10 myths about atheism

Merry Xmas to all! Today seems like a fitting day to help dispel myths about us infidels:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-harris24dec24,0,3994298.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

Some happy thoughts for your solstice celebration

Found on drmss.com:

The US is insolvent. There is simply no way for our national bills to be paid under current levels of taxation and promised benefits. Our combined federal deficits now total more than 400% of GDP.

How's this as some added year-end education:

Of course, it is impossible to print our way out of this particular pickle because printing money is inflationary and therefore a ‘hidden tax’ on everyone. Consider, what’s the difference between having half of your money directly taken (taxed) by the government and having half of its value disappear due to inflation? Nothing. Except that the former is political suicide while the latter is conveniently never discussed by the US financial mainstream press (for some reason) and therefore goes undetected by a majority of people as the thoroughly predictable outcome of deficit spending. All printing can realistically accomplish is the preservation of some DC jobs and the decimation of the middle and lower classes.

(Emphasis mine.)

Or this glowingly positive gem:

And how about the fact that boomers begin retiring in 2008…that always seemed to be waaaay out in the future. However, beginning January 1st we can start referring to 2008 as ‘next year’ instead of ‘some point in the future too distant to get concerned about now’. Our economic problems need to be classified as growing, imminent, and unsustainable.

And let me clarify something. The $53 trillion shortfall is expressed as a ‘net present value’. That means that in order to make the shortfall disappear we’d have to have that amount of cash in the bank – today - earning interest (the GAO uses 5.7% & 5.8% as the assumed long-term rate of return). I’ll say it again - $53 trillion, in the bank, today. Heck, I don’t even know how much a trillion is let alone fifty-three of ‘em.

And next year we’d have to put even more into this mythical interest bearing account simply because we didn’t collect any interest on money we didn’t put in the bank account this year. For the record, 5.7% on $53 trillion is a bit more than $3 trillion dollars so you can see how the math is working against us here. This means the deficit will swell by at least another $3 trillion plus whatever other shortfalls the government can rack up in the meantime. So call it another $4 trillion as an early guess for next year.

Given how studiously our nation is avoiding this topic both in the major media outlets and during our last election cycle, I sometimes feel as if I live in a small mountain town that has decided to ignore an avalanche that has already let loose above in favor of holding the annual kindergarten ski sale.

So when you hear that the government has stopped publishing the M3 number and don't immediately ask what that is and why it's bad, you are also ignoring the impending avalanche.

I was asked today by a friend whether I had any solutions to the problems I point out. I certainly don't have a global solution because we're all tiny pebbles riding in the back of a 4000lbs. pickup. But I know enough to jump off the truck when it's about to tumble into the gorge.

Am I all doom and gloom?

Of course not. Happy solstice. :-D

HOWTO: Convert gun-grabber to gun owner

I found this while reading northeastshooters this morning. Enjoy, and Merry Xmas!

My wife and I were talking to our younger son’s ex-schoolteacher, who is, unsurprisingly for our Lakeview neighborhood, a part-time social worker and a full-time lesbian. The conversation turned to guns and the Second Amendment. I announced with pride that Son #1 had just completed his NRA training course and had received his Boy Scout Rifle badge.

"Why would you let your son do that?" asked Ex-Teacher, her features wrinkled with distaste.

"Because every boy should learn how to handle a gun," I said, thinking that this was self-evident. (I mean, hasn’t everyone seen "Red Dawn"?)

"Well," said Ex-Teacher, "I don’t want to bring up my son in a culture of macho self-defense."

Whereupon my wife (bless her heart) said sweetly, "I’d rather teach my son macho self-defense, than encourage him to be a quivering victim."

Read more at http://www.theothersideofkim.com/index.php/essays/P5/.

Capitalism is the natural order

I wrote this on PM:Pub in response to a message lamenting what amounts to the rat race:

If people didn't have to satisfy needs---food, water, shelter, clothing, health---then they might be able to survive in a primitive barter economy, and even be happier (though that is debatable). Unfortunately, people do have these needs, and therefore they need to satisfy them some way.

Who is going to produce food, or clothing, or drugs---or whatever---for you without expecting to be compensated for it? And how are you supposed to compensate them? You could trade something you have for whatever you need, but what if you don't have something they want?

This problem was solved by the introduction of "money": an agreed-upon medium of exchange that, under ideal circumstances, provides a universal unit in which to measure the subjective value of everything. Instead of trading a cow for 20 bottles of Zanax, you trade your cow for some money, and then trade some of that money for the Zanax you need now, and keep the rest of the money under a mattress until you need to trade it for something else.

The rest of your complaint is pretty much related to how you dislike the notion of accumulating wealth in the form of money in order to get the things you need or want. You can be a luddite and head to the hills or join a commune, which could work out great... until you need something that the commune doesn't produce (e.g., a cancer drug), and then what will you do? What wealth will you own personally to trade for that thing you need?

The fact is that capitalism doesn't exist because someone in the past decreed, "This is the way it shall be." On the contrary, capitalism exists and ultimately governs our transactions despite all the despots, philosophers, politicians, and foolish idealists who fought against it for thousands of years. Capitalism isn't a constructed system: capitalism is how an economy will naturally order itself when people are left free to make their own choices about what things they value.

You can try to fight against it, but you will simply lose. Capitalism is a natural law like quantum mechanics, and to deny its correctness is to deny reality. The right way to deal with it is to figure out how you can most happily exist within its boundaries. If you're unhappy, then you haven't done this yet, so maybe you should try a different approach to life. :)

Followup to "The Gun in the Room"

I certainly understand that the simple reality of universal state violence makes many people very uncomfortable – and they are quite right to feel uncomfortable! Once you really get this idea under your skin, your life will change irrevocably. You will no longer be tempted to base your arguments on tedious and complicated abstractions. When talking to people about freedom, you will cut to the core of the issues very rapidly. This will have enormous effects on every single relationship in your life. You will very quickly discover the true moral natures of those around you – and this can be quite shocking. So I certainly understand why people are hesitant to accept this idea, and why they prefer to label me as an "extremist" rather than to begin exploring the reality of state violence in their own hearts and with the people around them.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/molyneux/molyneux30.html