May I Suggest Stoning Them?

I mean, they obviously are bad people and simply can not be helped. We've tried and they failed. We should cut our losses before they cause any more damage to our society.

Right?

{shakin'head}

Anti-Pregnancy Effort Fails

More than 120 women became pregnant in the past year while taking an acne medicine that causes birth defects -- despite being enrolled in a program designed to prevent those pregnancies from happening.

Long-awaited data from that national registry were released yesterday, two days before the Food and Drug Administration was to bring together its scientific advisers to evaluate safety restrictions on Accutane and its generic competitors.

The new figures show the 122 pregnancies reported in the first year of the iPledge program are about the same as the number reported annually before the FDA tightened restrictions on the drug, known chemically as isotretinoin.

Whether the tougher program is working is a question for Wednesday's advisory committee debate.

If a woman becomes pregnant while taking the acne drug, the baby can suffer severe brain and heart defects, mental retardation and other abnormalities.
[The Devil Made Them Do It]

We can put a man on the Moon (or we could at one point, anyway) but we can't make people see that emotional needs and biological imperatives will trump ridiculously archaic cultural proscriptions far too often for such to have any weight in the making of Public Health Policy.

Silly effin' Humans...

A "Poetry Sunday"

I'm just about to head off to take in a game at Teh Jake. For whatever reason, and for whatever it's worth, this just felt like crawling out, so posted 'er on blog dos.

Hope y'all're having a wonderful weekend. So far, so good, so strange for me.

Just sayin'...

angular sensations
of ruby red pulsations
where love's gone dry

in over-rotten divets
of earthen sunken riv'lets
that once held hope

for sun to come and bathe one
but not in such a lingerin'
as that which seared the dream

only time
only freedom
only
only
only
everything

nothing comes of waiting
in void of fresher baiting
old hope peeks in

lost counting holding open
the class devolved not moping
for what can't be found

when blinding is the weather
of azure sky together
the blackest of the starless nights

only hope
only freedom
only
only
only
time to fade

to nothing
to see here
move along
move along


Well, maybe, maybe not, eh.

L8

{-;

Rue Paul? NO! Ron Paul

As it has quite a few folks, just who the hekk Ron Paul is has eluded me for some time. We hear about him peripherally to Presidential campaigns, and maybe read a quote or two; usually something which shows the man to be a bigot or an American isolationist. But what's the reality?

Well, there's essentialy no doubt that he is very much the latter, but despite more than a couple of his associations having undeniably bigoted agendas, I'd have to say that the man seems quite a bit more open minded that all that.

The following NYTimes' write up provides quite a bit of background information on the trailing Republican president candidate. While reading it, I was actually surprised to find that I'd read some of this stuff about his life in years past. Most likely I'd forgotten it because, while I completely agree with his take that We Have Drifted From Our U.S. Constitution in A LOT of ways, I am decidedly far more Liberal than Libertarian. I believe it IS the Federal Government's job to protect the Health and Welfare of its people and that our society has evolved to the point where the only Possible way to do so is via a Single Payer, Government coordinated Health Care system. Where ever else Paul and I do certainly agree and disagree, that issue is perhaps the main reason he will not be getting my vote in '08.

At any rate, big-time thanks to The Culture Ghost for linking to this article. If you're wondering who Ron Paul is, give it a read and you'll have a much better idea of whether or not he's a candidate you could get behind.

Whatever (Ron Paul's) campaign purports to be about, the main thing it has done thus far is to serve as a clearinghouse for voters who feel unrepresented by mainstream Republicans and Democrats. The antigovernment activists of the right and the antiwar activists of the left have many differences, maybe irreconcilable ones. But they have a lot of common beliefs too, and their numbers — and anger — are of a considerable magnitude. Ron Paul will not be the next president of the United States. But his candidacy gives us a good hint about the country the next president is going to have to knit back together.

[At least his premise is Sound]

{groooan}

Take 'em out to the Ballgame, eh.

Thanks, DD...

{shakin'head'n'grinnin'}

Theftage for the Sincerity of the Thought

starting over . . again

down
trundling
lazy as she goes

two turns on the
big wheel
hang it all

as the river flows
so dies
the dream long passed chance

and, believe it or not, that's a Good Thing.


Not been in much of a bloggin' mood of late. No worries though. Is just cuz I'm sucked into a book's universe. I'll be back after - or more likely during - the sadness of its ending.

L8!

Opportunity Lost?

Walking such a jagged edge is a danger on its own. The risk of collapse would seem a fatal one for a vehicle with a life-span of a mere 90 days; especially when the wee mechabugger has already survived 10x that long in its explorations of the red planet.

As it turns out though, a less controllable, natural occurrence - one which has previously helped prolong the Mars Landers' mission - could well be the final Decider on this N.A.S.A mission's timetable. When the Martian winds rise, lifting dust to soar at sunlight blinding heights, the outer limits of Opportunity's ability to maintain its electrical functions may finally be reached.

Mars Rover Struggles to Weather Severe Dust Storm

By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 21, 2007; Page A02

The hardy Mars rover Opportunity is struggling to stay alive amid a severe and long-lasting Martian dust storm -- posing the greatest threat so far to the unexpectedly long-lived vehicle.

The series of dust storms has blocked 99 percent of the direct sunlight that the rover needs to generate power, and on Wednesday, the panels were generating only 148 watt hours -- barely enough to keep the vehicle functioning. Without power to warm its electronic instruments and computers, the rover would grind to a halt for good.

"We're rooting for our rovers to survive these storms, but they were never designed for conditions this intense," said Alan Stern, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

There's still a chance she'll make it through this storm, though the odds do finally seem against it. None the less, here's to a job well done, and hope for more to come.

What Atheism Answers

Michael Gerson, an elegant writer for the Washington Post, has made yet another of those ironically unsuccessful attempts to the claim that “atheism” must fail to provide a rational motivation for Good behavior amongst us silly humans.

In today’s column, titled “What Atheists Can’t Answer”, Gerson has a question to ask of those of us who see no reason to believe in a creator of the universe. “If the atheists are right, what would be the effect on human morality?” In his attempt to frame our response, he reuses an ancient claim that because theism offers an ideal of Good in the form of “God”, it necessarily supersedes any merely rational explanation for the phenomenon of our species’ more benevolent, magnanimous or even altruistic activities. He does so using the most absurd of the many canards typically used by the faithful: that it’s absurd to imagine there are rational reasons to be Good.

Some argue that a careful determination of our long-term interests -- a fear of bad consequences -- will constrain our selfishness. But this is particularly absurd. Some people are very good at the self-centered exploitation of others. Many get away with it their whole lives. By exercising the will to power, they are maximizing one element of their human nature. In a purely material universe, what possible moral basis could exist to condemn them? Atheists can be good people; they just have no objective way to judge the conduct of those who are not.

{BIG_SIGH}

And there-in lies the irony. THE argument against religion or the very existence of a god, the one which is most Noticed by believers, is that such self-centered exploitation takes place All The Time in the name of deities, whether of the Judaeo-Christian-Muslim variety or from any other regionally evolved conceptualization of deific pantheons. It is never reasonable to resort to violence against thinking beings except as a Last Resort which immediacy recommends in order to stave off death.

There have always been rational explanations for monstrously abominable actions, both personal and political. Their problem has always been that of being based upon a False Premise. The Germans loved and heiled Hitler because they believed that “expelling” Jewery from der Faterland was a Good thing and moral. The Roman Catholic Pope’s occasionally utilized such Good methods of rooting out Evil as the auto de fey, and the oh so holy Inquisitions for the “good of the Church” because they believed that their God would approve and even require them to go to any lengths in order to cleanse His flock of infidels and blasphemers.

If we now accept those premises as truly Good and Desirable for the whole of our species and our planet, would we not have to admit that the only tragedy is that neither of them succeeded in their goals?

But of course we reject those premises as the self-serving and disingenuous lies and ignoramia which they empirically are.

At least he didn’t trivialize the possibility of a universe without a sentient, much less anthropomorphic, creator or stoop to running out the ol’ “Founding Fathers were theists” gamb... Oops…

The death of God has greater consequences than expanded golf time on Sunday mornings. And it is not simply religious fundamentalists who have recognized it. America's Founders embraced public neutrality on matters of religion, but they were not indifferent to the existence of religious faith. George Washington warned against the "supposition that morality can be maintained without religion." The Founders generally believed that the virtues necessary for self-government -- self-sacrifice, honesty, public spirit -- were strengthened by religious beliefs and institutions.

Well, if anything can be said about Washington’s attitude towards religion, the most likely thing is that he felt that whatever worked for an individual in order to live their life well, even should they be atheist, was all that was important. Old George may indeed have counted himself amongst the deists of his day, though even that bit of biographical information about our first President’s beliefs is unavailable to us today. Why? Because Washington apparently practiced precisely what today’s leading atheist voices espouse and recommend; One’s Beliefs mean NOTHING to anyone but that one, unless, of course, that one wishes to proselytize in order to gain a following, i.e., for Political reasons.

Here is the bottom-line failure of Gerson and the theists’ argument that belief in Gods provides the only true motivation to Good Behavior for human beings: As with every horrific act ever committed in the name of “Good”, such belief requires a false premise. At BEST, and this is ironic part, it requires a proposition supported by only the word of someone who claims to have Good intentions. It is a premise which can not be tested.

Atheism as a concept shares this drawback of being, ultimately, untestable. The difference between Theists and Atheists, where the former claim supernatural knowledge to be their proof, is that the latter point to the complete lack of any evidence for a creator. Evidence which is the Only thing which every individual, theist and atheist alike, can look at in the same light, from the same perspective, and with the same tools and all see the same thing.

In the final analysis, Reason will always have one major advantage over Faith. Faith requires that the original premise, no matter how faulty and devastatingly wrong it turns out to be, must always be maintained and adhered to.

Reason is always self-checking, reevaluating and asserting updated premises. This is the only way to ascertain the actual, empirical truth of an idea, and it is the bane of religion and at the core of all Good behavior.

Jane Says . .

. . y'all should go take this quiz.

What Daria Character are You?

You are Jane.Artsy and funny, doesn't take anyones BS
Take this quiz!








Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

And check out Zaius Nation if you've ever wondered about the possibilities for Daria Porn. (Or simply understand that simians have it all over you silly humans.)

{-;

Shrubbie's Choice

I rarely even bother arguing how much better he'd be if he'd just choose reality for a change. Dude, and too many others on The Hill, are so deep in denial as to the real problems with our "Democracy" that, as is the case with a whole lot of folk, my frustration levels have entered the nausea zone.

Will Impeachment, even of Cheney, take place?

I doubt it.

Will the next president, still most likely to be a Democrat, really work towards restoring balance to the interests which get served by Washington?

I really doubt it.

Will the average citizens, middle class folk who've got A LOT but could always use more, get sick enough of losing meaningful protections of their interests, rights and opportunities that they'll demand our politicians start putting them before the interests of those at the top of the economic food chain.

Not yet, is my guess.

I don't quite see us entering into a Matrix-esque world, or even any kind of 1984ish nightmare. I do see more wars, an ever-widening gap between Rich and Average (not to mention, poor!) and an influx of refugees from the results of power politics and global climate change which are Bound to overwhelm the resources of this once incredibly adaptive country.

THEN I think we'll see those other changes. You know; once it's nearly too late.

Our Prints Are All Over It

Five I Mind

*Important Update: This is so crazy (so I hope not so unexpected of me) but Kvatch just burst my bubble of belief in the comments section! He has - nearly unbelievably to my way of thinking - not actually received the thinking blogger tag!

Now, note that I'm not saying it's unbelievable that I mistakenly "recalled" seeing that he had, because in my perusal of the blogosphere, there really is no one more deserving of an award which is presented because the recipient's posts incite active thought on many a topic with massive relevance to the everyday lives of we the people of the human zoo.

OK. 'Nuff said. Click on over and pull up a lily pad. There's always something thought-provoking for just about everyone in the frogosphere!

Hmmm... I feel like I've over sold this in recent comments. All I can say is that even receiving this li'l banner was a much bigger deal to me than I can really explain. Thus, I get all paniked out having to pass it on to some folks while leaving out still others ...

I know. Just freakin' Do It already.

"Thinking Blogger", huh? Well, I certainly do a lot of that. Too much at times, which is why this has taken me so long fess up to. Big Time thanks go out to both Dikkii (from April!) and Jolly Roger (from just last month) for separately tagging me with this sehr cool award. Now I have to point out 5 other bloggers who invariably tick my clock when it comes to rockin' my noggin with food for thought. In other words, 5 bloggers whose words I pay mind to.

First though, I'll play nice and post "The Rules"

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).

What I'd intended at the onset of Silly Humans was to develop a style which I could consciously evolve towards something more akin to professional Diplomatic correspondence. I know. I know y'all're thinkin' "you're kiddin', right?!" lol! Stay with me here! While I am proud of the bits of that concept which have filled these pages over the last couple of years, I can see that SH has become what would more accurately be described as a personal weblog than I'd ever intended. Still, I'm overwhelmed at times by how warmly and humanely that evolution has been accepted by quite a few of my compadres in the blog'sphere.

Blah blah blah, eh. {-;

I am: a 41 year old politiphile, smoker, music lover, SF reader, wanna-be (so many things!), tech monkey, ex-husband, quasi-step-father, Recovering Catholic, non-practicing-pot-head of an individual who is every bit as extroverted as I am introverted. I've even considered that, with schizophrenia in my family, the only reason I've not succumbed to such extremity is because, while at times there may be plenty of strange voices in my head, I am always, always certain that each and every one of them is mine.

That being blah-blah-blahed, recent months have seen some changes in my life-style finally taking place. I've begun getting out of my head and into exercising this not-yet-so-old corpus in order to both lower my blood-pressure and, more importantly eh, alleviate the stresses normally pressuring me to be other than my self. I'm worrying less and smiling more and, yes, still even dancing on occasion. :-)

On that note, and before I name the Five bloggers who nearly always make me Think, I'm reminded to get Zen . .


Who Makes Me Think?

Right off the bat, 3 who come to mind have already received this tag at least once that I've seen. Kvatch*, Frederick and Peacechick Mary certainly are bloggers who have provided energy bars for many of our thoughts. A relative newbie on the blogging scene (as far as I can tell, at any rate) has also already awarded by her peers; Lynn of Zelleblog's posts have lead to some of the best back-n-forths in comments sections I've read and/or joined since I did regular tours of the atheist blogosphere. Only hers are filled with socio-political & economic issues to which I have a particular affinity. They've really got me excited again about my still somewhat amorphous back-to-school goal.

The first I'll tag as an "it" is Eddie of Chicken Fat. Ed (ET in the comments) tells tales of he and his wife's family's histories going back to the early 1900s, and even farther, into the mid 19th century! His posts on his neighbors and the events of his daily life in Georgia are told in a spoken-word manner which frequently has me rollin' at my desk with laughter or sometimes anger and sadness at the insanity with which some folks live their lives.

The Aging Hipster is the one I've to thank for finding Chicken Fat. He's not only lucky enough to be married to one of my original blog-buds (m'Lady, Bird), but absolutely smart enough to hang onto her as he progresses through life, like me, learning what parts of youth to hang onto and which parts are best left to distant memory. The Hipster's knowledge of World and American History has often given me new insights on current events, and his personal blogging has occasionally motivated me to get off my bony butt and do something! Much appreciated amigo!

Robin Andrea is well known as one of the groovy Dharma Bums out in the Great Northwest. Whenever I'm feeling lost and frustrated with my life, I know I can head out yonder for a freeing and refreshing glimpse of humanity at its best. Good people. Good stories. Great blog. (And if you need any advice on dealing with Bob-Cats, well, Robin's got some first-hand experience for ya!)

Raffi of CitiZENMINDful frequently supplies me with reminders to simplify. That could be bad advice, until I remember that dude is in residency and the methods he relates are exactly the kinds of things I can do, regardless of circumstances!

I just did a Welcome Back! post on my final awardee. If you have yet to click over to Neil Shakespeare's place, please to be doing yourself a big favor and click away right away! Stories astounding and collages confounding! Neil mixes thrills and action packed introspection with visual blasting caps to ignite both our imaginations and our moral indignation over the state of the State of the Union here in the U.S.o.A. and across the whole of our Spaceship Earth.

I love all o' my bloggy 'migos y 'migas and THAT is why this post was just so damned hard to write-up. I get so ... well, more blah blahing, eh. Click on those 5 and you're sure to find some brain food. Then the next time you stop on by, help yourself to some random linkage from the sidebar.

L8!

#1 Excuse for not posting:

I get really, really sleepy when I'm trying to post something which is, hmmm... hard to post. (???)

I've been trying to do this one since April! Sloggin' on through, or not doing it at all have been my usual tactics. Figuring out the answer to those (???)s has frequently been suggested as a better tack, though. I'm gonna take a nap then do that. I really do want to post this one!

{-;

Teh Master Be BACK!

"Rendezvous" A saved favorite from Neil's originals

After several looong weeks of M.I.A. status, shaking up Left Blogistan with his abrupt disappearance, the Master Collager has returned from the Undead!

That's right, folks, Neil Shakespeare is back and blogging again!!!

So very many of us were quite concerned because dear ol' Neil had not only not posted anything new for quite a few, his URL had been assumed by the masked bandit now known as the Thief of Thailand! All of Neil's old posts were gone, and this new squatter had begun posting using Blogger's newly added कि script.

Now, I had hazarded a guess, on Kvatch's requiem to Sir Neil, that our hero had gone underground and was in fact the ToT himself, merely taking advantage of bloggers new scripting to practice his foreigner-speak (errr, or somethin' like that.) When the Frog, realist and honest amphibian that he is, let me down gently with the facts of the matter, I'd finally caved in to my worst fears: Bu$hCo had found and disappeared our beloved brother.

But It Ain't SO!!!

Welcome back, Blogmigo!

Fourth of July

Thanks to the Chimperor's predictability, and Congress's lack of any integrity, I'm not feeling all that patriotic or inspired to celebrate my country today. Still, it's Independence Day so I do feel like posting.

A search of Tube Central failed to turn up the Soundgarden song I was looking for, but this vid's got a fun summer sound to it. And, I'm probably reading too much into it, but it sounds as if it could be directed to a soldier.

Regardless, I like the tune, so ... :-|

Pig In Pain

Here ya go, Nava. les piggies


Never tried to draw my feet before, so one sock on and one sock off felt fair to me. Next time I should probably use pencil though, eh.

That's done in my reading recliner by the window so I can smoke without totally polluting my own apartment. The "Lil' (should be Li'l!) Fat Book is just the back of a mini notepad with lined pages. It was lying there so what they hay.

Oh, the pain is the middle one feeling like someone's hammered a nail through the base of it. I don't remember doing anything specific when it happened during the dodgy turny on Saturday. Sat night I was sore all over, but Sunday morning, what feels like a tiny crack in a tiny bone made itself known on my way to the turlet. It only hurts when I walk though. So no biggy, huh.

This is NOT Good

44%

Mingle² - Free Online Dating

44% chance of survival?! P-shaw!

Well hell... I've read enough post-apocalyptic Science Fiction to know I'd survive longer than most; barring being @ Ground Zero, of course.

Thusly I

• A{ Don't believe it

• B| Still am not ready to try and buy a gun (as that Walmart [take the quiz - you'll see] should have plenty)
  

• C[ Really don't want my mommy (honest!)

• D( Need to go spread teh frosting on my slightly over-browned Cinnamon Rolls.

Found - not while searching for Online Dating tips - on Angry Ballerina's misleadingly blandly named site.