. . . but he didn't die! Can't have both!

Well now. The Pope is going to start a weekend long 'Reading of the Bible'. That's nice. It's the word of God you know except that

THERE ISN'T A SLIVER OF EVIDENCE THAT THAT IS TRUE!!!!!!

So nice that the guy who is in charge of billions of Catholics is doing this. Let's not worry about how to feed those parishinors (who in the hell would even try to feed the masses?). Let's not even try to promote world peace. Naw. John Lennon was in charge of that apparently. While we're at it, let's tell indigent, undeducated, third world familiies that MORE KIDS IS A GOOD IDEA! Then let's sit back in our throne in the Vatican (The Popes on freaking COUNTRY) and contemplate how close we are to the lord. Finally, let's read the bible. All of it. How sweet.

[right here I threw up in my mouth a little]

I want to go on a multi-page rant about all the inconsistancies in the bible and what a waste of time to read it outloud but I've done that. Many before me have done that. Thousands of web sites are devoted to nothing but that. So without speaking to any of those inconsistancies specifically, let me just ask how you hang your faith on such a poorly written and full-of-holes document? I really want to know.

OK, Read on your holliness!

Jesus Appears in Ceiling Tile

OK, I never tire of these stories. This one has Jesus appearing in a ceiling tile at a workout and tanning salon. Mysteriously, this appeared after a heavy rain. The link is a video that will certainly frighten you. I have my usual questions.

1. Why in the hell to TV people think they have to cover this kind of crap?
2. Please tell me that most people get that this is a water stain and that's the end of it. (Ok that wasn't a question.)
3. Remember, nobody actually knows what Jesus really looked like. All we have are artists who apparently all copied each other. So, if Jesus really did appear he might look like Henny Youngman* for all we know (which would be really funny). Not a question either. . .
4. Why do these stories always depress me?

Here are some other stories that TV did not cover. . .

• Little Johnny Miller saw a cloud today that looked like a raccoon
• A man bought a potato that looked just like Al Gore (actually they all do)
• In Long Island bird poop on a squad car looked just like a map of Long Island!
• A woman in South Bend sees Knute Rockne in her salad.

If you really dig this stuff here's a whole list of miraculous statues. Enjoy

I could go on and on but you get the idea. Sometimes things look like other things.

They're not though.

* If you like Henny Youngman, here's a collection of his one liners.

Money, Power and 14 year old girl

The pope arrived in the southwestern town of Lourdes on the second day of his visit to France after earlier celebrating an outdoor mass for more than 250,000 people in Paris, telling them the modern world had made idols of money and power.

Yes! The top man in the church famous for its vow of poverty flew in his own plane to Paris and later via his private limousine drove to Lourdes where dressed in white, red and gold vestments (and that crazy big pope hat) spoke to the unwashed masses about the evils of money and power.

Hubris?

How about just plain balls? Here’s one of the most powerful men on the planet. He controls the money and the thoughts of millions of catholics all over the world. He lives in his own COUNTRY for crying out loud. The value of the paintings alone in the Vatican is valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. People are required to bow and kiss his freaking ring just to talk to him. This guy then has the enormous spheres to give a speech saying that we value money and power too much.

How about this guy? I mean if he really believed what he was saying he’d demonstrate it not just talk about it. How about he reads his own vow of poverty and drops all the golden vestments and just goes with the good old black shirt and dog collar. Sell the vatican. Work out of a more modern (and energy efficient) office building. Put the money to good use educating the poor (I mean REAL education like the Jesuits do just not more ways to pray), feed the hungry, help the infirm (didn’t some guy around year 1 do this kind of stuff?)

FALSE IDOLS At mass on Saturday morning in Paris, the pope told more than a quarter of a million people that the modern world had turned money, possessions and power into idols as false as the gold and silver statues worshipped by the pagans of antiquity. "Has not our modern world created its own idols?" he said.

Next time you get a chance go to a big catholic church and see how many statues there are of jesus and the virgin mary. THESE statues are ok I guess. Also see how much gold and silver there is lying about on the alter and in the vestments of the priest. THIS gold and silver is ok. When the church owns huge tracts of property it’s ok. When the church owns art and paintings in the millions THAT’s ok but individuals shouldn’t get all wrapped up in that sort of thing. Individuals should stick with the more spiritual things like putting money in the collection plate! What? Is the Catholic church afraid that someone will buy up too much of the stuff that THEY haven’t bought yet?

At Lourdes, Benedict prayed in the grotto where Saint Bernadette Soubirous said she had seen the Madonna 18 times in 1858, and drank water from a spring that believers say has healing powers.

In the past 150 years, the Church has recognised as "miracles" 67 medically inexplicable healings of sick pilgrims who visited Lourdes

Bernadette ‘said’ she saw the virgin 18 times. Anybody can SAY anything. If someone sees something and no one else sees it that’s either a miracle or someone is nuts. Three finger Mordecai Brown appeared to me and told me that this was the Cubs year. Am I nuts or a saint? As to the 67 inexplicable healings I’ll have to do more research, but my first question is 67 out of how many attempts? I know people go there in droves looking for a miracle cure. If only 67 of them got the cure, how miraculous is this place? Doesn’t it seem a little mean if the creator uses this place to occasionally cure someone. What about the others? The miracle is that with a batting average like that that people would still go. I bet it aint’ free either! Of the 67, how many had diseases that had the chance of clearing up by themselves anyway? When the church says ‘inexplicable’ how hard did they try to research what happened. OK, more research by me and we’ll see if there are any answers to the above.

Now for some ‘facts’ from the internet. Low batting average? I guess. Lourdes has been getting about 6 million visitors a year since the 1960’s. Up to 8 million this year as this is the 150th anniversary of Bernadette’s visions. Bernadette was 14 by the way and anyone who has worked with 14 year old females knows that they are never hysterical.
I’m sure that they weren’t getting 6 million people a year 150 years ago so let’s see. . . 6 million a year since 1960 is about 250 million. Let’s allow Lourdes another 250 million for all the years before that and put it at about 500 million visitors total looking for a miracle cure. There have been 67 ‘miracles’ out of 500 million! That’s a batting average of 0.000000134. Wow!

Also it looks like the healing water is free but along the road leading to the grotto are hundreds of shops selling every kind of virgin mary trinket you can imagine. Glow in the dark virgin (my favorite), Virgin on a plate, Chocolate Virgins, etc. So it’s ‘free’ but nearly everyone buys something. Lourdes is also great for the hotel and tour industry. The hotels in and around Lourdes are filled to the max every summer.

So, what about those 67 cures? Well, in a strange twist, the church tries to use extensive scientific research on claims before they are accepted as a miracle cure. For example there can be no reoccurrence of the ailment which is why it takes about 10 years for a claim to be verified. Also, you have to be off your meds before and after! Who quits taking their medicine and how can you be sure that the meds didn’t finally kick in? I guess I find it a little ironic that the church can’t figure out what a miracle is without using the power of science. That same science that many faithful would claim is not even a road to truth. So what of those 67 then?

Of course a real scientific test would be to do a double blind experiment where some people get regular water and some get Lourdes water and no one knows who is getting what. But that’s another story.

I don’t have documents on each of the 67 individually but one popular cure at Lourdes is for people suffering from cancer. On the other hand remember the batting average. Doctors have confirmed that in about 1% of cases cancer will spontaneously go away and stay away without Lourdes. That would be batting 0.010. Better to stay home maybe? On the other other hand consider this…

Two independent studies into spontaneous remission of cancer found psychological changes, occurring just before the physical disease began to improve dramatically, could be significant. Both found that resolving an existential crisis in the person's life, a dramatic change in life outlook and a reduction in anxiety and depression, seemed to occur just before the cancer started to resolve by itself.

So, if a visit to Lourdes can bring about this drop in anxiety this could in turn bring about the evaporation of the cancer. Nice, but it’s still a long shot and just so we’re clear this would mean that there is no god or virgin involved in magically curing anything. But a person’s belief that such things exist triggers the cure. But what the hell, the cured person is happy and so are the hotel owners!

Finally, Lourdes may be running out of juice. There have only been 4 confirmed cases since 1978. That may have prompted Jacques Perrier the senior cleric at the shrine to invent three classes of cures: These will include: 'unexpected healings', 'confirmed healings' and 'exceptional healings'. This is like reducing the size of the strike zone to pump up batting averages. That should help the old Lourdes batting average a little and keep them buses rolling in.

Hey get your rosary here! Ice cold rosary. . .who’s ready?

Finally, in a somewhat related story (and this might be dated) a half eaten grilled cheese sandwich bearing the likness of, you guess it, the Virgin Mary sold on e-Bay for $28,000. I have nothing to say.

My Spiritual Side

This is a phrase I always wonder about. It is said so freely and so often I think people all assume that everyone more or less knows what is meant - ‘your spiritual side’. Or, the spiritual side of life in general. What does this mean? The dictionary tends toward two areas of definition. 1. True spirits, ghosts, the holy spirit and perhaps the belief in them as in religion etc. 2. Alluding to emotions, desires, true self, in the spirit of things.

Does nature itself have a spiritual side? It has a real side - a natural occurring and evolving side to be sure. The side that we can touch and detect and agree on our results afterward. If I go to a wonderful place for me like Quetico in Canada or a beautiful anchorage like where I am right now, do these places themselves have a spiritual side? If so, can it be detected? If it can be detected by two or more independent observers would they agree on their results? If so it would seem to put this spiritual side back in the area of the natural occurring. That would seem to indicate that people may have a spiritual side but external nature itself does not.

Let’s come at this from another way. Why do we as people value beauty? To what end? How did evolution pick beauty value-ers over others? It is right here where the theist gets a grip. He would say that beauty HAS no intrinsic value to our survival and only by allowing god to exist can we explain why we are more if you will than our monkey cousins.

Consider this. . . It happened that as we evolved we were first nomadic. No gardening. A place with a cool stream and plenty of game would also have wild flowers, trees, and options for shelter perhaps. This place would make a good layover place for the tribe. Barren places with dry ground, nothing growing, and no shade would be avoided. What we would now call beautiful places were originally useful places! We still have that in us. As our brains developed in crazy ways our ‘beauty’ lobe if you will was already in place and ready to expand to more intellectual and abstract ideas of beauty such as painting, music, etc. No god needed again!

So, when I go to Quetico the placid waters, shade, cool streams all click for me at a very fundamental level. Maybe I do have a ‘spiritual’ side then and maybe we all do but it has nothing to do with invisible beings or gods. Maybe it has to do with tapping into some of our most deeply embedded hard wiring. Things we would be hard pressed to put into words because they hearken back to a time before language itself.

The Big Bang

In my short lifetime as a scientist/teacher the Big Bang model of the universe has moved from conjecture to well documented scientific theory. A couple of students at University of Michigan (I wish it had been Notre Dame but you can't have everything) summarize Big Bang cosmology rather nicely. For those of you (yeah, like anyone is reading this besides me!) who are curious, there are some cogent facts that make the Big Bang a very solid theory (theory means we KNOW something. Hypothesis means we're guessing.)

1. In the 1920's Edwin Hubble, having given up his brief career as a prize fighter turns his black eye to the sky and discovers that all the galaxies are moving away from us. Moreover the farther away they are, and they are all really, really far away, the faster they are moving. That is the classic geometry of an explosion. Think about it. From his data you can run the movie backwards and figure out about how old the universe is. About 15 billion years.

2. In the 60's a couple of Bell Labs engineers, Penzias and Wilson, accidentally discover a microwave hum if you will coming from every direction in the sky. So they took a break in their quest for a micro-wave oven and asked what could be causing this hum. Now every 'hot' object will glow and emit radio waves of a particular wavelengh. If you ask what temperature/wavelength a 15 billion year old universe would be glowing at (2.73 degrees above absolute zero) you get exactly the radiation that Penzias and Wilson had measured.

3. Recently the COBE satellite did a sweep of the sky and showed how amazingly uniform this background radiation is except for small anomalies here and there. The anomalies are a big deal because if you had a perfectly smooth big bang there would be no way for 'chunks' to form. Those chunks are the galaxies, stars, and good old mother Earth.

Nice. There is no longer and serious controversy about the origins of the universe. Similarly there is no real controversy about evolution or the sphericity of the earth. All a theist who is glued to a literal interpretation of the bible has to do is create the illusion of controversy and they're home free. They don't even have to do experiments or present any other data. Pretending there is controversy is enough. You can observe this technique in action right now in monitoring the 'controversy' in global warming. This is a technique well learned from the tobacco institute.

So, why am I writing about the Big Bang? For one thing I'm sitting in a very nice coffee shop on Damen Ave in Chicago and, well, what else does your mind wander to when drinking coffee and sitting alone but the creation of the entire universe? Also, it always seems strange to me that the Big Bang is not mentioned in the bible. I know you can't read it literally for whatever reason but I don't think there is any way to twist the 7 days of Genesis into a cloaked description of the explosion of the entire freaking universe 13 billion years ago. I don't think numbers even went up to a billion back then did they? And yet, since it is VERY clear that the Big Bang really happened (read the above link) and it is supposed that the bible is the word of God, why no mention of it? I assume that if you are a semi-intelligent theist you accept the Big Bang as an event that really happened then you must be in a quandary about why the bible is so far off on this topic.

Or. . . the God of the bible was not the creator of the universe but only the God of people on this one planet. That's kind of like demoting Pluto from planet to an also ran. It's way more impressive to imagine a God that created the whole ball of wax.

Of course the fact that the universe has a definite beginning is more of a problem for our tiny brains than if it were infinite in time as it was presumed to be in pre-Big Bang cosmology. If there is a moment when the universe began can we even ask the question about what was going on BEFORE. Does the word before even carry any meaning if the Big Bang was the creation of space AND time? Also, you have to wonder if the Big Bang had a cause. But again, causality presumes that something happened and that caused something else to happen later. We're back to needing something to happen before time zero. Is that possible? Here's a very good discussion about the idea of 'before the start of the universe' by physicist Paul Davies. Enjoy

Ah well, maybe another free refill on my coffee. Maybe I'll ponder why do fools fall in love. . .

Awesome

There's a picture in today's Trib showing some protesters on Chicago's south side. They are protesting the alarming rise in gun violence in their neighborhoods. OK, but, the signs many are carrying say, Our GOD is an awesome GOD.

Why is that the sign and what could it mean? The signs wording is a nice short phrase for many nagging questions regarding theism.


1. Ownership. " Our God" implies that there are others but this group has their own and he (or she?) is awesome.

2. Assuming that awesomeness is measureable, how can you tell your God is awesome. Awesome by his good deads or by the destruction that he wreeks?

3. Do the sign carriers not see the irony of believing in a powerful God (or at least awesome) and yet their kids are dying in the streets. Where is God's hand in this mess? Is he un-involved and so there is the violence and if so that's not so awesome. Or, is it His had that is involved in the shooting (although a pistol is really the devil's right hand - Steve Earle) which would be awesome in a way.

4. I'm so tired of empty phrases like this. Support our Troops. Moms are good. Smile. Cubs Suck. Sox Suck. It is especially hard with religious empty phrases because people get so indignant when you try to ask them what a phrase might really mean. 'Take Jesus into your heart'. I went round and round with a Jehovah's witness about this once as I claimed the phrase was devoid of true meaning. I think maybe it only means something (maybe) if you already believe in this stuff. Even then it doesn't really take you anywhere.

Well, I agree that something should be done on the south side and elsewhere where hand guns are so available. To his credit, mayor Daley has tried to get hand guns outlawed in Chicago only to get shot down (!) by the NRA and gun lobby. I guess there are a number of south side hunters that like to go after deer with their Glocks. Right.

Anyway, these people have a good case for protesting and asking for some action. So, what's with the signs?

Emily Dickinson

Who knew? I always have admired poets for their economy of words while managing to get big ideas across. Here's some very nice verse from a surprising atheist...Emily Dickinson. Enjoy.