Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Oooh... Climate Denial!

This will be relatively short- I have to go study middle Rio Grande ecology before it gets too late. For anybody who wants to know what I'll be doing- this trip may consist of me feeding M&Ms to ants and using my flawless turkey call to try and communicate with cranes and geese.

So I present you this. What we have here is something exceedingly common, and something that I have recently talked about. We have a decrease amongst those who accept the current climate change as man- made. As such, there has also been a increase in those who believe that there is not consensus as to the cause of the global warming within the scientific community (especially climate and geologic-based sciences).

Why do we have this negative trend of (un) acceptance? We see that there has been a shift from complete denial that the world's climate is changing, to the attitude that we are not to blame. The leading counter- argument is thus: We don't know enough about CO2 levels to conclude that it is playing a part in the green house effect.

Never mind that since 1861 we have known about the absorption of long wave radiation by CO2. Forget mountains of evidence we have staring not only us, but future generations of stubborn assholes in the face. Never mind that we have numbers screaming at us, telling us that green house gases do in fact have an effect on global warming.

We live in a free country. We don't have anyone dictating what we believe, nor what information we have access to. So when I see someone actively denying global climate change, and our role in it, I see a fool. To deny the work of so many hard working scientists, is to be not only willfully ignorant, but arrogant to the highest degree. Dunning- Kruger. Look it up.





Edit: Source 

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Female Priests in the RCC.

Well, kind of.
In 2002, seven women were secretly ordained as priests by two Roman Catholic bishops in Germany. After their ordination, a kind of domino effect ensued.
Those seven women went on to ordain other women, and a movement to ordain female priests all around the world was born. The movement, named Roman Catholic Womenpriests, says more than a hundred women have been ordained since 2002, and two-thirds of them are in the U.S.
Women?! In my patriarchal society?! Call my lawyers!


I know this is a lot to take in, but bear with me. The original bishop who ordained these women, in my best educated guess, contradicted Catholic Dogma. (This link is vile, click on it if you must, see for yourself.)

Surely, this will be resolved by the RCC by simply dismissing the female priests and nullifying the matter. But it does raise many interesting questions, such as: Why do these women pursue a doctrine that has no interest in equality? Note: I am not arguing about the existence of a god here. I am not saying they should just leave their faith altogether. I want to know why they don't simply switch teams, like so many others do. Even mainline Protestants allow women folk to dress up and talk to Jesus.

The RCC cannot defend this one.
Certain.aspects of the sacraments may change over time, such as the language of the liturgy or the manner in which penance is received. However, male-only ordination is something that has never changed, nor can it ever be changed. The Church’s attitude may appear archaic, but it is one of fidelity to a universal tradition in both the East and the West, extending throughout the history of the Church.

It comes down to this: Na na na na, I have a penis. You don't.

Seriously, these are the people that have a monopoly on morality. Got that, ladies?



Saturday, June 18, 2011

Fightin' words I tells ya!

You haven't heard too much from me over the past two months- and for good reason. I solidified my cocoon, and had an extended time of introspection; yes, Lauren put me in timeout to think about what I had done. Alas, I am back, pouring what little I have to offer into the Blogosphere. Let us begin.

If you don't have the time to read this, just go get a bit of foil and chew on it- this will essential produce the same sensation. 

Our topic of the day:  Scare Words!

Think back to grade school, circa October 29th. You are ten years old and just got back from your fifteenth recess of the day. You are sipping high fructose grape drink when the teacher assigns you your last bit of work before the three day Halloween weekend. You must write a scaaary story, and the key is to use descriptive words, or "scare words", to captivate your 4th grade audience.

  Bam! 

The corn sugar rushes through your veins; pupils dilated, you shake as you formulate a plan to produce the most bitchin' Halloween story any Fourth grader has ever written. You look over at your classmates; ghosts, headless horsemen, zombies. Your immature sebaceous glands make pathetic attempts to sweat. You glance up at your teacher, Mr. Flynn, casually reading World Magazine, when it hits you. It is obvious what you must do- and that is start off with a bang.

You bring the tip of your refillable pencil to the paper. 

The full moon lit the entire graveyard- but in the shadows lurked a...

You shake with frenzy and anticipation, knowing Mr. Flynn will be scared shitless.

h...

Your mind is racing but you focus on bringing it home.

om...

You lean over and whisper in your best friends ear, she replies with the information you need.

osexual. 

That's right a gay man, and he is talking to a secularist about abortion rights!

Ok, so I jest. Obviously not all people reading a conservative Christian publication will get spooked over queers and godless liberals, but many do. In fact, so much so that since Joseph McCarthy screamed "Communists!", Republicans have built a campaign model around fear. 

Guess what? It works. The Pew Research center has data that supports the notion that if you are an atheist you are still unelectable. Tough news if you are gay as well. Brown? Things are looking up, but you're still fucked. This is what rhetoric does. It strips a significant portion of people from their ability to think critically about who runs their country.

I cannot understand the rationality that goes into supporting a party of bigots. If you are a woman, poor, Hispanic, Hindu, gay, or any other minority, I hate to say it, but you are stigmatized by the Right. If you are a minority you are not viewed as an equal and your life is intrinsically less valuable. But the Republicans are able to manipulate and scare and create tension within minorities. The Mexicans are worried about the Muslims who are worried about the queers- and we are all competing while the GOP laughs and spews more propaganda, further continuing this cycle. 

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich labeled Obama a "national secular European socialist."
You read correctly; this is how bad it has become- they are trying to scare their base by using words that are not scary. Our government is secular. Deal with it. Socialism has been in practice in the United States since the first rail road tracks were regulated and made public. Deal with it.

Newt "The Fucking cancer of society" Gingrich is unjustified with his scare tactic. He negatively marks secularity as if that isn't a Constitutional cornerstone that separates us from being a theocracy of any kind. Honestly, why even throw 'European' in there? Most of them are doing better than us, so his point just becomes muddy. But what really irks me is that he, along with many others, still conflate socialism with communo-fascism. And that is wrong.

That is all for the night. At this point I am just rambling. Good night, y'all.