Jesus to Return by 2050

So, ever wondered how many of your friends and neighbors fully expect Jesus to come riding out of the clouds on a white horse in the near future? As it turns out, about 40%, depending upon your definition of "near".

Although many Americans (41 percent) believe the Second Coming will happen soon, slightly more people (46 percent) say Jesus will definitely or probably not return.

The prediction is divided along religious lines with 58 percent of white evangelical Protestants saying it will definitely or probably happen in the next 40 years. By contrast, only 27 percent of white mainline Protestants, about a third (32 percent) of Catholics and a fifth (20 percent) of religiously unaffiliated say Jesus Christ will return to Earth in this period.

I'm not surprised that nearly 60% of white, evangelical Protestants fully expect Jesus to return somewhat soon, but it's definitely a tribute to how deeply they affect American culture that 20% of the religiously unaffiliated agree.

What's really interesting, though hardly surprising, is how these statistics break down along educational lines.

Only 19 percent of those who graduated from college expect Jesus to return by 2050, while 35 percent of those with some college experience and 59 percent of Americans with no college experience expect the Second Coming in the next few decades.

I can certainly see why fundamentalist groups are entirely opposed to public school and college for their children- it seems to make one less likely to swallow bizarre beliefs whole.

The Rich Get Richer

and the poor get fucked.

The above is a graph representing compensation from 1990 to 2005. The blue line represents CEO's pay, the red line represents the rest of us.

That is hourly earnings adjusted for inflation. Yeah, they've gone down since 1972. Except for CEOs.

While tax rates remained stable for the rest of us, they took quite a dive for the very richest.

It's not so much that I'm not rich and will never be, it's that, as the last graph shows, I'm paying for other people to be rich, which is just a tad annoying.

This Is Not Success

lloyd, marcus, american, thinker, health care, conservative, reform,

Lloyd Marcus at American Thinker has an odd definition of success: being on the edge of homelessness and starvation and dying from cancer.

Recently, I rediscovered the only anti-poverty program that really works. A knock came to my front door. It was a small built, average height white guy in his late thirties, early forties dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt. "Excuse me sir, I need work. I have seven kids and a wife to feed." Kenny proceeded to tell me in his thick southern accent about his many skills; construction, lawn care, tile, mechanics and more. Due to downturns in the economy, Kenny was having great difficulty keeping steady employment.

As I am admittedly technically and mechanically challenged, I put Kenny to work. Upon discovering that I was a black man married to a white woman, Kenny looked surprised; not judgmental or disapproving, just surprised. Kenny did a meticulous job tiling a floor at our Arts Center. He tuned up my car and fixed my lawnmower. He poured the concrete for our patio; very professional, meticulously done. Kenny likes to listen to country music on his radio while he works. When Kenny was working on my patio, he asked if the music bothered me and offered to turn it off. I said, no problem, enjoy yourself.

When Kenny was working on our air conditioner, we chatted a bit. Through my typical probing questions, I learned that Kenny had a difficult childhood. His dad was an alcoholic. Kenny himself has also had problems with alcohol in the past. Kenny's wife is ill, suspected cancer. They have a combined family of seven kids from previous marriages. So, Kenny has a lot on his plate.

And the answer to Kenny's problems: odd jobs at Mr. Marcus' house. Unless Mr. Marcus is providing health insurance to Kenny, I fail to see how that's going to stop Kenny's wife from dying of cancer.

Think about this for one second: this is the conservative answer to our current economic and healthcare woes: begging for work door to door, depending on the charity of others. How many doors do you suppose Kenny knocked on before Mr. Marcus gave him work? How much work do you suppose Kenny will get when Mr. Marcus runs out of necessary repairs? And how many Kennys can Mr. Marcus help, anyway?

By the way, the condescension Mr. Marcus heaps on Kenny just gets worse.

I am struck by this simple man's positive attitude, character and pride in everything he does. Kenny told me he has forgiven his dad and moved on. When hit with bad news about his wife's medical condition, Kenny's response blew me away. He said, "Sometimes "laufe" (life) challenges you and you just gotta deal with it." I thought, Wow!

I wonder how Kenny's wife feels about dying her medical condition. Maybe her comments just weren't delivered in a sufficiently homey accent to deserve being passed on.

I've grown to have the utmost respect for Kenny. Rather than whining, he literally knocked on doors seeking work. He is a man of his word, does a great job and always goes the extra mile. He loves his kids and his wife. They are a happy family. My wife Mary and I are growing close to them. Though I do not require it, Kenny insists on addressing me as sir. Some would call Kenny a redneck, country music, southern drawl and many times shirtless. I call Kenny, a friend.

A happy family with a dying mother? Bet they won't be happy for long. And, Mr. Marcus, maybe you feel good for "befriending" the country music listening, drawling, shirtless notredneck, but I don't call my friends "sir", so I have suspicions about your "friendship".

Oh, and I don't let my friends die from cancer without even trying to do something about it, let along actively fighting against the only means of saving them.

Real Americans

america, american, liberal, conservative, christian, atheist,

It seriously pisses me off when someone uses the phrase "real Americans". Seriously. Pisses. Me. Off.

You know why? Even though I am a citizen of the United States, even though I pay taxes, vote and have even done my civic duty as a juror, I am not a "real American". Chances are, if you are reading this blog, you aren't either, because atheists aren't "real Americans". Liberals aren't "real Americans". Educated elites aren't "real Americans". Basically, unless you thought Bush was the greatest thing ever and are convinced Obama's government death squads are out to kill grandma and rip your baby right from your body, you're not a "real American".

Newsflash to the Religious Right:

American citizens are real Americans. It doesn't matter where you live in the US, we're all real Americans. From New York City to San Francisco and all the way out to Honolulu, we're all real Americans. Gay, straight, just don't care- real Americans. Married, divorced, cohabiting - real Americans. Liberal, conservative, green party, Ron Paul- real Americans. Prolife, prochoice, vegetarian, avid hunter- real American. AK-47 owner, pacifist or just plain scared of guns- real American. Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Heathen, agnostic, deist, theist or atheist- real American.

That's right, I am a real American. I, a liberal, vegetarian, prochoice, feminist atheist am a real American. And so are you*.

*Unless you're French or Canadian or Iranian or something, in which case I'd like to know if you're ever accused of not being a "real Frenchperson" or a "real Canadian" or a "real Iranian".

The Son of Fred Phelps Speaks

nate, phelps, fred, westboro, american, atheism, atheist, baptist,
Nate Phelps, son of Fred Phelps, of Westboro Baptist fame, spoke at the American Atheists Convention.

It's a bit of a difficult read, but certainly worth it. Nate Phelps is clearly a good man, and Fred Phelps is to him both monster and father, and his shadow still looms large.

The danger inherent in these messages was not apparent to me until an event that occurred when I was about 8 years old. I recall sitting in a church pew, my father’s voice droning on in the background with yet another sermon about suffering for eternity in a lake of fire, where the worm that eats on you never dies. With an emerging obsessiveness, I’m determined to grasp the concept of eternity. As my mind struggled with this issue I’m suddenly in the midst of a panic attack. Tears come unbidden. The message was getting through.

Civil War Is Not Funny

civil war, american, US, united, states, revolution, tea party, teabag, teabagging, beck, chuck norris,
This whole Glenn Beck "let's start the revolution" bullshit is pissing me off. All these fucking morons calling for secession, fomenting revolution, committing what amounts to sedition and treason- over what?

News flash- you don't have taxation without representation. You have taxation with representation you don't particularly like. Boofuckinghoo. Welcome to the last eight years of my life.

You didn't see me throwing a box of Bigelow into a lake or running for president of Texas. You didn't see me suggesting that we commit treason or start a revolution.

You know why? Because it wouldn't be a revolution. It would be another Civil War. And people died during the American Civil War.

People DIED during the American Civil War.

600,000 people died during the American Civil War.

Those people weren't just soldiers, either. Noncombatants died of illness, injury and disease.

600,000 brothers and sons and fathers and husbands, mothers and sisters and daughters and wives, grandparents, grandchildren, the elderly and children and infants. They all died.

You still think this is a game?

Talibangelicals

american, democrat, insurgency, politics, republican, taliban, talibangelicals, US
So, Rep. Pete Sessions (R.-Texas) admitted that the Republicans are the US Taliban. Nice! (Props to Teddy Patridge for coining "talibangelicals".)

From Sessions' own mouth:

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said House Republicans -- who voted unanimously last week against the economic plan pushed by President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- will pitch a "positive, loyal opposition" to the proposal. The group, he added, should also "understand insurgency" in implementing efforts to offer alternatives.
"Insurgency, we understand perhaps a little bit more because of the Taliban," Sessions said during a meeting yesterday with Hotline editors. "And that is that they went about systematically understanding how to disrupt and change a person's entire processes. And these Taliban -- I'm not trying to say the Republican Party is the Taliban. No, that's not what we're saying. I'm saying an example of how you go about [sic] is to change a person from their messaging to their operations to their frontline message. And we need to understand that insurgency may be required when the other side, the House leadership, does not follow the same commands, which we entered the game with."

This is an insult to the Taliban, really, since they are capable of creating and maintaining infrastructure.