I chuckled when I saw this graphic on Facebook:
Why, indeed? Especially if the world had been carefully planned out by an omniscient and omnipotent being. Well, I do see a compelling connection between nipples and religion, and it is the Terror Management Theory.
You'll hear many politicians speak as though the U.S. has concluded it's war in Iraq. Not true:
The post-U.S.-withdrawal history of Iraq has had more than its share of debacles as well, most notably the collapse of the U.S. signature police-training program, a multibillion-dollar program the Iraqis said they didn't want... Meanwhile, despite the roughly $6 billion a year operating cost of the massive and heavily fortified embassy, diplomatic relations with Iraq have suffered as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki consolidates power -- by among other things, exiling the country's vice president to Turkey and sentencing him to death. The State Department is consolidating its operations and reducing the number of people it employs in Iraq -- from 16,000 at the beginning of the year, to about 14,000 now, to less than 11,500 by the end of 2013, a State Department official told HuffPost. But because so many foreign service officers and contractors are falling back to the embassy itself, construction on the $750 million compound actually continues, in order to make room for them and maintain the embassy's self-contained infrastructure.[Emphasis added]. The next time you are wondering why we can't afford to hire enough teachers for our public schools, consider that $6 Billion per year equates to more than $16 Million dollars per day, which (at $50,000 per teacher) is enough to hire 120,000 teachers.
Michael Morris has given us another entertaining post on the opaque salve of religion, applied this time in the courtroom. The title of this post: "Claiming You’re Jesus’ BFF Can Prove You’re Sane . . . And Get You Killed!"
Glenn Greenwald reports that Benjamin Wittes, a writer for the Brookings Institute wrote: "The [New York] Times is not an advocacy organization whose job it is to 'aggressively challenge' the government's claims of the rates of civilian casualties - except to the extent that those claims are untrue." Wittes was responding to an article by NYT suggesting that the NYT could do a better, more aggressive, job of scrutinizing the drone program of President Obama. Greenwald points out the problem with those who criticize those who dare to question the government:
It's amazing that someone not only believes - but is willing to say publicly - that it is not the job of a newspaper to "aggressively challenge" government claims on a highly controversial assassination program that is shrouded in secrecy and uncertainty. That, more than anything else, is the core purpose of journalism (at least in theory): the reason "freedom of the press" is protected in the First Amendment. And it's precisely the media's systematic failure - more accurately: its unwillingness - to engage in this function that has produced the last decade's most destructive outcomes . . . There really is no point in having media outlets that do anything other than "aggressively challenge" the claims of those in power. Actually, there is a point in having that: it allows government assertions to be glorified as true even when there is no evidence that they are. That is why so many power-serving Washington mavens are so eager to defend that model and demand adherence to it. And their success in that mission is why so many destructive government falsehoods are able to flourish without real scrutiny.
At Bible Funmentionables, Michael Morris points out some of the Bible's advice on child rearing:
The Bible has been held up as the pinnacle of moral authority, so when the Bible says, "Do not lie," we don't lie. When the Bible says, "Do not steal," we don't steal. So when the Bible says,"Kill your juvenile delinquents," do we really have any other choice? The Bible delivers many examples of bad parenting. Lot offers his daughters to the rapacious mob of Sodom, so that the mob would be okay with not having their way with his male house guests. Thoughtful host, worst parent ever. This is the same Lot that impregnated two of his daughters, and according to Wikipedia, "Christians and Muslims revere Lot as a righteous man of God." In the famous story of the sacrifice of Isaac, God at the very last minute stops Abraham from killing his son Isaac.Along with the above advice on child raising, I offer the follow Bible advice regarding family values (this is a posting on Facebook--I cannot determine the original creator of the image):
Morris offer much more advice from the Bible, all of it reprehensible, including the requirement that we kill people who gathers sticks on the sabbath —Numbers 15:32-36.
With regard to all of the above advice, the bottom line would seem to be this: Don't obey the Bible.