Thoughts and Questions
National Geographic came yesterday and it says 44 percent of Americans believe in creation instead of evolution, according to the literal words of the bible. Something like 37 percent believe that God initiated some kind of evolution and it followed the basic idea of the bible creation story, ie first the animals, then the people. And only about 12 percent believe in evolution not involving God. But what blows me away is that nearly half of our population is completely closed off to science altogether--they believe we are living in a young world that was created in 7 days as we define days (not some kind of God day lasting thousands of years).
My brother once dated a Catholic woman who believed in creation. He asked "well, what about all those dinosaur bones?" She replied that God had put them in the ground to confuse us, but that there had never been any actual dinosaurs because the bible didn't mention them.
In further news Sean talked to his dad. FIL it turns out is voting for Bush. Sean asked if it bothered him in the least that no WMD have been found in Iraq. No, says FIL, clearly WMD were not why we invaded Iraq. So, asks Sean, does that mean Bush lied. FIL replies that Bush couldn't tell us (or the rest of the world) the real reasons he was invading Iraq, because to ever reveal the real reasons would compromise national security. What was I saying about people with Alzheimers not making the best voters? Though at least FIL understands who is running this time, he's not that bad, just forgets my name often...
Sean has reavowed his intentions to vote for Nader, since Kerry's dead geese photo ops recently. Sean's fellow attorney Chaz has been trying to convince him otherwise. After all, Chaz told him, "I'm pro-life, but I just had to let that issue go this time because it's so important to support Kerry." Sean does not intend to be moved though. Chaz further stated that no state is safe and that we cannot just assume that Maryland will automatically go to Kerry no matter what. Good point, Chaz, but sadly this is a topic that cannot be discussed in our home at the moment.
Finally, can anyone explain to me how we hope that this election will even be close to fair. I read about the Republicans in Nevada (and a couple other states) throwing away the registration forms of anyone registering as a democrat. So those people will show up to vote, thinking they've registered, and they won't be allowed to vote.
Also, I read that in some minority neighborhoods (more likely to vote Democratic) they are doing strange things with the polling places. This means that people will go to the closest polling place and be allowed to vote there, but later their ballot will be thrown out because they voted at the "wrong" polling place. Instead, their correct polling place will be further from their home, but nobody is informing them of this.
Does anyone know how this works? I've always just walked down the street to the local elementary school and they've checked my name off the list. I live in a 90% minority neighborhood. Is my vote not going to count? How do I find out what the proper polling place is? Any voting specialists out there who know this kind of thing?
My brother once dated a Catholic woman who believed in creation. He asked "well, what about all those dinosaur bones?" She replied that God had put them in the ground to confuse us, but that there had never been any actual dinosaurs because the bible didn't mention them.
In further news Sean talked to his dad. FIL it turns out is voting for Bush. Sean asked if it bothered him in the least that no WMD have been found in Iraq. No, says FIL, clearly WMD were not why we invaded Iraq. So, asks Sean, does that mean Bush lied. FIL replies that Bush couldn't tell us (or the rest of the world) the real reasons he was invading Iraq, because to ever reveal the real reasons would compromise national security. What was I saying about people with Alzheimers not making the best voters? Though at least FIL understands who is running this time, he's not that bad, just forgets my name often...
Sean has reavowed his intentions to vote for Nader, since Kerry's dead geese photo ops recently. Sean's fellow attorney Chaz has been trying to convince him otherwise. After all, Chaz told him, "I'm pro-life, but I just had to let that issue go this time because it's so important to support Kerry." Sean does not intend to be moved though. Chaz further stated that no state is safe and that we cannot just assume that Maryland will automatically go to Kerry no matter what. Good point, Chaz, but sadly this is a topic that cannot be discussed in our home at the moment.
Finally, can anyone explain to me how we hope that this election will even be close to fair. I read about the Republicans in Nevada (and a couple other states) throwing away the registration forms of anyone registering as a democrat. So those people will show up to vote, thinking they've registered, and they won't be allowed to vote.
Also, I read that in some minority neighborhoods (more likely to vote Democratic) they are doing strange things with the polling places. This means that people will go to the closest polling place and be allowed to vote there, but later their ballot will be thrown out because they voted at the "wrong" polling place. Instead, their correct polling place will be further from their home, but nobody is informing them of this.
Does anyone know how this works? I've always just walked down the street to the local elementary school and they've checked my name off the list. I live in a 90% minority neighborhood. Is my vote not going to count? How do I find out what the proper polling place is? Any voting specialists out there who know this kind of thing?