Thursday, August 28, 2008

Separation of Church and State

I am against mixing politics and religion not so much for the effect of religion on politics as much as for the perversion of religion by politics. Belief in God is Man's way of giving meaning to what otherwise appears to be a chaotic ultimately tragic existence. What does that have to do with politics? Why should anyone care which religion anyone else uses to meet this need? People who mix religion and politics are usually using religion to promote some political or other secular goal.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Berkely Radio Station

I was driving in Northern California recently and picked up a radio station from Berkely. The program was a leftist discussion group. It sounded like the worst of Fox News upside down. There were 2 things about their discussion which I found interesting (and maybe a little scary).
1. They were all unhappy with both major candidates for president. While one considered Obama less offensive than Mc Cain, the other actually preferred to see Obama lose because he feared a minority candidate winning would have a calming effect on minorities and make them less likely to rise up. Are they in touch with real life? Obama is a Centrist with a slightly left tilt while Mc Cain is a Centrist with a slightly right tilt. They are the nominees because they represent what "the people" want, a rational pragmatic direction. The radical Left and Right represent only themselves. I favor Obama because he is smarter and more effective.
2. The other scary item was their rabid hatred of Israel. They seem oblivious to the facts that Israel is a multiracial Democracy where all citizens (including Israeli Arabs) have an equal vote surrounded by countries that at best tolerate Israel and at worst want to destroy it. They were concerned that if Iran were to nuke Israel ( a proposal that Iran's leader has proposed publicly) a retaliation would kill innocent Iranians. How antisemitic can one get? Like the lives of Israelis (mostly Jews) don't matter?

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Wealth

Monetary wealth is spending less money than one earns. Poverty is spending more than one earns.