is what i do

In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortion in the prosperous democracies…. The most theistic prosperous democracy, the U.S., is exceptional, but not in the manner [Benjamin] Franklin predicted. The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developing democracies, sometimes spectacularly so, and almost always scores poorly. The view of the U.S. as a “shining city on the hillâ€? to the rest of the world is falsified when it comes to basic measures of societal health. … No democracy is known to have combined strong religiosity and popular denial of evolution with high rates of societal health. Higher rates of non-theism and acceptance of human evolution usually correlate with lower rates of dysfunction, and the least theistic nations are usually the least dysfunctional. None of the strongly secularized, pro-evolution democracies is experiencing high levels of measurable dysfunction….

If the data showed that the U.S. enjoyed higher rates of societal health than the more secular, pro-evolution democracies, then the opinion that popular belief in a creator is strongly beneficial to national cultures would be supported. Although they are by no means utopias, the populations of secular democracies are clearly able to govern themselves and maintain societal cohesion. Indeed, the data examined in this study demonstrates that only the more secular, pro-evolution democracies have, for the first time in history, come closest to achieving practical “cultures of life� that feature low rates of lethal crime, juvenile-adult mortality, sex related dysfunction, and even abortion. The least theistic secular developing democracies such as Japan, France, and Scandinavia have been most successful in these regards. The non-religious, pro-evolution democracies contradict the dictum that a society cannot enjoy good conditions unless most citizens ardently believe in a moral creator. The widely held fear that a Godless citizenry must experience societal disaster is therefore refuted. Contradicting these conclusions requires demonstrating a positive link between theism and societal conditions in the first world with a similarly large body of data - a doubtful possibility in view of the observable trends.

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There is [also] evidence that within the U.S. strong disparities in religious belief versus acceptance of evolution are correlated with similarly varying rates of societal dysfunction, the strongly theistic, anti-evolution south and mid-west having markedly worse homicide, mortality, STD, youth pregnancy, marital and related problems than the northeast where societal conditions, secularization, and acceptance of evolution approach European norms

Day No. 1:

Some people who have commented on my posts have wondered whether I am a liberal or a conservative because honestly in my writings sometimes both labels come up. The fact is I am neither. I believe in this crazy philosophy called — the bounds of reason.

When taxes for the highest bracket were at 70%, that was outside the bounds of reason. I supported Ronald Reagan. When liberals called for unilateral disarmament, that was outside the bounds of reason. I supported Republicans. When campus liberals (who obviously didn’t understand the term) were for curtailing freedom of speech in the name of harassment codes, that was outside the bounds of reason. I supported conservatives.

When Republicans claim they want to drown government in the bathtub, that is outside the bounds of reason. I support the Democrats. When George W. Bush takes us into a senseless war against a country that did not attack us, that is outside the bounds of reason. I support his opposition. When conservatives argue that deficits don’t matter, then I’m no longer a conservative.

Cincinnati has a real battle for Mayor this election and the issue of public safety has dominated the political discussion. Three of the candidates have announced their Public Safety plans. Let’s examine their proposals.

Mr. Pepper and Mr. Winburn tout the “broken window” theory popularized by John Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling who wrote, in 1982: “one unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares and, breaking more windows costs nothing.”

When it comes to policing theory this translates to zero tolerance for “quality of life crimes.” This was the rational used by New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton in the 1990’s to start arresting minor lawbreakers such as “squeegee” men and panhandlers.

Mr. Pepper and Mr. Winburn would have us believe that if there are no squeegee men and panhandlers, dope peddlers will stop selling dope, gang-bangers will stop shooting each other and men will stop raping women. Even discredited theories take twenty years to come to Cincinnati!

Mr. Pepper’s plan to decrease the violent crime rate in Cincinnati is to have zero tolerance for “quality of life concerns” such as “noise graffiti and litter.” He makes an obligatory mention of treatment, but no mention of increasing treatment slots. He claims that Cincinnati is “under staffed when it comes to its police force.”

Mr. Winburn promises to increase the Cincinnati Police Department by 200 officers at a cost of $8.5 million. He also promises to build a new jail. He does not say how he is going to find the money for these projects. Although Mr. Winburn claims that he will fight violent crime from “all directions and angles” he does not address treatment.

Mr. Pepper and Mr. Winburn cite New York City as a model in reducing crime –– is it the best model? During the same period when New York City took this approach and coincidentally saw a reduction in crime rates, San Francisco took a different approach –– alternative sentencing and community involvement –– and saw a larger decrease in crime rates than in New York City. From 1995 to 1998 San Francisco’s violent crime rate went down 33%. NY City’s violent crime rate went down only 26 % in the same time period.

While claiming that the CPD is understaffed, both candidates have omitted some interesting figures about the CPD compared to other cities: Cincinnati has 31 police officers per 10,000 residents while San Francisco has 29, Louisville has 27, Columbus has 25, and Lexington has 19. The salary of an entry-level officer in Cincinnati is $37,487, in Columbus it’s $30,480, in Lexington $30,274, and in Louisville $27,689. (All figures are for the year 2000)

Mr. Mallory is pushing boot camps to fight crimes. Boot camps may satisfy the punitive instinct in most of us. Boot camps by themselves are purely punitive and have not shown to be effective. However, Mr. Mallory does include the after care component for boot camps that have shown to reduce crime.

Having a parent in prison is a strong predictor that their child will end up in prison. A policy that promises to lockup people will only increase the prison population. It will not reduce crime. It will not reduce the number of victims. The ‘Lock them up’ mentality makes most of us feel safe. It does not make us safe. So, think before you vote! It is time that we got smart on crime!

I have a simple answer – fundamentalism. Muslim fundamentalists believe it is their moral duty to fight a jihad against the West. They are guided by their strict, literal reading of the Koran (helped along by hateful imams who select the worst parts of the Koran).

But we are not just aligned against Muslim fundamentalists. The problem is broader than that. It is Jewish fundamentalists like the Gaza settlers and Christian fundamentalists like Tom DeLay who want to drive us further into this conflict. They also rely on their absurd interpretations of their religious texts.

[Christian fundamentalists] believe that Israel should rebuild the Temple on the Mount, thereby destroying holy Muslim sites and assuredly starting a gigantic war. Finally, they think that when this happens, Armageddon will ensue, most of the people on this Earth will die and Santa Claus, I mean Jesus Christ, will come back to save them (and only them). There’s another word for these people – crazy.
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Our former Attorney General, John Ashcroft, is a fundamentalist. He anointed himself in holy oils before he took the oath of office. You know who does that? Crazy people.
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Our President thinks God talks to him. You know who thinks that? Crazy people.

Right now, it’s completely one-sided. The fundamentalists in this country attack with impunity and the secular Americans sit back for fear of offending the crazies. It’s time to hit them back (proverbially, violence is usually the refuge of weak-minded fundamentalists, not thinking, rational people).

It is not acceptable to be against teaching valid science to our children because you think your Book tells you to. It is not acceptable to hate gay people because you think your Book tells you to. It is not acceptable to deny other citizens their privacy because you think your Book tells you to. It is not acceptable to be one-sided in dealing with the Middle East and drive us all into war because you think your Book tells you to. It is not acceptable to root for Armageddon and try to take steps towards getting there because you think your Book tells you to.

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Thinking you talk to God doesn’t qualify you to lead the nation – it qualifies you for a mental institution. The time for accommodation has come to an end.

The old story goes that he who follows the rainbow to the end will find a pot of gold. It is but a legend of course, there is no end to find. Rainbows we now know are an artifact of optics. But metaphorically we can make such a journey. It will be a quest in mind only, fueled by burning curiosity, and it will end in a treasure immeasurable by the dollar or the Pound Sterling. Our guide will be a brilliant rebel, a Rhodes Scholar, turned Lawyer, turned scientist. And what he found, somewhere over the rainbow, was and remains perhaps the greatest single, scientific discovery of all time.

Hubble had the benefit of two new analytic techniques previous astronomers did not have. He had both the distances of several Galaxies from the Cepheid Variable Technique, and he had the redshifts of those same galaxies using the spectrum he obtained form the Wilson Observatory. And, when he correlated those two sets of data, he found that the further away a galaxy was from us, the more it was red-shifted!

The conclusion is pretty easy to visualize. The galaxies were moving away from and the velocity with which they were receding was a function of their distance form us: Either our Milky Way Galaxy is the center of the universe and every other galaxy was hauling ass away from it. Or all the galaxies were moving away from each other, ours included.