Pathological Greed, Intellectual Obscurantism, And Creationist Fairy Tales

By Ed Raymond
Staff Writer

In watching budget negotiations in St. Paul and Washington, one can see how easy it is for Republicans to prepare budgets. They just don’t give a damn about people except for members of the corporatocracy. Republicans are very serious about committing an act of mercy for free-market capitalism. They really do want to drown the government in Grover Norquist’s no-new-tax bathtub he has been filling for years. So what if Lurch added about $6 trillion to the national debt by putting two wars and two huge tax cuts on Uncle Sam’s credit card. To the Republicans this debt will help them dump Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid on socialism’s garbage dump. After all, the churches can take care of the entire safety net.

There seems to be three forces at work in political budget negotiations. One party displays pathological greed. The other party thinks that taxing wealth fairly helps maintain the community in hard times. The third force is “obscurantism,” a fancy word for a philosophy that opposes intellectual advancement, political reform, and the use of rationalism. If one is a rational person he attempts to gather pertinent scientific evidence before making policy decisions. That’s rational behavior. But if a Republican stood on the floor of either House or Senate in St. Paul or Washington and said that man is partially responsible for climate change because he adds carbon and greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, he would be sent to Michelle Bachmann for re-education and re-assignment. She might even insist he sign a no-new-fluorescent light bulb pledge. Thousands of scientists have come to the conclusion that nearly seven billion fossil-burning souls on earth are beginning to change the climate. The Republicans say so what, it will cost too much to save the earth and the human race. I guess they’re counting on another Rapture!

Last week the nation’s top scientific advisory group, the National Academy of Sciences, reported: “Climate change is occurring, is very likely caused primarily by human activities, and poses significant risks to humans and the environment. Among risks in the USA: more intense and frequent heat waves, threats to coastal communities from rising sea levels … ” It’s time for the nutcase climate deniers to go talk to their brethren, the nutcase birthers.

What Does The Bible Say About Climate Deniers And Obama Birthers?

George Orwell said it best: “All political thinking for years past has been corrupted in the same way.  People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are welcome.” As an example, the Bible may contain all sorts of instructions, if you look hard enough and use very liberal interpretations, on every element of human life. This is how we get “religious” legislation. The Bible-thumpers say homosexuality is “an abomination” because Leviticus 18:22 and other Bible verses say so. This is how we get same-sex marriage constitution amendment legislation. Abortion? Although Bible experts say there is nothing in the Bible referring to abortion, it must be in there someplace because legislatures around the country, including Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, have put about 370 abortion bills in the hoppers. I guess they feel that too many stupid women make too many stupid decisions when they see stupid doctors for medical care. Certainly a woman needs the advice and consent of male legislators trained in birthing calves, pigs, and bad ideas. So Planned Parenthood provides contraceptives, medical examinations, and abortions to poor women. Why not eliminate all abortion providers so we can go back to coat hangers, herbs, cow manure, and back-alley cutting?

This is how we get religious legislation on family planning, contraceptives, and pregnancies. I see Pope Benedict threw his tall mitre into the sex ring the other day by saying Catholics should have sex only when they can produce children. What? No Vatican Roulette? What if one of the partners is sterile? Why don’t these old tired grey men just stay out of it? No wonder the number of atheists, secularists, and fed-up church members are leaving churches around the world in droves. No, I don’t mean “droves.” A drove is a group of sheep. These free-thinkers are not sheep.

And then we have the Bible-Thumpers and the creationists who say the earth is 6,000 years old when all of the scientific evidence collected so far indicates it is approaching 13 billion years old.  We haven’t found the skeleton of a 100,000 year-old human inside the stomach of a 65 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus Rex yet. I don’t think they were vegans.

It’s Time For A Good Belly Laugh On The Creationists And Bible-Thumpers

Received an e-mail from friends about a letter on the Internet posted by Dr.James Kauffman, Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia, who had responded to a comment made by Dr. Laura Schlesinger, the radio gal with the grinding-metal voice, who stated that homosexuality is an abomination because it said so in Leviticus. Among Dr. Kauffman’s observations directed at Schlesinger:

:: “Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?”

:: “I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. What do you think would be a fair price for her?”

:: “I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Leviticus 15:19-24). The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.”

:: “I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35.2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?”

:: “I know from Leviticus 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?”

:: “My uncle has a farm. He violates Leviticus 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them (Leviticus 24:10-16)?  Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Leviticus 20:14).”

The comments made by Minnesota retired plumber Marty Gavic made me almost feel sorry for Newt Gingrich, a Republican presidential candidate who has even converted to Catholicism to get votes. Gavic made these comments after viewing a film Newt had made about religion: “When he talks about God in government, then I believe if he is a Godly man he should say that ‘I believe God created the heavens and earth because that’s in the Bible.’” Gavic was not impressed with Newt because he registered some unwillingness to support creationism.

Perhaps Newt hasn’t learned yet how to talk to a man who believes the earth is only 6,000 years old while standing on a piece of earth that is actually at least 13 billion years old according to all the scientific evidence. The Bible is much like the Internet, filled with wisdom, judgment, apocryphal and apocalyptic stories passed through many generations, a few acclaimed miracles, the excess testosterone of King David and the incestuous Lot—along with many verses of P.T. Barnum bunkum. It has both magnificent verses for our guidance—and reprehensible ones totally unfit to teach moral conduct.

When Will The Legislature Determine What Government Is For?

Isn’t it the role of state government to provide assistance so that no one in the community goes hungry, homeless, or dies a needless death from a treatable disease or accident? Isn’t it the job of state legislatures to blend their “safety net” programs with those of the federal government? Or is a governor a John Galt, a man who considers all poor people parasites who should be allowed to die?  (Read “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. Then you will know where Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan, the Republican budget “expert,” and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, got their economic philosophy. Greenspan took us down the path of subprime mortgage disasters, banks too-big-to-fail, and Wall Street Casino bonuses and bailouts. Rand was an exponent of unregulated capitalism and free markets. Such a political and economic philosophy is an ugly combination of fascism, plutocracy, and corporatocracy, run by the rich and their field hands, the best Congress money can buy.)

Government has many roles: (1) maintain an economy by providing modern infrastructure: roads, railways, ports and airports, (2) educate all citizens, particularly the next generation, (3) assist the federal government in providing an adequate and safe supply of food and water, (4) provide state parks for rest and recreation, and (5) maintain a livable environment, including support for cultural events and fine arts programs.

How Is The Minnesota Republican Legislature Doing?

With a background of trying to balance a budget with a $5 billion deficit, created by eight years of Pawlenty no-new-tax pledges, accounting fantasies, senseless arguments over what is a fee and what is a tax, and forcing school districts to borrow when the state kept their allotted money, how are our new Tea Party–Creationist House and Senate Republican majorities doing?

:: Cut $1.8 billion from various health programs, dumping at least 100,000 off Medical Assistance and another 86,000 from a number of state insurance programs. Minnesota Care would lose 7,000 participants.

:: Proposed closing or restricting the use of a majority of state parks and proposed harvesting 50 to 100 black walnut trees in Whitewater and Frontenac State Parks, bringing in a potential $100,000 to state coffers!

:: Cut University of Minnesota funding by 14.4 percent and all higher ed by $306 million. Governor Mark Dayton had suggested a $66 million cut in his budget.

:: Cut low-income family planning programs by 50 percent, claiming fewer abortions and lower costs for female care. Planned Parenthood says exactly the opposite will happen. But what do intelligent, rational experts know?

:: Cut Minnesota Zoo support by 15 percent or $1.9 million. And many more cuts of poor and middle-class programs too numerous to mention. But a high priority is to spend $300 million on a stadium for millionaires and billionaires so we can watch Love Boat role models play.

A majority of Minnesotans want the Minnesota rich to pay their fair share of taxes. Minnesota households with incomes between $16,000 and $129,000 pay an average of 12 percent. The top 5 percent with incomes above $182,000 pay 10 percent. The top 1 percent with incomes above $429,000 pay only 9.7 percent. We haven’t even gotten to the millionaires and billionaires yet. The median family income of middle-class Minnesotans has actually declined over the last 30 years while the rich have gained an average of 8 percent a year during that period. The rich are silent about paying their share (except through their well-paid field hands). Rich folks, it’s time to break away from pathological greed and open your gates, join the community again, and recommit some resources to a state that still has 21 more Fortune 500 companies than North (0) and South (0) Dakota, even after Tim Pawlenty did his damndest to turn Minnesota into Mississota.

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