Comment

Comment by United Under One on October 12, 2011 at 1:39pm

Rick- Your observations and thoughtfulness are right-on and obvious.  We only have to look back to the enlightened Four Fathers of our country to notice how they set the separation of church and state and how they established the Bill of Rights.  All of which are being run over by a Humvee right now.  I think America began to lose its focus when, I believe, Andrew Mellon was the first major business man to seek favors and lobby washington for his military contracts, and it mushroomed from there.  When our presidents went from enlightened to religious, the second phase of our decline began.  When Nixon took away the silver and gold standard, and replaced the power of our dollar by our guns, we took the 3rd step in the wrong direction.  In this starving world we pay our farmers not to produce.  When a normal person is discovered to be a pedofile, they are sent to prison in a normally executed legal system but when a person such as priest commits the same act, they just merely shift him to another perish, without any government intervention- showing the influence the Catholic Church has over our legal system.  This is not what our Founding Fathers had in mind.  America was supposed to be a free country, "by the people and for the people."  Instead we've become the policemen of the world, the financial supporter of the world creating millions of jobs, just not in America, burning our food when people are starving, and with our ill-thought out embargos, we are harming women and children and that's called collateral damage.  So as our image declines, so does our position in academia, and unless this is corrected, America which was #1, is #19, will go further down the line.......so Chinese may be a good 2nd language to learn.

Comment by Rick on October 12, 2011 at 12:29pm

  Fear. That is what drives the people of the US.  You've had a change in the mind set of the American people.  Religion has helped in that.  Don't question authority. Don't do this..don't do that...don't make waves....

  Look at the protestors in various cities with the base being located in New York on Wall St.  Look at the response to them that the Tea Party has given.

  There was once a time there would have been more the double the amount of protestors there.  And they are there for good reason.

  Since the 80s there has been a reduction of laws that were designed to protect the American People.  They originated as a result of Americans being hurt. Not only financially, but physically as well. 

   And if you notice, that since deregulation was started in the 1980s, about every 10 years there is a financial disaster.  You didn't have that before "deregulation."

  Back then, I was for deregulation. The reason was that it would allow businesses to be more competitive and therefore offer more and better services. And at competitive prices.  But that isn't what has happened.

  A business law professor told us that, 'You have to have 'some' regulation."  And he was right. If you don't, then people take advantage of their positions.  This lead to various financial crises throughout Americas history.  And in other fields too, like food production.  This is one reason why the FDA is in existence, to protect the people from abuses.

   But the issue to "protect the people from abuses" is never ever mentioned.

  Look at the Civilian Provisional Authority (CPA) that the Bush Administration sent to Iraq to take over control from the US military.  They weren't in any way shape or form the "Best and the Brightest" the US had to offer.

  They were the "won't question authority or ask questions."  The result were far from good.

  These individuals being offered up to the American people are those who do not want to change the status quo.  They are reactionary.  They now set their sites on so called "Progressives."

   This country was founded by "Progressives."  People who wanted better.  People who took a chance and came to this country and faced diversity.  The Founding Father's were "Progressives" as well. Just look at the Constitution and Bill of Rights.  That epitomizes "Progressive."

   But as long as they play on peoples ignorance, anger and fear, they will have a base of voters.

Comment by Steph S. on October 12, 2011 at 11:10am

Mr. Torpy serves as the President of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF), a national non-profit building community for atheists and humanists in the military. Mr. Torpy also holds seats on the board of the Secular Coalition for America, the premier lobbying organization for secular issues, and the American Humanist Association, which fosters Humanist community and ethics.

After joining the military in 1994, Mr. Torpy has been active with the nontheist community. He has addressed issues of separation of church and state and equal opportunity for nontheistic service members in Army basic training, Army parachutist training, military academy programs, and in combat situations. Mr. Torpy's education includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Management from West Point and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from The Ohio State University.

After earning top graduate honors from two intelligence training programs, Mr. Torpy was offered direct admission to the United States Military Academy. Upon graduation, Mr. Torpy was commissioned as an officer and served for five years in Germany, Kuwait, and Iraq with the Army's 1st Armored Division. He left the service in 2005 at the rank of Captain to pursue an MBA. Mr. Torpy currently lives in Washington, DC.

Mr. Torpy speaks on a range of issues related to the atheist, humanist, and general nontheist community, especially as these issues relate to the military. Jason has spoken to large audiences at national conventions, awards banquets, outdoor events, and press conferences, as well as radio appearances on programs such as BBC World Today, Alan Colmes, Michael Medved, and Michael Smerconish. Fees are generally $200-$500 plus travel costs, but may be waived for topics related to MAAF or local to DC. Booking details and additional information can be found at speakersite.com

• Humanist chaplains and chaplain support of atheists and humanists
• Atheists and other nontheists in the military including local organizations
• Constitutional separation of church & state in the military
• Navigating the international community of atheists, humanists, and other nontheists

 

He sounds wonderful!  We do need more like him out there.

Comment by Steph S. on October 12, 2011 at 11:08am

I'm looking up Jason Torpy -- I'm not familiar with him.  I'm researching him now.

Comment by Steph S. on October 12, 2011 at 11:06am

I was agreeing with you in my post below. : ) Labels are labels.

Comment by United Under One on October 12, 2011 at 10:53am

Steph- Thank you for your thoughts but labels are labels, whether you cherish your own, and despise others, or you carry your own as a differentiator.  A leader of a free world (laugh) should be open minded and free from all previous opinions, being able to sit in the middle and listen, choose a direction, and lead.  Our country is run by indecisive lawyers who are elected by our politicians as our majority; lawyers for the most part aren't business men.  I don't care what they believe in, except for the fact that they believe in a lot of talking and play acting in front of the nation, much as what they do in court, but they don't make a decision.  There's always an excuse why not to lead, and most of those excuses are formed by their prior prejudices and financial allegiance.  Has money become their leader?  Has money become their God?  Either way, once you take that high exulted office, between power, their religious beliefs, and their greed, we are the victims of their confusion.  It's time we elevated people of merit, but for most Americans, that's too much work, too much investigation, and its too hard to make your elective representative accountable.  My thoughts are, if you can't act, don't complain.  Here at UUO, we do take action and we are trying to make a difference.  It's people like you that we hope will expand into a community where we present a common approach.. Look at what Jason Torpy has done (MAAF) for the Atheists who are buried with religious symbols on their graves.  He has stood up.  He's puts himself out there.  We need more Jason clones to make that difference reality.

Comment by Steph S. on October 11, 2011 at 11:36pm

All the candidates use religion. I don't think an atheist would be elected at this moment in time, unfortunately. Maybe in the future things will be better for us and we can actually win the presidency.
I agree - the candidates are all the same.