Thinking Is Hard Work

Well, it is. It sure is easier to just follow the crowd, to believe forwarded emails, to think commercials and tv shows are honest and forthright, to believe everything the news tells us as fact, etc, etc....

I used to podcast a morning radio show. It was goofy fun. Amusing if a bit crass. But after awhile, I realized they never really said anything new. And they had their producer on there who was so full of lies and hate that I just couldn't stand it anymore. It didn't help that he proclaimed his christianity along with the hate he spewed forth.

So I gave it up, even though I had been using it to keep me company since I'm alone most of the day. I had to replace it with something. I like to listen to people talk while I do mundane things. Around the same time I found Atheist Nexus. One thing led to another, and I discovered that there's this whole Skeptical community out there, as well as an Atheist community.

So I've been sampling and listening to different Skeptical and science podcasts lately. I love it. It's intelligent, fun, interesting, and stimulating. I've realized several things, though, as I've been listening and taking in all this great new information.

Hypocrisy

Why is it that people who put on such a show of high moral character and fine virtues are usually the dirtiest fighters, the biggest bullies, and the first to whine and cry when something might possibly be a little less than fair? Hypocrisy. That's why. And I hate it. To me it's one of the REAL 7 Deadly Sins.

Hypocrisy: noun- a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.

I watch several different sports. I have a passion for Formula One racing, MMA, boxing, College football and NFL football. I've noticed parallels between sports, religion and politics.

While I love these sports, I do watch them differently than my husband does. I get interested in different players or drivers or fighters while he is more interested in other things that are beyond my poor female brain. I'm explaining how I watch them because I think that's how I've noticed this thing about hypocrisy.

Bread Facts You Must Know Now

1. More than 99 percent of terrorists are bread eaters.


2. Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.


3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations.


4. More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.


5. Bread is made from "dough." It has been proven that as little as one pound of dough can be used to suffocate a mouse. The average North American eats more bread than that in one month!


6. Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and osteoporosis.

Sam Harris Speaks Up About Palin

I got an email from Sam Harris this morning requesting that I let people know about his latest essay in Newsweek. I wasn't sure exactly how to give it to you, so that I don't just copy his whole essay here. So here's the first paragraph, then several quotes from the rest of it that I thought were incredibly important. You can read the essay in its entirety at Newsweek here.

Let me confess that I was genuinely unnerved by Sarah Palin's performance at the Republican convention. Given her audience and the needs of the moment, I believe Governor Palin's speech was the most effective political communication I have ever witnessed. Here, finally, was a performer who—being maternal, wounded, righteous and sexy—could stride past the frontal cortex of every American and plant a three-inch heel directly on that limbic circuit that ceaselessly intones "God and country." If anyone could make Christian theocracy smell like apple pie, Sarah Palin could.

Voting Ambivalence Gets Shaken Up

I'm on the fence with voting. Half of me feels like it's a total waste of time. After all, from my limited understanding of such things, I learned in school that we have an electoral system in place, not direct elections, so how does my vote count? Plus, I don't really care for any of the candidates. Some of them are downright despicable, but the others are just not my choice for the role they're campaigning for. I hate the idea of voting for the best of the worst. That's a lousy choice.

On the other hand, I feel that we have to do whatever we can to make things as good as possible, individually and collectively. This means doing stuff like voting, which is a responsibility, not a luxury. Plus, if you don't vote, then I feel you have no right to complain about whoever gets elected.

Then, as we get closer to the election, I become increasingly alarmed by what I'm hearing and seeing about the candidates. Below is a short Associated Press video of Matt Damon talking about Sarah Palin. He basically sums it up in under 2 minutes why I have to vote against McCain/Palin.



From what I gather of Palin, if she gets into higher office, it seems like we're doomed. She's a pentecostal. She believes in armageddon. Not just figuratively, but literally. Which means she doesn't care about the world, or peace. If the violent biblical prophecies happen then they'll be closer to getting to heaven. So World War 3 would be just dandy to someone who believes in armageddon.

A Neece Update

Have you ever been spread too thin? Like butter and jelly on toast... and there's just not enough to get all the corners. It's edible but not as delicious as it could be. I'm like that. My company came and went, but I feel like I'm still run down. My husband and I are fighting a flu or cold or something too.

To top it off, I have too many pans in the fire. Tomorrow I'll take one pan out by consolidating one more blog into this one. Actually, you might notice that I've already imported the few articles I wanted to save from there. Tomorrow is when I do the forwarding.

Anyway, that's the good news. One less thing pulling me away from Heaving Dead Cats. Because we all want to heave dead cats, now don't we! :D I sure hope we don't catch this nasty cold we're fighting off. If I disappear for a few days, it means I'm miserable, on the couch, unable to get to my computer. I'll be back though. I make a mean chicken soup when I'm sick. I don't think it gets me better any faster, but it sure is comforting.

We're still looking for contributors and authors, whether you want to submit something once, or you want to do a regular post. Email me at heavingdeadcats@gmail.com.

Neo Bombed The World Trade Center on 9-11!

After all these years, I've stumbled upon PROOF that Neo, from the Matrix, caused the bombings of the World Trade Center on 9-11. This is ground breaking, jaw dropping factual evidence taken from a reliable video source.

Inside The Evangelical Mind

It can be easy to feel superior to theists who blindly follow around like docile then alternately hostile sheep, parroting whatever bullshit is fed to them by their minister or media of choice. They seem stupid but they're smart enough in some respects to be unnerving and to keep most of us supposedly intelligent freethinking atheists hiding in our closets. Although any mob is dangerous, and sheep are no exception.

What causes the sheep mentality? Does it only happen to dumb people? These are questions I am curious about especially after reading an excerpt from Matt Taibbi's new book, The Great Derangement. I've never heard of Taibbi before, but he has his own Wikipedia page. He works for Rolling Stone, oh, and it seems that he is a regular contributor to Real Time with Bill Maher. Interesting.

So my friend linked me to freethoughtpedia to an excerpt of this book. It's kind of long, but I found this to be an exceptionally compelling must-read.

Afghani Sentenced to Death for Downloading Article on Women and Islam

This is really sick. This type of thinking is what one expects from barbaric uncivilized humans. Not in a modern society. It saddens me that this man is on death row. He doesn't deserve to die. There's really no crime here. This man just downloaded an article on the internet. It's not like he murdered someone.

The Holidays are Fast Approaching!

It's September already. Talk of Thanksgiving and xmas is already starting to fill the air. I'm sure by now the aisles of every Walmart in this country are being switched over to the xmas junk. I've seen xmas stuff out as early as August in previous years. So it's just a matter of time.

I've been a full on, black belt atheist for about 8 years now. Every year I hate the holidays a bit more. But until just recently I've kept my godlessness to myself.

When my sister in law insisted last year that people say merry christmas instead of happy holidays, I just rolled my eyes and kept saying what I was comfortable with, even though it made her mad that I was not keeping christ in christmas.

Some People Are Like Sparklers

You know the type, I'm sure. They're all flashy and fun in the beginning. Mildly entertaining, shiny and interesting. Then they start to sputter. You see that you're just dealing with flash signifying nothing, but it only happens for a brief moment. The flash and sparkly goodness comes back and you go on with your new friend.

But then the sputtering happens more frequently. And finally their spark and interest dies completely. And you are left with a flimsy little stick in your hand, wondering, why the hell was I even amused by such trivia in the first place?

You're not necessarily mad at the person for being a "flash in the pan" but you're kind of irritated with yourself for falling for the sparkle, the glamour.

Knowledge and Beliefs Are Stored Differently In The Brain

This is so fascinating to me. I heard this a bit ago and wanted to share it with you. It's a rough quote, because I'm not good at dictation:

"Studies strongly suggest that beliefs are encoded in the brain differently than facts. Different parts of the brain seem to light up when we recall facts than when we recall thematic beliefs or emotional conclusions or beliefs about things." Dr. Steven Novella, an academic neurologist from the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast, episode 163, September 3rd, 2008.

How cool is that? I've always kind of vaguely wondered if there was a difference with how a believer thinks as opposed to an atheist. Now, before you go tearing me apart, Steven Novella said that this is all very new and not set in stone at all. If you know of any studies, let me know. He also mentioned that most of the studies were done with FMRI which is hard to do right, so you have to wade through the questionable techniques and stuff.

Still, all that aside, that's pretty interesting to me, and I wanted to share it with you.

Prison Stats

There are more Christians in prison than Atheists. Interesting, considering that Christians are always saying Atheists have no morals.

Catholic                29267   39.164%
Protestant             26162   35.008%
Muslim                       5435    7.273%
American Indian         2408    3.222%
Nation                        1734    2.320%
Rasta                          1485    1.987%
Jewish                         1325    1.773%
Church of Christ    1303    1.744%
Pentecostal           1093    1.463%
Moorish                      1066    1.426%
Buddhist                     882    1.180%
Jehovah Witness    665    0.890%
Adventist              621    0.831%
Orthodox              375    0.502%
Mormon                298    0.399%
Scientology                190    0.254%
Atheist                 156    0.209%
Hindu                         119    0.159%
Santeria                      117    0.157%
Sikh                            14    0.019%
Bahai                           9    0.012%
Krishna                       7    0.009%

http://holysmoke.org/icr-pri.htm

"I Kinda Respect Hitler"

My in-laws were in town for the past week. We went out to dinner and over margaritas that's what my sister in law said. "I kind of respect Hitler. I have no problem with him. I don't understand what the big deal is."

Um, WTF!? For some reason I was shushed from expressing my opinion. (Maybe because I was only having iced tea and wasn't drinking margaritas?) My husband and his cousin shushed me and took over trying to explain "what the big deal with Hitler is."

I was astonished that anyone could honestly believe this kind of nonsense. The thing is, this person, whom I love as my own sister, is walking around thinking that Hitler wasn't such a bad guy, that he wasn't allowed to be an artist, so that makes it all ok. Oh, and that the systematic extermination of anyone non-Aryan didn't really happen.

Going to church makes you a good person...

...Like putting on a chicken suit makes you a chicken. When others say they're a good person because they go to church, it irritates me. There was a program on TV about the Jonas Brothers and the announcer said they're really good boys, really religious, and go to church. WTF?! What the hell does church and religion have to do with being a good person? There's really terrible (serial killer type) people that go to church everyday. Then there's wonderful atheists that never been to church, that have contributed more to society then these religious folks could ever imagine. Guess what I'm an Atheist, it's been 10 or more years since I went to church, and I'm a good person. I rescued 2 birds and gave them a wonderful home. I do everything I can to help the planet, recycling, using reusable bags when I shop. I sign petitions that help animals, the earth, and fellow humans. To be honest with you I know only 1 Christian that does anything to help make the world a better place. Going to church doesn't make one a good person. It's what an individual does in the world that does.

;-)

Neece is Back, Kinda!

I just barely survived having company for over a week. It was a near thing, but I somehow made it through without going totally crazy or killing my guests (my sisters-in-law). So I'll get back in the swing of things as soon as I can, but the next three days will also be incredibly busy as I'm taking a motorcycle safety course.

Again, let's hope I don't kill anyone! :P

I hope you're all doing fine and are happy.