Not Really Reform

Ok.

The Senate mess of a bill is not real health care reform.   There is no reform without a public option. It is a windfall for the insurance companies.  Everyone is going to be mandated to carry health insurance now?  What a wonderful gift to the insurance companies just in time for Christmas Winter Solstice The Holidays Christmas!

Sure, some good consumer protections are in the bill.   The most important is the elimination of a pre-existing condition as a reason to deny coverage.  But, fundamentally this bill is stripped of any real reform.   Thank you very much obstinate, political party before country, oppositional defiant, arrogant, and spiteful Republicans for obstructing progress with hateful smirks.  Thank you very much Democrats for having no backbone or conviction and for selling-out.

We need to demand campaign finance reform.  The only way to wrestle the power away from of the “too big to fail” corporate powerhouses is for the American people to wake up and finally say to our elected officials, “We won’t vote for you again unless you pass real campaign finance reform.”  I’m starting to feel like a “tea-bagger”.  Well, I’m not that disrespectful and kooky but…  Enough is enough.

How you can help:

http://www.fairelectionsnow.org/

The Known Universe

This gave me chills:

The Known Universe by the American Museum of Natural History

Watch it in HD if you have the capabilities.

In light of the totality of the universe, we are so incredibly small.  Just the sure vastness of space is so hard to comprehend.  When I truly try to wrap my mind around even the concept of a light-year, I can’t help but realize my own shameful hubris.  I really know nothing.  The human species is just shaking its fists up at the heavens from less than a microscopic speck in an ocean of churning matter and empty space.  In both time and space, we really are just a fleeting occurrence of tiny bio-chemical interactions.

Amazing.

Back to the “War on Christmas”

“Happy Holidays” does NOT = I hate Christmas and your religious beliefs.

“Happy Holidays” = Happy St. Nick’s Day, Happy Hanukkah, Blessed Yule, Happy Wigilia, Happy Winter Solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy Befana Day, Happy Kwanzaa <Insert your favorite winter holiday here> … And Happy New Year!

“Merry Christmas” on Christmas Day.

“Happy Holidays” to cover all other celebrations anytime during the holiday season.

No one should be offended by anyone wishing anyone else a merry or happy anything (Be it Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays or what-have-you).

Quit being so melodramatic.

Either way, people are just wishing you happiness and good will.  Ok?

The Tender and The Brittle

I am having a hard time sorting out this idea swimming around in the back of my mind.  Why do we, as human beings, feel such anxiety about the free will of other human beings?

It is as if the way a particular group lives, thinks, or believes is some sort of affront to another group’s way of life just by their very existence.  For example, I am talking about things such as homosexuality, religious beliefs, and family structure.   If a person living in a relatively free society chooses a certain path and that path does not directly prevent another person from living how they see fit, what is the problem?

I see this dangerous thread of thought emerging (or reemerging) in which one group dictates to another how they should feel, think, and believe.  Is it the fact that someone taking a different approach creates a great deal of anxiety over what exactly “the truth” is?

If you believe that you have the absolute unwavering truth, the fact that someone else might disagree might be very disconcerting.  They do not want to even question their own thoughts because that might mean putting an unacceptable crack in their version of the absolute truth.  So, they attack the seemingly opposing idea in a nearly persecutory fashion even though it really has no direct effect on their own personal faith and life .  Is it better to destroy any possible decent than face one’s own doubts and demons?

Is that the difference between a faith-based system and an evidence-based system?  In a faith-based system, the answers are already there.  Anyone who disagrees, or ideas that emerge that contradict established knowledge, are obviously false and potentially very dangerous.  In an evidence-based system, the truth is more amorphous.  If an idea emerges that might challenge the status quo and it has merit, a previously deeply ingrained “truth” may actually change.

Is it the difference between rigidity and pliability?  A sense of safety can be built behind high thick walls.  But, when does it become a prison and no longer protection?

From the Tao Te Ching (trans. by Mitchel, 1988):

76

Men are born soft and supple;

dead, they are stiff and hard.

Plants are born tender and pliant;

dead, they are brittle and dray.

Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible

is a disciple of death.

Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life.

The hard and the stiff will be broken.

The soft and supple will prevail.

Or to quote the Bible, Matthew 5:5:

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

I’m just having a hard time wrapping my head around these ideas.  I’m not sure exactly what I am getting at here.  Am I way off base?  Do I make any sense?  Can anyone help me out?

Mention

I received a mention in the UU World online magazine for my post about Non-Deism.

http://www.uuworld.org/blogs/web/2009_11_15_archive.php

Ain’t the internets cool?

Waging the War on Christmas?

I ended up in a very civil debate (It actually happens sometimes!) with someone who claimed that anyone who “denies Christ” is a hypocrite for celebrating Christmas (ie: putting up lights, a tree, and giving presents).  She suggested that non-Christians should not have the right to celebrate and that they should make up there own holiday and leave Christmas alone.   I agree with her that the word “Christ” is in the name of the holiday and for the vast majority it is a celebration of the birth of their savior and son of God.  For Christians it is a holy day.

I celebrate Christmas.  We tell the story of Jesus’s birth to my children at my home with the wise-men, the shepherd, and all.   It is a great myth and Jesus did plenty of good in the world.   The whole “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and “turn the other cheek” thing: Genius.  Santa visits the Tallman residence.  Yet, I am not a Christian and do not believe in the divinity of Jesus.   Does that make me a hypocrite?

Many of the traditions we associate with Christmas were appropriated from European Pagan celebrations such as Yule.  When the Roman Empire began spreading Christianity, they very wisely incorporated the holidays of the people they were subjugating.   Christmas was being celebrated long before it was called Christmas.   The traditions have evolved along with the changing religious beliefs of the people who followed them.  I am simply following that same path.  I would call our holiday “Winter Solstice Celebration” but, that is so awkward and irritating.

I grew up with all the warm traditions of the holiday: the gifts, the tree, the music, the fun, and family warmth.   It isn’t like I am taking traditions from some other culture and purposefully mocking them.   These are traditions with which I am intimately familiar and is part of my cultural heritage.  The message of hope, renewal, and love during the coldest darkest part of the year is one that I celebrate with my family.

I do not understand how my celebrating a holiday has any bearing on the religious beliefs of other people.  This whole idea of there being a “war on Christmas” is pretty silly, really.  Everyone is entitled to their right to celebrate or not celebrate any holiday on any day as they see fit in the United States of America (unless it is directly infringing upon the rights of others).

There is this bizarre notion that Christianity is under attack by the shadowy nefarious workings of humanists and secularists.  Celebrate and worship as you wish.   Someone at Target saying “Happy Holidays” doesn’t negate your faith or the importance of the holiday to you.  Whether you like it or not, we do live in a religiously plural society.  Despite the efforts of some, we still have religious freedom.   The existence of others outside your belief system is not a threat to your way of life.

Whether it is about the birth of Christ, a toast to Odin in gratitude, or simply warmth, love, and hope, the holiday is one with a long history of celebrants.  Along with the multitude of other merrymakers, my family will continue that tradition and express our joy and love for all that it good in the world before our fireplace while the snow falls outside.

Happy Winter Solstice Celebration Merry Christmas. everyone!

(By the way, what do you think of my rocking white tree?)

Nine Days of Thanks

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I participated in a thankful-meme as prompted by some friends on Facebook:

Nile Tallman…

says Oh heck.. everyone else is doing it: I am grateful for my amazing hard-working wife that goes above and beyond to keep our family in funds, sanity, and love.

is thankful for the wonder of modern science through which we were able keep my baby girl alive and well.

is thankful for his daughter, Kaya. Her spunk, creativity, intelligence, and independent streak keeps me energized. She amazes me each and everyday.

is thankful to Bhante Sujatha from Blue Lotus for his thoughtful instruction and warm real human genuineness. He has opened my eyes again and again. He’s one rocking monk!

is thankful to Shyla for her quirky sense of humor, her thoughtful approach to life, and her little bear hugs that melt me.

is thankful for living in a time and a country where I have the freedom to express and live my beliefs without persecution. The founding fathers wisely established freedom of speech and separation of church and state which we enjoy often without realizing how lucky we are.

is thankful for his parents. They are amazing grandparents to my wild brood.

is thankful for snuggles. ‘Nuff said.

is thankful for those rare moments when we are able to see beyond our own deep layers of selfish motives and desires to see and experience the real warm loving-kindness of our family and friends… and our own inner warmth as well.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Here it goes…

So, I started.  Just like countless other deluded souls, I have begun a novel.  The stack of my past writings, which I have hid at the back of my file cabinet, constitute the backstory of my world going back several thousand years.   I am taking the plunge and hopefully will finally breathe life into my alternate modern fantasy world of Terra-Et.  I now have a framework for what I think is a promising story.  Now comes the exciting, yet difficult, part of constructing it.

I dunno

Do you ever feel like you don’t have much to say, but you feel this urge to say something anyway?

Love Me Some John Lee Hooker

Click on the picture for the official John Lee Hooker site.