Bad Art

One thing I find fascinating about art is how subjective it really is.  Two people can look at the same picture and see two different things.  Anyhow, I few weeks ago I was watching the Colbert Report and he talked about this guy Jon McNaughton.  I was able to find a couple of his works online.  The common theme seems to be Obama's deep and unrelenting hatred for America as symbolized by the Constitution.  Subtly is not really one of this guy's strengths as an artist.

Nevertheless, subjectivity can still creep in there.  For example, regarding the piece One Nation Under God shortpacked has quite a different take than McNaughton's clearly spelled out vision.  I think my (least) favorite part of the original is McNaughton's description of the immigrant in front who is stunned by the freedom of religion flowing from Christ.  Really though, it is hard to choose when there are so many things to dislike.  This painting is like what you would expect from an artist whose parents were David Barton and Thomas Kinkade.  You know: crap.

Wade in the Water

I have been reading this morning about a TED talk that was not put on the website because the topic was of a partisan nature.   I would like to start off by mentioning that I definitely respect TEDs efforts to not be partisan.  I have also not seen this talk (I am at work now, or I would try and find it or a transcript of it), so I cannot really say much about it.  This censorship may be a gross injustice to the speaker, or perhaps the talk was a hack job full of pigeon holes and ad hominems, or more likely it is somewhere in between.  I can't really say. 

Here is my question, how can one reasonably stay non-partisan when one side clearly rejects reason? For example, global warming is a partisan issue much of the time.   Basic human rights are also often a partisan issue.   Once again, I don't want to accuse TED of too much, and I do admire people who try to remain above the fray of politics, but if you are afraid to ever wade into those waters, you run the risk of losing the ability to say anything at all.

Update: I watched the talk. You can find it on YouTube.  I didn't see anything scandalizing.  Interesting, yes.  Scandalizing, no.

The Douchery of North Carolina

Well, after not having anything really relevant to write about yesterday, we have a outrage double header today. First, as I posted below, the Republican party is hard at work weeding out anyone with half a brain (or ability/desire to govern).  Now, I find out that North Carolina has passed their discriminatory anti-gay marriage amendment.  I am not sure what they call it, but I will tentatively name it the "There is something that I don't understand and therefor it is wrong and protect the family somehow American patriot amendment."   What a load of horseshit. 

Two things.  One: it is totally ridiculous that we can decide by a majority vote what rights people in a minority will have.  Not only is it ridiculous, it is scary; very, very scary.  Clearly, if you are not presently in the majority, you have no rights.  You may have privileges, but no rights.  What you thought were your rights were only the good will (and I use the term loosely) of the majority.

Two: Gays and Lesbians were already (profanity omitted) prohibited to get married by North Carolina law.  This isn't defense of marriage, they are on the offense.  Offense of marriage.  That does sound more like what is going on here.

Anyhow, I will leave you with this little thought...first go here and look at the picture.  Next, go here and watch the video.  Apparently, the golden rule applies in traditional marriage.  /snickers 

The Madness of Indiana

I do not always agree with Richard Lugar.  In fact quite often I disagree with the senator from my home state. However, I am sad to see him go out like this as I do have a great amount of respect for him and his willingness to make compromises to get things done.   In a time when more and more politicians are acting like that kid in the store whose parent is not going get them the toy they want, Senator Lugar always seemed to carry himself with dignity.  

With that out of the way, the republican party has lost its mind.  I am not saying they are crazy (we have known that for years).  I am saying they are being idiotic.   This upcoming election is going to decide who controls the hotly contested Senate, and Dick Lugar was a sure thing.  Don't get me wrong, Mourdock has a good advantage in perennially red Indiana, but now Donnelly is actually in the race.  Factor in that Mourdock now looks like he just took out his own grandpa and, who knows, Donnelly might just win it.   Thanks for the opportunity, dorks!

Rick Perry takes his crazy up a notch.

I hate to dwell on just one person, but this guy just keeps sending up red flags with me.  Gov. Perry recently had this to say about evolution.  Really?  Theory with gaps.  Okay, let's be completely fair.  I doubt we know everything there is to know about evolution.  Regardless, it is not really in question whether it does happen.  Creationism, on the other hand is a theory with only one gap, one gap that makes up the entire theory. 

A spot of tea

In my recent rage over current politics in the U.S. I decided to take a look at how the other half live, so to speak.  This landed me over at the home page of Tea Party Patriots.  I was immediately struck by the banner that reads "TEACH U.S. HISTORY IN OUR SCHOOLS".  Ignoring the conundrum of a group who thinks that teachers are making too much money demanding more education, I remembered that I did indeed study U.S. history in school.  Have schools in the U.S. stopped doing this?  I had to know more.  So I went here.  I found the campaign interesting in that it not only asked its readers to send a letter to their school superintendent, but it asked for them to send three letters, and they want you to send letters that they (Tea Party Patriots) have written.  Hmm.  What was their angle here (Sharon?)?  At the bottom of the text I noticed there is a link to the NCCS store which sells a "Constitution Week Education Package".  NCCS, huh?  NCCS stands for National Center for Constitutional studies.  Fair enough, I think it is important for us to study the Constitution.  Wait, was the NCCS the same group that published The Making of America by Cleon Skousen, which claimed that "white slave owners were the worst victims" of slavery?  I'll spare you the suspense; it was.  Is that the U.S. history that they want taught in schools?  Anyhow, if you have some time to spare you can go over to NCCS site and test your knowledge of history with one of their super fun quizzes.  See if you can spot the agenda. 

#$%@&$#@#!!!

Now that we know that the destruction of the world is not imminent, I feel it is safe to talk about more serious topics.  Right now there is no subject more guaranteed to raise my blood pressure than the all-out assault that the right is carrying out on the middle class in America.  I know times are tough and the money to run everything has to come from somewhere, but why are we taking it away from the people who educate our children?  And why must we take away unions' collective bargaining as well?  What does that have to do with anything?  Why aren't we taking the money from the irresponsible villians (that is the nicest way I feel I can describe them) who caused the world economy to nearly collapse on the first place?  It literally boggles my mind to think of how anyone can vote republican unless they make over $250,000 a year.  They are the only ones being served by this.  The rest of the base must be held hostage by social issues, which most of the time do not even concern them (e.g. gay marriage).  That is the only explanation that I can think of that makes any sense at all.  A few years ago a coworker complained to me that the United States was turning into a third world country.  At the time I thought he was nuts, and I told him so.  Now, he may be right. 

Anyhow, I am a bit out of my depth talking about economics, but I read this article from Vanity Fair,  and I recommend you read it too.  Chilling.

Kick-off

Hello and welcome to Atheist Apartment.  This is my first attempt in several years at blogging so please bear with me as I get warmed up.  As opposed to my previous blogs, which were more like awkward online diaries about things I thought were funny, this blog is about something that I feel strongly about.  That is to say reality.  I have recently (about a year ago) given up any belief in anything supernatural, and since then I have been gobbling up books, articles, online university lectures, debates, and probably some other media outlets I am forgetting about on the subjects of a) secular ideas and b) science.  Now then, I would like to take this moment to be perfectly clear that I am not a scientist.  So in the future (if anyone reads this) if you see something wrong with something that I have said, please alert me via the comment thread.  I want to be as accurate and honest with myself and with you as I possibly can.  That said, I majored in history when I was in college and as a historian (ha!) I do have a skeptical vein running through me.  Therefore, if you correct a mistake of mine, please, please do not say something like "I read somewhere that...".  This will not do.  Now that I have finished sounding like a professor (which I am not) on the first day of a lecture (which it is not), lets get down to the meat.

I was going to kick things off by boring you with some details about myself and a heartfelt journey through my becoming an atheist and maybe even conclude with a short anecdote about how I chose the title "Atheist Apartment".  However, something else has caught my eye and I have decided to spare you the personal details and journey, except to say that, I am from Indiana and I am indeed an atheist.  Both of these details have bearing on what I would like to talk about:  Politics.  Ah!  What a dirty word it is.  It is often mentioned with religion when discussing things about which one should not talk on a date.  And, seemingly, it is almost always peppered with religion when it is in the United States.  A few weeks ago I read an article on NPR's webpage about Indiana passing a bill to cut funding to Planned Parenthood.  I was horrified at the time and am even more horrified now that the thing (and I do mean thing) has been passed and signed into law.  Being a big fan of science, I am also a big fan of things like reason.  Now, here we have a group of legislators who, for religious reasons, are cutting funding to an institution which primarily provides reproductive health care to low income women who have no other options.  Real tough guys.  But let's not beat around the bush, there is no question about what this is about: abortion.  Nevermind the fact that the vast majority of what planned parenthood does is NOT abortion.  Now, let's look at what really casts this bill in the crazy bin: the fact that the money that is getting cut cannot be used for abortions anyway.  So basically, in the midst of high unemployment many poor folks are going to be left with no where to get things like birth control, cancer screenings, and STD tests.  Congrats, assholes.

Anyhow I saw this cartoon over at NPR as well.  There are actually two cartoons on the page, I like the one on top, not so much the one on the bottom.  I don't mean to trivialize the seriousness of this issue, but doesn't it seem like the baby looks sad to be in heaven.