All over the world, people love President Obama (and, by extension, us). This is perhaps most evident in his recent Nobel Peace Prize, but also is reflected in America’s inclusion in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Swiss cooperation in the arrest of Roman Polanski, and the massive worldwide popularity of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
OK, maybe not all over the world. For some reason the Muslim countries still aren’t on board:
In predominantly Muslim nations, widespread concerns about American policy and American power linger, and while Obama is certainly viewed more favorably than his predecessor, his popularity has translated into only modest improvements in America’s overall image, and in some cases, no change at all.
This is probably just a temporary setback, though. Because Obama totally has a plan to win Muslim friends. All we need to do is help them push for anti-blasphemy laws!
While attracting surprisingly little attention, the Obama administration supported the effort of largely Muslim nations in the U.N. Human Rights Council to recognize exceptions to free speech for any “negative racial and religious stereotyping.” [...] It is viewed as a transparent bid to appeal to the “Muslim street” and our Arab allies, with the administration seeking greater coexistence through the curtailment of objectionable speech.
Now, I’m hardly a disinterested party, given that my book largely consists of mocking (i.e. “stereotyping”) pernicious (i.e. “negative”) religious (i.e. “religious”) beliefs and practices.
(It’s somewhat lacking in racial stereotyping, although I’ll probably make up for that with my next book, a novelization of the “Tom and Jerry” cartoons written from the perspective of Mammy Two Shoes.)
I’m not saying that Obama is doing this solely to get revenge on me for not voting for him (damn you, Gloria La Riva, and your seductive campaign promises!), but you can’t prove that he’s not.
I think all religions are based on the fear of the unknown. At one point in early primitive times it was thought that the world was flat. And the Sun obited Earth. So, it’s no wonder that such people would turn to a mythical being to have created people,
Scientists came along like Galaleo and showed the world that the Earth orbited the Sun, not the other way around. (He nearly was be-headed by the church, claiming heracsy).
Now, when I traval around the World and see all the big cathedrals, synagogs and Mosques and temples that lie idle 80% of the time, I think, What a Waste. In my opinion, if all the money that has been spent on religion and religious WARS had been spent on Education, Medicine, and Science, we would have been far better off, and probably would have had fewer wars.
Charles Darwin was a genious well ahead in his thinking, and his theory of Evolution stands to this day as one of the most significant and important explanation of how we evolved. There was no divine intervention.
There is joke that makes an interesting point: “A man dies on an operating table, but doctors kept working on him until he came to. The doctors were elated when he returned to life, and asked “What was it like?”, the patient said “that he had just seen God!” The doctors jumped out of their skins, and said “What was he like?” The man said, “first of all, she was Black!” killing two popular misconceptions.
I’m an old world traveler who has seen so many churches, temples, and synsgogs that sit idle 70 to 80% of the time. I find this a huge waste, when they could have built schools, hospitals and scientific labratories.
The UNIVERSE
While in college, I asked a professor, after class, “What was at the outer edge of Space – A little white fence?”- (jokingly)” His answer was, “There is no such thing as a straight line, only an arc of infinite radius.” This has stayed with me for the last 50 or so years. I’ve since concluded that the 4th dimension is TIME. The biggest problem in understanding the UNIVERSE and EVOLUTION as I see it, is the tremendously huge distances and times involved. The Universe is measured in Billions of Light-years, literally Astronomical. In the case of Evolution, it is measured in Billions of years.
EVOLUTION
Like the distances in the Universe, Evolution is also measured in very large numbers. Earth was formed 4.6 Billion Years ago. To put everything into perspective, every event has been compressed into a 12-hour clock.
The formation of Earth would start at 12 noon, – (4.6 Billion Years ago) – - – - – - – - – @ Noon
Life Begins in a form similar to Bacteria at – - – - (3.5 Billion Years ago)- – - – - – - – - – @ 2:52
Photosynthetic bacteria appear at about – - – - – - -(2.9 Billion Years ago) – – - – - – - – - @ 3:48*
Multi-celled plants & animals appear around – - – (1 Billion Years Ago)- – - – - – - – - – @ 9:24 Crustaceans appear around – - – - – - – - – – - – - – - (650 Million Years ago) – - – - – - – - @ 10:18
Fish appear around – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – (510 Million Years Ago) – - – - – - – - @ 10:40
Land Plants appear around – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – (420 Million Years Ago) – - – - – - – - @ 10:54
Insects appear around – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – (380 Million Years Ago) – - – - – - – - @ 11:00
Seed Plants and Amphibians appear around – - – (360 Million Years Ago) – - – - – - – - @ 11:03
Reptiles appear around – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - (340 Million Years Ago) – - – - – - – - @ 11:07
Mammals appear around – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – (213 Million Years Ago) – - – - – - – - @ 11:27
Birds appear around – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - (150 Million Years Ago) – - – - – - – - @ 11:36
Flowering Plants appear around – - – - – - – - – - – - (140 Million Years Ago) – - – - – - – - @ 11:38
Humans appear around – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - (2 Million Years Ago) – - – - – - – - @ 11:59:41
* = Note the huge gap in time that occurs between this event and the next one!
Source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/change/deeptime/index.html, “National Geographic“, and “The Jacksonville Times Union, Oct. 2, 2005”
Religion appears – ???? – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – (1,500 to 2,000 Years Ago) – - – - – - – @ 11:59.9999996
All of the above information, has been proven through Scientific Research. There is, however, NO
Scientific proof to support religion, plus it occupies an extremely small segment of time compared to the age of Earth. It is my opinion that religion is for people who don‘t understand Science — JCB.
Light travels 186,000 miles per second. It takes 8 minutes for the Sun’s light to reach our eyes, and 5 more hours and that light reaches Pluto (no longer designated as a Planet). After another 4 years 4 months, it reaches Alpha Centauri, our nearest stellar neighbor. Extending outward some 15 to 20 Trillion Light-Years in all directions into the far reaches of the known Universe there are Quasars – Quasi-Stellar objects – and the uniform glow of radiation from the Big Bang. The farthest Quasars are traveling away from us at 90% of the speed of light. To look at such objects is to see the Universe as it was billions of years ago. (Source: “National Geographic”- 1983, “On the Origin of Species” by Charles Darwin, & “A Brief History of Time – The Universe in a Nutshell“, Stephen Hawking.)
Light travels 186,000 miles per second. It takes 8 minutes for the Sun’s light to reach our eyes, and 5 more hours and that light reaches Pluto (no longer designated as a Planet). After another 4 years 4 months, it reaches Alpha Centauri, our nearest stellar neighbor. Extending outward some 15 to 20 Trillion Light-Years in all directions into the far reaches of the known Universe there are Quasars – Quasi-Stellar objects – and the uniform glow of radiation from the Big Bang. The farthest Quasars are traveling away from us at 90% of the speed of light. To look at such objects is to see the Universe as it was billions of years ago. (Source: “National Geographic”- 1983, “On the Origin of Species” by Charles Darwin, & “A Brief History of Time – The Universe in a Nutshell“, Stephen Hawking.)
i miss ur posts