SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE  

I bet you think you know about the origins of the first amendment, you know, the one that tells us that government and religion must not be inter-twined. Well, you are probably wrong! You learned a lot of c r a p in school and the idea seems to permeate our environment. To whit, it says that the Puritans came here from England because of oppressive religious laws and wanted freedom to worship as they pleased.

Well, that isn't exactly it; it isn't even close. The Puritans were a stiff necked people who were disgusted with the English religious services and finally, having had a belly full of what they deemed religious disaster packed up and left for the good old USA to be. Naturally, because they knew the Truth, they oppressed other beliefs and kicked out those who disagreed. Roger Williams, was one. He went on to challenge the notion that government had anything to say about religion and finally set up Rhode Island as a haven for all.

But, not unlike beliefs everywhere, the colonies were set up for the benefit of an official religion, the Anglican church. They were British subjects and simply followed British law. Alas for them, there is always a fly in the ointment of contentment. The colonies, so far from Britain could not maintain the strict control to guarantee that all would be Anglican. Wandering Baptist preachers, Quakers (very different from the current version) and others told their stories and people often liked what they heard. The official religion was for the elites, the wanderers spoke to the common person.

Of course, and how could it be otherwise, the Anglicans saw their religious monopoly threatened and criminalized the errant preachers, beating them, jailing them and every now and then killing them. Surely, this was one of the precursors to revolution; the people rioted and had mini rebellions setting the stage for separation from England.

With military success, and with one failure, the constitution came into being including with the first amendment. Our founding fathers knew about the disasters of official religion and guess who led the charge. The Baptists. If the framers needed any energy, it was provided by the Baptists. Jefferson enshrined the result in writing about the “wall ofseparation between church and state.” QED, well, not exactly. The religionists started pecking away as they do today and we find the assault on separation quite alive and active.

I suppose you all know about the prohibition of the The Commandments on public ground. Well, duh, it's because it gives the appearance that government has a stake in fostering religion, particularly of Judeo-Christian ideals. (Never mind that Judaism and Christianity each has its own version; when “W” was asked which should be displayed, he said, “the regular one.” How's that for theological sensitivity!) Religionists keep putting them up and the ffrf and the ACLU keep knocking them down.

School vouchers are designed to help religionists send their children to parochial schools and though they also are knocked down new versions appear. Now, in some states, businesses can donate money in support of vouchers and deduct their expenses.

A persistent damned annoyance is that preachers have taken to disregarding the law against electioneering. Religious institutions must not become involved in elections lest they lose their tax-exempt status. That would be a mighty blow except that the federal government, for the past three years has ignored violations. Yes, Obama's Department of Revenue is blind to infractions; and the ffrf is now suing them. Go gettum, you guys.

About government what you may think of religion

Whether in it you want lots or a smidgeon

With moaning and sighs

With salt tears in your eyes

Against the first you are in inevitable collision.

FAVORITE MODE OF TRANSPORTATION?

12-3-12

This is another one of those tricky questions which, upon first glance seem simple of delineation but which turn out to have some facets of interest.

Shall think about transportation from here to there? If I want to knock someone down, I choose to transport my fist to his (never her) chin) via a right cross. That mode provides the requisite amount of power with a high level of accuracy. Parenthetically, a right cross is especially useful if your opponent is left-handed, but don't ask why. If I want to provide some cash to the deserving poor (Never the undeserving, that would be, dare I say it, enabling the undeserving ones to continue their nefarious ways.) I prefer mailing it. That way, I don't have to confront their misery and they don't know who I am. And, that is a non-relationship I prefer not to interrupt.

If it is a matter of getting life saving medicine to my totally deserving child, Of course, I want a motorcycle on which to move swiftly and a road with no cars and especially with no police. Let it pass that I have never driven a motorcycle; I know that given the need I would master the machine. After all, I know how to ride a bike.

I suppose I should include transporting loving looks to my beloved, but that requires special knowledge of what sorts of looks impress her with that meaning. I started out with the movie version, how could I do otherwise, with wide open eyes and lips partially open. I had thought to add licking my lips, but reflection reminded me that women use that in a sexually come hither way. As I think about it, my loving looks are a mixture of slightly narrowed eyes to convey intensity and a slight nod of the head to convey sincerity. Oh, don't forget gazing soulfully into her eyes. I never could figure out the soulfully part, but she doesn't complain so I let sleeping meanings lie. Is there some clever double entendre in that last word? Pshaw!

From here to there also includes the body as in later I will want my body at Natural Foods. Don't expect me to walk, though it surely is possible given time and plenty of benches along the way and, oh yes, water. With plenty of water I suppose I would also need lavatories though further experimentation would help me understand how many. Considering this and that, you can imagine that a bike won't do, and motorcycle, well, it's noisy, so for moving around, so the good old all American, now antiquated Echo is my preference. (Wait, isn't it Japanese?)

There is still the matter from there to here. Now, I am not a demanding person, but I dislike sluggishness of delivery when I anticipate receiving my desire. After all, what gets delivered to me keeps me alive, I mean meds, or what is designed to enchant me. I was on spilkas (this roughly means on pins and needles) awaiting my mini ipad. The days slowly, very slowly if truth be told and it seemed a month, but honesty compels me to admit it took only the promised two weeks. Some fool said that perception is reality a truly stupid thing to assert . . . but in this case, he was right.

When a kid, report card time was pretty bad for me. Many of you know I was an indifferent scholar. I prayed the school administration would be slow and the PO even slower but the damned thing arrived in two days and received by my mother with a heavy sigh. And, you won't be surprised to know that from there to here includes a right cross to the chin, the slower the better and much slower is generally preferred.

There once was a fellow so needy

That what he wanted he wanted to come speedy.

He begged and he pleaded

To get fast what he needed

But his plans were most often superseded.

GOD AND REALITY

Of course, God created everything, or so goes the story but about its nature he remains opaque. He didn’t tell us much about how the universe works, and the bits he did tell, well, he got a lot wrong. We humans have a passion to understand reality and at least as far as we can understand it comes in two sorts, which we can call real and not so real. The former is somewhat easy; whatever can hurt you or make your body feel good is the first sort. If we call it physical reality, we understand that such things exist and we better pay attention or it will do us in. Believing you can fly is not a justification for jumping out of the hundredth floor of a tall building. Here, a bit of a caveat will help. This is not about an ephemeral sort of reality that comes down to a matter of opinion. It is not a matter of opinion that banging your thumb with a hammer will hurt like hell. Science is not a matter of opinion; we invented it because understanding reality requires considerable patience and observational rigor. Experimentation is nothing more a matter of observing reality, often with devices such as microscopes, telescopes, particle colliders, etc. and developing a way of understanding what we observe.

Living, staying alive and enjoying it requires the ability to figure out which reality is which avoiding the harmful and establishing the enjoyable. That’s the hedonic formula and it becomes tricky when it comes to giving up an available pleasure for a future gain. It is tricky to understand that while pleasure is good, not all pleasure is good for you. And, sorting those out is complicated by how our bodies manipulate us into doing that which is not so good for us. The last thing the alcoholic remembers is, “Oh, just one drink won’t hurt me,” in the face of all contrary evidence.

Sigmund Freud, the preeminent psychiatrist and inventor of psychoanalysis told us that it we have a mental construct, the ego, which works like the devil to keeps us alive by guiding us between the Scylla of desire and the Carybdis of restraint. But, he realized that more was necessary, hence he formulated the super-ego, the mental mechanism which provides templates for the good me and the bad me. Simple observation tells us that the ego is insufficient because it lacks standards of behavior. If a goal can be achieved by stealing, the ego only needs to determine if the deed can safely be done. You want money, be careful about leaving clues and avoid observation and you can have what you want. Society cannot thrive without internal rules of conduct; the function of morality, generally another invention of the human animal

serves that purpose.

Freud called the mental construct, which monitors desirable and undesirable behavior the super ego, one part of which is desirable goals for behavior, the other self-punishment when the standards are violated. We learn good me and bad me from our family, i.e. parents, sibs and relatives and we learn from them how to find a proper role in society. 

Freud hoped the super ego would do the trick but it became obvious that it does not, and considering our human nature, it could not. We are perfectly willing to put up with guilt, always self-induced, or failure to reach an internalized goal in order to satisfy our passions. (These are sometimes called “base” motives, but they are only ourselves seeking some gratification.) And, good old rationalization is always

available to establish plausibility for our wildest excesses.

What to do? Civilization seemed a train-wreck in the making, but a solution fell into hand. Humans found a much-admired leader who told us how to act properly and who punished us when we deviated from his laws. Like our parents, he wanted to embed his laws in our brains so that we would not need him in the future but he forgot our humanity. Adam and Eve ate the apple and the whole moral edifice toppled. Yes, God was both enraged and disappointed and kicked us into the real world of pain and suffering. God is our ultimate super ego given supernatural powers and depending on your version of that phantasied being, can raise cruelty to incredible levels. Just read the bible and you’ll see what I mean. The Ten Commandments express what God demands of us; breaking any one of them leads (presumably) to ugly consequences.

The holocaust occurred because found flaws in the European Jews worship of him. Hey, Hitler was God’s right hand man.

The problem with God as our solution is that the idea distracts from the problem: How can we act in ways which foster our well-being and which help us avoid disaster? Those are our real problems, but the more we turn to our super super ego the less we will accomplish. Try learning to change your behavior when you suffer from wracking guilt; guilt is an attempt both to gain forgiveness for past misdeeds and to keep us from repeating the crime. Forgiveness simply perpetuates the behavior; it is far better to figure out the source of the bad behavior so it can be changed. And, for sure, it is ugly to examine the truth about ourselves, but accepting it means accepting yourself . . . and you know what to work on. Super egos almost always cause us trouble and having to struggle with a supernatural super ego is quite a task. Of course, you can always say, “It ain’t my fault, the devil made me do it.” Hell, you can always find a sucker to fall for that line.

GIVING THANKS … To Whom? For What?   

Yes, those are the questions that, unlike the Macy day parade animals that bring delight to children everywhere, float around unheard and unwanted.

Our pilgrim forefathers realized they were lucky to be alive. They had gotten through winter without starving because of help from their misnamed friends whom they called “Indians.” (Remember, they thought they had gotten to India.) In those early years, a concerted effort would have pushed them off the continent, so thanks were in order though perhaps misdirected. They could not have made it without their new buddies but, as is common, god gets the credit. Hallelujah!

Surely, we have much to give thanks for; we live on this great continent if not quite lords of all we survey it is still true that we can destroy civilizations should the mood strike us. We have done it in the past, look what happened to their buddies so it would not be a new enterprise for us. Japan might not exist now if the emperor had decided to continue the war. Curtis LeMay, the bomber general wanted to wipe them out; it’s a theme that is part of our history. Still, we are here and aside from hidden fantasies, we aren’t giving it back

I suppose slaughtering the bison is part of that as well as slaughtering turkeys. Note: Otherwise, we have no use for turkeys and, to our shame, “the only good Indian is a dead Indian.” Snicker snicker, cackle cackle.

Well, I suppose given Native American culture, and European culture, the outcome was inevitable. No one in Europe would let all that free land go to waste. To paraphrase one of our civil war generals, “It would be a shame to leave all that land to nomads.”

Okay, some of you are thinking, granted we did all that nasty stuff we are finally living up to our treaties with them and we have something magnificent for ourselves. Well, yeah, but we treat it like dirt. Strip mining rips the earth and leaves scars; we make the planet hotter so that storms are far worse and more frequent than in the past; we are emptying the Oglalla Aquifer such that the middle of our country may again turn into desert; that great human invention, science, is denigrated and disregarded in favor of opinion, and people look to the heavens for that bearded supernatural being to lavish us with affection.

Actions speak louder than words and our actions inform us that giving thanks is not sufficient. Let’s not give thanks but try to fix the place before it becomes uninhabitable. And, in addition to turkey, we might also choose to eat humble pie.

MY COUNTRY, RIGHT OR WRON

When I was a lad, there was a moderately popular phrase by some notable: “My country, may she always be right, but right or wrong, my country.”

It spite of knowing that it was the right way to think, I was also puzzled. Even at that young age, I knew that if things were wrong you sometimes have to give them up. We are a nation of immigrants who, in spite of their love for the motherland gave it up for a better place to live. Mexicans, with a sprinkling of other Latinos have come across our boarders because their country was so wrong they could not survive. My maternal grandmother never gave up mourning for Poland even though in those days it was not a comfortable place for Jews. Now, as a result of the election, dismayed yahoos babble about moving to Belize or some such place because, to them this country has become intolerable. To them, I say farewell though I really don't care if they fare not at all well.

Let me say it up front, there are things wrong with our country that we had better fix pretty quick or we are faced with disaster. The two most recent are Hurricane Sandy and the absurd voting process (I should really say, “processes,” because we have fifty of them.) I'll start with the storm and see how far I get.

The mindless ones refuse to admit that climate change is transforming the planet. They find data oppressive so when confronted with facts supported by 95% of meteorologists they pay attention only to the 5% who don't agree. The mindless ones proudly declare that their opinion is better than the scientists. They don't understand that the 5% provide scientific challenges, which keep the others from going off half-cocked. And, faced with evidence, some of the objecting bacteriologists change their perspectives.

Among the mindless, there are those who think a bit; those agree that climate change occurs, but deny that human beings are in any way responsible. Since the industrial revolution, we have been pouring carbon dioxide into the heavens enough to cause the gods to cough. There is no doubt that it serves as a blanket that keeps the heat close to the earth's surface. Glaciers melt raising the level of oceans. Oh well, let's just move back a few feet, so sayeth the semi mindless.

Because the glaciers are melting, the oceans have risen about a foot over the last century. When Sandy arrived shoving water toward the land, it had a lot more to provide to mess up NYC and you know that it did. There is no doubt that storms have become worse; there is considerably more wreckage in their aftermath and recovery takes longer and is more expensive.

The mindless and the semi-mindless represent resistance to change. The wind blows down power lines, so let’s put them underground. Wait, it's too expensive and the storms are only a freak of nature. The surging water can be restrained by setting up “islands” which blunt the water's movement. Wait, it's expensive and it is only a theory. Never mind that those pre-eminent ocean controllers, the Dutch have mastered the art.

See, most of our major cities are coastal, thus vulnerable to violent hurricanes; we can expect more Sandys with their attendant downed power lines, water everywhere, shortages of gasoline, food and water and disruption of health care, police and fire protection.

In spite of the warnings, this country has sat on its hands because the mindless have “opinions.” Well, their “opinions” are only fantasies of the abominable snowman and Loch Ness Monster sort. We had better get busy . . . or else.

((Maybe next week I'll write about voting.)

There once was a mindless old man

Who really didn't ever give a damn

When water smashed ashore

Oh my, what a bore

I can swim, do you know if he can?

TAMING THE BEAST  

11-5-12

Scientists now pretty much agree that animals are conscious. I'm not sure if that notion is limited to land mammals but probably not. Conscious simply means that the animal is in touch with its environment and acts accordingly. We all share the basic needs for food, water, protection from the elements and reproduction and we all function in terms of the hedonic formula. And, we beasts all strive to survive.

We are all beasts, but humans have an additional characteristic: We are self aware. I know I exist, I know I am me. I know you exist and I know who you are. There is very little evidence that other beasts have this understanding but some research is provocative. Put a spot on a monkey's forehead and stick a mirror in front of it and it will likely stare blankly. Do the same with a chimpanzee and it will try to rub the spot off. Is that a test of self-awareness – no one can be sure.

I'm not sure that self-awareness is the best way to describe us, I prefer self cognitive. By this, I mean that the invention of language made all the difference. We beasts made beastly noises in response to events and with simple awareness we could cooperate with each other for personal benefit. As grunts took on meaning, survival increased and our brains gradually changed to do it more effectively. Those with betyter naxcent languaqge skills reproduced, and we call the result, language. Without language, we'd be nothing more than another animal.

As we became self-cognitive we could think about how to satisfy our beastly needs and desires. Language serves to inform the beast with information about life events, evaluate possibilities and predict the future. It made it possible to put up with today's discomfort for tomorrow's benefit. And, we talk to ourselves all the time. We learn about our perceived reality, put it into language and after a while, the beast accepts it without uncertainty; in essence it becomes an automatic, non-thinking beastly function. The issue settled, language becomes irrelevant to the task. For example, it is unlikely that most of you remember how you learned to tie a shoelace. But, you know how, without thinking, how to do it. Much of our lives appear to be so automated.

As thinking beasts, we became, sort of, the most dominant creature ever to exist, but, there is a hitch. An important characteristic of the beast is that it resists change. Is that a surprise? Most of us try our damnedest to convince it to cut back on food, to exercise, not to smoke, to be nice, etc., but no matter how much we tell the beast to shape up, the outcome is usually the same. New Years eve resolutions dissolve in a few days.

Or consider training an infant to become socialized. That beast wants to defecate, urinate and eat when the mood strikes. We want the damn kid to understand the difference between the kitchen and the bathroom. Well, it rarely happens over night. The beast has to accept giving up immediate pleasure for a higher cause, parental pleasure. We spend long years socializing our children and against long odds, we are moderately successful.

All this suggests there is tension in the relationship between our cognitive selves and our bodies. We know what is good for us, but getting the beast to change is a Herculean task requiring time, persistent retraining and the expectation of success. When Grant was in front of Vicksburg, he failed seven times, but expected finally to win, and he did. Still, the beast rarely gives up pleasure without major resistance. But, we do have an edge. Once the beast changes, it extols the virtues if its new self and reenforces the process. So, don't despair. If you can't get it done one way there is always another way to try.

If you are looking for a friendly, helpful pal

Don't turn to the part that's animal

It does what it chooses

And we thus often are losers

Like wild horses, your pal needs a corral.

ABORTION: A Great American Tragedy

I was going to rant about setting up a new wireless printer, but it turns out that on the way I became enmeshed in the tragedy of abortion. The damned issue was settled years ago when it became legal and socially acceptable. Of course, the wing-nuts, the Yahoos, and the religiously constipated did not agree and they sniped away gradually making abortion harder to get … especially for poor women. Still, it remains legal, at least for now. Someone has unleashed the screwballs.

We are, astonishing to contemplate a nation of scientific ignoramuses and worse a large part of our citizenry are adamantly opposed to scientific findings. Creationists insist the earth is 6 thousand years old (some argue for ten thousand years), there is no such thing as global warming or humanity's contribution to that incipient disaster, or the Big Bang, or evolution or safe vaccination … the list goes on. And, Mr. Boob, a US Senate aspirant says that raped women's bodies protect them from conception and lately a senatorial candidate tells us that if a raped woman conceives it is “God's will,” and thus must not be interrupted of completion.

Well, the religiously constipated are entitled to their absurdities, but when they attempt to foister their beliefs on the rest of us they are beyond arrogance. Assuming they are correct, that God wants a raped woman to bear a consequent child, what does that make the rapist? Clearly, doing God's will should give him special status in our society. Church bells should peal on Rapist day and medals honoring their religious zeal be strewn upon them. Speeches? Of course. “I saw this woman, realized she was the perfect vessel for God's grace and so I did my part. Of course, she complained but God must be served.”

But, what shall we do if there is no conception? Is that also God's will, did God act as a selective contraceptant choosing who would and would not bear his ordained children? No, that makes no sense because we all know that God wants a multitude of children: “Be fruitful and populate the earth,” (or something like that) is His command. (It's no surprise that God is a male.)

If there is no conception, it is clear that the rapist failed at his task and it is that failure that should be punished. What, you say there are a multitude of reasons that conception fails, how can he have failed? That would be his defense, but to no avail. No conception is no conception and throw the book at him!

The tea party has dredged up from the slimy bottom of the river the most bizarre collection of nut cakes ever to run for office. Never mind that they have no use for the truth (notice the small “t”) they actively reject it. When I think about such boobs occupying office, I tremble and wonder about the viability of our republic. Where do they come from and in their crowd I include Romney. If a fetus is a person, Ryan is right, a consequence of rape, or incest is a person and deserves life, liberty and property. Romney slithers around in his attempt to appear moderate. Fetus as person is a religious idea. God provides a soul at the moment of conception. But, history tells us of the many attempts to define “person,” all failed; it is pure arrogance for anyone to argue she/he knows the truth.

It should take only a moment of reflection

To understand that the consequence of conception

Is no more than a fetus

But lest the Yahoos defeat us

Lets give them all a resounding rejection