When Atheists Attack

It's scary and sad to me that people support Palin because they feel she somehow validates them and their lives (e.g., their education, their family, their experiences, their values, their mother roles, their hobbies, their intellect, their childhood, their town, or their knowledge). Please, get validation some other way! Don't make your insecurities our entire Nation's problem and the world's problem. It's lame and dangerous.

Amen. I agree with this opinion article 100%. I'm embarrassed that so many Americans lack the simple wisdom it takes to see these basic points and that we all are running not walking away from the McCain-Palin ticket because of the Palin choice and what it represents and all that it could mean.

I correct myself, Jaycie seems to know what's up. If McCain wins, then I would truly hope that things are actually being run behind the scenes by a shadowy group of elites that only lets us have elections as a symbolic gesture.

Apparently no one who has actually read what Harris wrote has commented yet. I think this is spot on. A potential Palin administration has been literally in my nightmares lately.

I think the point is that the puppet masters behind the scenes WANT an empty vessel that can be filled with neocon ideology and faux "information" just as has been done with George W. Bush via Dick Cheney et al. It is beyond cynical; can you imagine what any of our educated, thoughtful founding fathers would think if they saw what was going on today? We are rolling down hill, gathering speed, faster than anyone can stop us before we sink to the bottom which is where we belong if we choose "leaders" like this!

A POEM FOR SARAH AND JOHN, The "Palin McCain Ticket"
(or Barbie and GI Joe as there now being referred to)

ONE AFTERNOON WHEN BARBIE
WANTED TO JOIN THE MILITARY
It was a crazy idea, she admits now,
but camouflage was one costume she still hadn't tried.
Barbie'd gone mod with Go-go boots during Vietnam.
Throughout Panama she was busy playing with a Frisbee
the size of a Coke bottle cap. And while troops
were fighting in the Gulf,
she wore a gown inspired by Ivana Trump.
When Mattel told her, hell no-- she couldn't go,
Barbie borrowed GI Joe's fatigues,
safety pinning his pants' big waist
to better fit her own.
She settled in his olive tank.
But Barbie thought it was boring.
"Why don't you try running over something small?"
coaxed GI Joe, who sat naked behind the leg
of a human's living room chair.
Barbie saw imaginary bunnies
hopping through the shag carpet.
"I can't," she said.
GI Joe suggested she gun down the enemy
who was sneaking up behind her.
Barbie couldn't muster up the rage
for killing, even if it were only play.
Maybe if someone tried to take her parking space
or scratched her red Trans Am.
Maybe if someone had called her a derogatory name.
But what had this soldier from the other side done?
GI Joe, seeing their plan was a mistake,
asked her to return his clothes,
making Barbie promise not to tell anyone.
As she slipped back into her classic baby blue
one-piece swimsuit, she realized
this would be her second secret.
She couldn't tell about the time
she posed nude for Hustler.
A young photographer who lived in the house
dipped her legs in a full bottle of Johnson's Baby Oil,
then swabbed some more on her torso.
Barbie lounged on the red satin lining
of the kid's Sunday jacket. He dimmed
the lights and lit a candle
to create a glossy centerfold mood.
"Lick your lips," he kept saying,
forgetting Barbie didn't have a tongue.
She couldn't pout. She couldn't even bite
the maraschino cherry he dangled in front of her mouth.
Luckily there was no film in his sister's camera,
so the boy's pictures never came out.
Luckily GI Joe wasn't in the real Army
or he said he would risk being court-martialed--
he wasn't supposed to lend his uniform
to anyone, especially a girl.
Just then a human hand deposited Ken from the sky.
Somewhere along the way he'd lost his sandals.
"What have you two been up to?" he asked.
Barbie didn't have the kind of eyes that could shift away
so she lost herself in the memory of a joke
made by her favorite comedian Sandra Bernhard
who said she liked her dates to be androgynous
because if she were going to be with a man
she didn't want to have to face that fact.
Barbie was grateful for Ken's plastic flatfeet
and plastic flat crotch. No military
would ever take him, even if there were a draft.
As GI Joe bullied Ken into a headlock,
Barbie told the boys to cut it out. She threatened
that if he kept it up, GI Joe would
never get that honorable discharge.
-Denise Duhamel

As always, Sam Harris is the voice of reason in this world that seems to be spiralling out of control with competing realities and worldviews. We are all indebted to your analysis and uncompromising intellectualism. Now if only we had people like you helping to decided policies where it mattered. Thank you Sam.

As usual Sam delivered a most eloquent and insightful analysis. I wonder if its that affinity he has for reality that gives him the edge over other writers. P.a.l.i.n. spells danger for America and the entire world.

Great article!!!!

Palin is so dangerous for our country!!! McCain is a disaster and Palin is even worse!!!

They have no solutions to solve our problems...it's all about being a POW or a mom and pittbull with lipstick...is it what it take sto be president???

Palin asked live on television LESS THAN TWO MONTHS AGO what exactly the vice-president did. How about preparing to take over at any moment for the biggest job in the world? This is symptomatic of this nation; everyone wants to be a star but refuse to do the road work; they want to be famous, be in charge and not bother with the boring day-to-day mundane reading that actually makes the job what it is. The Holly-Roller types actually fuel Palin's own perception of herself by waxing rhapsodic over her empty platitudes and generic talking points. Someday -I am sure of this- when the inside story of this campaign gets published we'll read how divided most republicans are over this choice; they are merely closing ranks around her because they see the excitement she's added to the ticket. What Palin's lack of knowledge guarantees is that the agenda that would pass is that of her advisers because she obviously doesn't even have a rudimentary knowledge of the most critical issues.

Her star is beginning to fade but this election remains critical; McCain has thrown overboard everything independents liked about him and irresponsibly chosen a scary running mate based for political expediency, "Country First" be damned. They will not likely win but I'm having a hard time forgiving McCain for getting someone like Palin so close to the presidency.

If this last eight years have proven anything is that: ignorance and certainty get people killed.

Atheist Alliance International is having its 2008 Convention at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA starting Thursday and continuing through next Sunday. Check it out at their website.

The Devil has poked a blind man in the eye.

I find it hard to believe that anyone with even half an inch of a brain would not agree with Mr. Harris, who is a genious at voicing what any well educated and cultured human being should already know and believe! Bravo Mr. Harris.

continued.........

Hey guys, this was emailed to me a few days ago. It's lengthy, so I'll continue it in the following posts. WARNING: It's racialy provocative, but very interesting. Since this election has evolved into "black man vs white woman", I thought, being the mature bloggers that we are, we'll be able to respectfully dialogue about the content.

White Privilege
by Tim Wise
15/09/08

For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who
are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it,
perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town
smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state
with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of
Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't
all piss on themselves with laughter - while being a black U.S. Senator,
two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're
"untested."

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people
immediately scared of you. White privilege is being able to have a
husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your
state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was "Alaska first,"
and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family - while if you're
black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can
be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately
think she's being disrespectful.

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and
the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women
to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child
labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely
question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with
no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you're
somehow being mean, or even sexist.

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't
even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your
running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket
has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give
your party a "second look."

Very interesting..........to be continued......

Great article! This is EXACTLY what concerns me about the possible vice presidency of Sarah Palin. It also makes me wonder what kind of American would be enthusiastic about her nomination.