A thought about stem cells

There is no rational reason to prohibit stem cell research. It is good for mankind and expanding human knowledge, which never is bad.

That's why "people of faith" are against it.

I was motivated by the recent federal circuit judge ruling that blocked federal funding for stem cell research. It has now been reversed but I am sure that an appeal is already working its way into the system. Ignorant savages people of faith may be, they are benefiting from the science and knowledge gained from medical research. Only the nutjobs who are completely against all man-made medical treatment are doing it right...and dying out as a result. Good on them. Keep it up.

 

I am happy to announce that I have an answer to all of this. It came to me on the toilet one morning.

If you are opposed to stem cell research, you may not use non-natural medical techniques when you ail. Deal with your plight. It's what The Farfalla would want.

You also may not utilize fertility treatments. Obviously, The Farfalla does not want your filth to breed. Since you will not propagate, you might as well off yourself now since that is the sole purpose of your empty, non-contributing life. I recommend hanging with a hemp rope. They are very durable.

 

You may use fertility treatments, however, under one of two conditions:

Option One: the female who is stupid enough to have this mindset can have only one ovum at a time harvested. Most source material for stem cells come from fertility services where many ova are harvested and fertilized a time. Just take one at a time and implant it. If it does not work, you pay full pop again and again in both cash and pain. It's what The Farfalla would want.

Option Two: You may not use fertility treatment for yourself but you may have implanted all of the remaining ova from a single donor. You essentially adopt the remaining ova from one donor and will have one implanted every year until the cache is depleted. You may not have state or government subsistence to support your brood. Either you and your family can support them or not. You may not put them up for adoption and with luck, many will starve to death. That will be your fault.

Actually, there is a third option: keep your filthy sewer shut and your superstitious crap to your self. You don't like stem cell research, don't benefit from it. Those who do, will.

Despite two thousand years of oppression, humanity has clawed its way out of the filth despite Xianity's constant badgering and we are better for it. Now we, or some of us, stand upright instead of living in a state of constant genuflex. Humanity will evolve and become better. For some inexplicable reason, we will drag these anachronistic fools with us. Maybe it's the Xian thing to do.

...And Misery for All

Link: http://tinyurl.com/yf9gs5u

An amusing trial is going to occur in California early next year. In it, the constitutionality of the state's recent Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage, will be assessed. Unfortunately for the backers of the porposition, they are in Judge Vaughn Walker's court. There was today a preliminary hearing with the attorneys, as highlighted in the link at the top. Judge Walker indicated that he was not amused by the position of the group and would take the opportunity in court to examine some of the rhetoric often spouted in the defense for such a ban.

I laughed several times reading this article, mostly at the simple questioning offered that garnered highly-polished I-don't-knows from Charles Cooper, attorney for the backers. After the hearing, the Mr. Cooper said that he would be ready with material to support his case.

Allow me to help you, the people who support this ban: you won't and never will for one simple reason: your position is wholly indefensible from a legal standpoint. The only thing you can say if that this is your belief or opinion. It will save a lot of time if you simply come out and say that it is the faith of your clients. Then the case can be thrown out for being patently stupid, bigoted, and faith-based.

One of Judge Walker's questions was regarding how same-sex marriage causes harm to mixed-sex marriages. Again, Mr. Cooper did not know. There is no harm to mixed-sex marriage except for that which is caused and perceived by the individual. After all, if same-sex marriage is allowed...where will it end? Mixed-species? Mixed-matter-states? Whom does it harm? No one. You may not like it, but that does not make it wrong or bad.

What business is it of yours, anyway? You do not want the government involved in an issue like this because, inevitably, it will decree something that you do not like. Then what? You gave them the power and now you are the victim. I would offer the same advise to you then as I do now: suck it up, jackass.

But marriage is a sacred institution. Bullshit. Humans were forming community-acknowledged pair bonds long before some asshole priest/shaman/witchdoctor decided to create a lucrative line of work for himself—and a few bucks—by pretending to solicit blessings from the Sky Daddy over the union. Humans form pair bonds. Even alligators form pair bonds, and they are hundreds of millions of years old—or 5000 in young-Earth years. That's all you need. Probably, after a few centuries of study, you might find that pair bond couples have greater success because of the nature of the pair bond. Maybe not much more, but its more.

Do pair bonded couples marry? Of course, and that's fine because at no time will I say that anyone cannot marry if they want. Marriage is not a sacred institution, unless you really want those blessings on the union. What are the typical blessings: children (have more sex, use the rhythm method, have sex every day - works for atheists and everyone else), a prosperous home (work harder or at least do work that rewards you in other ways beside money - works for atheists and everyone else); love and respect (don't be an asshole, plus love and respect your partner - works for atheists and everyone else). Hmm. I'm not seeing anything special here. Sounds more like magic and talismans and spells and potions are needed - you know, pagan stuff. Of course, if blessings are not part of the equation then make an appointment with your local Justice of the Peace.

I'm curious about these supposed blessings on the union: do you have to be a member of the cult to receive them or does the Sky Daddy dole them out to anyone? What about a couple who are not married, who have several healthy children, whose lives are rich, and who love each other to the end of their days? Did Sky Daddy secretly bless them? What if they are Buddhist? Atheist? Deist? Zoroastrian? Pastafarian? Stop me when this starts to sound really silly. Too late.

I'm sure that the big item that will be presented is the harm to children of same-sex parents. They are the same arguments used to prevent same-sex couples from adoption. Harm? What harm? Again, the only harm is that which is perceived by these bigots. They're not raising them like I do my children! Thank The Great Noodle! Maybe they won't be bigots.

Children of gay (from here the term "gay" shall encompass the full gamut of GLBT) couples may be brought up with different values than yours. Values are an individual's own pursuit. So what? Who is to say that such an upbringing is bad? The bigot? That person is biased. The same-sex couple? They're biased, too. Why don't you ask the kids once they are adults? Track them. Collect data. Analyze it. Collect more data. Compare those results with the first. Have other people conduct the same experiment with a different population and compare those results. Then, and only then, can you make a pronouncement about harm or benefit.

Aw, crap. That's the scientific method and this is a religious matter.

In any case, it's none of your fucking business any more than it is the government's. Those people are individuals. They have the freedom to change their own minds, express their own opinions, form new opinions and pursue their lives however they want. Just like you. The latitude you enjoy is available to everyone. It's starting to sound like you are opposed to people having values different from yours. Values are not part of a package deal when you reach adulthood. You build them over time. They change as a person experiences life. A person with fixed values is unable to grow.

Marriage is the cornerstone of the family. You might be on to something there...um, nope, that's bullshit, too. Maybe to you, marriage is required to have a proper family but have you looked at that position from outside your little bubble? How pathetic is that? You have to have this artificial construct imposed onto your life in order to be a good parent—I do not say couple because marriage is about children, you know, the traditional reason? You really believe that unless you are married, you will be a horrible parent and unable to love your spouse? Does that not sound incredibly wrong?

Marriage is about commitment. Again, I ask, are you completely unable to do this without the construct of marriage? Have you ever interacted with any of the other seven billion people on the face of the earth in your life? You have?!?! Were you civil to them? Were you polite? You weren't standing in front of a mirror, were you? So how is that any different from the way you would treat your domestic or life partner? If you are a civilized human, the answer is none. Incidentally, commitment to whom? Your spouse or your Sky Daddy? Who or what is more important? That sounds more like a three-way, and not the kind of three-way I was wanting.

Are you worried that those kids will not be brought up in a household of religious faith? Guess what, gays have faith, even if you think your faith ignores them. It is faith, after all. It is what you make of it.

Are you worried that the children of same-sex couples will become gay? There is no proof of that. If you want proof, I already told you how to measure that. It should only take a few hundred years to have a good data sample so that you can postulate a theory. It will never be any more than a theory because it involved humans, and humans are infinitely complex. Well, some are. To further clarify, so long as there is one variant, it remains a theory, never a law.

Whatever the results of the case, frankly, I do not care because, as the comedian is so fond of saying: everyone deserves the same opportunity to be miserable. If Judge Walker cock-punches these crackpots (please!), it will not matter to them because they will wrap themselves in their faith and know that they were right. That's fine. That's faith: a psychological mechanism to tell yourself that everything will be okay, despite the situation.

For my final swing of the bat, I have to ask: is this really that important? Is this more important than poverty? Is this more important that hunger? Is this more important than education? Is this more important than life where basic human dignity is oppressed? Stupid question, I know. Without suffering and ignorance, you cannot have faith.

I can only shake my head in incredulity. For the record, I don't think that marriage is completely bad, just unnecessary for civilized humans. If it helps some people behave themselves and/or be happy, more power to them? When the marriage fails, that okay, too. They're only human.

Since it's on topic: An opinion piece

The PTC and You (Have you had your shots?)

Source: http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/news/release/2008/0805.asp

The heady brain trust that is The Parents' Television Council today released a report lambasting the volume of sex on television. They cite a number of shows (that I do not watch) as being not only full of innuendo but with situations that promote casual sex and affairs over marital sex. Somehow, I think that they would still have blood in their stool if the shows only had marital sex.

What these people fail to grasp is sex is a part of everyday life, whether you are a finch in a tree, an indian in a South American rainforest, an atheist, or one of the PTC's board members. Religion does not have a control on sex. Animals have been doing it for millions of years without the concept of marriage and civilized pagans were making the beast with two backs for a good four millennia B.C.E. (Yes, I know that the designation Before Christian Era is the new anthropological middle finger to uppity Xians).

Sex is not going to go away. It is here to stay until the last human in the universe expires. However, because Xianity has never grasped the concept of logic, I'll give you a hand and it won't cost you a single lap dance. This one is free of charge. PTC's slogan is: because our children are watching. Yes they are. Try watching it with them. If you don't like it, change the channel or do the intelligent thing and talk to them about in instead of withholding information as you have been brainwashed to do.

What's that? You can't discuss it because they won't understand? Too bad that you have stupid children. On the bright side, they are more than qualified for a theological job.

Link to the report: http://parentstv.org/PTC/news/release/2008/0805.asp

(I advise not reading it on the toilet in the morning or you might fall off and hurt yourself laughing.)

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idiocy, ignorance, religion, sex

Sex and "children"

Some of America is in a lather over a portrait by legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz of Miley Cyrus. There are a number of points about this incident that disgust me. They will have to be presented one at a time so only at the end will the full picture be visible with all of the pieces interlocking nicely.

People are screaming about this as "the sexualization of a child." She is fifteen and in most jurisdictions, this is egregious. The photo shoot was not just for this shot. She was not forced to do it and made the decision herself. She is conscious of her self and her image. She would expose more skin in a modest bathing suit that she revealed in the photo. One or more parents were present for the shoot. Recently, she has apologized - ostensibly to her fans but in reality it was for the parents of her fans and the Disney organization. Her media empire will be worth around one billion dollars in a few years, just to herself. Who knows what Disney's take of this is. She is part of a show business family. While the motives of her washed-up, one-hit-wonder of a father may be in question, it is unlikely that her career is exploitive as it has been for some other child stars. Those are the two flavors of child stars. She definitely is very aware of her career and the impact of her actions on her audience. I am certain that she has been making more intelligent and important decisions for herself than most people ever will.

The first point of contention is that she is a child. Legally, yes. In addition, she will always be a child to her parents. Is she a child, no. Why? We humans have a double standard on this topic. With regards to animals, humans consider them adults when the reach the age that they can reproduce. We even artificially adjust the ages of our pets to make them fit into our own mortality system. At fifteen, it would be a medical problem if she had not reached menarche. Even our closest - and in the case of some people, an equal or better - primate compatriots, chimps, recognize this and will drive away males because they now are sexual competitors. It also occurs for females but not to the same level of ostracizion. The same standard of adulthood can be applied to humans because they are base, stupid animals, too. Humans reach reproductive maturity several years before the legal age imposed by cultures and societies. That makes them adults.

So why are humans not considered adults when they reach this physiological milestone? Is there something wrong with it? I hope not because that would mean that Gawd made a mistake. Gawd made humans work this way for a reason. Humans certainly are not prepared for adulthood at such an age - nor at any time - but that is because society imposed an artificial governor to impede them. There are a number of ideas about why: a flooded labor force, strains on the welfare system, and others. It is also unfortunate that they are in America because America does not have an adulthood preparation system that is any good. School has a modicum of impact and in reality has more to do with job preparedness than adulthood preparedness. I see three metaphors of reaching adulthood in modern America. One) A parent walks with their child down to the freeway. They watch the traffic for a while and suddenly, the parent pushes the child into to traffic. If the child is lucky, the parent will offer the advice of not being struck by a car. Two) The parent walks with the child down to the freeway. They watch it together for a while, but in the end, the parent never lets go and the potential in the child dies. Three) The parent lets their child drive the car every now and then, shows them how to maintain it, what the parts of a car are and explains the concepts of driving and the freeway. At the end, the child already has a car and has been driving themselves for a while. Most fall into the first category. More are becoming the second category while few enjoy the third. It is all backward-thinking that is motivated by self-interest.

Finally, the photo itself. It is sexualized? Is it sexual? Not really. Again, some clothing and swimsuits show more skin than this. This question is more about an individual's values; and not meat in a religious way. It has nothing to do with ethics (or morals - ethics for people who have to have their hand held). The values in question is an individual's dislike of sex. A person either likes sex or does not. If a person is neither one way or the other about it then they do not like it. Why dislike it? Sex is physiologically pleasurable so that we will do it more. If our sense of smell was strong as it is in animals, that would work to impel us as well. What is sexual about a bare back with nary a hint of gluteal cleavage and a fully-obscured-by-opaque-material profile view of the front? Nothing. It is the human form. It is supposedly made in the image of the divine. It is not something bad to see. I believe that, like the high-profile figures who perpetuate racism buy screaming about it the loudest (and not surprisingly purport to be religious leaders), people who demonize the glimpse of skin of any human are themselves salacious, sex monsters who are a heartbeat away from succumbing to their animal lust. It probably makes them feel out of control. How? Faith and religion about yielding control. They command the super ego and most of the ego. All that is left is the id, that little voice that commands you to masticate, defecate, and fornicate. Lose control of that and what is left? If only the grandparents of these anti-humans had been just as anti sex as they themselves are. Even better: if only they had been Shakers. You know, the people that make simple-looking furniture. Their sect requires strict abstinence so new members have to be recruited. Not many Shakers left. Apparently people want sex.

For a more contemporary update to the time that this was finally published, there is now the same sort of scandal in New Zealand with a sixteen-year-old fashion model named Zippora Seven. Aside from the exact same points being applied - except for having a parent on the set - this one is different. Fashion is allowed more leeway. At least it is in more civilized parts of the world. Plus, models are recruited when they are this young and even younger. Some fashion is quite absurd but so what. Some people go apoplectic over what they see on the fashion runways. Perhaps they also close their eyes when bathing. For them , I suggest that it would be easier to go ahead and gouge out their eyes to avoid the temptation. Might as well make this a real physical condition since they seem content to approach life and the world in a state of blindness.

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religion, sex

Religions to get behind

A cheery hello to all rational thinkers out there…the rest I ask kindly for you to go visit the Great Big Sky Daddy and stop bothering us! We will be sad to see you go, we truly will, as you provide us such merriment (can you hear the sardonicism?) …all things must come to an end…even the Big Invisible Sky Daddy.

Well I have been asked to guest post. I want to bring to light those religions we can get behind or support.

Here are the rules:
1) The religion requires its adherents to keep this contagion to themselves.
2) The religion must be Polytheistic in nature.
3) The religion must be oriented towards the worship of nature.
4) The religion must require sacrifice (lots of sacrifices).
5) The religion must require lots of sex between its worshipers. Note: Sexual preference is a personal matter. A truly wise God would not care what is going into where on whom. Only Gods with psychological problems would make [sic] time to care how the sex gets done. Remember folks, these are Gods. We must wonder about those Gods who have time enough to be concerned about sexual practices of their worshipers. We all know they are far to busy running the universe to care. So you Gods out there who do in fact care and have taken the pains to have your “free willed” disciples write about sexual taboos go get some therapy. May I suggest Adachigahara, or Patecatl for your personal therapist or perhaps Freud “Sometimes a God with a lighting bolt is just a God with a lighting bolt.”
6) Faith, although necessary, is not founded in a big invisible Sky Daddy who loves us all but in a belief that most people are simple minded and need to be tended like sheep on their way to the abattoir--hence the creation of religion.
7) Not all rules 2-5 need be met but at least one of them must be met along with rule 1, which is mandatory.

Religions I can get behind. Although there are many religions out there that one could select as proper I will bring a few to our attention as examples of the kinds that we should get behind either singularly or as a whole.

Druidism: Note: The original Druid Religion not the watered down modern version.
Cult of Dionysus: That crazy god??? Who wouldn't love a drunken sex maniac like that!
Aztec Religion: But hey let’s not get too out of hand folks.
Loki: Even though this is not a religion he can be worshiped. And hey, everybody loves a trickster.
Adekagagwaa: Here is the spirit of summer. Everybody loves the heat and the skimpy clothes that follow.
The Ancient Greeks had it correct. Any of their Gods will do.
Witchcraft (or Bitchcraft depending upon the time of the month--can you hear the screams?). Now this is not a true religion. But the empowerment of oneself by oneself…Ahh divine!
(side note: Hey! Where are the feminists??? They need to be standing up for us men so we can practice mencraft.)

ABOVE ALL….PLEASE…if you find yourself desiring a religion that is monotheistic, Don’t.
Reference: For a detailed listing of the many reasons against this look up any of the tragedies of human history since monotheism became an option. Note: Monotheism is an optional religion this means that it is secondary to Polytheism.