The One About... Beyond Tolerance.

There is a tendency among many people, to assume that only their way of looking at the world is valid. This kind of thinking is pervasive among many groups, but it seems to be most pernicious, where spiritual matters are concerned. The divisiveness is so bad that it leads a great many Christians on the Right, to act as if theirs is the only belief set worthy of consideration, while at the same time, you have far too many Atheists, Secularists, and Materialist Reductionists, on the Left who seem determined to stick their noses in the air and sniff disdainfully at the idea that Liberals, who are also people of faith, should have a place at the table right beside them.

Both positions, are to put it quite simply, asinine. Especially in light of something that I learned a long time ago. The simple truth, is that there are decent people in this world and there are horrid people. The decent people are Christians, and Buddhists, Atheists, and Pagans. And the horrid people? They are Christians, and Buddhists, Atheists, and Pagans. In short, it is the practitioner, not the practice, that is of paramount importance.

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The One About... Independence? There Is No Such Thing.

Today is July Fourth. In the United States it is a holiday to celebrate the founding of the country. Now almost every other country out there calls their version of this day, (insert name of country) Day. For example our neighbor to the north just recently celebrated Canada Day.

But we Americans love to celebrate holidays that are based on total fictions. For example we celebrate Easter, which is either about a giant bunny bringing chocolate eggs, or the resurrection of Jesus. We celebrate Christmas, which is either about a jolly fat man who can break into your house regardless of what security methods you use, or the birth of Jesus (...a prequel to Easter I guess...). We also celebrate slightly more high concept holidays, like Thanksgiving, which is either about the fantasy that the Pilgrims liked the Indians and didn't consider them a new form of vermin, or it's about preparing to make human sacrifices to the Gods of Shopping on the next day known as "Black Friday". July Fourth continues that proud tradition. We use the day to celebrate a fiction that is so powerful that we even named the day after it.

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The One About... Let Me Know How That Works Out For You.

Well, you can now add post natal abortion candidate, Michele Bachmann, to the list of Wrong Wing Nut Jobs, who are firmly convinced that everything in this country would be just fine and dandy, if only it weren't for that evil evil Federal Minimum Wage.

I tend to suspect that the anti-FMW talk is largely a ploy, to demonstrate to their Corporate Masters how compliant they are to the Corporatist agenda. Kind of the way that a dog will show it's belly, as a sign of submission to the lead dog. But frankly I'm more than a little bit sick and tired of it. At this point it's abusive.

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