Paul Ryan: As God is My Witness, God Gave Us Our Rights

Reposted from Omnipotent Poobah


Hebrew National Hot Dogs likes to advertise they “answer to a higher power“. Even though the slogan isn’t exactly non-controversial – some orthodox Jews claim they aren’t Glatt Kosher – they are, after all, in the business of making sausages.

But Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WhatthehelliswrongwithWI) thinks all Americans should answer to a higher power too – God – presumably the Christian one. That makes this one of those cases when you shouldn’t watch the sausage being made.



The Devil Made Him Do It
Ryan – already in dutch with the Nuns on the Buses – gave a peculiar answer to a quote by Vicki Kennedy, Ted’s widow, about Obamacare.

“This health care reform was the cause of my husband’s life,” Vicki said. “He believed that it was a moral issue, that it defined the character of who we were as a society, who we were as a country, and that decent quality, affordable health care should be fundamental right and not a privilege.”

Ryan offered a bit of a Talibanish response though, “What Ms. Kennedy and others were saying is that this is a new government-granted right. We disagree with the notion that our rights come from government, that the government can now grant us and define our rights. Those are ours, they come from nature and God, according to the Declaration of Independence — a huge difference in philosophy.”

As a U.S. Congressman I’d guess Ryan is about as ignorant as any Congressman about how our government works. After all, they prove that everyday. But Paul, buddy, the Declaration doesn’t govern who gives rights to anyone. While it’s a mighty fine piece of rabble-rousing, the Constitution is the foundation of our laws. And, the Constitution only mentions God once – in the signing date, “Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven.”

It’s OK, though a bit short-sighted, if you don’t like the Affordable Care Act. It rubs ill against people being healthy and making sure those private-sector insurance death panelists dole out health care to the highest bidder. It also rubs against that whole, “promote the general welfare” clause in the Preamble. But I guess it doesn’t count because God didn’t pen the line. Although, I’m sure he would’ve liked it to, it’s pretty snappy, it would’ve made a dandy 11th Commandment.

But disliking legislation that chaps your ass and justifying it by saying, “God made me do it,” is exactly why many of us think, “the debil made YOU do it.” Much as you and your anti-Sharia, pro-Biblical ilk would like, the Constitution is an invention of us mere mortals, the ones who fight and die and protest to make sure zealots like you can spout theocracy to their cold hearts’ content.

One would think you’d be proud people do this. It allows you to practice your bread and butter obfuscating and pandering to our lowest common national denominators. It is one of our few remaining bright spots in an otherwise bleak American landscape. Even if you want to give God a co-creator credit, I’d think you would like it that God made us so damn smart. Why, it would almost be as though he had created us in his image.

Goddamn!

God doesn’t grant government anything…yet. However government, duly adjudicated, HAS granted affordable health care to the American people. You and Mittens have pledged to bring it to its knees and gut it and I’m sure you will do some damage with the help of UnitedHealthcare and the Koch brothers. As of today, nobody knows if the Supremes’ decision was a victory or a defeat and for whom, but they – not your supreme being – are the supreme word on disputed government action. Hack away at one of the most moral actions the government has taken in decades. It is your right.

But God? Leave him out of it.

God & Science

Reposted from Omnipotent Poobah


Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland think they may have found the holy grail of science, the footprint of the Higgs boson or so-called “God Particle”. The particle is the theoretical model for what gives matter mass and, in turn, explains how the universe formed. It will be a world changing scientific discovery if the theory pans out. It will also stiffen the resistance of many Christians to the tenants of science.

The basic rub between modern science and creationist design believers is that modern science is simply wrong on many fronts. Scientific tools and conclusions, like carbon dating, are ignored because the Bible says otherwise. Biblical scientists criticize modern science as a bunch of unproved “theories”, a position that is a basic misunderstanding of how modern science works.


In modern science knowledge is theory repeatedly tested and reviewed before it is accepted as fact. Biblical science holds that the Bible is the font of all knowledge and must not be challenged, reviewed, or even questioned in any way. If something appears in the Bible, it is automatically correct – and they have their own “scientists” to testify to it.

But the Higgs boson discovery is one in which the two sides might not be so far apart. Many, probably most, modern American scientists are Christian and believe in the Bible and God. However, they can reconcile the apparent contradictions between the Bible and what modern science and experiments show by not taking either source as absolute. For them, there is room for interpretation and scientific ways to explain many of the “miracles” and other events in the Bible. In their minds, science and religion do not necessarily cancel each other, but compliment each other to form theories that, to them, make religion and science stronger.

The ultimate “proof” of God is to explain how He created the universe. Science and religion are both a little light in the proof department. Both suggest there was a time before, well, time and something happened. Science posits there was a Big Bang; Biblical scientists suggest God got things started.

But what if the God particle and God are actually the same? Or what if God used the particle as a tool to “create the heavens and Earth”? Is this truly anti-Biblical? And even if modern science finds the particle, the next logical question would be, “where did the particle come from” And neither source seems to suggest an answer to that. It is the classic chicken and egg question – a question that neither side can definitively prove because it is inherently unprovable. At the end of the day, you either try to prove the provable by constantly challenging accepted wisdom or accept there are some things for which there is no answer other than possibly God.

We’d all be better off trying a grand experiment, perhaps one with more impact on daily life than any other. How about we stop arguing? Let’s prove answerable theories and concepts through science and leave the answer to the ultimate unanswerable question a choice. Is there a God or simply the mother of all bangs?

The end result is surely the same.

Nissan wants Leaf to power your house

Everyone's looking for an edge in the electric vehicle wars, and Nissan might have one. It's working on a system that would allow Leaf owners to use the car to supply electricity to their houses during power outages.
Lots of people buy generators for that purpose, but Hideaki Watanabe, head of Nissan's Global Zero Emissions Business unit, says his EV could handle the job.
The Leaf's battery can store 24 kilowatt hours of electricity, equal to about a day's worth of energy use in a normal U.S. household.
"In case of blackouts we can utilize that," Watanabe said. "In Japan, some people say instead of installing a generator they'll just buy a Leaf. As of today we don't have a function to discharge, but we are looking into that."
Watanabe is pushing his engineers to look for ways to reverse the flow of energy.
"I want it ASAP--at least I would like to see some concrete proposal by the end of the year," he said. "I want a prototype."
Watanabe said Nissan could use the CHAdeMO DC fast-charging system backed by most Japan automakers because the technology can detect electricity leaks.

"It already has a very good safety device for when you discharge electricity from the car to the house," he said. "I'm not saying I'm going to use the CHAdeMO, but it has very high potential."

Greatest Country - I think Not - Happy Friggin' Birthday

Reposted from jobsanger

Our congresspeople, especially Republicans and blue dogs, don't want to hear about this problem -- because their economic policy (drastically cutting all social programs) will only make the problem worse. The problem is the growing number of homeless children in the United States. It's a problem that must be addressed, since homelessness can easily cause physical, emotional, and psychological problems for those children. But it's a problem that can't be solved without spending some money -- money currently earmarked for tax cuts for the rich and more military spending.

The U.S. Department of Education released data this week that showed there are now over 1,000,000 homeless students in this country. That is the first time in the history of this nation that the number of homeless students has been that large. Since the 2009-2010 school year, at least 44 states have seen the number of homeless students grow -- and 15 of those states have seen the number grow by at least 20%. The states with the largest growth in the number of homeless students are Kentucky (up 47%), Utah (47%), Michigan (38%), West Virginia (38%), and Mississippi (35%).

Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, addressed the problem saying, "The severe lack of affordable housing for families has yet to be addressed, and over one million children are paying the price. Everyone has a right to safe, decent, affordable housing. And until we make that right a reality for all Americans, the number of homeless students will keep rising."

But that is only part of the problem of homeless children. That doesn't include infants, toddlers, pre-school age children not enrolled in a public program, or homeless children who are being home-schooled (and yes, there are some). As near as we can figure, there are at least another 600,000 children not counted in the Department of Education study -- bringing the number of homeless children in the United States to more than 1,600,000.

Frankly, it is shocking that the richest nation in the world could have that many homeless children -- and be taking no action to fix the problem. Slashing funding for social programs will only make this problem worse -- and giving bigger tax cuts to rich people, or spending more money on our military (when we already spend between 42% and 45% of the world's total military budget) will not help solve this problem. What has happened to our national conscience? Do we even have one any more?

Really . . . Word of God . . . Really?

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Structures co-founder named Best Green Designer

Adam Cohen receives award for construction innovation

ROANOKE, Va. (June 28, 2012) – Adam Cohen, co-founder of Structures Design Build, today was named Best Green Designer by the Virginia Sustainable Building Network.

Cohen was honored at the 2012 Virginia Green Innovations Award ceremony showcasing the commonwealth’s best work in energy-efficient design and construction. Cohen was recognized for his design of the Center for Energy Efficient Design, the first Passivhaus public school built in America, constructed by Structures Design Build.

Cohen is a national and international leader in Passivhaus building technology. Passivhaus is the German term for construction that meets high standards in energy efficiency. Buildings with this technology are designed to use 90 percent less energy for heating and cooling than conventional structures.

Cohen, vice chairman of the Technical Committee of Passive House Institute US, is one of only about 20 people globally certified in the technology in both Europe and North America. He speaks frequently about green building.

“It is gratifying to be recognized by a statewide organization for making advances in affordable energy-efficient building design here in our region and beyond,” Cohen said.

The Best Green Designer award was presented at the Virginia Sustainable Building Network’s 17^th annual meeting held at the solar-power DuCard Vineyard in Madison County.