Dec

29

Now I need a vacation.

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After seven different locations over seven days with two time zone muckity-mucks with a one-two-three punch at either end, the grand old holiday that was last week’s “back East, with a number of slices of family” extravaganza turned out to be a lot less relaxing than it might have been. Worthwhile and nice and overdue and lovely and all of that, but not terribly relaxing. Upshot? Now I need a vacation.

Dec

22

Blueberry.

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You know what I like? Sweet and awkward short films about prostitutes. Also, Randall Park. So “Blueberry” is right up my alley.

[From Will Hines.]

Dec

22

Travel tips.

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Don’t stay at the Econo Lodge just south of SEA. The in-room heat doesn’t work very well. The cleaning staff’s thoroughness leaves much to be desired. The parking lot available for the “park and fly” guests is smaller than the staff realizes, and is therefore overfilled.

Do take Continental Airlines. Decent breakfast–egg and cheese on a biscuit, fresh fruit, and a mini-muffin. Reasonably good entertainment–Ghost Town, which was a lot less silly, and a lot more witty and heartwarming than expected. And a certain fearlessness from the flight staff meant that while United et al.’s flights were cancelled or delayed an nauseum, we landed a mere 90 minutes late, and most of that had nothing to do with Seattle’s weather situation.

Do rent a Prius. Because I’ve always wanted a car that has a power button. And overcompensates for its absurd design that puts a large bar across the back window by beeping loudly and displaying what’s behind by way of a strategically-placed camera. On second thought, don’t rent a Prius. Tis a silly car.

Dec

20

Power of flight.

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Traveling to New Jersey tomorrow. In order to avoid weather-related complications, D and I have registered an evening in a hotel borderline within walking distance of the airport. I certainly hope it’s a seedy as its picture suggests.

Dec

19

Judeo-Christian ethics.

Filed Under Religion | 1 Comment

The athiest display in the Washington Capitol has prompted dozens of individuals to write letters to the editor of “The Olympian.” Today’s sampling got my ire up. Well, one in particular. Most of the letters have been of four sorts: “Hooray for athiesm!,” “Can’t we all just get along?” “It’s not that big a deal,” and “I’m batshit insane, and I’m angry.” The last letter in today’s clutch–Daniel C. Walters’–is of the last sort. And none of these is particularly troubling.

The one that I let bother me is Dave Toht’s, which reads as follows:

Should Capitol host diatribes?

The reason people responded violently to the anti-religion placard outside our Capitol is not because people object to free speech. Rather, they sense the unfairness of allowing one group to attack another.

Does free speech permit one group to say another is stupid? Of course. Should our Capitol be a forum for such diatribes? I hope not.

Consider the consequences. Can we now mount signs, each in their season, attacking Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism?

It is also hard to take the assertion that, as the placard reads, “Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

My goodness. If you want examples of hardening hearts and enslaving minds, look to the dark days of the Soviet Union and communist China — massive states that embraced atheism. Abandoning discredited Judeo-Christian ethics, these states decided the end justifies any means.

As a consequence, they killed millions, imprisoned tens of millions and imposed hopelessness on billions. While Christianity in the 20th century has much to answer for (Belfast, Bosnia, for example), the consequential carnage pales by comparison.

Institutional Christianity, filled with fallible humans as it is, will always make mistakes.

But institutional atheism takes your breath away. Christianity had 2,000 years to pile up its offenses; atheism became a contender in mere decades.

Is “peace on earth” really so vile a sentiment? Isn’t the notion of divine truth taking human form an idea worth contemplating — if only once a year?

Come on guys. Give us a break.

Part of the problem here is connecting atheism to the Soviet Union. While all good Soviets may have been atheists, not all good atheists are Soviets. Compare to holding the actions of the Taliban against all Muslims. Or the Inquisition-era Spaniards against all Catholics.

But I’m more troubled by the phrase “Judeo-Christian ethics.” As has often been pointed out, many religions–and, frankly, nonreligions–share a wide assortment of ethical rules. For example, the “no murder,” “no theft,” and “no perjury” sorts of moral obligations are commonly held by followers of Abrahamic religions, followers of non-Abrahamic religions, and followers of no religion. To claim ownership of these rules for one particular tradition, to call them “Judeo-Christian ethics” is disingenuous. Perhaps those that we all agree on, those are human ethic. Or, if you’d prefer, they’re a particularly common ethic. If your religious tradition happens to say “those rules over there that everyone’s abiding by, those still apply” with a dose of “because G-d says so” thrown in for good measure, bully for you. But they’re not yours.

So what is yours? The list of “unclean animals,” like owl. The prohibitions against sodomy. Maybe the moral obligation, as opposed to choice, to turn the other cheek. These are the true “Judeo-Christian ethics.” And, although I consider myself to be a pretty strict moral absolutist, I don’t find any of these rate. To me, these are not moral questions at all. And I find traditions that put them in the moral category pretty silly.

What gets me angry is when religious people assume (1) morality flows from religion or the gods, and (2) because many religions and non-religions have certain commonalities, any given religion has some sort of legitimacy in imposing the irregularities on others. Morality exists independent of, and prior to, religion. And just because a religion preaches some moral rules doesn’t make the other things it preaches of moral consequence.

Dec

18

Snow.

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Olympia has been at a relative standstill for the past couple of days because of inclement weather. Snow, to be specific. Snow rarely falls around these parts, and usually when it does it is of minimal quantity (a centimeter or two, tops) and duration (a few hours). Which means the local government has few resources set aside for snow removal. A couple of trucks, no salt or deicer. And it means the road system is designed without snow or ice in mind. Many steep grades. And it means that most people have no fucking clue how to drive in the snow. Or how to bundle up for cold weather. Dangerous. Fear. White.

Last night, the Stonewall Youth board meeting was held by conference call because of the weather. Today, the courts were closed because of the weather. Many offices were closed. Difficult to get anything done. Which is a shame, because what with me being gone all next week, I was trying to bang a few things out. Ah, well.

Dec

16

Bill “Wrong About Everything” Kristol.

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Have I declared my love for This Modern World lately? No? In the coming weeks, I’ll prepare and sign a declaration that supports Tom Tomorrow’s comic enthusiastically. In fact, I’ll one-up myself. I’ll prepare and sign an affidavit. And my office doesn’t even have a notary in the house, so I’ll have to bring in someone special for this. How about that crazy shit, dear reader?

My latest reason to love This Modern World is the, I believe, new practice of referring to New York Times columnist Bill Kristol as “Bill ‘Wrong About Everything’ Kristol.” It’s funny because it’s true.

Dec

15

Christopher Reeve below the title?

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It’d been years since I’d seen Superman. So long, in fact, that it didn’t show up on my IMDb list. So I was surprised to discover that Christopher Reeve was such a newcomer at the time of its release that not only was he was billed third in the credits (after Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman), he was billed after the title. The lead actor didn’t warrant mention before the title. And Margot Kidder, who probably has more lines than anyone except Reeve and Hackman, is something like seventh billed, buried among other lesser known supporting actors. Not that I would advocate revising the movie at this point. But I was surprised.

Dec

15

Colds.

Filed Under Personal | 2 Comments

Amid a rare snow, and over a weekend in which I had hoped to finalize a few things in order to make an impending trip back East more manageable, I came down with a blasted cold. Having suffered an increase in colds in recent years–up from almost never to about once per year–I’ve discovered there’s nothing for it but to (1) drop everything, (2) rest, or at least lie down, (3) drink plenty of fluids, especially orange juice and mint tea with honey, (4) eat plenty of greasy, salty snacks, especially homemade Chex mix, and (5) rewatch an entire season of “Gilmore Girls.”

Dec

13

No Festivus pole for Capitol.

Filed Under Olympia, Religion | 1 Comment

I gather that the Washington State Capitol’s atheist sign has become national news by now, courtesy of Bill O’Reilly’s foaming mouth. The sign itself–a rather innocuous piece of cardboard, significantly outshone by its original accompaniments of a creche and a giant conifer–has, since the “controversy” erupted, become flanked by all sorts of other signs and displays. The section of the State government charged with making decisions regarding holiday displays really only required a ten dollar permit fee and an application free of obscenity. Now, however, after applications came in from all sorts of kooks–including overreaching “Seinfeld” fans, the “God hates fags” folks, and Christians who want to come sort of “agree to disagree” position vis-a-vis atheists–the GA has declined to add additional items to the Capitol. Boo-urns.

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