Gina Liggett

A Glorious Summer Vacation: Congress on Standby

 Posted by on 7 August 2008 at 12:01 am  Politics
Aug 072008
 

Let us take a moment of silence and just give thanks for our good fortune: Congress is finally out of session for the summer.

The big news is that Congress failed to “deal” with the gasoline crisis. Oh, drat.

Now the country is in really big danger because Congress couldn’t save us from those evil, greedy, soul-sucking oil companies who somehow discovered how to pipe up all that muck of old dinosaur bones. You know, that “black gold”…”Texas tea” the liberals will need to transport themselves to the Democratic National Convention, and that stuff even the green-loving Pope uses to run the Popemobile.

So, just what did Congress do? Well, between the House and Senate, they managed to craft 7,192 bills. According to GovTrack.us, there are over 10,000 bills introduced during each 2-year Congressional term, and in 2008 17 bills became law.

(Busy little bees, weren’t they?)

Check out these websites to see what bills are still being processed in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House. And that doesn’t even count what’s going on at the state level.

I warn you though, prepare yourself for a dizzying experience that must resemble the overwhelming suffocation of getting caught in an avalanche. The sheer volume and breadth of issues being addressed by Congress is smothering.

But they seem to have no problem with it. Does this bother any of you, by chance? Should we have the kind of social system in which our government hyper-super-micro-ultra-manages our lives?

What should be a proper social system? Ayn Rand, the famous novelist and philosopher, says the following:

A social system is a code of laws which men observe in order to live together. Such a code must have a basic principle, a starting point, or it cannot be devised. The starting point is the question: Is the power of society limited or unlimited?

Individualism answers: The power of society is limited by the inalienable, individual rights of man. Society may make only such laws as do not violate these rights.

Collectivism answers: The power of society is unlimited. Society may make any laws it wishes, and force them upon anyone in any manner it wishes.

When Congress returns, they will continue their inexorable, frenetic push towards a collectivist society—structured not on the basis of rational principles, but according to a massively tangled and matted web of laws and regulations.

So, I wish the members of Congress a long and lovely summer break. Maybe they could relax with nice summer afternoon naps. Perhaps a little gardening in the early morning while it’s still cool would be invigorating and refreshing.

Or how about those Congressional members catching up on some reading with a really good book–an epic novel of our times written over 50 years ago: “Atlas Shrugged.”

Creationism Gets Green Light in Louisiana

 Posted by on 30 July 2008 at 11:01 pm  Religion
Jul 302008
 

Despite heroic opposition, irrationality made headway in Louisiana with the passage of the impressive-sounding, Science Education Act.

This law will allow teachers to use “supplemental materials” to promote the “open and objective discussion of scientific theories being studied including, but not limited to, evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning.”

That might sound pretty good, given the deplorable state of science education in the public schools, but it’s not. The purpose of this bill is to allow schools to teach Creationism in the science classrooms, a blatant violation of the separation of church and state.

People who believe in Creationism–the biblical explanation for the origins of the earth and life–are fighting against Darwin’s theory of evolution, a brilliantly-discovered thesis which ignores God in favor of actual facts.

There is no credible scientific debate against evolution. It is the unifying theory in all biology, and has been proven over and over again. The mere act of denouncing it in favor of “what the bible says” does not constitute a valid competing theory.

The bill’s stated goal of teaching “critical thinking” is a sickening offense to the human mind. It will critically shut off all rational thinking, exhorting young minds to accept on faith alone ancient mythical tales of our beginnings.

The Discovery Institute, a big promoter of teaching Creationism, deeply criticized the opponents of Louisiana’s law. They had the nauseating audacity to equate Galileo’s struggle against the church with their struggle against what they call, the “antichurch.” The author states: “But a funny thing about the truth is that no one can control it because sooner or later it reveals itself.”

This statement is a direct repudiation of our essence as humans: that we are beings who must discover the truths of reality by a process of reason in order to survive. The faithful have no more choice about this fact of our existence than the non-faithful.

Teaching the myth of Creationism, which requires faith, alongside the science of evolution, which requires reason, will cause confusion in students’ minds about what science is and why it’s important. It will impair–not enhance–the development of their ability to think.

Learning about evolution is a wondrous and fascinating experience. And it’s a crime that evangelicals are basically telling the next generation: “learning how to reason is irrelevant.”

Jul 252008
 

The religious right in Colorado is at it again, and they just won’t stop! I have decided to call them, “The Colorado Coalition for a Talibanesque America.”

A religious anti-abortion Colorado group already got a ballot initiative that would grant legal rights to a fertilized egg–which of course is an open attack on reason and liberty.

Now a local church is going for a ballot initiative to force schools to provide 5 minutes of meditation each day. This is nothing more than a naked attempt to get prayer in the schools, and they darn well know it.

These groups are not ignorant of our constitutional right to worship as we choose. But it isn’t good enough for them to practice their religion and respect the right of others to do the same.

Their goal is nothing less than to impose upon all Americans a society legally based on religious-right Christian morals. If you don’t believe me, just read their websites.

Our precious freedoms in America are based on secular principles of reason and reality, not on mystical ideas like those defining the repressive, backward and utterly irrational Sharia laws of Islamic societies. And we certainly can’t forget the centuries of stagnation and suffering under the tyranny of the power-lusting Catholic Church.

The separation of church and state protects churches from being overtaken by the state, and protects our society from being overtaken by the church.

But more than that, it’s a principle that upholds as society’s moral foundation not ghostly revelations by control freaks wearing goofy hats, but the facts of human nature and our requirements for thriving as civilized and rational beings.

The religious right groups must be stopped before they’ve had that second pot of coffee. In each of our states where these initiatives are happening, we must not sign their petitions. And we must soundly defeat their initiatives at the ballot box. We must write letters to the editor and to our legislators saying, “No more!”

If we don’t defeat the religious right by proudly reclaiming America as a secular society, we will have the church in our schools, in our doctors’ offices, in our bedrooms, in public buildings, in parks, at work: we will have the church in our lives everywhere.

If we don’t stop the religious right from hijacking the moral foundation of our society, we will never be able to turn back.

Jul 222008
 

Isn’t it enough that Congress forcibly takes your income and spends it any way it wants–for the frivolous or ridiculous, extravagant or exorbitant? Now they want to control the way you spend your own money!

Democrat Senators, Charles Schumer (NY) and Herb Kohl (WI), will introduce a bill prohibiting the use of debit cards to withdrawal from one’s 401(k) as well as limit the number of loans a 401(k) participant can take (doing so requires a monthly payment, fees and interest). Because of the crisis in the housing and financial markets, more people are dipping into their 401(k)s. Some financial experts believe this is an unsound financial practice.

Some people make bad financial choices, like getting overburdened with credit card debt, obtaining a loan for an unaffordable house, or investing 100% of their savings in some retirement swamp in the bayou.

But what if you needed money from your 401(k) and you needed it now? What if you judged it to be in your best interest? Your financial choices–good or bad–should be up to you as an adult to decide. And it should be no body’s business but your own.

But Senators Schumer and Kohl won’t give you permission to make those choices. So, you can just go to your room without supper!!

This bill is just another of the countless historic violations of the separation of state and economics, and here are some reasons why this bill is bad:

1. It’s a grotesque trampling of your property rights: your money really isn’t yours–not the money in your pocket nor in your savings account.

2. It’s a flagrant and demeaning demonstration of paternalism: the idea that government knows better than you do what’s best for your financial situation.

3. It’s a total disregard for the right to pursue your life with the only resource that makes that possible: the earnings from your work to purchase the necessities and enjoyments of life.

Here’s my letter to those Senators: “Get your greasy pork-fat fingers out of my pockets!”

Dennis Miller on Global Warming

 Posted by on 16 July 2008 at 12:09 pm  Environmentalism
Jul 162008
 

Dennis Miller scathingly attacks global-warming hysterics, those Al Gore groupies he aptly names “the world is flat and hot society.” The audience sounds a bit hestitant to laugh at times–maybe because any heretical comments against global warming is so politically incorrect. But there’s no mistaking his message.

Islamists Owe U.S. a Thank You Card

 Posted by on 8 July 2008 at 12:05 am  Foreign Policy, Religion
Jul 082008
 

It’s nearing the end of another U.S. Administration–and another gross failure of leadership that has allowed Islamic terrorism to adapt and thrive.

The modern threat of Islamic totalitarianism should have ended when it began with the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, but it hasn’t.

Al-Qaeda, declared enemy number one after 9/11, has been reestablishing itself in the remote tribal area between Pakistan and Afganistan ever since U.S. armed forces failed to capture its leader, Osama bin Laden, at Tora Bora in 2001. And Taliban terrorists have resurfaced in these no-man’s lands, increasing their attacks on U.S. and NATO forces within Afganistan.

How is this possible after President Bush’s promise of Sept. 20, 2001: “I will not forget the wound to our country and those who inflicted it. I will not yield, I will not rest, I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people”?

An excellent New York Times article details three important factors that have facilitated the ongoing threat: (1) infighting within and between our National Security bureaucracies, the State Department and the Administration; (2) the detrimental consequences of turfing onto Pakistan much of the responsibility for fighting these brewing Islamic movements; and (3) the diversion of priorities, expertise and resources to the war in Iraq.

But our inability to prevail against Islamic totalitarianism once and for all is due to a more fundamental cause than committing bureaucratic blunders and relying on shady allies to do our dirty work:

It’s a failure of our leaders to unequivocally declare that we have the moral right to destroy those who threaten us, and do whatever is necessary and sufficient to quickly and permanently end the threat.

It means: if Iran has been identified as the founder and prime sponsor of Islamic totalitarianism, then the Iranian regime must be terminated.

It means: if Islamists are setting up boot camp with the complicity of local tribes in some wasteland, then our forces—not a third party–must wipe them out, totally, using whatever means is required.

It means: we declare to the world that we will not play diplomatic games, rely on bureaucrats with conflicting agendas, or take into account the cultural sensitivities of our enemies or their enablers.

No more holding hands and singing Kumbaya with a mortal enemy who blatantly threatens to annihilate us.

This lack of full commitment to “the war on terror” isn’t lost on the American psyche. Remember when little American flags used to be proudly displayed on millions of cars after the twin towers were attacked? You don’t see much of that anymore because maybe the Islamists have called our bluff.

It’s time to regain our pride, and claim our moral right to exist in peace as a free country defined by the principles of individual rights.

It’s time to implement our moral imperative to decisively end Islamic totalitarianism–once and for all.

Top 10 All-Time Stupid Human Tricks

 Posted by on 25 June 2008 at 5:24 am  Funny, Politics
Jun 252008
 

1. Believing in God. What more needs to be said? It’s stupid.

2. Claiming that human-made CO2 causes global warming.

Point one: The sun–over eons–is by far the major driver of atmospheric CO2 levels–not human industrialization over the past minuscule decades.

Point two: Temperature rise precedes the rise in CO2 because warming temperatures enable the vast ocean reservoirs to release CO2 into the atmosphere. (Sorry, Al, you’ve got it backwards and upside-down–there is no credible scientific evidence that human-created CO2 causes global warming!)

3. Believing anything that Al Gore says.

4. Agreeing with the health care policies of a Senator who advocates socialized medicine for Americans, but whose life is saved as a direct consequence of the virtues of what’s left of free market medical care.

5. Voting for such a Senator. It’s stupid.

6. Acquitting OJ Simpson of brutally slaughtering two innocent people and making such a mess on the porch.

7. Forgetting to buy tickets to see the Dancing Itos.

8. Having confidence that Hamas will adhere to the latest cease fire with Israel. Hamas hates Israel, always has, always will, and will never adhere to any civilized contractual agreement. The whole thing is stupid.

9. Calling Mel Gibson a “filmmaker” since his release of Apocalypto. He should be called “man in need of psychiatric assistance.”

10. Not reading Ayn Rand. It’s s……, not a wise choice.

Jun 242008
 

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an extraordinary woman who grew up in an East African tribal-Islamic society, experiencing first-hand the endemic brutality and repression of the culture. By virtue of her courageous spirit and questioning mind, she freed herself and fled to the West. Her autobiography, Infidel, is a truely inspirational read. I’ve written a review of this book that was published in the March 2008 issue of American Atheist Magazine.

You can read the review here.

The Fashion Vigilante and Property Rights

 Posted by on 19 June 2008 at 5:32 pm  Funny, Politics
Jun 192008
 

I wouldn’t exactly call myself a snappy dresser; jeans are the way to go for me–that is, jeans with the waistband above my derrière, not below it.

But if I see one more young male walking down the street with an iPod in one hand and holding up his pants with the other, I just might run up behind him, and WHOMP!, down they’ll go!

Chewing gum and walking at the same time is hard enough. But can you imagine the tremendous challenge facing young men today having to walk, chew gum, talk on the cell phone, select songs on the iPod, look ultra-cool and hold up their pants all at the same time?!

But being America’s self-appointed Fashion Vigilante has its grave responsibilities too. When I double-checked my “Fashion Police Handbook of Citizens’ Rights,” I discovered (much to my dismay) that I cannot just going around WHOMPING pants with the back pockets sagging around the knees.

So I guess I’ll just have to stick to exemplifying that certain jean-wearing je ne sais quoi: just-faded enough, just loose-fitting enough–but not too much!!!

And keep my hands in my own pockets. That’s the civilized way to be totally groovy.

Disgusting Spectacle of Congress During Feeding

 Posted by on 17 June 2008 at 11:26 pm  Politics
Jun 172008
 

Those immortal political cartoons depicting Congressmen as grossly-overfed gluttons is as apt today as ever. My following letter to the editor was published in the online Denver Post concerning this practice by which Congress wheels and deals with your money all the while tossing us a crumb with their efforts at so-called reform:

“Transparency” is a hollow solution to the adulterous system by which Congress funds its pet projects. Just because lawmakers deign to reveal their spending requests does not validate what Congress has become: a trampling free-for-all where lawmakers gorge on the wealth and individual rights of Americans.

Lawmakers truly believe it is government’s proper role to meddle in every aspect of our lives, and to pay for it by expropriating the earnings of businesses and individuals.

But many Americans have taught Congress to do just that. They’ve said, “We want goodies, and we want them for free and we want Congress to provide them.” It reminds me of my third-grade student council elections in which one boy promised all the students “steak for school lunch every day” if we elected him.

As long as Americans continue to endorse the idea that government should have any other fundamental purpose than the protection of individual rights, it will continue to be business as usual: a porkfat feeding frenzy.

Gina Liggett, Denver

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