Welcome to Pariahville, Bitches.

I'm a libertarian. I'm also an atheist. That breaks down to my believing in maximum freedom, minimum government, and not believing in any gods. This puts me in a very, very, very small minority.

Libertarian Atheists are modern day pariahs. We are the equivalent of self-made lepers, rejected violently by almost all others, including the apolitical and the irreligious. Why anyone would join this twisted little fraternity is beyond me. I think its like being gay: you never really had a choice and pretending to be anything else is excruciating.

I have a lot of days that I wish I could go back to paying no attention and not giving a rat's ass. When I was in my early twenties, i was profoundly cursed by a quote from Plate. "The Unexamined Life is not worth living." Using reason, logic, and science, I have sought truth ever since and it is indeed a wicked master. Sadly, to paraphrase John Milton, "Ignorance, once lost can never be regained."

I think my biggest struggle is to not become jaded, arrogant, or hostile and to not self-ostracize. When dealing with others, I cling, perhaps too tightly, to the idea that their problem is not intelligence, education, or lack of enlightenment, but being in the clutches of cognitive dissonance. It hasn't seemed to get me very far, as of yet.

Nevertheless, I will not hide from the truth. I do believe it shall set us free, even if it will hunt us down and kill us afterward.

Criminal Health & Fitness Pre-Fight Waiver

To Our Growing Criminal Population and Innocent Until Proven Guilty Suspected Criminal Population,

It has came to the attention of Federal, State, and Local Law Enforcement via the Liberal Media and Socialist elements of our government that a large number of you are dying at the hands of the police. This isn't so much due to police brutality, profiling, or an increase in tyrannical and oppressive laws, but simply because as a result of your Life of Crime™ you just haven't been taking care of yourselves the way you should have. This is starting to really make us look bad. Therefore, as much as we hate to do it, beginning immediately, we are going to have to require you to sign a Criminal Health & Fitness Pre-Fight Waiver before fighting the police if you suffer from high blood pressure, obesity, heart problems, drug addled confusion, 90 Proof Courage, gross stupidity, or any other physical, mental, or emotional issues that might affect your health during or after an altercation with law enforcement officials.

Rest assured, we wish to make this transaction as easy for you as possible. You can request and sign the waiver anytime you interact with the police. Alternatively, you can ask your probation or parole officer or stop by your local law enforcement center. While you're there, it would be greatly appreciated if you would sign our pledge not to bring any illegally concealed firearms into any government offices, VA Hospitals, local businesses, churches, homes, schools, or other gun free zones marked by odious No Concealed Firearms sign. Surely if law abiding citizens can abide by this and be publicly disarmed of their own volition, then you are all big enough badasses that you won't need guns either. Your cooperation is appreciated.

In the totally unspeakably, unlikely event that we do not receive full, immediate, and 100% total cooperation on this, we will be forced to humbly request that you take a petition around and get at least a hundred signatures before looting and burning down your local neighborhood businesses, and (yes, we'll be playing hardball in this event) you'll need to have a permission slip from your mother before participating.

Please notice when filling out the new politically correct waivers that there are no boxes to indicate race. You can now choose your own stereotype and act as you see fit. If you have any questions, please address them to Reverend Jesse Jackson for prayer and spiritual advice and Al Sharpton, Esq. for legal or tax advice. Unless you're White, Hispanic, or Asian, then you're on your own.

Let's be careful out there.

I ♥ Being Human

My brother shared a cool video of a fantastic gymnast from a facebook newsource called "I ♥ Being Black". I didn't get it. Yes, he happened to be Black. Is that why he is a good gymnast? I don't see the purpose of attributing the one to the other. If I did that I'd be a racist. If I said, "Its a great day to be White!" People would chose to be offended as if that automatically inferred being anything other than White was inferior. I wondered if there was a dumbass "I ♥ Being White" facebook page or group too. Of course there was. I can call the White one dumbass, but not the Black one.

Pride in pigmentation? Like its an accomplishment or a gift? Did any of us do anything pre-life to deserve to be born a particular race or in a particular place, like one is a reward and all others are a punishment? Is it going along the whole "sins of the father" biblical bit?

Funny, I didn't think Black or White was a race, or a heritage. I like to joke that with all of my tattoos, I've been colored since I was seventeen.

I ♥ Being Human. Its kind of nice most days, even if the company tends to suck at times.

Big Honking Bible Basher

First of all, I have Christians, atheists, Jews, Deists, and Muslims in my family, so "interesting" conversations can take place at any time. My friends are even more diverse. I am an Ignostic Humanist.

Last night I met with my daughter and ex-wife for them to get tattoos. They'd decided on a bible verse for both of them. I said I didn't understand why Christians got bible verses tattooed on them when Jesus said not to pray in public. Both said He didn't say that. I shared the verse with them on facebook when I got home; Matthew 6:5-6: "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men....when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret...."

My brother, Mike, another Christian, then commented, "Let's play devils advocate for a second and assume there is no God, Rock. Do you really think you're helping people or being a good friend or good father by bashing Him everyday online?"

I replied, "Define bashing. I said last night that I didn't understand why people get bible verses tattooed on them when Jesus said not to pray publicly. Lisa and Raeny both said he didn't say that. I shared the verse. I didn't bash anyone.

If there is no God wouldn't you want to know? If you wore a big heavy parachute 24/7 for years in case you ever had to jump out of a plane and then one day someone had you open it and look inside and you found out it wasn't a parachute after all, but a backpack full of comic books, wouldn't you be glad you hadn't waited until you jumped out of a plane to find out and be happy to know the truth and stay away from planes as much as possible?"

I believe the truth does set us free and that it demands empirical evidence. How is this bashing?

I have said for many years that I believe a parent's job is to make themselves unnecessary to thier children. Most people would agree with that statement, but if I applied it to the bible then I would be bashing God. According to the bible, God, in His perfection, created man exactly how He wanted him, flawed and capable of sin. Did God take a gamble and hope that even though He gave man Free Will that man would never exercise it? It wasn't a gamble if He is All Knowing. If you believe God is All Knowing, then He created man flawed and then blamed man and gave him a punishment of eternal torment if he didn't remain entirely dependent on Him for everything. How is that good parenting? Social Services would've taken us away long before the bible got to Leviticus.

I love my child. She is now a legal adult and she still makes mistakes. I hope that I have guided her well enough that there won't be too many that are tremendously life altering. When our children are young, we try to protect them from the world. When they become teenagers, we try to protect them from themselves. We don't lock them in a tiny room, turn them into ever obedient slaves, and try to hide them from the world.

I have a dog, Girly, that I love too. I feed her, provide her shelter, take care of her medical needs, walk her numerous times a day, and try to keep the fleas at bay. She is bright, funny, loving, very eager to please, but still a dog. She'll bark at the wrong people, wants to chase squirrels, and gets excited over stuff only dogs understand. I still love her company and accept that she is a dog. However, she is my property and responsibility, not my child. Its a whole different set of expectations, rules, and liabilities.

Which set of  expectations, rules, and liabilities does God DEMAND in the bible, the ones we give our children or the ones we give our property?

These are just aspects of what I see as a morally and intellectually flawed religion due to its doctrine and dogma. It has nothing to do with what I believe about the inerrancy of the bible or the existence of one or many gods. Separate discussion there.

If you are going to argue in favor of the bible, you should read and study it first. Unfortunately when you aren't being instructed as to which parts to read and how to interpret them by people making their living telling you where, when, how, what, and why to believe, it tends to fall apart and create more anti-theists than believers. That's why so many young adults become atheists in college when away from home for the first time. It isn't temptation, its intellectual freedom.

If asking intelligent questions is bible bashing, then I am a big honking bible basher. My intent is to seek the truth, wherever I may find it, no matter how uncomfortable it or the journey might be. Plato said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." I think that has to apply to faith as well as the rest of it.

Headlines or Head Lies?

Headlines or head lies?



"New York City police officers killed a man Thursday after he had broken up a fight between two other men, insisting on placing him in a chokehold and slamming his head to the pavement, piling on top of him as he gasped for air and as he continually told the cops he couldn't breathe."

VS.

"A career criminal died Thursday of medical complications after vigorously and repeatedly resisting arrest." 

The first and actual headline is biased and inflammatory. It is not impartial reporting geared towards bringing the truth to light. Some would say that by its very nature it is criminally negligent. Its designed to evoke strong emotions and sell papers or increase viewers.

The US Constitution gives us freedom of speech and press, but there are some limitations. You can't legally yell "FIRE!" in a crowded theater as a joke. The Fighting Words Doctrine basically says that if you say certain things it the same as throwing the first punch or otherwise initiating violence. Why is the media not held to the same standard? If you print defamatory lies about a person or organization you can be charged with libel. Why do the police and we as readers put up with this? Do we want to be tricked into a revolution? Into protesting and rioting in the streets? What ever happened to journalistic integrity and getting the facts.

Fox News is heavily biased and has a mostly Conservative. Republican, Christian viewership. CNN and MSNBC are both extremely liberal. BBC seems to be the best place to get national American news with minimal slant. They're they British Broadcasting Company. Pretty sad for us dwellers of the Land of the Free.

Whether you get your news on-line, watching television, or reading an old fashioned newspaper or magazine, let your provider know that the truth is what you want; the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Oops, they did it again!

The Chicago Bears lost to the Green Bay Packers on November 9th in spectacular fashion, 55-14. Setting a new NFL record, this was the second week in a row that the Bears gave up 50+ points, It is the third time in eleven games the Bears have given up 50+ points. Previously it took the Bears 759 games to give up 50+ points in three games. This leaves the Bears at 3 - 6 so far for the season.

At game time, the Packers had the worst rushing defense in the NFL. With multiple interceptions, the Bears somehow failed to notice that.

Despite the Chicago Bears horrific losses and apocalyptic season, head coach Marc Trestman said he still enjoyed this job more than he did working at Burger King. Trestman stated everyone had to lose sometime and he was getting it out of the way for the next three hundred and seventy two seasons.

When asked about the possibility of substituting the Bears defense with Green Bay Packers fans, Trestman said he already did that.

Former Bears linebacker, Julius Peppers, now a Packer, said he thanked his lord and savior, Mike McCarthy, for letting him play with a real football team one more time before he died.

Bears quarterback, Jay Cutler said he didn't give a shit as long as he got paid and wide receiver Brandon Marshall didn't start yelling again.

Green Bay Quarterback Aaron Rodgers said he was happy to have a Bye week two weeks in a row.

Those Bears fans everywhere, who didn't commit mass suicide, said the 1985 Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears were the greatest team ever.

Bears owner, Virginia McCasky, said the Bears didn't need cheerleaders and that she'd had her nails painted green and gold.

George " Papa Bear" Halas rolled over in his grave.

Fandumb

If you were a boxing fan and your favorite boxer, Punchy Knockchop's manager or agent put out a press release that said that he was getting a bit addled, long in the tooth, and due to extensive and repeated head injuries, Punchy was going to retire, you might be a little sad. If the same source said that upon Punchy's retirement a promising young fighter named Sockem Indaface was going to take over and be Punchy Knockchop for here on out and you should continue to idolize him and pay exorbitant amounts of money to see him fight you might say something along the lines of, "WTF? Are you shitting me? That would be totally insane!" So why is it people are so fiercely loyal to professional sports teams for decades or lifetimes? For the sake of history or loyalty they will follow a losing team season after season and pay the same price for tickets, hats, jerseys, etc., as for the championship team's memorabilia and such.

I wasn't raised in a sports family, so those people look like tools and masochists to me. If you change one player, coach or trainer, it's a different team even if the essence remains temporarily. Teams are sold, move to other cities, and are renamed and people get that. Why is the rest so hard to grasp? Why do people hold a grudge against "their" teams rivals or against a team that shares the name and location of a team that beat the team that shared the name and location of their team twenty years ago?

Tribalism run rampant.

Watching sports is a fun form of entertainment. We see great feats of athleticism and it's hugely rewarding to root for and see an underdog win. I've seen sports bring out the best and the worst in players and fans, but I've never once seen a single sports hero.

If a movie star gets exposed as a drunk, drug addict, wifebeater, dog fighter, or communist, we quit supporting them through refusing to pay to see their films and they become obsolete. If a director puts out several movies in a row that bomb, we quit going to see their next one.

Professional athletes are some of the highest paid people in the world for doing something they enjoy with relatively little prior experience or training. They get paid to play. Not to win. Not to perform, to play. We, the fans, pay to see them play, and we pay to advertise for them by buying clothing, collectibles, autographs, household goods etc. with their ugly logos plastered all over them, even if they are the worst team in the league year after year. That isn't fandom. It's marketing and being a tool.

Don't even get me started on Go Fast, Turn Left NASCAR.

If your team sucks, pick another or just enjoy the sport for what it is: entertainment. You owe no professional sports team anything until they start paying you. Additionally, you owe other sports fans nothing.

If you want to support a college or high school team because the school's athletic department adds so much to the school's academics or finances, have at it.

Now that you've been deprogrammed, feel free to go outside and play with yourself.