Mar 28 2013

William Shockley…in another Flavor?

Maybe it is Brain surgery…

Interesting paths that some individuals take to relative notoriety. Dr. Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon and the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Hospital, has made the rounds as of recent from addressing President and Mrs. Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C to wowing the crowds at CPAC. Hard not to make a splash at CPAC when you take an obviously successful black man who is Republican and have him attack Obama policies…but again, he was preaching to the choir, so to speak. Apparently quite the Christian also. But just when you have an new face in the Republican camp who is all of a sudden being talked about as the next best thing next to sliced bread who will be a leading contender for the 2016 Republican amazing race, it becomes obvious they left the bread in the toaster a little too long. The good Dr. choose poorly and joined Sean Hannity on Fox News and again, quickly provided evidence of why the Republicans are where they are and why many even within the party are shaking their heads in wonderment. If you missed it, the exchange basically was as follows:

HANNITY: All right, last question, we have the issue of the Supreme Court dealing with two issues involving gay marriage. I’ve asked you a lot of questions. I’ve never asked you that, what are your thoughts?

CARSON: Well, my thoughts are that marriage is between a man and a woman. It’s a well-established, fundamental pillar of society and no group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality. It doesn’t matter what they are. They don’t get to change the definition. So he, it’s not something that is against gays, it’s against anybody who wants to come along and change the fundamental definitions of pillars of society. It has significant ramifications.

Huh? You’ve got to be kidding – say what? Brain surgeon?

So here we have someone who is apparently an esteemed surgeon (questionable) who equates gays with pedophiles and people into bestiality. Excuse me? I wouldn’t let this guy near my brain if it was leaking out all over the floor. I guess the good news is we can really see what this guy is made of and where his values lie. Reach a little further back into his views and you get that which is the hallmark of these conservatives and right-wing nut jobs – “I can tell you what to do and how to live but don’t try to do that to me.”

In his book America the Beautiful, he shares the following view:

“I have no problem whatsoever with allowing gay people to live as they please, as long as they don’t try to impose their lifestyle on everyone else. Marriage is a very sacred institution and should not be degraded by allowing every other type of relationship to be made equivalent to it.”

Interesting point I must have missed – I didn’t realize the gays were trying to “impose” their lifestyle on everyone else. I might be a little slow but I still don’t get how gay marriage somehow changes marriage between a man and a women. Is this anything like gay teachers trying to convert children to their lifestyle? In all honesty, in looking around at the state of most heterosexual marriages, one might be able to easily make the case that it needs a little help or change.

So again we have someone who gets a great deal of attention as a conservative who manages to step wholeheartedly into the pit of ignorance by demonstrating not only an opinion that most in this country would obviously abhor (at least if they are younger than 40 years old if we go by polls) but also the stupidity to say it aloud so there is no room for error when someone looking and listening to him tries to figure out if this is someone to whom they can relate as a person. I guess the net result of the comments made in this last election cycle by the likes of Todd Akin and Richard Murdoch (and even the 47% speech by Romney) hasn’t made much of an impression on some in the party.

What I might suggest to the good Dr. here is a quick review of the position taken not all that long ago by another Republican. William Shockley. William Shockley won the Nobel Prize for inventing the transistor, founded Silicon Valley, was a virulent racist, and donated sperm to a sperm bank for the super intelligent. So on one hand a rather accomplished physicist and inventor. On another hand, he managed to pretty much put it all out there with his views of blacks. While teaching at Stanford he became intrigued by racial questions and population control, and began publicly claiming that blacks are less intelligent than whites, by genetics and heredity. Shockley believed that the higher rate of reproduction among the less intelligent was having a dysgenic effect, and that a drop in average intelligence would ultimately lead to a decline in civilization. When asked if his views amounted to racism, he famously answered “If you found a breed of dog that was unreliable and temperamental, why shouldn’t you regard it in a less favorable light?”

William Shockley showing off his latest invention – Siamese Tea Cups

So, I ask Dr. Ben how different his views of gays as equals to the rest of us are from how Shockley viewed blacks a few decades ago. Looks like some haven’t learned much about how it feels to be looked as inferior. And these are supposedly the “smart’ ones. I might suggest that Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus consider reprinting the latest Republican Manifesto so maybe a wider population can “get it”.

Mar 26 2013

Time to get off the Religious Bandwagon

Source and owner of picture = dingo.care2.com

With all eyes on the Supreme Court today with what will eventually be an historic ruling and leap forward, I still find it amazing the people who stand against what is an obvious (to some of us) civil right for our LGBT citizens. It remains tiring and disheartening that I needed to have the conversation with my son today to not let this ongoing crap and the ignorant comments get to him as it is really just a matter of time as law catches up with where the majority in our country are going with gay rights and gay marriage. Yes, it might not be this time around where we get it right but it is inevitable. What is just and what is right will prevail. We have time on our side as many of the naysayer’s are of that “Greatest Generation” and they will not die off soon enough. Giving them that honor (Tom Brokow – you are undoubtedly an asshole) just because they served in WWII managed to dismiss the fact that they have been one of the most bigoted, most selfish and most self-entitled generation this nation has ever seen. But I digress – we still have all the other bible thumpers – most of whom are religious in name only and then only when it serves their personal need. These are also people who hide their prejudice behind some crap out of the bible – a novel from the hands of pure mortals at best. I might have a little more respect if these same people actually lived their life based on the purported beliefs but these are the same people who make up the 41% of people in marriages that admit to infidelity or the 57% of men and 51% of women who admit the same (and these are just the ones who admit it). If the bible is your only course of pushback to gay marriage, your platform is rapidly shrinking and will likely catch up to your brain shortly.

Source and owner of picture = i.imgur.com

But again I digress. I’m thinking that maybe it is time to take this same approach these anti-gay people are taking and start to apply it to other human traits/characteristics/whatever you want to call it but basically aspects of being a person that you really have no control over and were likely pretty much born with – yes, pretty much like those people who are gay ( and it you still believe it’s a choice, it is time to take that gun you are so afraid is going to be taken from you and do us a big favor and move ahead with an unassisted suicide event.)

Let’s look at a few of the options.

Intelligence – Maybe we need to start looking at people’s IQ as a means of differentiation and begin to allocate access to things based on level of intelligence. Maybe if your IQ is under 120, you should be limited in access to certain societal institutions – like access to college or maybe even high school if you’re too far down that IQ scale. Maybe we should limit the jobs available to these dumbbells as our economy as an institution is one we should be protecting from those who contribute little. You can still get married but only to other people of lower IQ but I think we might want to limit your ability to have a baby as if you aren’t able to really add to the family as an institution in a positive sense, maybe a limit is in order. Not sure you should be able to drive a car – I don’t think I need to elaborate on the benefit of that direction – have you been out there on the road recently?

Attractiveness – We could look at how attractive people are and limit certain access based on where they are on the ugly scale. We could actually memorialize height and weight as a differentiator. As I understand it there are many clubs that ugly people already can’t get into. There are other aspects of this that exist already so this one is already underway.

Statistic Verification

Source: American Psychological Association, Smart Money, Princeton University

Research Date: 11.27.2012

Attractive People Success Statistics	Data
Percent chance an attractive person will receive a callback after an interview	72.32 %
Percent chance an unattractive person will receive a callback after an interview	62.02 %
Percent more that attractive workers earn than unattractive	10 %
Average lifetime earning difference	$230,000
Average salary for people with low self-esteem	$50,323
Average salary for people with high self-esteem	$78,927
Average salary for someone who was 6’0″ at age 18	$51,880
Average salary for someone who was 5’1″ at age 18	$40,000
Percent of salary increase with each standard deviation increase in facial symmetry	8%

I won’t belabor the points here but at some level this is all wrong. And it seems stupid when you put it on paper but yet it is not all that different. Discrimination is wrong no matter the justification or rationalization. It is not up to any one individual or group to limit the access a person has to that society has to offer or to impede their ability to live a life equal to the rest of us based on their own personal beliefs. I’ve said it before and I don’t know how people don’t see it (maybe it’s the intelligence factor cited above) but just because you believe something and choose to live your life a certain way doesn’t give you the right to force that on everyone else. I do wonder what you are really scared of because that is the only thing that explains this unthinking and unfeeling behavior. Your justification, usually based on some religious doctrine or belief, doesn’t hold water into society today. We don’t all want to follow your God (and most of you really don’t anyhow) and we don’t want your rules to be our rules. I don’t force my ways or beliefs on you – I might think you are stupid or an asshole – but I’m not asking you to do it my way. And don’t limit my son’s ability to live and enjoy life to its fullest. When you do I don’t just think you are stupid or an asshole – you have removed all doubt.

Credit: http://www.makeupartistrybyalicia.com

Mar 24 2013

Life Isn’t a Smorgasbord…

Not sure if fits…just love the picture!

Gun Control, Abortion Rights, LBGT Civil Rights (someone please tell me how this is not a Civil Rights issue) – quite a bit going on this week and next. As our Congress spends the majority of time playing pocket pool and continues to demonstrate ineptitude beyond belief, they systematically ignore where this country has been and is heading in these areas. Recent legislative efforts by Kansas and North Dakota (again, both states that never make the top 10 list for admirable points for which most strive) to outlaw abortion, again demonstrates a vendetta against Women’s rights and a direction counter where most people in this country are. The Supreme Court this week will hear two cases crucial to the pace of progress in giving LGBT citizens their civil rights and equality under the law. Gun Control – little progress in even what a thinking and feeling person might think would be an easy step forward – Universal background checks.

Are you sure you want to go back to Kansas?

In every case the American public who, as a whole, is well ahead of the political musings and stances, makes it clear they support abortion rights (a woman’s right to choice, let’s be clear), LGBT equality and the right to marry, and better gun control (in particular Universal background checks). The problem is in the details as we look at the state and local level and the way political divisions have been drawn. We end up with a clear division of view of where the Federal should have rule and set law and where it should fall to the State and Local. While I don’t always believe the Federal Government is right and should be making choices for States, I would be more inclined to move decision-making for these specific issues I’ve cited to the State and Local levels if I actually believed they had the intellectual and social where-with-all to make smart decisions. Again, my judgment to sure but making decisions based on bible teachings, views that harken back to how we used to treat both women and Blacks in our country and lastly, some misguided view that the government is trying to take everyone’s weapons seems to fall short of the yardstick of a civilized and informed society.

“Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.” – Mark Twain

That being said, I am willing to take a shot at letting the states have their way. We can move these sorts of decisions out there and let the states decide for their people. However, I suggest we should also begin to play approach out to the full extent of the concept. If you really want the Federal government out of your shorts, sounds good to me but then let’s make it incumbent on the States to then provide everything the Federal Government provides today – try that for health care costs. We can let the States deal with the repercussions of making abortions illegal. We can watch as States continue to outlaw LGBT Civil Rights. We can let more idiots own guns in those States that want it and watch more people die from the results. End of the day, the costs, both financial and social, can sit with the State.

What happens is that we get more pockets of the same type of people living in different states as people with a social conscience and intellect migrate either to those more progressive states. We can watch the distribution of income and educated people move around at the same time – sorry but I would expect that the median income and level of education isn’t going to rise in the South or places like North Dakota and Kansas. And these states will lose most everyone there who have kept their state within arm’s-length of civility and humanity (maybe even Texas has a few). At some point it will become obvious that the longer-term impact of attitudes and mindsets from the 50’s isn’t a step forward. Sad commentary but maybe we let them have what they want. I for one might actually see my Federal tax bill drop a bit when I’m no longer having my tax dollars going to states that are the “Takers” and depend on Federal support to run their states – interesting that as of 2011, we now have 30 of the 50 states having 1/3rd of their state budget dependent on Federal funding (my state is one of them) and two states (Oklahoma and Louisiana) with more than 50% of their state budget Federally funded.

Fed Taxes/Benefit Balance

Sometimes you just can’t protect people from themselves. However, we can only hope that people at some point realize that life isn’t a smorgasbord – it’s basically “Eat what’s on your plate” – some you want and some you don’t but in the end it’s all there for a reason. And if you’re good, you might get some .

“All government — indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act — is founded on compromise and barter.” – Edmund Burke

Mar 15 2013

When it hits close to home…

Senator Portman with his own sort of coming out. (Photo credit – MSN.com)

Not to pick on Sen. Portman per se but I find it very insightful that we again have a situation where we have a politician who maintains a political position which might be contrary to what their constituents want to see UNTIL somehow it comes home to roost. The following (a part of which I have included) was reported on MSN this morning –

“Sen. Rob Portman, who voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, says he has changed his mind on the matter since one of his sons came out as gay in 2011.

CINCINNATI — Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman is now supporting gay marriage and says his reversal on the issue began when he learned one of his sons is gay.

Ohio’s junior senator disclosed his change of heart in interviews with several Ohio newspapers and CNN. In an op-ed published Friday in The Columbus Dispatch, he said the decision came after a lot of thought.

“I have come to believe that if two people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other in good times and in bad, the government shouldn’t deny them the opportunity to get married,” he wrote.

As a member of the House in 1996, Portman voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman and bars federal recognition of same-sex marriage.

Portman said his views on gay marriage began changing in 2011 when his son, Will, then a freshman at Yale University, told his parents that he was gay and that it wasn’t a choice but “part of who he was.” Portman said he and his wife, Jane, were very surprised but also supportive.

He said it prompted him to reconsider gay marriage from a different perspective — that of a father who wants all three of his children to have happy lives with people they love.”

I expect the sentiment shared by Portman as to the different perspective driving his change of heart is not one that will change most of those stone-hearted anti-gay politicians (or any other person of influence in any position of authority) who seem to look through political, religious, etc. lens as they continue to treat many of our citizens as 2nd class people, at best, and lesser human beings, at worse. I said the same thing after the Sandy Hook travesty that maybe when the anti-gun control lobby people actually have someone in their family killed in a similar manner (or any manner with a gun to be honest) we might be able to manage our issues with guns with a little more common sense A little sad that it takes a personal event to get someone to take notice and to start to feel a little. I would suggest that empathy is a quality that goes much too unnoticed as we evaluate and elect our leaders and that maybe it is time people begin to not look at caring and understanding as a weakness and maybe see it for the benefit it brings. But this all requires some thinking and empathy to get there. And we have a long way to go.

Now the next question is at what point will one of Ricky Santorum’s five sons comes out – and how apoplectic will Ricky become….

Mar 9 2013

Guns, Guns and More Guns – Whether you want them or not

Just when you think we have reached a point where nothing is really a surprise, news comes along that shows we can still get those “you’ve got to be kidding” moments. With today’s social media impact and how quickly notoriety can be attained, there are those events or happenings where you quickly realize this is really for someone’s 5 minutes of fame – but then there are those that still stand out demonstrating we haven’t reached the height possible when it comes to stupidity at worse, short-sightedness at best. In our paper this morning we had an article citing the number of local governments in several states where the latest focus on new laws are ones that, by law, require citizens to maintain both weapons and ammunition in their homes. These communities in Maine, Idaho and Georgia (all no doubt in my top 10 places I’d want to live) have taken a view that more guns mean a higher level of safety. The good news is that most of these laws, if passed (and I expect they will get passed in some jurisdictions) are unenforceable.

Speaking of Georgia – Georgia has moved to ease rules preventing some mentally ill people from getting licenses to carry firearms. Legislators in Georgia’s House voted 117-56 this week to allow people who have voluntarily sought inpatient treatment for mental illness or substance abuse to get licenses. So apparently knowing you have a mental illness is good enough puts you on par with the rest of the people of Georgia. Maybe that isn’t as far-fetched as it seems at first glance. This is further evidenced by that fact that Georgia is also considering whether to change its laws to allow people to carry guns in churches, bars and on college campuses, contrary to what’s happening elsewhere in the United States. Okay – we can still get more stupid.

Credit: LA Times

In another of those states that make you cringe a bit when you think “civilized”, South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed a law giving school boards in the state the ability to allow teachers to carry guns in the classroom. I guess that this was the one chance that South Dakota could be first in the country – let’s keep an eye out for that first headline where a student or teacher is killed in a SD classroom.

However, there is some upside to movement in this direction. It is a well documented statistically that homes where guns are present have a considerably higher likelihood of someone in that home getting killed by a gun – I expect this same result can be extended on a town or community level requiring citizens to all be armed can only help thin the gene pool of some of these dickheads and mini-minds. Works for me.

Just waiting for foot to be inserted…

I also can’t help but think that this all also has the makings of wet dream material for Wayne LaPierre – sorry – not a pretty picture but can’t you just see this halfwit drooling while reading these news stories?

notthebestoftimes…

And it is getting worse – time to get our collective head out of our ass

Monthly Archives: March 2013