The Big List #13

• How I Believe In God

This is a recent post from Roger Ebert’s Journal, the blog where the venerable film critic holds forth on topics both film-related and non-film-related. This one is non-film-related, and is one of the best pieces I have ever read on the nuances of religion and spirituality. Reading Ayn Rand’s philosophy brings one to some of the same questions. Both are refreshing. And given how pervasive religion is in this world, both need to be read by way more people than have actually read them - so support secularization, and pass ‘em on!

• Spirituality, Not Religion, Makes Kids Happy

(From a previous Big List that got started but not finished, an article from LiveScience that was posted (long ago) on MSNBC.) Boy, this is just asking for trouble, isn’t it? A scientific study that tries to say something about religion and spirtuality. We need more items like this and less items about religious extremists flying planes into buildings. So, once again...support secularization, and pass it on!

• Transgendered Mayor May Get Reality Show

Silverton, Oregon, mayor Stu Rasmussen, who is transgendered, may be getting his own reality show. For the most part, reality shows are a pox on television - itself largely a pox on humanity - and need to die immediately; but a reality show that documents (what a novel idea for a non-fictional teleplay!) how a small town in the Pacific Northwest is able to accept that a transgendered person is their mayor might actually be worth watching. The American people need to be more open-minded about nearly everything, and if they must watch television, they should be watching better television.

• Your Tax Dollars At Work!

Federal stimulus money will enable the state of Indiana to hire two thousand young people to work for the Young Hoosiers Conservation Corps this summer. These new state employees will be working with the DNR to beautify our state parks and other recreation areas. DNR has suffered from reduced funding for a long time now, with the result being that fees at parks are going up, while services are going away. The jobs created by these Federal stimulus dollars just might help to stem some of that tide. (Note to George W. Bush: This is what helping people - other than the criminals employed by Halliburton and Blackwater - actually looks like.)

Finally, for a bit of a laugh...

Bradley Whitford Says..."Waterboard Dick!"

Who? Bradley Whitford. Probably best known for playing Josh Lyman on The West Wing, but he was also in Revenge Of The Nerds 2: Nerds In Paradise. He’s also pretty astute in noting that we should waterboard Darth Cheney to get the information he claims to have about how waterboarding worked on high-value detainees. I think it would be fun to go even further than that - and I’m borrowing from George Carlin here, so I promise never to run for Vice President - and dip that fucker in brown gravy and then lock him in a small room with a wolverine who’s high on angel dust.