Evolution, philosophy, and religion.

I was castigated by a person in several religions yesterday for my vitriolic criticism of a Creationist. How curious. His Scripture was from Matthew 7: 1-5, and mine was from Matthew 7: 16-20. I do indeed see most Creationists as bearing evil fruit, and I will attempt to tell you why. Understand here that I am not a truly erudite person, nor truly an Intellectual, thus have trouble marshaling my thoughts, and difficulty sometimes putting thought to page, but I will do my best.

In this Creation vs. Evolution debate, I am simply stymied. I was teaching a high school class once, and a young girl told me I couldn't teach her Evolution, due to some law of which I had never heard nor was made aware. I told her that as I was not trying to establish a religion with this teaching, which is the core of modern Biology, I didn't see why I couldn't. She told me that her mother told her, and her preacher confirmed it. Well, Reverend, I am sorry, but even a Bush appointed knee jerk right wing activist Supreme Court had to disagree with you and said that teaching Creationism or even Intelligent Design was actually "establishing religion" (see the First Amendment to the United States Constitution).

My aggravation with Creationists is well known to my friends, and I have never quite understood their shrillness,  because Evolution is NOT challenging anyone's religion, and if anyone's religion is so fragile that it can't stand up to modern science, well, it might be time to examine that religion. This is the rub, I think; they see it as a challenge to their religion, something that might make their religion not look so true, and they have to fight back tooth and nail, even in some cases with actual physical violence. I don't think this squares with Jesus' teachings.

Folks, Darwin had nothing against religion. Though he did lose much of his faith after his daughter died, he was never an Atheist, and his ideas have nothing to do with being against religion. Unfortunately, some modern scholars are in fact Athiests, and trumpet it loudly; there is no need for this, as Stephen Jay Gould suggested in his  idea of Non-overlapping magisteria. Using science to deny the existence of a deity or deities is facile and specious, and there is no need for it. I find it stupid. Taking evolution and trying to say "there is no God" is just totally ridiculous, and shows a lack of reason in my opinion.

Now, for a little of my philosophy, with some of my experiences.

First, "Creation Science" is an oxymoron. There is no science about it. In any scientific investigation, you take observed data and form an hypothesis. If the data fits the hypothesis, and the hypothesis holds up to further exploration, then you have a theory. Note that one of the "Creation Science" arguments is "it's only a theory". Yeah? What is "Creation Science" but a theory, and not a very sound one at that. Next, if everything works out, your theory becomes part of the modern body of science, like Newton's theory (now a "law), Einstein's theory of Relativity, and others. What these people did was take observable phenomena, gather them together, and form an idea of what happened. You find a bunch of fossils of animals that do not live on Earth any more, you see closely related finches on a series of islands that obviously had a common ancestor, what do you do? You say "Hmmm. These dead critters tell me that animals lived that don't any longer, and these finches tell me that a common ancestor must have lived in the past, and no longer does. Thus, a "theory" (later supported by much research and fact) is born.

What does "Creation Science" do? Well, they look at the facts, say "well, this had only 6000 years to have happened, so these finches were created on day 3, (Tuesday?), and these fossils are animals that Noah happened to forget, and were buried in the mud. Oh, and look, I know the arguments; I was raised a Southern (Hard Shell) Baptist. The Colorado River and Grand Canyon were a product of the runoff from The Flood, and happened in only  a short time. (Um, what happened to all that water that covered the Earth? Where did it go?)


Now, imagine an episode of CSI, and see Grissom telling his team not to make an hypothesis with incomplete data. The scientific idea is that you take the data, and make your hypothesis. "Creation Science" does this backward. They go from the premise that the Earth was created 6000 years ago (see: Bishop Ussher), and mash the facts to fit that. How is that scientific?

It seems that these Creationists have been infiltrating serious scientific groups, mainly on Yahoo, but all over (I have seen them on the Carnivorous Plants group), and when anything is said about Evolution, they jump on it as a hawk on a chicken, telling why evolution could not have happened, and offering up "facts" that uphold their "theory", and being totally disrespectful to anyone who does not agree with their junk. They hold forth these :facts", say it has nothing to do with religion, but is based in fact (never mind that their "Creation Science is based on Genesis from the Holy Bible, and not from any other creation myth), and there is no religion in it. However, they never fail to tell you how Jesus has made a change in their life, has sent them visions, signs, and prophesies, and start "witnessing" to you, right after they tell you that "Creation Science" is not about religion. Here I direct you to the ninth commandment about bearing false witness. One lady told me her husband was an agnostic, and believed "Creation Science" for years before he "accepted Christ as his savior". Yeah, I rest my case.

I have nothing against Jesus, don't get that idea. I have a lot against people who claim to follow Him. I often wonder if they are really following Him, or following someone else that they think is Him. Much evil has been done in Jesus' name, and people will threaten to kill you for deviating from their idea of Christianity, which is why, though a follower of Christ's teachings, I hesitate to call myself a Christian.Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were Christians (McVeigh was a lapsed one it seems), as is Eric Rudolph, and the guy that killed Dr. Tiller (Roeder). Bill O'Reilly is also responsible for Tiller's death (his rabble rousing led directly to this killing), as are many "Christians" who consider the killing of abortion doctors "justifiable homicide". (Who are you really following, huh? Matthew 26:52.)

I am a very spiritual person, and have rather strong beliefs, and still can see how majestic the unfolding of our Universe is without having to believe in a creation that happened only 6000 years ago. To envision a Universe that is impossibly old, and a mechanism for the evolution of species that is elegant and messy at the same time, and the laws (gravity etc.) that run it, gives me a sense of awe that I never had when growing up in the Creationist ideas of the Baptist Church.

I will write more on this as I think about it.

Early Autumn Colors

Early Autumn is that time before the main colors even start, when only  a few things have turned, and are often overlooked for the more spectacular displays of later in October. I am sure that there are some spectacular colors further north around Boone and Blowing Rock, especially along the Parkway, at higher elevations, but things have just started here in Asheville at about 2000 feet.

One of my favorites is the Virginia Creeper, a vine often confused with Poison Ivy or Poison Oak. This one is from my mom's back yard in Asheville. I don't, unfortunately, have a back yard to speak of, as the Universe (God, The Goddess, The Cosmos, whatever you call It) has not seen fit to grace me with land, though I ask for it often. After seeing colors out my kitchen window, shown here, of a couple of Black Gun trees showing bright red, below,

 I decided to go out in my tiny back yard and see what might seen from it. I discovered a lovely show of Virginia Creeper and Poison Ivy on a neighbor's White Pine, and got a couple of shots of that.

Note that the Virginia Creeper is red, while the Poison Ivy is mostly yellow or orange, with red highlights. Also, Virginia Creeper has five leaflets, and Poison Ivy has three. Both these vines are important food sources for birds, as the Virginia Creeper has tiny grape-like fruit, seen below,

and the Poison Ivy (also called Poison Oak) has white berries that are tasty to birds. Many people are highly sensitive to Poison Ivy; this is not really an allergy, as people seem to think, but a response to the toxic oil, which causes contact dermatitis. Some people are highly sensitive to it, and others, like myself, have no sensitivity whatever. Some claim that Native American blood is a factor, but I cannot say for sure.

This little bit of color seen from my back yard pushed me to get out and see what was going on near my house, so I got in the old Ford (mistake!) and started out, stalling out with a dead battery in mid trip.

I went poking around on the banks of the Swannanoa River at Recreation Park, and I did get some nice flower photos of some favorites, among them the Purple Aster, which I am extraordinarily fond of for some reason.

I also got a few shots of other late bloomers like the Knotweed,

 which is a member of the Buckwheat family, and speaking of Buckwheat, I also saw a Climbing Buckwheat intertwined with this Knotweed (also called Smartweed) nearby.

Both these plants have a seed inside the coating that is very like Buckwheat seeds (called groats), that are very similar in taste to Buckwheat, and can be ground into flour.

While poking around on the river bank I found the Seed Box, sometimes called Water Willow (which is a name for another plant found here that blooms in mid summer), and got a not so good photo of it.

I also saw my old friend the Woolgrass. Once upon a time when I was a Botanist, I concentrated my studies on the Sedge family (Cyperaceae), and this is not a grass, but a Bulrush, a relative of the Papyrus Bulrush, which the Jewish leader Moses made famous when his mother hid him in a basket amongst them for the Egyptian princess to find.

 Here is a shot of the Woolgrass in front of the outflow of the old Lake Craig dam.

And another favorite, the seed of the "Hearts-a-Bustin' shrub, found weekend before last in Hendersonville on a birding field trip.

 So, if you are in the Southern Blue Ridge around Asheville this weekend, absolutely go on the Parkway and see the colors, but don't forget to look around and see the beauty of the late blooming fall flowers and the early turning colors.

NRA and their political agenda

    I actually in some ways like the NRA, but they are just too political, too right wing, and I abhor that. Why do they have to be like that? They are just cutting their own throats by being so hard and reactionary. Plus, many people who would otherwise support them will and can not, due to their pandering to the extreme right wing of our society.
I myself am a gun owner, love to shoot, enjoy hunting on occasion (not a trophy hunter - I disagree with killing your brood stock), but cannot in any sort of conscience vote for any Republican candidate on any ballot today. I have heard "vote for the man (person), not the party, but anyone who runs on the Republican ticket today is a Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glen Beck clone that has no regard for poor people, the struggling (and disappearing) middle class, the jobless, or any social problems of our day, and have as their goal "stop spending" (get rid of social programs, such as "entitlements", that help the poor), "take our country back" (from people like you and me, and place it in the hands of corporate religious wackos), and "put God back in government (read your First Amendment asshole - it is every bit as important as the Second!). I cannot support any of this, so when the NRA sends me their membership stuff, I promptly recycle it.

Now, for those of you in the NRA who will almost certainly not read any of my thoughts, why can you not reach out to Democrats? Many of us support gun ownership, in fact our President (a Liberal African American OH MY GOD!!!) signed into law a bill allowing us to carry sidearms on National Parks in accordance with state laws. Wow. He also stated that the DC gun law was not constitutional - he is, after all, a Constitutional scholar.

If you could reach out to Democrats, instead of calling them names, talk sense to them instead of yelling at them, make friends of them instead of enemies, you would preserve the Second Amendment essentially forever. Otherwise, as people begin to move away from this far right, religious, corporate, hate filled party, and try to embrace some sort of equality (and, no, we don't have any sort of equality in the US today, no matter what the Declaration says) amongst its citizens, the far right will be seen as the lunatic fringe, who only want guns to hunt down people of color, overthrow the government, and kill anyone who disagrees with them.

I actually found a link to the Liberal Gun Club, a club that is actually for people like me! I urge anyone who is a Liberal, Progressive, Democrat, Social Democrat, Democratic Socialist, or however Liberal you might be. To paraphrase a Woody Guthrie song, 'this gun club was made for you and me!"



Please, gun owners. Do not go into the political arena and scream hatred at people who are afraid of guns. You just scare them more. Educate them, don't scare them. Cite references where a legal and honest gun owner has saved her or himself from certain harm or death by having a gun. Show them how a person can have a gun in their house safely and never hurt another person with it. Show them how ammunition is perfectly safe to store. Show them the story of a man who shot the bear who was charging his companion (I would have done the same), and lived to tell the tale. And then show the stories of the many people who simply did not survive the encounter.

Memorial Day

I lived during the Vietnam era, and had friends who hated the war and all it stood for (as did I), and friends who served in the US Military in Vietnam. I respected both, and even have respect for people who went to Canada in protest, rather than fight in a war with which they did not agree. I did not serve (asthma, allergies, etc.), but had enormous respect for those who did, and I stood up to my fellow Hippies (I was a wannabe - I never did drugs, didn't engage in free love, and couldn't play a guitar :-P ) who spat on them and called them baby killers. I befriended numerous veterans when I was in college, and listened to their stories of horror.

Even if you don't agree with what they do, respect them for it, and for their duty. I have felt for years that Hanoi Jane should have been prosecuted for treason; the boys in the Hanoi Hilton were NOT treated well Jane - look at John McCain's face (and, no, I don't agree with his politics, but highly respect and admire his sacrifice and service), and think that anyone who went to Hanoi, hobnobbed with Ho Chi Minh, and went on national television in his favor was and is despicable. You might be a Socialist, but by God, you are an American first. Though I cannot agree with the Iraq war, our men and women should know (and should have known in Vietnam!) that we support, love and respect them, and want them home ASAP. Though I disagreed with the Vietnam war, disagree with the Iraq war, agree with the Afghanistan war (I feel the Taleban and Al Qaida should be completely destroyed), whatever my feelings or politics, when I see a member of any service, be it Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corp, or USCG, I salute them (even though I am a civilian - I hope that is OK), and shake their hands, and say "thank you for your service", and ANY AMERICAN SHOULD TOO!!! Whatever your politics, religion, social status, race, creed or color, this is the least you can do for them.

Conservatives

I have been accused of offending a "Conservative". Oh dear.



I am mightily offended by political conservatives, and quite often. They did not in the least mind Dubyah, Daddy Bush and Ronnie Ray Gun cutting taxes for the wealthiest of Americans (in the hopes that they will trickle down - they, however,  did not get rich by trickling money to poor people), and said nothing as the Savings and Loan scandal erupted (a crooked economist's wet dream - give the good debts to the rich folks, and the bad debts, well let the tax payers pay them off!), or when Dubyah did the first bailout before he bailed out of office, and bitching and moaning about "entitlements" ( a right wing code word), and "how our taxes are spent", when people in the richest country in the world people are going hungry and are living on or below the poverty line (including me, but in a bitter racist comment, I am the wrong color and sex, and can speak English, so I can get no help - I am not often racist, but I hate illegal immigration. They can get so much help, and I can get none, and was born here! Dammit!). Too often the Conservatives simply want the poor people to die, and do not in the least want to help them, the people who need help the most. They only want to cut programs, especially "entitlements" (Welfare, Medicaid, Unemployment, even Social Security and Medicare), and anything that helps poor people (especially "niggers and spicks"), and especially "welfare queens".

Oh, and the "Conservatives", a group who should supposedly be looking after our rights, did nothing when their fair haired boy Dubyah passed the Patriot Act, one of the worst abrogations of our rights as Americans ever perpetrated upon an unsuspecting nation, in the guise of "security". I will let you look up what one of our Founders said about liberty and security.

The modern so called "Conservative" is really in fact not at all conservative, but a laissez faire  type of economic and political type, that believes (naively, maybe, at least I hope) that big industry and the stock market can regulate itself, that social problems can be cured by taking away funding (oh really? How would you combat poverty then? No answer.), that health care is just fine in the US (give me a break, and don't say the Republicans have a plan. Theirs is to die early, so you don't get too far in debt. Their answer is simply "No".), that all our violence can be cured by having prayer in public schools (you get all hot about the Second Amendment, but conveniently forget the first sort of guaranteed us religious freedom, and that includes freedom *from* it, or having it pushed upon us by a representative of a school that is run by a government body. And, yes, I own guns, and rabidly support the Second Amendment.), and I can go on.

I am also a rural Southerner. I have seen the industry dry up here, not due to "gubmint reg'lation", but to jobs shipped by the truck load (maybe train load) to China. I watched as a surplus under that old devil Clinton was turned into a deficit under the Bush Crime Family, where two wars were started, one righteous, but with no exit strategy, and another wholly illegal, with lingering questions of treason, where deregulation of the financial markets led to a melt down of our economy that has not been seen since the Great Depression (oops! Happened under Hoover, a Republican, and a Democrat, often demonized by the Right, got us out of it), and where unemployment went rampant in part due to jobs shipped to China (our greatest ideological enemy, and should NEVER have been a trading partner, much less "Most Favored Nation").

It seems that there are two sides on this health care thing, and each side wants to "Take Back America" from the other side. Honestly, I think that some of the people who advocate violence against people who voted in favor of what has been done in the name of the poor and underprivileged and are asking for violence, are probably mistaken in who they think they are following.


Does Jesus preach hate? No! Who does? Who are you really following? Matthew 5:43

Did Jesus hate the poor, and tell us to reject them? NO! Luke 4:18-19 Who are you really following?

Did Jesus tell us to reject paying taxes? NO! Matthew 17:24-27 and Matthew 22:15-22, Mark 12:13-17 and Luke 20:20-26. Plus Paul (I have lots of problems with Paul, but lots of people put the same faith in Paul as they do in Jesus, so here goes) said in Romans 13:1 "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been *established by God*." and in Romans 13:2 he says "Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves." and then in Romans 13:5-7 goes on to say "Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.



Looks like the Book has something to say about this. I just wonder who some of these people are following. From Biblical reference, they CAN'T be following Jesus or God Almighty, so who does that leave...?

Check out II Corinthians 11:13



Who quoted the Psalm to Jesus in Luke 4? You need to look around, for it looks like this being knows Scripture, and can twist them to his ways. People too.



I think I will pray for these people. The lawfully governed United States, long may she live, does not need my prayers. Looks like from reading Scripture, God is on her side.

Guns in the National Parks

OH NO!! GUNS IN THE NATIONAL PARKS! THE BLOODSHED, THE HORROR!!!

Can you see the headlines? They're already out there. They are absolutely without basis, and are frankly stupid. I think our President, a good Liberal, thought long and hard before signing this into law.

I too am a Liberal, though maybe a little to the Left of the President. I believe firmly in health care for all; I think it is something that should be a part of the rights of a citizen. I believe in most of the agenda of the Liberal wing of the Democcratic party except gun control, and I feel that a true Liberal needs to understand that this right, placed in The Bill of Rights, is part of the Liberty (notice the similarity between Liberal and Liberty) fought for by the Founding Fathers (and Mothers, for that matter), and guaranteed to us by the Constitution of the United States, is fundamental to who we are, and the concept of Liberty, particularly that a person has the right to protect themselves, their homes and family.


Now, I remember when Newt Gingrich took over the House of Representatives in 1995. A good bit of that was because Congress passed the Assault Weapons Ban and the Brady act in 1993 and 1994. Both acts had some common sense provisions, particularly the Brady Bill's background check, but both went over the top to assuage the unreasoning hate some "Liberals" had for guns in general. Both lost us the House in the '94 election, and we did not get it back until Mr. Obama brought sweeping change (supposedly; I have yet to see any, particularly on health care) in 2009.


Folks, a gun is not some evil thing that will automagically change an honest citizen into a rampaging bloodthirsty sociopath when he or she touches one!!! It is a tool, same as the tools people find in old fallow fields around here when they go out looking for arrow heads and spear points, and have the same functions. They are used for hunting, target shooting, plinking, killing vermin (wharf rats are a good target), personal protection, and unfortunately, all of our children in the Military are issued one with which to kill the enemies of our land. They are NOT inherently evil, nor will they make the holder so. If you believe this, you have been badly misinformed, and are thinking with emotions, not your brain. An honest, mild-mannered person is not going to change when they are carrying a gun; they are not going to go rabid and shoot you. They are liable to be more mild-mannered; pulling a gun on someone is a life changing experience, and you don't want to do it unless under extreme provocation, and your life is threatened. Once you do that, there is no way back, even if you are exonerated. The responsibility tends to make one cautious; i know many people who have permits and do not carry, because of the responsibility.


Now, in this state, a person carrying a gun in a park, especially a public area is not going to be obvious, due to the concealed carry law. The gun must be concealed from the public. Carrying a gun in the open in public can (but not always) open you up to an obscure law, "carrying a gun to the terror of the public", and you can be arrested for openly carrying. It is up to the law enforcement officer and the judge who hears the case.


Anyway, I feel that that poor couple who were killed by Gary Michael Hilton may have been able to repel him and get the law on him if either of them were armed. This predatory behavior of sociopaths and ruffians has been going on for some time in our National Parks - I remember when a female hiker on the Appalachian Trail was held by a psychopath and abused after he killed her boyfriend with a gun he was carrying illegally!!

So, am I worried about people being given a pass to carry a weapon on the National Parks? No. Not as long as I have the right also.

Note; though I am a Liberal, and somewhere between a Social Democrat and a Democratic Socialist (and no, I am not a Communist), I do own guns, I do shoot occasionally, and sometimes hunt (with indifferent success).

Banned from Carolina Rails Yahoo List

Ah yes, I got myself banned from the Carolina Rails group for speaking my mind. Yes, I was feeding a troll, and yes, I was trading abuse for abuse. These last three years have been difficult, and I get emotional easily. Really no excuse, but...

One of the group members posted a news story about some students at UNC Chapel Hill marching against the use of coal in their physical plant, since coal is a significant polluter of our air. I realize that many of our railroads haul coal for most of their revenues, especially Norfolk Southern, which runs right through my home town. I also know that this coal gives many of a railroad man, including my dad, when he was working for NS,, and in now, retirement, my mom since my dad is gone, a good living. But, coal is dirty, it ruins mountains when strip mined, and ruins mountains when the acid rain and fog comes through.

An aside here; there is really no such thing as "clean Coal" technology, as much as the President wants to believe in it. Coal throws tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, furthering global warming. And if you don't "believe in" global warming, I feel terribly sorry for you. They're having to haul snow into Vancouver, for God's sake!

Well, some blowhard came on talking about how we shouldn't worry about that, that people did horrible things to each other, crimes, rape, murder, child abuse, and the damned Liberals are worried about a few trees, that we were all a bunch of crybabies, and should be lined up and shot, or some such. (Maybe not shot, but the feeling was there.) He apologized in advance for "letting his fingers get away from him", saying he hoped nobody was offended, but he felt it "had to be said". Well, I was offended, and I told him so, and since he wrote the message to the whole group, I wrote my reply to the whole group, feeling it "had to be said", and a nice little flame war erupted between me and a right wing knee-jerk jackass. (Or two maybe, I don't know.) Anyway, it went on until I replied that he shouldn't ought to say such nasty things (he had resorted to cussing here), and I was an ordained minister and didn't appreciate it; actually, I did say a few nasty things, and did put in a few bad words, just leaving out letters. Ah well. Anyway, I was summarily banned from this group and this jackass wasn't!!!

If this wasn't a real humdinger already, I got a very sanctimonious letter from a preacher who said I shouldn't post bad words, even if I left letters out (he is right I shouldn't, and I stand corrected), and I should apologize to the moderator (I did), and this Glenn Beck/Rush Limbaugh clone who was abusive and actually threatening (I'll be Damned, and I won't leave any letters out!!), and proceeded to quote me something from Thessalonians, one of Paul's letters to one of his fractious churches. I wrote him back a nice letter, saying how I understood his concern (though it really wasn't any of his business), and would take it under advisement, but please don't quote Paul at me, as, in my book, Paul was a zealot and a firebrand, and wasn't in any way a Messiah, and a lot of his writing directly contradicted Jesus' teachings, who Christians ought to be following and quoting anyway. I actually quoted a few of Jesus' sayings back to him. When he got into Original Sin, I told him I wasn't too sure of that, and he hasn't written me back. Obviously, this minister is one of those people who believe in the total inerrancy of Scripture, which I cannot(including Adam and Eve, and Adam's sin), for a number of reasons. (One of them is that I am a Scientist...) Curiously, he hasn't written me back.

Ah well, I just wanted to share this with people. This moderator, in my not so humble opinion, was simply not doing his job, and still isn't. If anybody writes to him on my behalf, please be nice, and please do NOT be abusive, threatening, or preachy, just tell him that you support me in my rebuttal to this troll, and to please do a better job of fairly moderating a group.

I have taken my ball and bat and gone home, and doubt I will ever be a member of this group again. I went and started my own called Rails of the Southeast, and will do the same thing, only will be firmly moderated. If somebody wants to start a flame war, I will just moderate their posts. If they keep it up, I will cut off their posting privileges until they get over it. I won't ban anyone unless they directly threaten me.

I just had to say this, it "just had to be said".