Religion and the 2008 Presidential Race

Pre post whine: two great football games on TV but the wife wants me to go to the symphony. Even worse, she expects for me to shave off the scruff.

I don’t know what I did to deserve this.

First, an Obama ad:

You can find links to the specifics of each of Obama’s points here.

Whatsup “not official Obama campaign” pro-Obama piece

Hat tip: Watertiger. At this site, daily snark (in photographic form) and cute tiger photos abound.

Religion, Society and the 2008 Presidential Race.

Richard Dawkins (of the UK) feels that we (western society) are losing the war against superstition. As far as the United States goes, I am not so sure that we are losing. I am a bit embarrassed as to where we are as a country, but I think that more and more, people that go to church are starting to go for the “right reasons”: to make their own lives better by being part of a community, discussion of morals, doing good works and using mental health techniques such as prayer, meditation, yoga, etc.

It appears to me that the percentage of people who think that somehow some deity will miraculously intervene is going down a bit, though the percentage who believe this is still too high for comfort.

According to a recent Pew Survey, only 60 percent of Americans believe in a “personal god” though 25 percent believe in some impersonal spirit and 7 percent don’t know.

What about politics? Here is a liberal’s position that I disagree with“

Democrats are not blameless. I’ve seen some mock Sarah Palin’s membership in a Pentecostal church as proof of her unfitness for office. Conservative evangelicals are often cast, privately, as wacky or stupid. It offends me when Obama supporters send around the video of Palin being prayed for by a Pentecostal minister decrying witchcraft. What’s she supposed to do? Interrupt the prayer and say, “sorry – can’t sign on to that part. Please resume”? As regular readers of my Beliefnet blog know, I’ve defended Sarah Palin’s faith repeatedly.

I admit that I honestly don’t care which religious myths uses to calm their minds and to make them handle life’s difficulties. I don’t care if one uses prayer, meditation, yoga, etc. to help them determine what the most moral course of action to take.

I actually admire the answers of Joe Biden, John Edwards and Barack Obama here (Bill Richardson is ok also)

I think that I understand Mr. Waldman’s point: it is wrong to assume that your party’s position has a monopoly on what is considered “just” and “right” by a particular religion; it is my guess that Mr. Waldman is speaking out against this:

This was at a McCain rally in Davenport, Iowa. I was there; McCain had not entered the arena yet. The especially obnoxious stuff starts at about 55 seconds into it.

The implicit assumption is that the various religions and deities have a political opinion and that the Christian deity prefers McCain.

Personally, I found this amusing as these deities are about as real as Zeus, Wotan, Baal, Ganesh, etc. and this would be like saying: “Dear Zeus, please know that your reputation is on the line because Ganesh, Wotan and Baal want the other candidate to win”.

The only thing that offends me is that so many actually believe such nonsense.

For more discussion (some which I agree with; some I don’t) check out this Larry Beinhart article.

When it comes to quotes like this one (Teddy Roosevelt):

Keep religion away from the ballot.

The Constitution, Article VI, Section 3, states “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution, said, “An alliance or coalition between Government and religion cannot be too carefully guarded against.”

Here’s Theodore Roosevelt: “If there is one thing for which we stand in this country, it is for complete religious freedom, and it is an emphatic negation of this right to cross- examine a man on his religion before being willing to support him for office.”

I agree, in part. I think questions like “do you believe that Jesus was the son of God” are stupid and out of bounds. However if someone believes that praying to a deity can affect a supernatural event then that should be a factor; I want to know how my potential leaders will make decisions and if they count on supernatural intervention then they shouldn’t be in office.

Asking them if they accept the basic findings of science or instead allow the findings of science to be overruled when they conflict with religious myths is entirely appropriate. Those who place religious myths ahead of scientific fact are not fit to lead this nation.

On a related note: Here is a long article about Sarah Palin’s fundamentalism; evidently she belongs to religious movements that believe that “witchcraft” exists and that it is responsible for bad things.

Assorted Election Tidbits, Factoids and One Liners

Electoral Vote This is one of my favorite websites. They have a funny quip from James Carville:

No matter what else you think of James Carville, two things stand out: (1) he has an odd choice in wives and (2) he is very good at one liners. Yesterday he said: “The reason the Republicans found Joe the Plumber was to find someone hanging around a toilet other than Larry Craig.”

(if you don’t get the joke, here is the Larry Craig story)

Sizzle!!!!

There is more though: Obama is doing better among white voters than any Democrat since Jimmy Carter in 1976:

While Obama’s near 100% support among blacks was to be expected, he is doing much better among white voters (44%) than any Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter got 47% of the whites in 1976. No Democrat has broken the 50% barrier among whites since Lyndon Johnson. The fear that white working class Democrats would never vote for a black person seems to have dissipated as over 80% of them say they will vote for Obama. Much of Hillary Clinton’s campaign was based on the idea that Obama would not be able to win over this group and she would. It now appears that she was wrong on this score.

He also has a link to the October 25, 2004 map. This year’s map looks very, very different.

One poll tidbit: jenontheshore at the Daily Kos note that while the latest Rasmussen tracking poll has Obama up 52-44, Obama is up among voters whose minds are already made up 48-40, which is up from 41-39 from a month ago.

In other words, regardless of what Karl Rove wants you to believe, Obama is closing the deal.

Some Science and Politics Blogging (while I watch Illinois Self-Destruct (football))

There is 3:43 left in the game and Wisconsin leads Illinois 27-17. It was 17-17 with Illinois driving when a half-way decent Juice Williams pass bounced off the hands of one of his receivers and was intercepted. The Badgers said “thank you” by kicking a field goal; they got the ball back and scored a touchdown (set up by a 45 yard pass in which the tight end was isolated on a big linebacker in 1 on 1 coverage).

So now the Illini are trying to come back; we’ll see.

Science and science education There are battles over science education going on throughout the country; Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub talks quite a bit about the battle in Texas. He quotes Nobel Laureate Stephen Weinberg (physics; he is a professor at the University of Texas). Here is part of the letter:

As I understand it, many who want to put alternative theories into our textbooks argue that, although that may be true, we don’t know that that’s all that happens, that there is not some intelligent design that also assists the process of evolution. But that’s the wrong question. We can never know that there isn’t something beyond our theories. And that’s not just true with regard to evolution. That’s true with regard to everything.

We don’t know that the theory of physics, as it’s currently understood, correctly accounts for everything in the solar system. How could we? It’s too complicated. We don’t understand the motion of every asteroid in the asteroid belts. Some of them really are doing very complicated things. Do we know that no angel tips the scales toward one asteroid moving a little but further than it otherwise would have in a certain time? No, we can never know.

What we have to do is keep comparing what we observe with our theories and keep verifying that the theories work, trying to explain more and more. That’s what’s happened with evolution and it continues to be successful. There is not one thing that is known to be inexplicable through evolution by natural selection, which is not the same as saying that everything has been explained, because it never will be. The same applies to the weather or the solar system or what have you. [...]

How then can we allow ideas which don’t have general scientific acceptance to go to high school students, not an adult jury? If we do, we are not — or you are not doing your job of deciding what is there that is controversial. And that might be an interesting subject to be discussed, as for example the rate of evolution, the question of whether it’s smooth, punctuated by jumps or whether it’s — or whether it’s just gradual. These are interesting questions which are still controversial which could go to students and give them a chance to exercise their judgment.

But you’re not doing your job if you let a question like the validity of evolution through natural selection go to the students, anymore than a judge is doing his job or her job if he or she allows the question of witchcraft to go to the jury. And why this particular issue of evolution? Why not the round Earth or Newton’s theory or Copernicus, the Earth goes around the sun? Well, I think it’s rather disingenuous to say that this is simply because there’s a real scientific conflict here, because there is no more of a scientific conflict than with those issues. [...]

Yes, this is an important issue, but not just for the sake of science education. Allowing nonsense such as creationism to be presented as “valid science” will lead to a bad pubic attitude and such attitudes can adversely affect society.

Here is an example:

See? No, I don’t expect my presidential candidates to know the ins and outs of evolution but I do expect them to have a healthy respect for and a good attitude about science. This attitude “oh, spending money on researching fruit flies is BAD…is goes against COMMON SENSE” is simply unacceptable.

Not only has basic research on fruit flies lead to advances in learning the causes of autism, but it has lead to advances in other areas as well (e. g., treatment of stroke victims). In fact research on fruit flies lead to one of the first major advances in genetic research! (think: eye color)

Again, I don’t fault Palin for her ignorance on the details, but rather for her “know-nothing, anti-intellectual” attitude.

But if you think that she irritates me, check this out (P. Z. Myers):

I am appalled.

This idiot woman, this blind, shortsighted ignoramus, this pretentious clod, mocks basic research and the international research community. You damn well better believe that there is research going on in animal models — what does she expect, that scientists should mutagenize human mothers and chop up baby brains for this work? — and countries like France and Germany and England and Canada and China and India and others are all respected participants in these efforts.
[...]
This is where the Republican party has ended up: supporting an ignorant buffoon who believes in the End Times and speaking in tongues while deriding some of the best and most successful strategies for scientific research. In this next election, we’ve got to choose between the 21st century rationalism and Dark Age inanity. It ought to be an easy choice.

(emphasis mine)

Come on Dr. Myers: tell us what you really think!

LateNightJokesOfTheWeekPalinsClothe.flv – Video – Photobucket – Video and Image Hosting

more about "LateNightJokesOfTheWeekPalinsClothe.f…", posted with vodpod

A Look at our two Human Presidential Candidates.

Barack Obama. Just got back from a sad trip to see his ailing grandmother.

Time to grieve is not a luxury that a Presidential candidate has.

John McCain
Here is a photo of his family.

McCain’s son was in the Naval Academy at that time.

Note that the McCain’s adopted a daughter from Bangladesh; how cool is that?

Here, McCain talks about being a dad.

Sure, I’ll be critical of their proposed policies and of their campaign tactics, but there is still a ton that is good about him and it is useful for me to remind myself of that.

Bradley Parents Weekend 5K (2.98-2.99 mile)

Ok, so I took leave of my senses and ran in the Parents Weekend 5K. Due to construction the course was cut short (by about .1 miles; this means that this would be about 10 seconds short of a 3 miler at my pace).

The day was crisp; some sun, light wind, 40’s (F) (roughly 5-6 C). I got in about 15 minutes worth of walk-jogging to warm up; I felt good.

There weren’t a huge number of people there and so it was relatively easy for me to get into my pace rather quickly. There were two rather attractive spandex clad ladies; unfortunately both were too fast for me today. So I did the right thing and let them go.

I focused on keeping my stride short and taking slightly quicker steps; nothing hurt and I actually felt good; this is the way that I remember running felt.

I didn’t pass as many as I usually do in the first mile (roughly 8 minutes) but I picked it slightly. I was gaining on the pack in front of me; I started to catch those who went out too fast.

The body really started to feel good and I felt in rhythm. My spandex ladies were still too far in front; I could still see one of them though. Mile 2 came at roughly 15:50 and it was time to pick it up, or so I thought.

I never felt that bad but I didn’t seem to have that extra “pick it up” gear; my body is still adjusting to the running motion.

On the last straight away (about 100 meters) I had enough of a “kick” to keep the last two people I passed from passing me back.

I made it through and didn’t quite catch one of the spandex ladies (a Bradley parent). I did shake her hand though.

I finished in 23:33, which is about 23:40-23:45 for 3 miles; a rough approximation of my splits is 8:00/7:50/7:50. I am improving, though I would have been disgusted with this type of time 6 years ago.

I “won” the “Old Fat and Slow” division (aka “Faculty Division”). We do have some good runners in the faculty, but they never show up at these.

So, with cool down and warm up, put me down for 5 miles today.

So, here is a summary:

The good:

1. I paced myself reasonably well.

2. The running motion is starting to feel a bit more natural.

3. My time continues to improve.

4. I felt good for most of the race.

The bad.

1. I felt good for most of the race. You aren’t supposed to feel good during a 5K race; I need to learn how to parcel out my energy better.

2. No extra gear; I had no kick at all until the last 100 meters or so and even then it was a slight one.

3. My time, while better, still sucks. This grades roughly to a 7 minute pace for a 30 year old, which was my standard “in shape but not in running shape” type of pace.

Based on my 5K walk (30:50 this year) or on my 19:50 5K run as a 38 year old, I should be able to run between 21:35-22:11 according to this age grade calculator.

Video The Vote Urges Voters To Document Poll Problems

Sensible Precautions and why we need to take them.

more about "Video The Vote Urges Voters To Docume…", posted with vodpod

Jonathan Alter | Thursday October 23 | ColbertNation.com, Palin is an idiot

Alter makes an excellent case for Obama: first class temperment plus first class intellect.

more about "Jonathan Alter | Thursday October 23 …", posted with vodpod

Now watch Sarah Palin running down scientific research.

Yep, research on fruit flies have helped kids with autism. Yes, these projects don’t make a whole lot of sense….to a complete moron (e. g., Palin and people who support her)

This goes on to point out why anti-intellectualism is so dangerous. One of the pundits is saying that she wasn’t advised well. But the fact is that a smart, intellectually curious candidate would have never said something this ignorant.

Joe Lieberman says something worth listening to:

Sen. Lieberman tells Connecticut reporters when asked if Palin is ready to be president right when elected:

“Thank God she’s not going to have to be president from Day One. McCain’s going to be alive and well.”

Senator Lieberman is half right: she isn’t going to have to be president because Barack Obama is going to win!

24 October 2008 Evening

First some humor: Check out this fire extinguisher fail.

Personal blogs: I am looking for good personal blogs written by conservatives who have some embrace of reality (that is, none of this “X is true because the Bible says so”). This blog, at first glance, appears to be a winner. This blogger gives a reaction to the Kathleen Parker column that I am going to conclude this post with.

Hillary Clinton She is campaigning hard; this personal story shows how her campaigning has won over some Florida voters for Obama.

Of course, Obama leads in the polls. But there were times when Kerry lead Bush. This post compares and contrasts Obama’s position with Kerry’s. In short, McCain will have to close much faster and stronger than Bush did in 2004.

Did you know that a McCain campaign member claimed to have been attacked and robbed by an Obama supporter who commented on her bumper sticker?

I admit to being skeptical when I heard this; after all many thugs don’t read all that well and hardly any follow politics. Nevertheless, the story was carried by some news outlets and many blogs; to be fair there were some conservative pundits who were also skeptical (e. g., Michelle Malkin). hat tip to them.

It turns out that it was a hoax. Even worse, some McCain campaign staffers pushed the story and embellished the details. Some in the media bought it!

Of course, the “faux assailant” was a scary black man.

A McCain campaign volunteer who reported that a tall black man robbed her and then cut a “B” onto her cheek after seeing a McCain bumper sticker on her car has been given a polygraph test because of “inconsistencies” in her story, police said.

I’m sure that conservatives (at least those that still support this ticket) will claim that “race had nothing to do with it”. Right.

Of course, fear is one of the few things that McCain has left.

They are playing on fears that Obama might not be able to handle an international incident, or that his mere election might lead to one!

To be honest, this McCain ad kind of reminds me of this one:

And these are a couple of reasons that the thought of electing McCain-Palin doesn’t comfort me:

I feel safer with the country being run by someone who actually knows something about national security.

I suppose that makes me an elitist!!!!

Oh yes, it sure doesn’t hurt that most of the rest of the world would rather have Obama win. You know, being liked and respected might actually get us more cooperation when it comes to fighting the war on terror. Remember that the extremists who “hate freedom” (and yes, they do) don’t like the other liberal democracies either (“liberal democracy” is one in which individuals have rights that can’t be taken away by majority decision).

Oh yes, I forgot, Obama is going to lead us to SOCIALISM!!!!! Really!

If you don’t believe me, ask Dick Morris:

As alarm bells ring incessantly, demanding government action to prevent the conflagration of our most important companies and markets, the Federal Reserve and Treasury rush to extinguish the flames with hoses filled with money. But this massive and needed public-sector intrusion into private enterprise begs the key question: After the fires are put out, will the government firefighters leave, or will they move into the companies they saved and evict their former corporate owners?

The current crisis makes it clear that the government will be invited inside the management and ownership of our top financial and corporate institutions. But it is unclear whether it will ever withdraw after the crisis has passed.

Ok, I admit to being a bit ignorant in economic matters, and I welcome correction from those who know more (not from those who think that they know, but from those who really do).

But it is my understanding that this rescue package involves the government buying some of these bad bonds and then selling them back when they are profitable; that is, we (the tax payers) will become shareholders (with of course, regulations on how the companies are run). The companies are free to buy back this debt when they are in a position to do so, right?

Back to Mr. Morris:

If Obama wins and takes a solidly and overwhelmingly Democratic Congress with him — including a filibuster-proof Senate — we will have to entrust our system of private ownership, limited government and free enterprise to the tender mercy of the left. But the newly empowered liberals will not have to breach the walls of the private sector, justifying each new intrusion by argument and logic. Rather, they will already be inside the gates, invited there to save these institutions from their own history of greed and mismanagement. Will the left simply leave government there, effectively converting our private enterprise system, where government absorbs about a third of our GDP into a social democracy, a la Europe, where the public sector accounts for almost half of the economy?

Say what? Lowering taxes on the middle class (those earning less than 200,000 dollars a year) thereby giving people more money to spend at small businesses is socialism? Perhaps we need a refresher on how the economy has done with Democrats in the Executive Branch:

Fortunately, wishful thinking by Republican pundits aside, the public isn’t buying it.

So it is little wonder that the McCain campaign is losing it. According to news reports, there is discord. And McCain advisers are losing patience when their lies and distortions are not being swallowed by the media:

In response to this morning’s post about an anti-Palin faction developing with the McCain campaign and among Republicans, Randy Scheunemann, McCain’s chief foreign policy adviser, e-mails:

Just read your post. This is on the record. This is cleared by HQ. It is a fact that Barack Obama was palling around with terrorists. It was a fact before Governor Palin said it in a fully vetted speech and it is fact today. It is bullshit to claim or write anything else.

Poor Republicans; they are so used the media just swallowing their lies whole. But hey, Mr. Scheunemann is just channeling his “inner Dick Cheney“.

No wonder some Republicans are openly defecting.

It gets better (from my point of view) Sarah Palin has strong ties to wacky churches (including those who believe in witch hunting)

I admit that I agree with this remark by an embattled Republican Representative:

One comment she has never explained came during a debate she had while running for Congress the first time in November 2005. Prompted by a question on the rioting in France and Europe at the time, Bachmann said “not all cultures are equal, not all values are equal,” letting it be known that she thought that people of the Muslim faith had an inferior culture to that of the United States and the West.

I agree with part of what she said: I think that overly religious societies are vastly inferior to secular ones that encourage freethinking. (note: atheist societies that are also totalitarian don’t qualify as these societies squelch free thinking).

Finally, the Kathleen Parker Article.

My husband called it first. Then, a brilliant 75-year-old scholar and raconteur confessed to me over wine: “I’m sexually attracted to her. I don’t care that she knows nothing.”

Finally, writer Robert Draper closed the file on the Sarah Palin mystery with a devastating article in this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine: “The Making (and Remaking) of McCain.”

McCain didn’t know her. He didn’t vet her. His campaign team had barely an impression. In a bar one night, Draper asked one of McCain’s senior advisers: “Leaving aside her actual experience, do you know how informed Governor Palin is about the issues of the day?”

The adviser thought a moment and replied: “No, I don’t know.” [...]

But there can be no denying that McCain’s selection of her over others far more qualified — and his mind-boggling lack of attention to details that matter — suggests other factors at work. His judgment may have been clouded by . . . what?

Science provides clues. A study in Canada, published by a British journal in 2003, found that pretty women foil men’s ability to assess the future. “Discounting the future,” as the condition is called, means preferring immediate, lesser rewards to greater rewards in the future.

Drug dealers, car salesmen and politicians rely on this affliction and pray feverishly for its persistence.

The Canadian psychologists showed pictures of attractive and not-so-attractive men and women to students of the opposite sex. The students were offered a prize — either a small check for the next day or a larger check at some later date.

The men made perfectly rational decisions, opting for the delayed, larger amount after viewing the average-looking women. You know where this is going. (Women, by the way, were rational no matter what.)

That men are at a disadvantage when attractive women are present is a fact upon which women have banked for centuries. Ignoring it now profits only fools. McCain spokesmen have said that he was attracted to Palin’s maverickness, that she reminded him of himself.

Duh. You’ve heard this before, right here.