Without being judgmental, I want to share my feelings about Chrisitanity and religion in general. Like many, I only accept that Jesus existed. He must have been an extradorinary person, but I cannot believe that God existed through him. In fact I am unsure that “God” exists. I do know that most of what Christians preach, all humans should accept better ways of being human; if you do good in your life and there is an afterlife, then you have nothing to worry about. If there is no afterlife and you have done good, that is enough to make life in itself worth living; if all lived like that at all times. live on earth would be a cakewalk.

I admit, I am close to being one of those who thinks religion has outlived its usefullness. while I don’t think science replaces religion, its role is not up to helping the contemporary. Perhaps, this makes me jaded, but it is an opinion I am happy with.

My biggest problem with religion is that I think it is a personal choice that few people want to keep themselves. If there is a God, there is no right way to worship him/her. From another perspective, my belief is that religion is a personal choice, but I don’t go around trying to convert others to my point of view.

Having said all that, I do hold that we need some type of belief to help our unrational selves; science is not a substitute; it simply is what it is. I guess this is way of saying I accept the need to embrace others as wonder attempts, but I would like to leave the Jesus part out of it.

For some reason I can’t do a screen shot of this little commercial– but it is funny.

We’ve read them, maybe even seen them individually, but this little video puts ’em all together.

In a move that makes sense only in a parallel universe- the Department of Homeland Insecurity and Fear Mongering is cutting anti-terror funding to cities with high security concerns, like New York, Washington DC and Seattle (remember, before 911 there was a plot to blow up the Space Needle in 2000- not to mention we do have a large port).

“It doesn’t seem to make sense,” Bichsel said. “New York is down 40 percent? Washington? Again, the money is not following the threat level.”

It does make sense if you are trying to spread the moolah to your red state supporters.

The Guardian has an interview with Al Gore. Go read it and try not to feel too bad that we got the Decider instead.

Post-Oil Man by James W. Johnson

I know- I keep promising a follow-up on the superjumbo healthcare post. But I’ve got a small glitch that I am trying to think my way around. The original idea was that you keep private insurance companies but payment for the premiums comes from the government. That way you ensure competition, keep prices down, and makes sure everyone is insured.

The problem is that in industries where there are massive government restrictions (aerospace for example) business found a way to push back by reducing competition. The companies either went out of business or merged to the point that there are very few companies who do the job now. With little competition, the amount of sway the government has is lost.

The whole reason to keep healthcare competitive is to prevent some of the problems other countries with universal care have had. That is one of the few benefits of coming to the game late, we get to see the trouble spots and plan around them.

In the mean time, a study has just come out that says Canadians and healthier than Americans.

Canada’s national health insurance program is at least part of the reason for
the differences found in the study, Woolhandler said

And just for fun (not because I’m procrastinating) here are links to the previous posts.

The Seattle Times has an article about the specter of Vietnam hanging over the war in Iraq. We may be blase’ about throwing comparisons out between the two wars, but the utter failure in Iraq is becoming an inescapable fact.

One of the reasons for Vietnam was the domino theory, that if we let Vietnam fall to communism it would spread around the region like dominos toppling. In Iraq the hope is that if we toppled a corrupt regime and put in democracy, the other regimes in the area would fall like dominos.

We eventually got out of Vietnam. We didn’t make it topple-proof from communism. But communism in most of the world fell apart anyway. So why are we in Iraq?Domino theory already failed.

I know the idea of an immediate pull out raises questions (at least in the minds of those of us who feel responsible for the current level of carnage) of responsibility to the Iraqi people. Does the Pottery Barn rule stay in effect when we break more with every attempt to fix the problem?

I’ve been reading this interview from Der Spiegel (in English at Salon- I don’t speak any German except hello and thank you) of Iranian President Ahmadinejad.

I was going to write more, take apart the interview piece by piece. But I find myself stunned by every new twist in it. I am not as pro-Israeli as most Americans. I think the Palestinians have a very serious claims to human rights abuses and that creating a Jewish State should not include the destruction of another people, even though the Jews were horribly abused themselves under the Nazis.

Throughout the interview there are bits where Ahmadinejad makes some pretty clear points. One about freedom of speech (when referring to several Europeans who have been jailed for being Holocaust deniers). Though Ahmadinejad seems to be a Holocaust denier himself. Another about the resettlement of the Palestinians versus the occupation by Isreal.

Ahmadinejad: Precisely that is our point. Why should you feel obliged to the Zionists? If there really had been a Holocaust, Israel ought to be located in Europe, not in Palestine.

Spiegel: Do you want to resettle a whole people 60 years after the end of the war?

Ahmadinejad: Five million Palestinians have not had a home for 60 years. It is amazing really: You have been paying reparations for the Holocaust for 60 years and will have to keep paying up for another 100 years. Why then is the fate of the Palestinians no issue here?

It’s difficult. On one hand Ahmadinejad is right about the expansion of nuclear powers, the monopoly of powerful western countries, the right of return for Palestinians. On the other hand, he sounds like a twisted version of our own Holocaust deniers and wingnuts. The Islamic version of the private militia, white power people who hide out in Idaho stockpiling weapons. Only he has the legitimate governance of a large, oil rich country and access to nuclear material.