The Lesser

This will be the first year that I vote in a presidential election and the first year that I have paid close attention.

I will admit that I was of age in 2004, but I was still too young and naive to have a real opinion about it. I was still strongly influenced by my family and religious upbringing and hadn't formed any thoughts of my own on the matter. I figured since I couldn't make an educated choice, I would be better of making none.

I also happened to be in the wrong county when the day came, so that made the decision not to vote easier.

It seems that I'm not the only one who is all worked up about this election "thing", especially after watching the outrageous things being said by the right-wing pundits.

I must admit that it was a lot less stressful not paying any attention to all of this nonsense, but I cannot peel my eyes away. Every day I wake up and read the news, and my mood worsens.

I have been a proud supporter of Obama since the primaries and I will be delighted to vote for him when I get my absentee ballot in the mail.

However, I have gathered that some others in the "atheist community" will be making this choice with less enthusiasm, or possibly making other choices.

I am also disgusted by the blatant pandering of the democratic party to the religious. I am disgusted by it whenever I see it, on either side. Being young, I obviously do not have enough personal experience to see whether it has gotten noticeably worse among the democrats this time around. Regardless, I find it disturbing.

But I also hope that Obama is as committed to maintaining the separation between church and state as he was in the speech from 2006 that you have probably already seen:



This speech gave me hope. And despite all of the religious pandering, I have not yet lost it.

Here is how I see it: the country is filled with religious people. Atheists are a tiny minority. Barack Obama and the democrats want to win, so they are doing what they think they need to do to win.

Is it irritating? Absolutely.

But if it means not having McCain/Palin in the White House, I will be grateful.

Sure it is obnoxious to hear them talking about God constantly, but it is not nearly as obnoxious as it would be to have 4-8 more years talk of decisions made based on "faith" or waging wars against evil. It is not nearly as bad as the 4-8 more years we face under a republican leadership that neglects reason and logic.

I hear many people say, that it will be like picking the lesser of two evils.

I think this statement is ridiculous, because obviously no candidate is going to be perfect, and no candidate is going to represent everything you want in a leader. There will always be something imperfect about them.

But you vote for the person that gives you the most hope.

I have to say I am a little disgusted with the people that I have heard announcing, they will not vote for Barack Obama because of this.

Anyone who does not vote for Barack Obama because he is not a perfect candidate, and because the democrats are not a perfect party, is contributing to the victory of the greater of two evils, in my opinion.

So please, go out and vote.

We all know that atheists have a long way to go before we are no longer ostracized and demonized by our communities.

But I firmly believe that this road will be much easier with Barack Obama as our leader, and much more difficult if we allow McCain to win.

The Muslim Dilemma

Obama says Muslim issue is 'no-win situation'

Sen. Barack Obama said Sunday that responding to incorrect assertions that he’s a Muslim has put him in a “no-win situation."

If he allows the Internet rumors and other misleading information to go unchallenged, it’s an affront to his Christianity and could cost him support from voters who don’t want a Muslim in the White House. But if he aggressively confronts the rumors, it could suggest to some that there’s something wrong with being a Muslim.

“This is a classic example of a no-win situation,” Mr. Obama told hundreds of journalists gathered in Chicago for the UNITY convention for journalists of color.

“I have repeatedly said I’m not a Muslim, but this whole strategy of suggesting that I am is indicative of anti-Muslim strategy that we have to fight against,” he said.

Mr. Obama said he also didn’t want his religion to be falsely identified as a matter of respect for his own faith.

“If you were a Muslim and somebody consistently said you were a Christian, I suspect that you would want to have that corrected,” he said.

Later, Mr. Obama was asked whether he would be a strong contender for president if he were a Muslim.

He didn’t directly answer the question, but said the “American people are more tolerant and open minded than a lot of the pundits give them credit for.”

Constantly accusing Obama of being a Muslim is almost like using the Hitler card. By saying that Obama is a Muslim, these people are also expressing their dislike for the religion, and basically saying that they don't think a Muslim should be president.

This is why I don't agree with Obama's statement that American people are more tolerant than pundits give them credit for. You are practically un-electable if you are anything but Christian, and this hardly shows tolerance for other beliefs.

The Hitler Card

In almost every heated debate somebody inevitably plays the Hitler Card.

What is the Hitler Card? This is associating your opponent's position with either Hitler or the Nazis, and basically claiming guilt by association.

This is basically seen as a last resort or a dirty trick to use in an argument, as associations made to Hitler are often factually incorrect, or are insufficient to discredit an idea.

Frequent uses of the Hitler Card appear during debates on topics such as atheism, evolution, abortion, and eugenics.

The association with atheism, as I have said in previous blogs, is a false one because Hitler was clearly not an atheist. He believed in a higher power. It may not have been your higher power, but it is enough for him to be defined as a theist.



Other uses may be ineffective because mere association is not enough to discredit an idea.

Examples:

Hitler is responsible for the Volkswagen.
Therefore, Volkswagens are evil.

Hitler liked to paint.
Therefore, painting is evil.

Hitler had a mustache.
Therefore, mustaches are evil.

The Hitler card is often employed as a dirty trick used to incite emotions about a terrible time in the past. It is often over- or mis- used, specifically when an opponent wants to distract or anger their opponent.

Some of the most recent uses of the Hitler Card that I have noticed:

Ben Stein associating scientists and evolution with the Nazis in the film Expelled and claiming that science leads you to killing people. Hitler used science, science must be evil!



Fox News and many other media outlets repeatedly trying to associate Obama with Hitler. One example has been by claiming the Victory Column in Berlin is associated with Hitler and was a bad choice for Obama's Berlin speech. I challenge them to find a place in Berlin that is not associated with Hitler!



Or associating Obama with Hitler because his speeches draw large crowds (200,000 in Berlin last Thursday). Yeah, being a good orator must be bad, because Hitler was a good orator!



Another dirty trick employed by Ann Coulter is associating Obama with Saddam Hussein by repeatedly using his middle name. Same idea, different evil dictator.







So let's all lay off the Hitler Card, folks. It's ridiculous and over-used. Don't always fall for it, and let's stop abusing it and come up with some better arguments.

Eliminating the Bomb

Senator Barack Obama today will propose setting a goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons in the world, saying the United States should transform its nuclear posture and dramatically reduce nuclear stockpiles to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism.

Read the entire New York Times article

Thanks to Pharyngula for the video

Oh No, They Didn't!

Oh yes, they did.





Since when did "socialism" become a dirty word?
Since when did wanting to improve our nation and to work together with other nations make us unpatriotic?
Since when did the news become so horribly biased?

People of the World, This is Our Time

Some highlights from his speech.

In this new world, such dangerous currents have swept along faster than our efforts to contain them. That is why we cannot afford to be divided. No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone. None of us can deny these threats, or escape responsibility in meeting them. Yet, in the absence of Soviet tanks and a terrible wall, it has become easy to forget this truth. And if we’re honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart, and forgotten our shared destiny.

In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe’s role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth – that Europeans today are bearing new burdens and taking more responsibility in critical parts of the world; and that just as American bases built in the last century still help to defend the security of this continent, so does our country still sacrifice greatly for freedom around the globe.

Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more – not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.

That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.

The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.

This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands. Let us resolve that all nations – including my own – will act with the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation, and reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere. This is the moment to give our children back their future. This is the moment to stand as one.

Will we acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world? Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law? Will we welcome immigrants from different lands, and shun discrimination against those who don’t look like us or worship like we do, and keep the promise of equality and opportunity for all of our people?
People of Berlin – people of the world – this is our moment. This is our time.



I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.
But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived – at great cost and great sacrifice – to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world. Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom – indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares. What has always united us – what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America’s shores – is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please.


The crowds were crazy. It is reported that there were 200,000 people. I noticed many Americans and people from other countries besides Germany. Common things we overheard were people discussing whether they had understood the speech or not. I have the feeling that a lot of people who were there did not speak English.

One complaint I have was that there were not enough metal detectors. I had to wait for an hour pressed up against other people like cattle in a herd to get through one. I also wish they would have had big screens behind him as well. I was too far away to see him, but too close to him to see the giant screens that lined the path from the Brandenberg Gate.

This man is just a politician. But he is a politician that gives people real hope. He is a politician that can inspire partnerships between nations and real change.

He is just a politician. It is up to us, as "citizens of the world" to make these changes. It is our obligation to demand these changes from our governments.

As globalization continues to make the world smaller, it is our duty to put aside our differences and work together to ensure there is a better future for the generations to come.