I Believe There is No God, by Penn Jillette

Posted on by rchapin

NPR has resurrected the "This, I Believe" series of essays and today, I think I heard the best one yet.

This one is from Pen Jillette and details his belief on the absense of god and the richness of his life . . .
I believe that there is no God. I’m beyond
Atheism. Atheism is not believing in God. Not believing in God is easy
— you can’t prove a negative, so there’s no work to do. You can’t
prove that there isn’t an elephant inside the trunk of my car. You
sure? How about now? Maybe he was just hiding before. Check again. Did
I mention that my personal heartfelt definition of the word "elephant"
includes mystery, order, goodness, love and a spare tire?

So, anyone with a love for truth outside of herself has to start
with no belief in God and then look for evidence of God. She needs to
search for some objective evidence of a supernatural power. All the
people I write e-mails to often are still stuck at this searching
stage. The Atheism part is easy.

But, this "This I Believe"
thing seems to demand something more personal, some leap of faith that
helps one see life’s big picture, some rules to live by. So, I’m
saying, "This I believe: I believe there is no God."

Having
taken that step, it informs every moment of my life. I’m not greedy. I
have love, blue skies, rainbows and Hallmark cards, and that has to be
enough. It has to be enough, but it’s everything in the world and
everything in the world is plenty for me. It seems just rude to beg the
invisible for more. Just the love of my family that raised me and the
family I’m raising now is enough that I don’t need heaven. I won the
huge genetic lottery and I get joy every day.

Believing there’s
no God means I can’t really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty
memories. That’s good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have
to try to treat people right the first time around.

Believing
there’s no God stops me from being solipsistic. I can read ideas from
all different people from all different cultures. Without God, we can
agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I’m wrong. We can all
keep adjusting, so we can really communicate. I don’t travel in circles
where people say, "I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing
you can say or do can shake my faith." That’s just a long-winded
religious way to say, "shut up," or another two words that the FCC
likes less. But all obscenity is less insulting than, "How I was
brought up and my imaginary friend means more to me than anything you
can ever say or do." So, believing there is no God lets me be proven
wrong and that’s always fun. It means I’m learning something.

Believing
there is no God means the suffering I’ve seen in my family, and indeed
all the suffering in the world, isn’t caused by an omniscient,
omnipresent, omnipotent force that isn’t bothered to help or is just
testing us, but rather something we all may be able to help others with
in the future. No God means the possibility of less suffering in the
future.

Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief
in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-o and all the other
things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever
have.

Click Here to read the article on NPR’s site



Nice Flip-Flops Mr. Bush

Posted on by rchapin

Mr. Bush, seems to me like you are sporting some pretty nice flip-flops, at least as far as the Plame leak is concerned . . . 
From what I can tell, on September 30, 2003 you said, "If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is.  And if the person has violated the law the person will be taken care of."

Then on June 10, 2004 you were asked if you would fire anyone who was involved in leaking Wilson’s name, and you answered "yes".

On July 18, 2005 you seemed to change your answer a bit.  When asked a question about the leak inquiry you said, "If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration."  That seems to be quite a different approach from your committment to firing anyone who was involved in the leak.  Now the bar gets set a bit higher, and they have to have committed a crime?

That sounds to me like you are flip-flopping on this issue.  That you stated your position, and now, when it’s obviously to your favor, you are changing your position.  Perhaps you should take a look back at the issues on which you accused Kerry of flip-flopping.  You might discover that for Kerry it may have been a case of modifying one’s opinion on an issue as more information was gained, and that in your case it’s a clear example of flip-flopping to cover the wrong doings of your own staff.

Tell ya what though, those flip-flops suit you . . .

Acupuncture GERD Study

Posted on by rchapin

A very interesting study on the effects of acupuncture on GERD.

At the end of the article is a very intriguing section where "Researchers wonder whether having H. pylori helps prevent GERD and other diseases".

I wonder if there is any correlation between the increased number of anti-biotics have resulted in the decline of the Helicobacter pylori and other fauna in the stomach that can trigger transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxations (TLESRs).

Read the Artcle

GERD Food Do’s and Don’ts

Posted on by rchapin

Here are some lists of foods that are safe, consumed with discretion, and to be avoided that I found on about.com.

Food Group Foods With Little Potential to Cause Heartburn
Fruit ? Apple, fresh
? Apple, dried
? Apple juice
? Banana
Vegetables ? Baked potato
? Broccoli
? Cabbage
? Carrots
? Green beans
? Peas
Meat ? Ground beef, extra-lean
? Steak, London Broil
? Chicken breast, skinless
? Egg whites
? Egg substitute
? Fish, no added fat
Dairy ? Cheese, feta or goat
? Cream cheese, fat-free
? Sour cream, fat-free
? Soy cheese, low-fat
Grains ? Bread, mult-grain or white
? Cereal, bran or oatmeal
? Corn bread
? Graham crakers
? Pretzels
? Rice, brown or white
? Rice cakes
Beverages ? Mineral water
Fats / Oils ? Salad dressing, low-fat
Sweets / Desserts ? Cookie, fat-free
? Jelly beans
? Red licorice
? Potato chips, baked

Food Group Foods To Be Consumed With Discretion
Fruit ? Orange juice, low-acid
? Apple cider
? Peach
? Blueberries
? Raspberries
? Strawberries
? Grapes
? Cranberries, dried
Vegetables ? Garlic
? Onion, cooked
? Leeks
? Sauerkraut
? Scallions
Meat ? Ground beef, lean
? Chicken salad
? Scrambled eggs, in butter
? Eggs, fried
? Fish, fried
? Tuna salad
? Hot dog, beef or pork
? Ham
Dairy ? Yogurt
? Milk, 2 percent or skim
? Frozen yogurt
? Cottage cheese, low-fat
? Cheddar cheese
? Mozzarella cheese
Grains ? Garlic bread
? Muffin
? Granola cereal
Beverages ? Non-alcoholic wine
? Beer
? Non-alcoholic beer
? Cola
? Root beer
Fats / Oils ? Ketchup
Sweets / Desserts ? Cookie, low-fat

Food Group Foods To Avoid
Fruit ? Orange juice
? Lemon
? Lemonade
? Grapefruit juice
? Cranberry juice
? Tomato
Vegetables ? Mashed potatoes
? French fries
? Onion, raw
Meat ? Ground beef, chuck
? Marbled sirloin
? Chicken nuggets
? Buffalo wings
Dairy ? Sour cream
? Milk shake
? Ice cream
? Cottage cheese, regular
Grains ? Macaroni and cheese
? Spaghetti with sauce
Beverages ? Liquor
? Wine
? Coffee, decaffeinated or regular
? Tea, decaffeinated or regular
Fats / Oils ? Salad dressing, creamy
? Salad dressing, oil & vinegar
Sweets / Desserts ? Butter cookie, high-fat
? Brownie
? Chocolate
? Doughnut
? Corn chips
? Potato chips, regular

Good GERD Resources

Posted on by rchapin

Well, not the prettiest subject in the world, but I was recently diagnosed with GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease), which is a malfunction of the sphincter at the top of the stomach (and/or other stomach/esophagael problems) that allows stomach acids to back up causing irritation and damage to the esophagus.

. . . .

I was diagnosed almost a month ago and have been following the direction of the ENT that did the endoscopy and made the diagnosis.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be doing much better yet, so I started my research into this topic to see what other GERD sufferers have found out.

During a break, I found some good online resources.

I’ll be posting more as I find them.

http://www.draftresource.com/gerd.html

http://www.cathysheaschool.com/cathysheaschool/articles_11.asp

http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/9339/10058.html

http://gerdawareness.com/

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing . . .

Posted on by rchapin

From Sonia:

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing.

He concludes
by saying:

"Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed in an accident."

"OH NO!" the President exclaims, "That’s terrible!"

His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as
the president sits, head in hands.

Finally, the President looks up and
asks……….

"How many is a brazillion?"

Could AgroBusiness Be One of the Next Big Things In America?

Posted on by rchapin

Currently, the US is not participating in the carbon trade.  Interestingly enough, we posess some of the most fertile ground in the world and have, historically been able to grow an abundance of agricultural products.

What if we started an initiative, whereby, instead of paying our farmers to sit idle, we actively encouraged the growth of any number of fast-growing, fibrous plants that we could use to generate food, fuel, paper, cloth, and . . . create a carbon-sink business, on a huge scale?
It seems clear that global warming is a valid theory.  That the continued burning of fossil fuels, coupled with the ongoing destruction of the worlds forests is adding to the amount of free carbon (in the form of CO2) to the atmosphere.  Moreover, it also seems clear that without intervention that the continuation of this course of action may lead to a catacylsmic shift in the earths biosphere.

Simply put, (and I’ll elaborate more on this later), what if we started not only cultivating fast growing plants to use a food and fuel, but also took a lot of that fixed carbon and buried it?  Literally.

Depending on the volume of production the US could enter the carbon trading markent with the ability to literally fix the equivalent amount of carbon emitted from other countries and industries.

Is is possible that this sort of agro-business could put our nations farmers back on top?

© 2005 Ryan Chapin