Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Occupy Wall Street Statement

Keith Olbermann reads the first community statement by the general assembly of Occupy Wall Street.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Certain Things are Too Expensive

Check out this slideshow. Feel free to spread this around.





















































Here is a breakdown of who has the money in this country; how much most of us have vs. the amount the wealthy have. These wealthy are the people the teabaggers think can't afford to create more jobs at a living wage, and should get further tax breaks.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Season's Greetings!



‎"Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

--Jacob Marley, from "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens


Happy Holidays!

Anson

Monday, December 6, 2010

Spirit of Christmas from an Atheist Point of View



Ironic how Christmas is thought of by many as a Christian holiday (and that it's under "attack" by those godless pagans), even though most of the traditions associated with the holiday (gift giving, Santa Claus, decorated trees, etc.) are pre-Christian and pagan in origin. More ironic still, is that celebrating birthdays and decorating with trees is considered idolatry in some Christian traditions--i.e. celebrating Jesus' birthday with trees is breaking a commandment. The fact of the matter is that Christmas as a holiday is "Christian" in name only (it really has always been just a mixed up jumble of cultural influences).

Similarly the "holiest" of "Christian" holidays- Easter, is named after the ancient Germanic goddess of fertility, Eostre-- and to this day the symbols associated with Easter (Spring, eggs, rabbits) are all about fertility. Again, a mishmash of cultural traditions.

Halloween's wearing of masks and costumes and emphasis on the dead is also pagan in origin.

I don't believe in deities or spirits, Christian or otherwise, although I find the old traditions associated with Christmas and Halloween enjoyable and fun. I even enjoy much of the old traditional Christmas music, even with all it's Jesus-y themes in it.

The "Christian" aspect of the holidays doesn't weigh in any more or less to me than any of the ancient pagan stuff does, although the many of the entitlement claims by many modern Christians really does get up my ass sometimes.

--Anson Jew

Friday, October 8, 2010

What Happened to the Middle Class?


Elizabeth Warren:


Another good talk:

Robert Reich:
An interview on NPR.