The Rational Philosopher

CARIBOU BARBIE--Princess of the North

TRP is dismayed to see Republican Palin lie repeatedly about her positions. Please fact-check the following for your own amusement:

1) The Princess claims to have fought the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" when, in point of fact, she actively supported it during her run for governor and, once having received the delicious federal funds, she finally became attuned to the U.S. Senate's displeasure about that ill-conceived project, as well as Alaska becoming a national laughing stock. She would not return all of the funds, of course, and is actually using those monies to complete the access road that would have led the one or two yearly drivers to the bridge. Yes, a "Road to Nowhere" is being built on the national public dime. Good job, Princess!

2) Republican Palin claims to be a fighter against corruption, yet tried to have her sister's ex-husband canned from his job, then pressured the head of public safety to resign when he refused to fire the gentleman. She is under ethics investigations due to this fiasco. Good job, princess!

3) Forced librarians to sign a loyalty oath. Additionally, as Mayor she tried to ban books from her town's library, and attempted to fire the librarian when interefered with. Republican Palin eventually lost both fights in this brouhaha: leaving the offending books on the shelf and keeping the librarian on the job. Better luck next time, Ice Queen!

4) Republican Palin loves to force other people to live her ideas of virtue, yet cannot bring herself to follow her own dictates. Forget about her loose daughter giving it up for the home team; Princess Palin herself was one month pregnant with her first kid when she married her husband, himself a holder of at least one DUI conviction. Must have been God's Will.

Caribou Barbie and Clown McCain are either the two dumbest people on the planet, or they believe the American people fit that bill, because what these nitwits are selling is four more years of governmental disaster--four more years of George Bush and his unconstitutional and illegal acts. If they get elected, Jebus help us all!

TRP.

Stay out of ANWR!

Once again the pattern holds: whenever crude oil hits sixty dollars a barrel, or gasoline creeps up to three dollars a gallon, the clarion call blares from the Right demanding the immediate oil exploration and drilling from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska, the supposed answer to America’s energy addiction. Just what is the magical attraction for Republicans in this oil Xanadu, this latter-day El Dorado? First, some history. The 9 million acre Arctic National Wildlife Range was created in 1960, and renamed a Refuge under President Carter, who also increased its size to almost 20 million acres, adding a “wilderness” designation as authorized under the Wilderness Act of 1964, which permanently set off an 8 million acre parcel as a roadless area free from future development. Sadly, left without protection was a 1.5 million acre chunk on the northern-most region of the Refuge. ANWR, located on the north coastal plain of Alaska, is often portrayed by oil-divining Republicans as a wasteland, but in fact is environmentally sensitive and critical habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s own website describes some of the animals that rely on this “wasteland”: Owls, golden eagles, loons, and 180 other species of birds from four continents “breed, rest, or feed” in ANWR. Forty-five species of mammals, such as Grizzly bears, Porcupine caribou, lynx, and moose either live there permanently or migrate through; all depend on the unconfined spaces of ANWR. The oil lobby claims that fewer than 2,000 acres will be disturbed by
drilling, yet the Natural Resources Defense Council has found that the government’s own numbers do not support this claim. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) found that rather than being located in a single reservoir, the oil under ANWR is scattered in at least 30 separate pockets. At the bare minimum, hundreds of miles of roads and pipelines would scar the landscape between active drilling sites. Even the utilitarian argument by the Right fails miserably, as the USGS’s best estimate of 16 billion barrels of recoverable crude would meet America’s needs for only one year. Additionally, arguing that drilling would lower gas prices today is a fallacy, for if the green light was given tomorrow, the first oil wouldn’t be ready until the year 2015. In addition, while some would say that it is unjustified to countenance any dollar loss for environmental protection, consider this: If we fill the Grand Canyon with cement, and build over it with a Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, and an Auto Mall, the area would produce far more cash flow and jobs than it currently does, but would anyone seriously propose such a thing? Sometimes potential, short term profit must be balanced against the intrinsic value of nature.
So how to permanently protect this beautiful piece of public land—land that belongs to all the citizens of America, not just a few oil men who generously donate to the GOP?
There is currently a bill in the House of Representatives, HR 39, the Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act that would designate the coastal plains as Wilderness, adding a layer of protection that should seal off the area from environmental exploitation. During the Clinton administration, President Clinton and his Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt briefly considered naming the entire ANWR system as a National Monument by invoking the Antiquities Act of 1906, the same act used to create protections for areas such as the Grand Canyon and Death Valley. In the end, Clinton and Babbitt couldn’t pull the trigger, as they feared conflict with a Republican-led congress.
However, now is the time for action. The ethical thing has been delayed long enough. A future President will always have the “nuclear option” of unilaterally making ANWR a National Monument. But for the present, assigning ANWR Wilderness protection is the best way to stop this issue from continually being used as a political football during election season, as well as saving this pristine area from encroachment. Let your Representative know that supporting HR 39 is indeed the ethically correct course of action.

Religious Evil.

"There will always be good people who do good, and evil people who commit evil. But for good people to commit evil, religion is the one, absolute necessity."

The RP recognizes that domestic violence takes many forms. A man can do more to harm a woman than just using his fists. Accepted legally, medically, and psychologically is the reality of mental cruelty and humiliation. Verbal and psychological abuse can be just as damaging as physical abuse. In this light, the RP is disturbed by the actions of one Dr. Martin Gish, a Mennonite doctor at Pennsylvania's Good Samaritan Hospital. On July 22, 2006, a rape victim taken to the hospital emergency room was victimized a second time when Dr. Gish refused to provide the so-called "morning-after" pill, a medically safe and--more importantly, LEGAL, drug--which would prevent a pregancy from occurring.

The problem the RP has is this: rape, like domestic abuse, comes in many forms. For example, in one scenario, Man A forces his physical behaviors (physical rape) on a woman against her will, in the process inflicting severe psychological trauma. In a second scenario, Man B forces his cultural behaviors (mental rape) on a woman against her will, in the process inflicting severe psychological trauma.

It is well known that mental cruelty and abuse often leave psychological scars lasting far longer than those suffered from physical abuse. In this context I propose the concept of "Cultural Rape", this occurring when the beliefs and behaviors of one person are forced upon the unwilling and free nature of another.

The young woman in question thus suffered two assaults, both equal in their criminality and in their evil.

Doctor Martin Gish is a rapist.

RP

In Memoriam

The Rational Philosopher

RP recognizes that christians in general--and fundamentalists in particular--are an odd bunch, no group more so than SHJ, or: Snake Handlers for Jesus. So RP would like to take a moment to remember the duller people in American society, and honor those who made the world a better place by dying for their religion.

1) George Hensley, who died in 1955 after handling, and being bitten, by a rattler. You go, George!

2) Lee Valentine of the Old Straight Street Holiness Church (say that three times fast) who also died in 1955 after a rattlesnake bite. Good job!

3) Lloyd Hill of the New River Holiness Church, died in 1960 from a snake bite. You da man!

4) Jimmy Ray Williams, Jr., died in 1974 at the fangs of a black timber rattler. Totally awesome, dude!

5) Ray Johnson, during services at the Church of Lord Jesus, lost his life by timber rattler in 1991. Hang ten, Bro!

6) Brother Punkin Brown died by snake bite in 1998, three years after his wife died by snake bite at a revival in Kentucky. It's a family affair!

To all of these fine, upstanding, and incredibly stupid people, RP says simply this: Fangs for the memories!

The Problem with Prayer

is that for prayer on behalf of the ill to be efficacious, philosophical problems arise instantaneously. For example, your aunt is diagnosed with cancer, and you and your relatives pray and pray for her recovery. At first it doesn't look good--she's slipping away. But wait! A miracle occurs, and your auntie-poo regains her health, and walks away from the hospital a new woman. So, you christians assume that god heard your prayers. This is extremely problematic, as there are two--and only two--consequences of this action if the prayer actually worked as believed. 1) either your god is a weak-willed and spineless diety who is easily swayed from his original edicts, or 2) your god is a bumbling nincompoop prone to error who--thanks to your prayerful reminders--sees that he has made a blunder and works to correct it.
How is this so? Simple. Your god presumably knows all that will occur in the future, so he has preordained your aunt falling to cancer. To change that outcome is to change all the future which comes after, since a different universe results depending on whether your aunt is alive or dead. So, either prayer doesn't work and your aunt was due to recover, thanks to modern medicine and luck; or, prayer DOES work, in which case your god is something les that omniscient and omnipotent.
Check a box. RP