Unknowning Interview With A Nice Bernite Acolyte

Last night a nice lady called encouraging me to vote for her BFF, Bernie Sanders. Highlights of the call:
"Are you planning to caucus on Tuesday?"
Me: "Yup."
"Have you made up your mind yet as who you would vote for?"
Me: "Nope."
She started gushing enthusiasm for Bernie, and might have even gone off script a bit.
Me: "Since I have a Bernie Sanders person on the line, may I ask you a few questions?"
"Oh sure."
Me: "Great!" I went through my spiel about Hillary and the DNC choosing Bernie to be her opponent in this election so that she could pretend to have 'to fight' for the nomination; I also used the 'ugly tire' analogy-that Bernie is so far to the Left that he makes Hillary look Moderate by comparison, and also...to be honest...he makes her seem 'younger' by contrast.
The Bernie acolyte wasn't offended-she seemed pleased that Bern is considered
Far Left. Badge of Honor.
I gently nudged the conversation over into "Planned Parenthood" territory, asking about the states which were defunding Planned Parenthood over the undercover videos which had caused quite an uproar. She assured me that the ones who put out the faked videos in Texas had been found guilty of something or other.
For those who aren't up on that, the journalists were indicted by a grand jury, but that is as far as it has gone.
Making the journalists the bad guys instead of the Planned Parenthoodlums selling fetal matter...crazy world.
As the Bernite was wrapping up, she encouraged me to vote for Bernie at the caucus, so I came clean and admitted that I couldn't decide between Carson and Cruz, but that I would be caucusing with the Republicants.
In all, a very pleasant conversation.

Encouragement

I know-this is basic. But I caught myself worrying a bit ago, so I'm reminding myself, too.
It is easy to get caught up in the circumstance of tumult and troubles that infect our world.
Sure, sure-we KNOW better, but we often don't do better. We allow the 'cares of this world'
to plant weeds in our peace of mind garden.
How many times did Christ ask His disciples, "Where is your faith?" Answer: as often as needed; which was often-every time their boat started shaking in a storm.
If we pray and worry, the worry can only exist if we don't trust that God can or will take care of us.
And that makes for some pretty futile praying.
"⁵But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 
⁶But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 
⁷For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 
⁸being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." James 1:5-8

Happiest Nope Of The Last Week

I'm a lil late to the Par-tay, but I am pleased that one of our Nopes finally reached full maturity.
Did we want Jeb to be President?
Nope.
One down, way, way too too many to go.

Emperor of Pagan Empire Isn't Christian, Either

According to the Pope, Trump isn't a Christian. I agree.
Pope also would confidently state that I am not a Christian, according to his theology.
Don't care.
According to my theology, Pope isn't a Christian.
He wouldn't care.
{shrugs}
If Trump wins the Republican (NOT Christian!) nomination and is the alternative is whichever old white person the Dems get stuck with...I will vote for Trump.

Personal Past

Not the best half photo I've ever taken, but here for context-this was Fourth of July fireworks in 2007. On the video above we can hear my Dad and I talking; it was just nice to hear his voice again.

Bernied Thoughts and Hillary's Political Half-life

Just a few slices off of my crumb cake of thinking about recent events.
Neither Bernie Sanders nor Hillary Clinton will lack Vice Presidential candidates
willing to hook their wagon to the Nominee's stars.
Talk about being a heatbeat away from the Presidency!
Bernie, if elected, might not last a week. Doesn't handle pressure well.
Hillary, if she wins, may take her oath of office in a stylish 'orange is the new black' jumpsuit.
Bernie was born before the United States entered World War Two. Let that sink in.
Ok? Ok. Moving on, Hillary seems to garner more server troubles than Win 98.
July 25th-the Democratic Convention kicks off in Philadelphia. 
If Hillary does survive until July...I will be surprised. But I often am.
Look for a plentitude of Vice Opportunist In Chief candidates to toss their hats into the proverbial ring.

Zingers From the Back Pew

The weak tea of the atheist next door, or Atheist Republic.

'The assertion that one has absolute truth on any given topic ignores a fundamental aspect of the human experience; that we are all failing regularly and we have no way of understanding when those moments are without an external, unbiased viewpoint.'

This sums up the failure of atheism and secular humanism. 

Is it not so that the Atheist declares that he or she has absolute truth regarding the non-existence of God? But…but…their proof comes from their human experience! That experience which fails regularly!

Do they claim to have an external unbiased viewpoint regarding their proofs against God’s existence?

Nyet. Their viewpoint is internal, from within the human experience, and extremely biased.

“The human need to be correct, while being important to the advancement of humanity, is also the source of its greatest blunders.”

Neurotic? If by human need to be correct you mean Pride, then we agree.

“The human need to be correct (Pride, fear of being wrong or being seen as a failure) while being important to the advancement of humanity, is also the source of its greatest blunders.”

Or, as the Bible states, Pride goes before a fall. Pride is the gasoline running the motors of human civilization right over the Lemming Cliffs. 

See any humility amongst the atheist ranks? Any humble secular humanists? Nope. If they were humble they might (just might, mind you) admit that they could be wrong concerning the existence of God…but if they do that, their entire sandcastle of Atheism crumbles. 

No one likes to be told that he is wrong-it hurts the pride of an atheist to hear that he is wrong about God. And that Pride makes him double down on his greatest blunder.

Skepticism as a Path to Knowledge

“The truth does not fear the open light of skeptical inquiry but welcomes it, for it is only by asking questions that the truth can be ascertained and falsehoods can be filtered out.”

A lovely statement. I am more than skeptical but if you welcome my inquires, Atheists, how is it that you are so certain that God doesn’t exist if you can’t prove it? What are your proofs? If your proofs cnvince you but not me, are they proofs or guesses? Whose shoulders are you standing on and do they have a firm footing, or are they also standing on the shoulders of guessers?

Equal Time For Nuttiness Sake

So, recently I was spouting off about that old devil may care, "Confirmation bias".  And example AAA111 landed in my soup. So to speak.
First, defi from the Skeptic's Dictionary:
"Confirmation bias refers to a type of selective thinking whereby one tends to notice and to look for what confirms one's beliefs, and to ignore, not look for, or undervalue the relevance of what contradicts one's beliefs."
The gentleman pictured above is Mark (not Mork) Sargent, and he is convinced that:
The Earth is flat.
The Sun and Moon and stars are not 'out there', but actually are light sources moving across the 'sky' WITHIN the dome covering our flat planet.
NASA faked not only the Moon landing, but are part of the conspiracy masters master plan to hold us in the darkness of ignorance concerning everything we think we know.
The world is flat like a plate, the North pole at the center and Antarctica is actually the outer rim of the plate which works as a boundary set by...someone.
Sargent has proofs which satisfy him. He has shared these proofs with the world on the interwebs, and is enthusiastic in the arguing/defense/promotion of his beliefs.
I've listened to a few interviews where he shared his views, and...yeah. 
Confirmation bias. As he is the sole arbiter of what constitutes 'proof', the evidence convinces him that he is right, and he believes he is right because of the evidence. 
In the interviews he had a ready answer for every argument. 
But those ready answers often fell back upon the assumption that most of the countries of the world are complicit in a global conspiracy. 
I think Sargent is a good guy who suffers from a class A 'Confirmation Bias'. He's not alone.

Equal Time For Fairness Sake

I writ about Bern, now Hilly, rhymes with Silly.
Prognostication-I see a future slung mud volley where the Dems will attempt to disqualify
Trump amongst the conservative 'Family Values voters' by reminding them that there have been
three Mrs. Donalds so far.
That fact does not dissuade me, and if he wins the nomination, I will vote for him.
I had to hold my nose and close my eyes as I voted the last two elections. I have more
respect for Trump than I could ever muster for McCain, so for me, the fact that he has been married more than once is a non-issue.
Still hoping for Cruz, but it's a long road yet.

Mister Sanders, Send Us A Dream...

I don't get Bernie. He's making the hearts of many palpati...flutter...with excitement concerning his campaign.
The point that he is an alternative to Hillary Clinton has been driven into the ground, the cold hard ground of New Hampshire. But it's true.
I've gotten the past few elections AND the Superbowl wrong, but here's my uneducated guesswork concerning this alleged 'race'.
If you own a vehicle, eventually you have to buy tires. So you go to the tire store.
The cheapest ones on the sale floor are brutally UGLY. They aren't actually for sale-their ugliness makes the more expensive tires look like a more viable option. You leave feeling smarter, having made a wise decision.
I think that the Clintons and the DNC "drafted" Bernie to be the ugly tire candidate of 2016.
Next to Socialist nutty not Ned Sanders, Hillary looks downright moderate. Like the more viable option.
BUT!!!!!
Call it Campaign Karma-Hillary is so unlikable that the ugly tire candidate has become 'viable'!
Dem voters feel smarter, as if they have made a wise decision.
Bernie can Win!
In the Democrat ranks.
Running against Hillary. But:
Independents will not swoon at Bernie's call for REVOLUTION.
Some might note that he's been calling for that revolution since before they were born-eventually you have to throw in the towel and admit that it just won't happen. No matter how hard you clap for Tink. 
Some wiser that I have suggested that Trump will win over the "Obama voters". I don't know about that, but I do think that he has a better chance of winning than Hillary or Bernie.
See you down the road.

Flint Michigan Refugees Seek Asylum In Syria

What do we want?
We Want Water!
When do we want it?
We Want It Now! And Superbowl tickets!
I just discovered that SJW stands for Social Justice Warrior. You CAN
teach an old Doug new tricks!
Flint Water Crisis. Terrible tragedy. The Flint city/county government is culpable, for creating
the entire problem...but the Flint government is well...read for yourself:
"The City is currently run under an Receivership Transition Advisory Board as of 2015 as the State of Michigan has declared a state of local government financial emergency as December 1, 2011. The Receivership Transition Advisory Board must approve all financial matters approved by the city council and mayor."
So no one is in charge because they bankrupted the government.
Democrats do that. This is a Democrat stinkhole of a mess.
Ten years from now in Obama's America, we would all be Flint, Michigan.

Ring...Ring...Ring..."Hello?"

"Good evening. My name is Leona Maple from the local TV news. Would you mind answering a
few questions about the Presidential Campaign?"

"Go for it."

"Great, thanks. What would you say the odds would be of you voting for Hillary Clinton?'

"About 50/50, I guess."

"Really?"

"Yup-if I serve on her jury."

Click.

Now Just A Cherry Picking Minute, Hoss!

From the Wiki:
“Cherry picking, suppressing evidence, or the fallacy of incomplete evidence is the act of pointing to individual cases or data that seem to confirm a particular position, while ignoring a significant portion of related cases or data that may contradict that position. It is a kind of fallacy of selective attention, the most common example of which is the confirmation bias. Cherry picking may be committed intentionally or unintentionally. This fallacy is a major problem in public debate.”

<sup>Great giggles rhombulated out of me the other night when I read once more the old canard (DUCK!) that Christians ‘Cherry-pick’ the verses we use to stomp on people’s heads.  As if there were only a few offensive verses to which we bitterly cling.

Naw. The Bible has many, many verses which make the ungodly uncomfortable.  If asked, I can point to hundreds of chapters that offend.  My query is: 
WHY do the ungodly arguing against the Bible cherry pick their arguments?
Do you know how many times I’ve heard: 
“If the Bible is true, Doug, then you must not wear two fabrics, as it states in whatever verse whatever.” 
“Do you think I could get a good price for my daughter? According to the Bible I can sell her.”  
“Shell fish? Doug, you heretic! If you believe the Bible, then you are blah blah blah.” 

You get the idea. I’ve heard variations on these themes for years, coming from unbelievers who bitterly cling to their monomania that God…isn’t. 
So… by referencing some ‘cherry picked’ verses from a book you don’t believe in…you think to prove your point?
Actually, that’s wrong. Most of the Argueists would never open the Bible themselves, so they rely on others to make their points for them. Putting faith in someone else’s opinion simply because it confirms your prejudice (see: confirmation bias).  
I have answers for all of their arguments concerning the Bible. 
I could go verse by verse and show the context of what goes where, why we no longer do this or that, why Christians reject this, that AND the other...but the Argueists just want to argue. They don’t actually care about my opinion; they care to only know just enough about the Bible to reject it. I think they should at least read enough of it to understand why it rejects them.</sup>

Black History Month-Crepuscule with Nellie

Celebrating one of the finest artists to ever come out of Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
If you don't know Monk...well.