Attacks on a mother and politician - it's not sexism

Since John McCain has picked the relatively unvetted Sarah Palin as his running mate. Attacks against her have escalated.
Some, even on the left, have balked at the criticisms leveled at Mrs. Palin that she cannot serve as vice president and be a good mother. These defenders of Palin as mother and politician argue that such statements amount to sexism.
The Gadfly would say otherwise. When I argue that Palin is not fit to be a politician and mother, not out of sexism, but based on Palin's track record.
I know several other women who are quite successful in work and as mothers, but Sarah Palin is not one of them.
Anyone looking at her record could see the failures as mother - her son may be a juvenile delinquent, forced to join to military to avoid jail time, her daughter is facing pregnancy at age 17.
Where was Mrs. Palin when her teenagers were romping around?
Also, Mrs. Palin delivers her youngest child, Trig, on a Friday and is back to work on a Monday?
Where is the motherly desire to take a few weeks off for maternity leave and take care of your child during his most fragile and critical days?
I won't even go into the issues of Mrs. Palin's record as a politician in Alaska, but suffice it to say that in and of itself should show how unqualified she is for national office.
The Gadfly argument here is that leadership should start in the home. That the problems Mrs. Palin's children are facing are a poor reflection of her abilities, or lack thereof, as a mother.
Men as well as women should be open to such criticism. It is not sexist to put forth such arguments, anymore than it is sexist to judge a woman based on her merit at work or home, rather than just her gender.

Music and Campaigns

As we are in the last few months before our presidential election, we are inundated with furious campaigning by Republican and Democratic sides.
One minor item of conflict that has come up is the use of music, especially by the Republican campaign of McCain/Palin.
Various artists have taken umbrage over the use of their music for McCain/Palin campaign events, including Jackson Browne, Heart, and Van Halen.

The Gadfly has a nice suggestion to these artists. While I agree completely with them that it is despicable for McCain/Palin and the Republicans to use such music when the artists completely disagree with Republican politics, I suggest you go ahead and let them play your songs.
Here's the Gadfly catch, though. Every time they play your song, donate to the Obama campaign, or to a 527 that supports Obama.
That leaves the poor Republicans in a bind - do they use your songs, and consequently support their opponent, or do they look for other music selections?
This tactic turns the tables on the Republican campaign and will more than likely lead the campaign to quickly cease and desist use of music that the artist does not support.

Shaking the cobwebs & talking about experience

The Gadfly has been dormant for quite a few months, gaining cobwebs.
Well, it's time to shake the cobwebs free - we need to keep the gadfly!
In the midst of an election year, with a much narrowed field of candidates, the issue of experience is frequently raised. On one side, there is a seasoned, geriatric US Senator, McCain, and an "experienced" first lady Hillary Clinton, versus what some have claimed is an inexperienced junior senator Barack Obama.
One should be critical of what is meant by experience, though. There are those who can learn from experience, and others who just experience things. Experience by itself is entirely useless, without reflection, without introspection, without feedback, without a desire to improve.
A great example is the issue of the Iraq war. In the neo-con propaganda fest run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, few cool heads displayed good judgment to see through the falsehoods in the case for war. John McCain and Hillary Clinton didn't. They fell in line with George W. Bush's folly of a war, fought under false pretenses. What good did their "experience" offer them in such a time of crisis? If John McCain and Hillary Clinton can be swayed by the falsehoods of George W. Bush and his cronies, how would they ever stand up for our country against terrorists?
Of the major candidates left in the presidential election, only Barack Obama showed enough judgment to stand against the lies of the George W Bush presidency from the start. Has Obama displayed great judgment at all times? Well, no, but certainly he has never yet committed any level of willful deceit or egregious error in judgment as rushing to a war under false pretenses.
The gadfly would gladly cast an enthusiastic ballot in favor of Obama this fall, and would encourage any other US citizen interested in having leadership with strong judgment and character in the White House to follow suit.

How about a secular holiday good wish?

On this day the Christians make a big deal about as the purported birthday of Jesus, the Gadfly would like to offer a secular holiday good wish to all those on the planet.
It's too bad the Christians aren't willing to admit that Jesus' real birthday probably wasn't December 25th, and that this date was probably pulled from pagan origins. Another inconvenient truth to those delusional with faith.
Anyway, those of use secularists should look at the basic values of caring for others, goodwill towards fellow men on this planet as goals to strive for, without an imaginary supernatural being dictating such efforts.
Recent polls suggest that those who are losing their religion are the fastest growing population in the United States. It would be wonderful if those of us faithless could band together to show how secular humanism can change the world, without having to resort to magical thinking.
Good day and happy December 25th, secular Gadfly readers.

The Golden Compass - a good fantasy with a dulled needle?

The Gadfly watched the new movie The Golden Compass today. Certainly an interesting fantasy story. Part of what drove me to watch the movie in the theaters, rather than wait for the DVD release as I've supported in the past, is the clamoring of the religious community, in particular Catholics, against the film.
Any film that riles up the religious ranks is worth contributing to, in my opinion.
After watching this film, I can certainly see how the religious community would get a bit perturbed. The evil Magesterium, a thinly veiled reference to organized religion/Catholic church is the evil empire in the movie, attempting to control everyone. Those who stand against the Magesterium are standing for free will and free thought.
Doesn't that mirror what's happening today? So much of the world is bought over, indoctrinated by religious dogma that we're never even given a chance to ask, is there really a God? Is this really true?
If anything, I would argue that The Golden Compass doesn't go far enough in pointing a finger at the church.
We need more movies and books to go on such attacks. In recent years, an outpouring of great books challenging the fallacy of God have come out - The End of Faith, God is Not Great, etc. Atheists, Brights, and all who reject the supernatural are enjoying a resurgence. We have, however, stood idly by the propaganda of the religious community. Was there an outcry by atheists over The Passion of Christ, or the Chronicles of Narnia? The latter, targeted at children, seeks to lure in more unquestioning believers into Christianity while glossing over the gross falsehoods and logical inconsistencies and paradoxes in the Christian faith.
I think the religious community is waking up to the fact that nonbelievers are the fastest growing "faith" in this country. If recent statistics are to be believed, non-believers, or at least people who don't attend church on any regular basis, far outnumber the evangelical Christians who make up over 20% of the voting block in recent national elections.
It is time the non-believers, or at least the non-radical evangelical Christians, flex their mental muscles and celebrate asking questions. In a sense, this is what Pullman in his novel and the movie adaptation, The Golden Compass is asking us to do, to keep our minds free to think for ourselves. More importantly, we need to flex our muscles in the voting booth, to steer our country away from theocracy and towards a real democracy, for all Americans, including the non-believers.

Mitt - it's all about the delusion

Mitt Romney is in a bind. You see, he embraces a different delusion than the rest of us. He embraces the delusion of Mormonism. Normally, this wouldn't pose a problem to his political ambitions. But in modern day America, we have a sizeable voting block, especially in the Republican party, who want to turn America into a Theocracy based on the Christian bible.
These theocrats will only vote based on their bibles, or proxies for their biblical beliefs, such as their pastors.
This is the problem that Mitt Romney faces - trying to pry these theocrats/Christian radicals from their bibles when they enter the voting booth.
There was a time in America, the era when John F. Kennedy ran, when people left their bibles at home when they went work or voted. Now it's different. The separation of church and state is blurred. Radical Christians seek to impose their agenda and beliefs in education, scientific inquiry, government, and the home.
There's no way Mitt will get through to these people. The best we can do is to shine a light of reason to show people of all faiths, but especially radical Christians and Muslims, that they are embracing a great delusion. There is no god. Period. The day that belief enters the mainstream of our society is the day we can have a real reality based dialogue about our country, our education system, our courts, our government policies, our economy, and our politics.
In the meantime, there's a bit of fun watching the wooing of the radical Christians while they end up proping up an unelectable candidate towards the Republican presidential candidacy. Good luck Mitt.

Why Google ain't all that

Google has been on fire lately. The stock markets, in particular, are going Gaga over GOOG stock. The latest lift under Google's soaring wings is its foray into mobile phones.
The probing question, though, is does Google justify its lofty position?
I would argue no.
Yes, Google is a great search engine, though not perfect. I use Google numerous times a day, especially the Google maps service.
But I have experienced the pitfalls of relying on Google as well. In some ways, the way we spend money in particular, Google has key flaws.
Recently, for instance, I was looking for a roofing repair company. Why not look to Google for such a search, right? Well, one of the companies I found through a Google search looked promising. This company is Dry Roofing Repair, with website www.dryroofing.com.
It turns out this company is a scam. I bought into the company's roof tune up service, but have been left out of luck in any followup after their supposed work. After looking at the company's Better Business Bureau's rating, they have several complaints lodged against them, including mine.
What I should have done is stick to the yellow pages, where I can look at a company listing or ad, and focus only on companies who are BBB members.
How did I eventually find a reliable roof repair contractor? Via word of mouth.
Google's current system doesn't care whether a business is scrupulous or not, as long as a company can pay money for a sponsored link, or create a website with the right tags to lure in victims. Ebay at least has seller and buyer ratings, though even Ebay can be a place to get scammed and fleeced, as previous postings highlight.
When it comes to how I spend money, I never rely on Google anymore. If enough other people reach similar conclusions, I wonder how long Google's lofty stock valuation will last.