Thoughts of a Freethinker

Bush considered his program of aid to religious groups to be an innovation. Trump and his faithful soldiers of the right are turning on this, one of the best revenue sources ever invented by religions. It is Bush's Federal Government funding of "faith-based" charities. These charities are run by Protestants and Catholics alike. The Trump people toss them in with "deeps state" as corrupt "money launderers." The local Governor here faithfully repeated the "money laundering" Republican line but quickly walked it back.  Perhaps the activity of these religion-based organizations that press the "no woke" button of conservatives are the ones who settle new citizens. They line up housing, language training and jobs. I assume most community leaders and businesses that need workers support the work of these religious-based groups. I know personally of firms the grew to hundreds of workers by relying on newcomers to this country.  I've kno...

A friend I knew in politics in Fargo, ND where I was mayor for 16 years grew up poor and spent his teen years more or less "on the streets." This was long before abortion was made legal by Roe. He said abortions were common, "Everyone knew which doctors they could visit." These were the days of a neighborhood doctor with an office next to his house. Many hard-core opponents of abortion choose to believe, and have told me, there were almost no abortions during that period of many decades. There were half a dozen court cases and anti-abortion zealots choose to believe these were the only ones that took place.  The same game is being played as we speak. States with abortion bans claim there are no abortions while doctors who care for patients say abortions continue . Perhaps there are abortions that are identified on the paperwork as something else. How ever it is happening, there are doctors that know about it and are not telling. There is no enterprise more dishonest...

Since the beginning of time there has been criticism about the "next generation." I put that in quotes because I'm referring to not only young people at any given time but also people of all ages at any time who adopt ideas that do not conform to the prevailing ones at that moment in history.  My own version of "progress" happens when society at large begins to understand and pass from person to person and generation to generation some bit of knowledge about "reality." By "reality" I mean facts and/or inevitability. If humans writ large cannot accept facts or inevitability they will ultimately destroy themselves or destroy each other. One reality is that most humans like and/or need some interaction and help from other humans. Because of this we form groups beyond our own families. The expressed reason for the groups is usually not the real reason they form. They form because humans need a group. The reason given for any group will vary from ...

There are many versions of the Bible. The one called English Standard Version will now have 68 changes or edits from the one that preceded it. I can imagine a committee sat around a table where each person said, "No, you're wrong. What it really means is ..."   One change that interested me was from Exodus. It involves the creation of the universe. In the preceding version of this Bible it said, "...and on the ---- day God created heaven and earth." The new version will say "...created the heavens and ..." Does this mean the faith now teaches there is more than one "heaven?" Are several gods and each has a heaven? Or, did the original heaven fill up with souls and new ones had to be opened?  Maybe now there is a heaven for those whose last name starts with A-D, another for E-I and so on.  Or, could it be there are heavens based on the severity of sins. Those with no sins would, of course, get the best digs. Some people were sin lite, maybe on...

All the chest beating by Trump and his minions will not stop churches from hiding and abetting illegal migrants. Historically, churches have been able to stop feds at the door. Experience tells us this will continue.  There is a certain kind of irony here. Religion, especially the Christian branch, has received a pass on all kinds of issues not tolerated elsewhere. Branches of the faith want to discriminate, so they do. Slave holders said their religion allowed them to have slaves. During covid some churches defied orders not to meet.  The safety of gathering and plotting in churches has also been used against conservatives. Black people used churches as a safe place to plot against slavery and segregation and white society did not stop gatherings in churches. Now, the link author says illegal immigrants will be guarded against Trump officials by staying inside churches. Whether this will work is yet to be seen. But, the history of dong this is clear. This could happen to abor...

I'm reading a book, When the Ice is Gone  (2024) that goes into minute details about the famous ice cores exacted in Greenland. Ice cores have also been taken from other glaciers such as Antarctica. Greenland's are the one's the professor author knows most about so that is the subject of the book. A decade ago when I discussed climate change there was a band of commenters on this blog who said climate change and the information from the poles was nonsense. While I knew the carbon pollution was the cause of climate change I never understood how the conclusions were reached. This book lays the case out in detail. There is a lot of information about sawing ice cores I did not know. I thought taking out the cores was a relatively new idea with a new technology. Drilling down into glaciers has been going on at least from the 1950's. The glaciers were seen as assets during the cold war. The Defense Department wonder what kind of defense against Russia could be placed on the g...