guillaumeb
guillaumeb's JournalThe GOP is a one Party organization in a 2 major Party country.
Aa one who has observed the GOP since the time of Reagan, it is obvious to me that the GOP is uninterested in compromise, and uninterested in deviating from their demands.
Some one please tell me how I am incorrect.
Anyone.
'Hacking the good' from religion at a secular solstice
From the article:
We began by consecrating the space turning first east, then south, then west, then north, promising to honor the virtues traditionally symbolically associated with those directions. We rose and sat together. We sang songs in unison about the darkness of uncertainty, the vastness of nature, the promise of tomorrow. We extinguished LED candles, one by one, reflecting on death, and on what it meant to live in a broken and ontologically meaningless world...
In a country where religious people tend to be happier than the 24 percent who identify as religiously unaffiliated, it makes sense perhaps that groups bent on optimizing human behavior would try to salvage what they see as the measurable good from religious experience.
To hack the good from religion, then, means taking away metaphysical truth or a higher power from religion so that it becomes fundamentally a communal activity designed to reinforce group bonds and, no less importantly, group values.
Those values include religious principles such as altruism, but members of these secular communities are invited in turn to commit themselves to scientific research to solve social problems, including death itself, if only by helping to fund such research. In doing so they affirm their membership in the group.
To read more:
https://religionnews.com/2018/12/20/hacking-the-good-from-religion-at-a-secular-solstice/
SPLC: 17,000 people in Arkansas lose Medicaid coverage due to work requirements
From the article:
To read more:
https://www.splcenter.org/news/2018/12/17/splc-17000-people-arkansas-lose-medicaid-coverage-due-work-requirements
Interesting how Trump supporting states are engaged in a race to the bottom in so many ways.
Is religion the main source of conflict in the world?
When we examine people killed by regimes that were and are actively hostile to religion, such as the Communist Governments of China, Russia, and other countries, opinions vary as to the exact numbers.
Estimates range from a "low" of 42 million to a high of 110 million deaths in Communist countries from 1917 to 2017.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_killings_under_communist_regimes
And we have this estimate:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-communism-bolshevik-anniversary-putin-20171106-story.html
So when we speak of religion being the main source of conflict, what are we to make of these staggering numbers ?
As Paul Ryan Says Goodbye, Progressives Say 'Good Riddance' to 'Coward Who Sold Our Economy
As Paul Ryan Says Goodbye, Progressives Say 'Good Riddance' to 'Coward Who Sold Our Economy to Highest Bidders'
From the article:
With the hashtag #GoodRiddanceRyan, progressive advocacy groups and commentators denounced Ryan for spending his 10-term tenure in the House pushing an agenda that rewards wealthy corporate donors at the expense of the American working class.
"He's a coward who sold our economy to the highest bidders," declared Patriotic Millionaires.
To read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/12/19/paul-ryan-says-goodbye-progressives-say-good-riddance-coward-who-sold-our-economy?cd-
Embracing the work of Christmas
From the article:
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.
Faith is work, after all.
To read more:
https://religionnews.com/2018/12/18/embracing-the-work-of-christmas/
US sportswear traced to factory in China's internment camps
From the article:
Behind locked gates, men and women are sewing sportswear that can end up on U.S. college campuses and sports teams.
This is one of a growing number of internment camps in the Xinjiang region, where by some estimates 1 million Muslims are detained, forced to give up their language and their religion and subject to political indoctrination. Now, the Chinese government is also forcing some detainees to work in manufacturing and food industries. Some of them are within the internment camps; others are privately owned, state-subsidized factories where detainees are sent once they are released.
To read more:
https://apnews.com/99016849cddb4b99a048b863b52c28cb
A long article, but more information on how the very repressive Chinese Government is determined to eliminate religion and ethnicity in service to their goal of making brave new citizens for their religion free Utopia.
Nashville secular group celebrates faith-free Christmas
From the article:
In the chapel, a congregation of about 80 people gathered, while the band launched into a holiday classic: Youre a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.
They followed up with a cover of Tim Minchins White Wine in the Sun.
I really like Christmas. Its sentimental, I know, but I just really like it, sang Adam Newton, host for the Sunday service. I am hardly religious. Id rather break bread with Dawkins than Desmond Tutu, to be honest.
Welcome to the Heathen Holidays, a Christmas celebration for the nonreligious, hosted by the local chapter of the Sunday Assembly.
To read more:
https://religionnews.com/2018/12/17/nashville-secular-group-celebrates-faith-free-christmas/
'Turns Out,' Says Ocasio-Cortez, 'Everyday People Like It When We Fight for Everyday People'
From the article:
Citing a new poll that revealed 81 percent of people overall support the idea of a bold and ambitious 'Green New Deal,' Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez celebrated the simple political concept that when you push for policies that are good for a majority of people, a majority of people like it.
"Turns out," the Democrat from New York declared in a Monday night tweet, "everyday people like it when we fight for everyday people!"
The tweet included a link to a story published by Earther earlier in the day highlighting a poll by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and George Mason University showing that more than 8 out of 10 respondents from "across the political spectrum support the progressive plan to combat climate change by rapidly weaning the U.S. off fossil fuels."
To read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/12/18/turns-out-says-ocasio-cortez-everyday-people-it-when-we-fight-everyday-people?cd-origin=rss&utm_term=%27Turns%20Out%2C%27%20Says%20Ocasio-
Democrats Drop The Hammer By Sending 51 Letters Demanding Trump Documents
From the article:
Rep. Elijah Cummings said in a statement, These are documents that even the Republicans on the Oversight Committeeat least at some point in timebelieved we needed to conduct effective oversight, but when the Trump Administration refused to comply fully, the Republicans would not issue a single subpoena.
Many of these requests were bipartisan, and some are now more than a year old. As Democrats prepare to take the reins in Congress, we are insistingas a basic first stepthat the Trump Administration and others comply with these Republican requests.
To read more:
https://www.politicususa.com/2018/12/19/democrats-trump-documents.html
Profile Information
Member since: Mon Jan 26, 2015, 06:15 PMNumber of posts: 42,641