God's Press Conference

For the next goofy Friday post, a video related to Dewey's concerns.  Enjoy!

Malcolm in the Middle and Atheism

Malcolm in the Middle has been on Netflix Instant for a few weeks now, and I have been working my way through the series.  I had previously seen a couple episodes here and there, mostly while it was airing and some in syndication.  While I always had a positive attitude toward the series, watching it from beginning to end has actually improved my opinion of the show a great deal.  I enthusiastically recommend it to anyone with any level of interest in situation comedy (it is certainly much, much better than the current season of The Office).  However, what really intrigues me about the show is its attitude towards religion.

And you thought the snuggie was terrible.

To lighten the mood from todays earlier post, I thought I would share the following story.  In the dentist's office the other day, I had a rare opportunity to watch television.  While enjoying Anthony Bourdain on the Travel channel, I saw the following advertisement for what was called a "forever lazy."  It is a one-piece set of pajamas for adults.  The rest, quite frankly, speaks for itself.  Enjoy!

The Bloomberg Nation

How downright scary is this?

"I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world.  I have my own State Department, much to Foggy Bottom's annoyance.  We have the United Nations in New York, and so we have an entree into the diplomatic world that Washington does not have." -Mayor Michael Bloomberg

The New York Observer recorded the above quote from a speech Mayor Bloomberg gave to students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on 29 November 2011.  It is simply shocking to me that he would claim such an "army" mere weeks after citizens were brutalized in the streets.  

It is only in the light of this human tragedy that burning the Occupy Wall Street Library is a lesser evil.  The obsession with power makes this seemingly moderate mayor come off as a brute.  That he would cite these powers as valuable experience for the presidency is as clear of a sign of megalomania we citizens can get from elected officials.

What is more frightening is that this admission comes only a few months after the shocking news that the NYPD has been working closely with the CIA in order to secretly spy on citizens in the years since 11 September 2001.  As the Huffington Post reports this is still going on, unabated, and without any real accountability.  Furthermore, the police department has been using its funding to spy across the tri-state area, which is clearly a violation of its jurisdiction.

These actions, taken together, make it very easy to present the case that the New York Police Department is out of control.  In addition the department and the mayor's administration have hardly offered apologies for any of these "minor" atrocities.  What happened to protecting and serving?  What happened to the democratic spirit in the governance of New York City?

Atheism and Knowledge

A friend and I frequently discuss the merits of raising atheist children.  I take up the cause of raising children as atheists, with my friend taking the contrary position.  My views boil down to the simple idea that, if not taught to worship a god, children will not invent the idea.  There are also obvious issues with the impressionability of younger minds.  Finally, if they decide to become religious later in life, it will be of their own accord.

I believe the propensity to become religious is at the heart of the disagreement.  I think it is somewhat likely that someone can become religious after childhood.  On the other hand, my friend thinks the chances are next to zero.  Therefore, not teaching children about god forever deprives them of religion.  In further disagreement, my friend purports that it is quite easy to become an atheist.  Thus the kids can fix the delusion by themselves.

George Washington?

As a new tradition, I am going to try posting something fun on Fridays from here on out.  Currently, I am in love with all things Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, so there might be a lot of their videos for the first few Fridays.  But check out the comic and youtube pages if you get a chance!  (NB: As of 11/22, that page's home video is NSFW).   Without further ado:

Thomas Jefferson: "But this is a good thing ... you don't worship the founders as I feared you might."

Random Person: "Yeah that's basically true.  Oh, except we exploded your face into a mountain."

Hitchens on al-Awlaki

Anwar al-Awlaki

The great Christopher Hitchens has recently devoted two columns at Slate.com to the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki.  I discussed this topic previously on this blog, but Hitchens brought up questions that were too thought-provoking to miss.

To summarize, I agree with Hitchens that the Obama administration's assassination of an American citizen raises a host of issues which need to be discussed by thinking individuals.  However, he brings up a salient point: what do we do instead?  That is to say, if we are not willing to kill homegrown terrorists, how else can we prevent the destruction of civilization?