Why atheism gives me more peace than Christianity

No, the Founding Fathers were not “average guys” nor “fundies”

Update: try here.

15 January 2011 pm

Social Security
Paul Krugman comments on a new report. One one hand, our population is larger. On the other hand, we aren’t as “old” of a society as was anticipated :

You see, in discussions of Social Security it’s often argued that in the program’s early years, nobody could have imagined the increases in life expectancy that have actually occurred, so nobody could have imagined that we’d have as many beneficiaries relative to the number of people of working age. And I thought I knew that this was wrong — that people in the 30s and 40s did know about rising life expectancy, and expected it to continue.

Well, it turns out that Table 9 in the 1945 report (pdf) shows high and low estimates of the population distribution looking forward as far as 2000, which we can compare with the actual population distribution in 2000.

What you can see right away is that the SSA expected a much smaller population than we actually ended up with — the baby boom and immigration weren’t anticipated. But they also expected a somewhat older population than we actually got: their “low” estimate put the ratio of seniors to adults under 65 at 20.8%, almost the same as the actual 21.1%, while the “high” estimate put the ratio at 29.1%. That is, in 1945 the Trustees thought that America would probably be a grayer, older country by 2000 than it actually ended up being.

Religion
Why atheism isn’t a religion (humorous)

15 January 2011

Workout notes
Stretching and PT
Weights: Squats (15 x 45, 10 x 135, 10 x 155, free, no Smith)
Sit-ups: 9-1 incline, 10 each level (strict)
ball throws (10)
curls (dumbbells, 15 x 20 lb, 15 x 20 lb, 15 x 20 lb, 7 x 25 lb.)
incline press: 10 x 115, 10 x 115, 8 x 135
Rows: 70 x 10, 120 x 10, 120 x 10 (different leverage with this machine)
Hip hikes
Rotator cuff with 2.5 pounds and stretch bands
10 minutes arm bike
40 minutes treadmill run/walk:
run: 4 miles (10:15, 19:37, 28:20, 37:15) zero incline, then walk
Cool down stretch

This all took about 1 hour and 50 minutes.

Personal

I went to a memorial service for Jerry Crump; he was a friend who died of prostate cancer at 67 years of age.

In the “after the service” get together, they had decorated the tables by using his old trophies and medals as a place setting. He had a lot of them; to give you an idea of his ability: he ran a 2:57 marathon at 50 years of age. They had many of his awards, certificates and honors on display.

Of course he was much more than a runner; his business associates (tax accounting, farm management) were there as was his family.
The first song of the service was the Guide My Feet song (which I posted above) but I started crying and couldn’t sing the first two verses.

The service was very well done; his brother (a Unitarian minister) co-officiated. Many in his family spoke and gave an excellent portrait of him; he was a real “salt of the earth” guy who cared deeply about others.

Clueless Snowflake FAIL

Clueless.

14 January 2011 (am)

Workout notes shoulder: very mild ache last night. Some right now. Walking: 3 miles in 41 minutes on the treadmill (hill program; my last mile was under 12 minutes) then 1 on the track; I also did all the stretches before and after.

I went with Lynn who walked on the treadmill next to me. She had a pithy saying about the before and after stretches: “I like to get there and just do it; the only time I like the “before and after stuff” is with sex.” I had to admit that I laughed pretty hard.

One advantage to stretching though: I did some of it on the ground on a mat; there were a couple of spandex ladies who were doing dumbbells and their own stretches close to standing over me.
Of course, most who were there were elderly.

Posts
This is where I think that Republicans get their anti-intellectual label from:

(from here)
Of course, these are the same *ssholes who say “but President Bush was a YALE graduate”. Note: all this means is that it isn’t that difficult to just scrape by at the elite schools (perhaps MIT and Cal Tech might be exceptions) though it is hard for the unconnected to get in…and of course who had more connections than a member of the Bush family?

And yes, President Obama was President of the Harvard Law Review, an honor that came from merit.
Anyway, if Gov. Pawlenty ever needs surgery, I challenge him to select a sub-mediocre graduate of a nondescript school to do it when a more successful surgeon is available. Heaven help us if we want our leaders to be, gasp, accomplished!

Politics and Society
Paul Krugman thinks that we won’t be coming together anytime soon. This is why:

What are the differences I’m talking about?

One side of American politics considers the modern welfare state — a private-enterprise economy, but one in which society’s winners are taxed to pay for a social safety net — morally superior to the capitalism red in tooth and claw we had before the New Deal. It’s only right, this side believes, for the affluent to help the less fortunate.

The other side believes that people have a right to keep what they earn, and that taxing them to support others, no matter how needy, amounts to theft. That’s what lies behind the modern right’s fondness for violent rhetoric: many activists on the right really do see taxes and regulation as tyrannical impositions on their liberty.

There’s no middle ground between these views. One side saw health reform, with its subsidized extension of coverage to the uninsured, as fulfilling a moral imperative: wealthy nations, it believed, have an obligation to provide all their citizens with essential care. The other side saw the same reform as a moral outrage, an assault on the right of Americans to spend their money as they choose.

This deep divide in American political morality — for that’s what it amounts to — is a relatively recent development. Commentators who pine for the days of civility and bipartisanship are, whether they realize it or not, pining for the days when the Republican Party accepted the legitimacy of the welfare state, and was even willing to contemplate expanding it. As many analysts have noted, the Obama health reform — whose passage was met with vandalism and death threats against members of Congress — was modeled on Republican plans from the 1990s. [...]

When people talk about partisan differences, they often seem to be implying that these differences are petty, matters that could be resolved with a bit of good will. But what we’re talking about here is a fundamental disagreement about the proper role of government.

He goes on to say that while there is no hope in overcoming the differences (just as in the abortion debate), there is hope that violent language will eventually become unacceptable.

Here too, I have skepticism as many Republican lawmakers come from regions (Alaska for one!) where people relate to hunting metaphors (e. g., “bagging” your opponent). I think that saying in public “this isn’t really a good idea to talk this way” won’t play well with constituents in those regions. Maybe I am wrong.

But back to the fundamental difference of opinion: in all honesty, I think that many Republicans believe in a “just world” in that people mostly get what they deserve. If you get severely sick or get stuck in a long term unemployment situation, YOU must be lacking either in talent, ability, work ethic, imagination, or you made bad choices at one time in your life or you are just plain lazy.

In all honesty, liberals are sometimes too quick to enable; sometimes tough love is the answer. But many times (like when there are many applicants for every job opening), it really isn’t. It isn’t as if many formerly gainfully employed people like being unemployed or are holding out for 100,000 dollar a year jobs.

Society Here is an article that links to a “feminist” controversy over a statue; the statue shows a male “good” slaying female “evils”. If nothing else, it is fun to think about.

Palin and the teleprompter…

Sarah Palin lampooned President Obama for using a teleprompter.

So exactly what is being reflected in her glasses?

Howard Stern: He Gets It. He nails what is wrong with Palin’s video.

Believe it or not, I agree with those who say that we shouldn’t use a horrible thing like this shooting to legislate against free speech. But Howard Stern gets it exactly right here: Palin is “me first” and can only relate to something bad when it affects her directly; she doesn’t seem to be able to put herself in anyone else’s shoes. Of course, some might say that the inability to see things from the point of view of anyone else might be the best characterization of being a Republican, but I wouldn’t say that.

Now THAT is being a gentleman

Always let a lady go through the door first:

More here.

Perfect manners.

Thom Hartmann on Sarah Palin’s “I’m a victim of blood libel” speech

I don’t really buy this “blood libel is an appeal to the antisemite element” charge at the end, but the first 6 minutes or so are right on (e. g., dog whistles about American exceptionalism, SHE (and her followers) are always the victims, etc.