Let's Get The Show On The Road
from "Stagepass"(Live at the Agora), 1976, EMI Records Group

Let's get the show on the road, babe
At the curtain, take a bow
New Haven, just a rendezvous to take you to
a lover--who was then, but never now
Susan played the lady
who called the players' songs
Just a figurine of stagehand reveries
Guess up-and-coming can't be that wrong...

Let's get the show on the road, babe
Spotlights on the stage
Ah, my, it seems I've heard these words before
Did you forget to turn the page?
And remember what they told you
about how 'the show goes on'
How can you come back, if you've never gone away?
How can you sing--how can you sing without a song...

     (CHORUS:)
     And today's for sale
     And it's all you can afford
     By your own admission
     Well, the whole thing's got you bored
     And the Lord uses the good ones
     The bad ones use the Lord...

Let's get the show on the road, babe
Better take a look around
Ya got one thing to remember
when you're climbing to the top
You'd better know the way back down...
I can't believe you'd really stumble
But then, I always knew you'd fall
It seems so easy, to say 'I knew you when'
I'd rather it was not at all

     (CHORUS TWICE)

At the time I was an addict, addicted to the right-wing Kool-Aid, and in need of intervention.  I was able to move freely amongst "the flock" and they openly discussed their agenda in front of, and with, me.  They talked of funding stealth candidates to take over school boards and city council's and they succeeded.  Then they talked about branching out to statehouses, congress and eventually the presidency.  I thought they were a bit crazy if they thought they would be successful at these levels.  It looks like I thought wrong.

Thankfully I was rescued and born-again on April 29, 1992 as a result of the Rodney King verdicts.  When I say born-again, I mean my eyes were opened and my brain began to function rationally.  I do not mean born-again in a religious sense.

Trust me when I tell you this, these people, that being the Christo-Facist leaders, really are scary.  They are driven by hate and bigotry.  Those that follow them really are good people that have been led astray.  The followers don't realize or refuse to believe that this is all about money.  Sheldon uses issues like Terri Schiavo or gay marriage to line the pockets of him and his family and really has no conviction or moral belief in what he preaches.

An example of this was when his son Steve crusaded around the fundamentalist churches of California to enlist the services of fellow "Christian's" in defeating the "evil" Indian's and their casinos.  He preached that these were the tools of Satan and that gambling was "sinful" and "immoral".  There was just one small problem, Steve failed to mention that Las Vegas gambling lobbyists were paying him over $250,000 for his crusading efforts to save us from Indian gaming.

The idea of a Christian theocracy should frighten everyone. First they will go after the "safe" minorities, Hindus, Bhuddests, Wiccan, Pagan, Atheists (such as myself). Soon they will turn on non Christians. Then they will turn on Catholics and other non baptists. Then non Evangelical Baptists. Even if you think that you're a good Christian, even if you are a loyal Pat Robertson decipel, even if you think you are in with the ruling class, eventually you will be found wanting.

I have had discussions with people from the Radical Right who did not know that I was an Atheist. (As an aside, acting classes are very useful. I've been able to talk with all sorts of wakkos and get them to open up because they think I'm of like mind. It can be very informative.)

I have been told that non Christians should not be allowed to work for the government at any level. That non Christians should lost their citizenship. That anyone who is gay or even supports gay rights should never be allowed near children, even if this means taking away their own children and/or imprisoning the adult. That only Evangelicals should have any rights. That America has a duty to convert the rest of the world to Christianity (even if it is at the point of a gun), regardless of the cost because this is the prelude to the Rapture. The list goes on and on. The important thing is that these are not the ravings of people screaming at passerby's on street corners. These are our neighbors, people at Republican caucuses, people at rallies. These are people in positions of power. These opinions are not spoken openly but they are a subtext that is circulating in the halls of power.

They are very dangerous. Absolute certainty combined with a belief in an afterlife and the supremacy of the gun is a recipe for disaster.

Screen shot - This man looks as strange as he acts

Video in Real Media format (20 seconds)

A SERMON IN SUPPORT OF THE EVOLUTION OF    
                      ETHICS AND VIRTUE
                                                                            Robert R Brownlee

                                DEDICATION
  This sermon is dedicated to reducing if not eliminating the influence of Dobsonian (Creationist) dogma and actionable Neo-conservatism on the welfare of our once United States. Both are rapidly gaining influence in a quest to destroy the wall of the separation of church and state and damage other civil- right safe guards provided by our Constitution. If these allied menaces are allowed to fester and grow it will undermine our brilliantly structured republic.

  "Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppression of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day" (Thomas Jefferson)

EXORDIUM--pedantry for prologue
   A Sermon is my chosen literary format to be a bit facetious, but also allow a rambling unstructured over-lengthy dialogue. A style often used on Pseudo-Christian Cornerstone Evangelical Television to milk money from the uninformed for clothing criminal male ministers in Brooks Bros. apparel and their female co-conspirators in bangles of diamonds. I'm not after your money.
   Let it be known up-front that I am not opposed to intelligent Christianity, a faith that provides solace and admirable service to millions of grieving and downtrodden people throughout the world. There are descending grades of Christianity however that on an x-y plot trends from the y axis of intelligence downward toward the x axis of ignorance---- ignorance structured on the absolute literal belief in Gospel dogma. The loudest and most ignorant or power hungry members of the Fundamentalist pseudo-Christian far right like James Dobson, his cohorts Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and their followers preach that the United States was founded on Christian principles by religious men. Using this propagandist tool they proclaim the right to modify the construct of our Constitution. They sense a new empowerment under the Bush administrations neo-conservative policies --- a time of unfortunate opportunity. These preachings, currently gaining a foothold, are venomous blasphemies that threaten the survival of our Jeffersonian secular Republic.    
    Where-from was the wisdom of the founders derived? Their key sources of inspiration were obtained from the pre-Christian, Greek and Roman models of democracy instituted by Pericles, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and even Caesar. Polybius consolidated many of these great philosopher's concepts regarding government into a structure that is essentially the template our founders used to write our constitution. These Intellectual giants place-in-history preceded Christ's birth by several centuries. The volumes of their preserved writings exemplifying the highest standards of statesmanship, of civic virtue, of character and conviction provided direct contact with our founders through literary education and were the major source of their enlightenment.
   The most sophisticated latter day scholar of the Greek and Roman philosophers was the Frenchman Montesquieu. In 1748 Montesquieu, borrowing rather profusely from Polybius, drafted a masterpiece "The Spirit of the Laws". Essentially all the founders are known to have studied the works of Polybius and Montesquieu. Jefferson was in France serving as secretary of state during the drafting of the Constitution but it is common knowledge that he was shipping home some of these important documents to his colleagues. James Madison is recognized as the lead author of the Constitution. He remained in constant  letter communication with Jefferson during the draft phase of the Constitution. It is no surprise that Jefferson had substantial influence in the process. Madison's and the other founder's knowledge of both Polybius and Montesquieu's brilliance regarding the separation of powers led to our enduring guide for stellar governance. Montesquieu strongly recommended the separation of church and state in his 1748 treatise. Thank who ever your God is that the founders chose to abide by both Jefferson's and Montesquieu's advice regarding this most important issue.          
   There is no documented evidence that the Bible was ever used as major source material for drafting our enlightened Constitution.
   The Dogma of Evangelical right wing charlatans would not fool anyone armed with even a casual education of our founder's self-written diaries, documents, and letters that clearly reflect their views and the absolute necessity to limit religious influence on secular government. The most influential founders were Deists. Some were suspected to be closet athiests. Even those considered to be of the Christian faith understood the need to separate religious and secular law.                  
    Education of the citizenry of this nation is the only peaceful mechanism to stop the menace of religious zealots. An understanding of evolution and rejection of Creationism are essential elements of an enlightened education to guarantee the rights of man and protect the elegance of secular governance.
   The insidious coupling of the Bush administrations neo-conservative dogma with religious dogma is malignantly designed to enhance the power of both camps to gain control of the American electorate. This coalition that has gained strength in the last four years, if not stopped, will end the hopes and dreams of our brave and creative founding fathers to eliminate, for all-time, religious and monarchial oppression of the citizens. This form of coalition was historically rampant in most major civilizations. It remains so in most Islamic societies but has been essentially eliminated in western civilization. Are we going to allow a return to a primitive structure in this great nation? I intend to fight against that outcome, as do many very worried colleagues. I concentrate in this sermon with the goal of diminishment of the influence of Creationist dogma. If that can be accomplished, neo-conservatism will fall on it's own sword

PROLEGOMENON----good pedantic word for lengthy introduction

"In religion and politics people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing."
- Autobiography of Mark Twain

   Intellectual theologians and some serious scientists argue that God had to have created the Universe or, that at least, some form of Intelligent Design had a hand in it, in part, because the ethics and virtue of man could not have developed through natural selection. He, She, or It would also had to have invented greed and evil. My response is balderdash.
   If the Almighty God's intentions were noble or the Intelligent Designer's motives were even a fraction of a fig concerned with mans development and wellbeing, neither would have created a Universe in which man oscillates between good and evil on a balance scale of behavior. A benevolent God would also have prevented devastating plagues and natural disasters that wreak havoc indiscriminately on both good and evil specimens of mankind.    
     The deist case that an indifferent Creator constructed the universe is plausible because of the complexity of mans micro and macro scientific observations. I am agnostic on Deism but an avid believer in evolution. These are not contradictory predilections.
   Darwin's related short-take was:
  "I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living body of caterpillars ".
    This general subject is sprinkled profusely in life science literature and hotly debated in the intellectual circles of both science and theology. My personal belief is that the "survival of the fittest" forces proscribed by Darwin to explain the physical evolution of the species also influenced both the good and the evil elements of the mental development of man. Great minds formulated this stance long before the subject even entered mine.
   The continuing argument between highly educated men about whether evolution is merely an untested theory or factual science seems ludicrous to me in light of mans own demonstrated ability to genetically modify species of both plants and animals with ease and at will. Coupling this knowledge with the continuing and observable accidental mutations in all life forms cements me as a firm believer in factual evolution. The knowledge that evolution had billions of years of mutational experience often with assistance from natural violent disasters to enhance and accelerate adaptive activity, I think, should end the argument. In my mind it does. There does remain the monumental mystery of the origin of the first living cell(s). Biologists are cold on the heels of understanding or replicating the complex structure of even a single cell, but on the heels they are. I am well nigh convinced that at the current exponential pace of discovery man could be manufacturing primordial life before the end of this century. If instead Christ shows up first to describe the scientific methodology to create life before man "shows up Christ" I will be born again. I'm betting on man as the winner. Even if the "reverse engineering of life" is eventually accomplished i.e. copied by man, the reason and origin of life will still remain a mystery. A patent application for reverse engineering the design of the life force would be rejected as having been stolen from the original inventor even though we cannot identify or locate said inventor.      
   The knowledge that the intellectuals in this field argue against one another provide comfort to me that my thin education of the subject allows edgewise word entries into the middle of the argument.    
   As I wrote this sermon I granted myself license to intersperse padantism, euphemisms, humor, fiction, facts, philosophy, politics, repetition, blasphemy, and, sex.        
        I confess to the reader that I am not lettered in the liberal arts or theology, am moderately lettered in the sciences, and have accelerating interests in virtually everything, all fueled and propelled by seemingly accelerated aging.
       The sermon may offend some readers with secular use of scripture that religion has achieved ownership of through incessant Annunciation of primitive beliefs. This sermon occasionally absconds with the "incessant Annunciation" tool for emphasis of anger or zeal.  It works effectively for the religious and political far right so maybe liberals should level the playing field some, --- never borrow their use of fabrication
    If you finish a read of this sermon you might label me as a deist, atheist, agnostic, secular humanist, a-religious, or Darwinist. All fit depending on my mood and on the time of day.  I prefer the label Darwinist. It seems to me that it allows more space in my living room for the pious. I think Richard Dawkins may have first used the title Darwinist in his stunningly brilliant writings in support of the scientific validity of evolution. Perhaps I can honor Dawkins by claiming myself as the first Dawkinist. Seems to be absent a necessary letter s to be correct. As you probably already sense, elements of the concept of Intelligent Design are appealing, others not so.
.    As I opened and implied in the exordium and will repeat again in a lengthy peroration I am not prejudiced against any belief system except those that propose and carry out destructive tenets or attempt incursions on, or place restrictions on my beliefs. Particularly troublesome are growing political/religious incursions. I consider Creationism, for example, to parallel profanity and almost outside my vocabulary although it's disgust-is-discussed in the peroration.
    Creationists are deviously trying to corrupt Intelligent Design (not their baby) by adopting some of its tenets to market their mysticism and press for their prejudiced beliefs to despoil our Constitution. If Creationists are allowed by neo-conservative government to infect the 1st amendment of the Constitution, and, or add ignorant amendments regarding marriage, they will destroy the Grand American Experiment. That annoys me, and was one my political motivations for drafting this blasphemous sermon as I expressed in more detail in the exordium. Yes, this is repetitive dialogue but I warned you.
      I provide no detailed bibliography but I am a namedropper of close friends with several of whom I have frequent one way communications (by reading Dawkins, Jefferson, and Twain, for examples). Names will be dropped here and there and a partial list of literature I borrowed from is supplied without detailing pertinent fragments. I recommend a full volume read of any literature selected from my list.  
     Ideas and facts supported by scientific evidence and reasonable speculation are boldly italicized. "Quotations" are lightly italicized.
   I provide PAUSES and RESUMES here and there that assist in any desire to skip distractions.

"The idea of the sacred is quite simply one of the most conservative notions in any culture, because it seeks to turn other ideas -- uncertainty, progress, and, change -- into crimes".                               Salman Rushdie                                                                                                                    

CREATION--as espoused by science                                
    Solid evidence exists that about 40,000,000 centuries ago the earth was born of the dust of a violent explosion of a star(s). The evidence of earth's parentage derives from the existence of heavy elements in the earth's makeup. Heavy elements and inorganic and organic molecules are created during explosion of primordial stars that pre-explosion consist of only hydrogen and helium, the primary building blocks of all the elements. Amazing! We are all truly made of stardust.  
    Solid archeological evidence also exists that the Homo erectus ancestors of modern Homo sapient man evolved about 10,000 centuries ago, or about 1/4000th the age of the earth. Put another way it took almost 4 billion years for man to evolve from primitive one-celled ancestors to his present Homo sapient condition.
   Creationists in ignorant contrast believe the earth is only about 6000 years old. I try not to use the word balderdash too much. It's difficult.
    I employ a fictional account (YARN) of mans early stone age existence because man only began to seriously scribble about 5000-7000 years ago-- Just yesterday in the grand scheme of things.  The YARN is meant, in part, to represent perhaps thousands of similar speculated happenings throughout the undocumented uncivilized planet that effected the evolutionary development of both good and evil.

YARN----humor for fiction
     A major advancement of human cooperation, the precursor to ethics and virtue, began about one million BC by a chance encounter between two, stone armed, hunting cave-persons from rival tribes. It happened in a border area usually avoided by both tribes because of the potential danger of just such an encounter. Because this border area was sparse of hunters, wild edible morsels like rats, rabbits, roosters and raccoons were abundant.
   To briefly digress from fiction, these kinds of avoidance zones still exist in regions of the planet where rival clans of the same species like wolves, apes, and even tribal humans reside. Interestingly, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea has developed into a natural game preserve displaying an abundance of wildlife.              
    Any way, the encounter led immediately to hostilities in which both cave-persons heaved their remaining large stones at the other. Both missed their targets. Each missal instead slew edible morsels. In their shared astonishment of good fortune, born accidentally from violence, they took up the first but difficult grunting discourse about what benefit might ensue if they joined forces in an effort to stone morsels. Perhaps they could achieve bagging a morsel of a size greater than the mass of the combined morsel mass of the two morsels bagged in the accident. Complicated sentence but I enjoyed drafting it.
 PAUSE
    Perhaps survival of the un-fittest, wherein, when a balanced lack of talent is obvious to competitors, a Darwinian driving force is induced for stimulating cooperation. Sorry for the interruption but I'm not done yet with this interlude because of a sorrowful distraction.              
    The heart wrenching devastation of the people living along the land boundaries of the Indian Ocean from the recent tsunami severely disturbed my concentration. It was a massive natural catastrophe described by some commentators as Biblical. Upon slowly regaining composure this description began to annoy me as it implies that perhaps God had a hand in it's cause. Never the less my verve for continuing the silly parts of this sermon remained stilted un-till I heard a Christian (I think) commentator proclaim that God's intervention restricted the number of Christian deaths in this human catastrophe. As of this writing, the death toll could not even be comprehended.  How stupid do some ignorant branches of the Christian tree think we are? This arrogant Dobson-like Annunciation stiffened my spine to proceed with my journey, though; tears still occasionally blurred both mental and physical vision.
  A speculative notion of a possible positive evolutionary force resulting from this human catastrophe helped me emotionally so I first charge that the devastating tsunami was not Biblical but was instead evolutional. Prior to the disaster the 12 major nations that suffered severe casualties and destruction were not considered to be cooperative. Intra-tribal conflict in some of these nations was occurring when nature's devastation struck the region. Several branches of competing religions co-habitate the several thousand mile rim of the ocean. I sincerely believe that the commonality of the devastation of all these nations and religions will awaken many from the stupor of ignorance that "some God" caused it- Whose? The evolutionary shock of observing equality of their weakness in the wake of natural disasters will give rise to both temporary and long-term cooperation, surely a form of Darwinian evolution. I can assure the reader this disaster did not generate in me any belief in a concerned God.    
 RESUME    
  To continue my yarn, a mutual suspicion of skullduggery fogged the trust of both cave-persons as neither party knew the full measure of the others armamentarium. Extra stones were commonly carried hidden in the loin area of the torso. Apparel now known as loincloths were usually crafted in only sizes X L and X XL to support both ammo and anatomical appendages. For convenience we name these two cave-characters Hunt and Gath. Hunt and Gath did not yet know the others gender at this point, though Gath's oversized breast area was revealing and distracting.  Gath suggested that each do a weapons search of the others loin region before continuing their conference on cooperation. But who goes first? Gath's take was that if each had an equal number of both fingers and toes then Hunt would get to do the first search. They had no coins to toss.
   Finding that, in this small sample, each other's tribe possessed this commonality of phalange count was reassuring so Hunt began his "get in Gaths loincloth" activity. Something ventured, nothing found except a peaceful patch that Hunt recognized as the portal for sowing his gene seeds among his own tribal members. One could, I suppose, describe Gath's loin anatomy as a passive weapon of mass reduction following a gene seed planting activity.
   As another aside, several millennia later in the evolution of hominoids this same anatomy was employed as a weapon of mass seduction. A probable Darwinian weapon useful in the ongoing survival of the fittest war toward achieving the virtue of gender equality.
    Continuing our historical fictional story, Hunt had never previously laid a hand on said anatomy despite previous successful seed sowing duties. Hunt experienced a little disturbance in the loin area before ending his search and before the physical provocation of Gath's intrusion into Hunt's size XXL loincloth.  Lo and behold, Gath's search immediately discovered both stones and stick, all initially too soft to be of threat and all had a connected-ness about them. With continued searching however the stick began to grow. Gath realized that about half of her (gender now recognized by both) tribal members also had similar members to that found in the loin of Hunt even though she had never had a hand on any. This fact was again reassuring when coupled with the knowledge of the equality of the earlier phalange count. The tribes were obviously a lot alike and perhaps had enough in common to end needless hostilities.  (FADEOUT).
   After Gath and Hunts seminal experience a quiet contemplative mood prevailed as neither had here-to-fore-experienced foreplay or the moods induced therefrom.  It had been very touching encounter and proved to be a significant notch in the evolution and improvement of sexual ethics, a sharp contrast to the previously prevailing ruthless rape practice of sowing gene seeds.      
    The final astonishing finding that they both had the same middle name Gene cemented their desire to meet again and led to several more clandestine encounters. These encounters were enjoyable and useful to practice touching techniques but most importantly to thoroughly learn each other's gestures and language. These language classes were necessary because they had decided to jointly report to their respective tribes the newfound advantages of mood improvement via cooperative sexual activities. Of equal importance was the spreading of the concept of a societal advantage of improving the efficacy and efficiency of stoning exponentially larger prey by simply doubling the size of the hunting brigade?
    To abbreviate this fiction by leaving out the details of Hunt and Gath's seminars, the elders of both tribes approved of these new ways of thinking following a rather extensive practice of round robin loin stone searching within their respective tribes. This was a necessary precaution, as the elders wanted the same assurances against ambush as had Gath and Hunt in their initial encounter.
     Comprehensive preparations for piece (slang), and peace or battle and any unexpected unpleasant aftermath seem to have been forgotten in just the last four years.
    Fortunately, all went well in both the intra and inter tribal round robin encounters.  Unexpected benefits, regarding both ethics and virtue, were discovered about the natural prevalence of homosexuality.
     The legitimacy of which has become violently contentious in today's politico-religious (ignorant mess) complex. Yeah I'm a liberal. I know, you knew.
    During the intra and inter tribal round robin controlled trials it was found in both genders that at least 5 to10 percent of the total population was observed to dramatically prefer same-sex loin searching.
PAUSE    
   Recent documented scientific observation of several species of animals including the animal man has demonstrated this proclivity. Other recent physiological findings drive me to an understanding that homosexuality is a genetic trait substantially similar to a like distribution of exceptional talent found in art, music, mathematics, etc. etc. that fall on the shallow slide toward the asymptotes of the human bell curve. The summit of the bell curve centers on mediocrity. Without statistical passport I think I have personally observed a prevalence i.e. a higher percentage of homosexuality in the gifted than in the mediocre middle of mankind.

(BREAKING NEWS--NEW RESEARCH ON ABE LINCOLN'S LIFE CLAIMS EVIDENCE OF HOMOSEXUALITY) How the hell are the fundamentalists going to handle this allegation? Lincoln was-is considered to be more than exceptional.
   If we can appreciate exceptional heterosexual artists, scientists, and national leaders we can also, without fear, accept harmless gay artists, teachers, politicians, and clergy. I am neither a musician nor gay, thank you.
   I cannot restrain from asking, what really is it anybody's business whether or not homosexuality derives from nature or nurture? Human beings participating comfortably and unforced in their sexual preferences should not only be left to their own desires but should also be legally protected under the same bonding laws that protect the rights of married heterosexuals. Creationists and Bush, stay out of messing with the Constitution.
   This may be the wrong place to further discuss sexual behavior but it is now on my mind. Bear with me. There are certainly sexual deviancies committed, in part, because the sex drive exceeds all hungers except for lack of food and water beyond about 3days. These deviancies are in part caused by extended deprivation of sexual release during forced incarceration and supposedly voluntary celibacy. Isn't that a strange linkage of imprisoning with barbed wire for crime, and imprisoning with celibacy for Christianity?
   Bluntly speaking, all religions would be well served to eliminate celibacy, allow homosexual ministers, and permit women full equality with men at the podium. I suppose none of this is any of my business as an a-religious person but I am allowed opinion.
    Some More---Deviancy somewhat related to the above is a bit more heartbreaking in that all people are not created equal in their ability to attract partners for release of natural sex energy. To be polite lets just say that some lack beauty, or flirting skills, or intellect necessary to gain employment and related economic attractiveness. I certainly do not condone these deviancies. For the benefit of mankind though it seems that mechanics should at least be studied to help alleviate if not eliminate deviant behavior.
   Legalized prostitution is hotly debated as a mechanism to reduce criminal deviancy. It is legal and medically regulated in some countries and in some states in the US. Mixed results are reported with some countries reporting dire secondary consequences and others beneficial results, like reduction of sexually transmitted disease. The success or lack of it may be culturally related. It's a subject requiring serious study. . I do however declare and accept as non-deviant the natural state of consensual homosexuality. I remain agnostic on legalization of prostitution.    
 RESUME  
    The first full heavily stoned loin brigade including both genders of both tribes launched a hunt for big game. More good fortune was bestowed upon this expanded community. They came upon an extremely large and previously unforeseen creature in the now safe "no go zone" that Hunt and Gath had earlier violated. One tribal elder shouted HUGE! But one of the other tribe's elders not to be outdone shouted MAMMOTH! and that's how this very large creature first got its' name. Anyway the brigade surrounded the newly named mammoth. All aimed for the head and slew the mammoth to essentially a 2 dimensional mass (at least compared to its 3 dimensional standing stature) in "no time flat". The success of the largest assembly of arm and stone power ever witnessed in these parts proved the practicality of cooperation as presented in the seminars of Hunt and Gath.
   Many other benefits of this efficacious method of protein collection became obvious following a three-day celebratory feast (with left-overs) of leg-of-mammoth after two full days of open pit roasting. Examples are more free time for resting, more time for leisure loin searching and R rated activities, more time for stone sharpening, and more time for gathering scarce carbs. The most important aspect of the resulting division of duties led to greater skill levels and productivity increases through increased practice. Hunt was assigned as a full time hunter and Gath was assigned as a full time gatherer.
    Thenceforth the common usage of the distinction- hunter and gatherer.
    During the first several generations of the Huntgath expanded civilization the productivity increases and resulting prosperity wrought by this evolution of cooperation and the advances in the pursuit of happiness were heartwarming.  Permanent and positive influences were either genetically programmed or mentality ingrained in most tribal members and their progeny.
   I personally don't think there is much effectual difference between genetically programmed and mentally ingrained attributes.  
    But then a turn around occurred. Humankind's proclivity for greed and evil that seemed to lie dormant during these progressive generations ironically re-grew rapidly from fertilization by the same prosperity that had also fertilized happiness. A few devious elders with more leisure time on their hands since abandoning loin searching out of lack of interest (in them by others) began to harvest ideas from muddled thoughts regarding feathering their own loin clothes. No doubt only from feathers harvested from the right wings of fowl. That extra loin space now available from shrinking assets and limited energy for effective stone throwing first led to depression but transfigured almost immediately to a right wing concept. The vaccination against the evil greed gene by prosperity lost its effectiveness.
    Briefly, the elders speculated that by reducing the leisure time of all tribe members, except their own, would result in productivity increases beyond the needs of the tribe and could be used to barter surplus animal protein for broccoli. A weaker, protein deficient tribe, a few kilometers away on plant productive riverfront property, harvested bountiful wild broccoli but found little game. The riverfront tribe seemed under developed, an easy target for exploitation. As self designated middlemen, the elder's opportunity for skimming benefits from both tribes through nefarious barter transactions seemed fairly certain. Beads and other colored agates had been invented as currency needed to balance barter transactions and useful for the nefarious to gain storable i.e. un-spoilable wealth.        
    The most devious elder was selected to propose to the tribe that this advancement in trade provided a diet benefit although he personally had a great distaste for broccoli.  One of his sons helped promote the broccoli initiative as he said he was fond of said vegetable (probably just to annoy his daddy and in his own elder years the son explored even more menacing exploitation schemes, again to annoy and out-do his daddy). This broccoli barter scheme was the first seed of globalization and the resulting loss of leisure time of the tribes-people led to depression, reduced productivity, poverty, and less happiness and time for the pursuit thereof.

INTERCESSION----not really pedantic
        This intercession is on my own behalf.  It is to take a break, gather my thoughts, and set my bearings to hopefully help roll smoothly into my peroration (Biblical based). I hope to not lose the respect of truly good-hearted Christen friends and family members--probably too late if they have already read any of the previous babble. Let me openly mull over a few thoughts before entering the next cave of controversy. Bear with me.    
    Archeological evidence documents the rise and demise of multitudes of civilizations in the 7000-century interlude between the fictional Bartgath commune and the rise of great city-states that began to record their own trials and tribulations. Climate changes like severe drought, the ice age, and other natural disasters, and mans own propensity to violently oscillate between good and evil traits all contributed to cycles of prosperity and poverty.
    The Old Testament of the Bible has been assessed by scholars of theology to have had its' earliest chapters written about 7 centuries before the birth of Christ. The veracity of large sections of the dogma and histories presented in the Old Testament are not accepted as legitimate even by many of the metastasized branches of the Christian tree. Many do selectively pick and choose from the Old Testament, as they see fit, to help proselytize their particular brand of dogma. Some scholars sarcastically describe the Biblical authors as uneducated bronze-age goat herders (source, Wade Reeser).                          
    Similarly, some chapters of the New Testament are fraught with inter and intra-chapter contradictions and labeled by some scholars as illegitimate representations of the word of God or his "Son".  The early researched chapters of the New Testament were written 60 to 70 years after Christ's Crucifixion by unknown authors, authors that Thomas Jefferson speculated to be unlettered (as he put it). Jefferson did not believe in the divinity of Christ but admired his principles and in fact personally wrote (in four languages) his own version of the New Testament to cull out Christ's valuable messages. Other of America's founders expressed sentiments that paralleled Jefferson's.  The well-established knowledge of our founders' understandings of history, science, and religion are vital to protect the gifts they awarded the world at great risk to their own lives. I said it before and intend to repeat it many times, our Nation was not founded on Christian principles. The founders did certainly acknowledge Christ's benevolence but not his divinity.                    
    Most importantly the founders Constitutionalized the free establishment of all forms of religions with none allowed, to ever gain control of established secular government.

 " So much blood has been shed by the Church because of an omission from the Gospel: Ye shall be indifferent as to what your neighbor's religion is.  Not merely tolerant of it, but indifferent to it. Divinity is claimed for many religions; but no religion is great enough or divine enough to add that new law to its code".
                                                                                             Mark Twain
PERORATION---long-winded
 There's no reason to bring religion into it. I think we ought to have as great a regard for religion as we can, so as to keep it out of as many things as possible.
                                                                                       Sean O'Casey

   Be duly warned this peroration will offend anyone that believes Christ is divine or the Bible literally true. I adamantly state and firmly believe though that religion is a very positive force and, in prayer and in practice, assists millions in coping with life's tragedies. I also believe that Jesus' teachings proffer significant ethical guidance to diminish the evil acts of mankind.
    These benefits are however, operable only in admirable but limited segments of the mass of Christianity. I thoroughly admire the likes of William Sloan Coffin and Martin Luther King as supreme examples of great and good Intelligent Christians. In the evil segments of Pseudo-Christianity, gross atrocities have been committed in the name of God that include but are not limited to the bloody 300 year long Crusades and much more recently, Southern Baptist (Gospel justified) lynching of black slaves and citizens. Now we have to contend with the ignorant fundamentalist right wing Creationists and their Constitutionally illegal neo-conservative government supported activities to undermine the foundations of the Republic.
SEGUE
    It is my view that Christ's teachings are no more profound than that of the great philosophers that preceded him by a few centuries and even others that coincided with his life. It is easy to speculate that Christ had access to the literature of predecessors and contemporaries housed in sophisticated libraries in Rome and Athens that were available resources during his lifetime. This access could have been direct through Christ's personal travels to these institutions or taught to him by Jewish mentors that did travel or had some form of access to the documented wisdom's of learned men.  A major segment of Christ's life is not documented in the New Testament. Was he out and about in the undocumented years between his youth and his latter- life short ministry? Was he an understudy of men of virtue and wisdom?      
    Christ personally failed to document anything and assigned no scribes or apostles for timely accurate documentation of his reign We therefore have little proof of his divinity beyond fable-literature drafted by unlettered, unknown authors who never personally interviewed him and had to rely on hearsay. This was a severe shortcoming of Christ the fallible human and not the fault of the Bibles authors. Furthermore his neglect to self document his tenets in combination with use of parable instead of straight talk has caused centuries of unnecessary confusion and the spawning of several malignant versions of pseudo-Christianity. Millions of humans have been slain in the name of Christ but not for Christ's sake. Evolution without pseudo-Christian interference would, most likely, have provided a better outcome for humankind than observed in the present state of affairs.
    To be sarcastically polite, if there had been greater clarity of Christ's moral teachings by on the scene respected reporters, pseudo-Christianity may not have flourished.                                
   What I find most astonishing about mans dependence on the Bible is that millions study just two modest size volumes for a lifetime and yet still must  "not get it". Jeez, isn't it astounding that one can elevate him-her self to a doctorate level in 6 to10 years by seriously studying and understanding perhaps 100 volumes of extremely complex art and or science literature. Did God intentionally make his written word far more complex than quantum mechanics, for example, to force obedience, cause mental anguish, or what? I cannot fathom such an ignorant God and feel that if there is a Creator, He-She or It is kindly indifferent to the gibberish of the Gospels.
   Another facet of the gazillions of hours uselessly spent trying to fathom the discontinuities of the Gospels is that these wasted hours could have been employed in multitudes of other productive endeavors to dramatically enhance the well being of man. Adding to that waste are the thousands of volumes of argument literature concerning science and religion. All this spent philosophical waste amazes me, and here I am trapped in it because of a fear of ignorance and greed gaining control of our lives. I beg the electorate to shut down the likes of faith-based initiatives, school prayer and neo-conservative world dominating ideology.  
   How about miracles: -Well, Jesus is credited with many in New Testament scripture but again by hearsay account. If Christ had chosen to espouse just a few scientific facts that his all-knowing Father, as the Creator of the universe, could have easily informed him about and that in the ensuing centuries have been proven to be true, atheists would be scarce. If, for example, Christ had described the solar planetary arrangement he would have gained unquestioned respect and garnered intelligent converts when Galileo proved Christ's (hypothetical) postulate, not to elaborate the agony suffered by Galileo by unmerciful Roman Catholicism. There are many real miracles that man has revealed through use of the scientific method (imaginative speculation followed by experimental verification) that God could have revealed through Christ. Need more be said? Well maybe, wouldn't it be nice to have a book of Christ's scientific postulates?
  How about prayer:-It may astound the reader to find that I believe in the power of prayer. This belief though does not expand to belief that a great and good God is listening. There is a listener of much greater significance-- the person doing the praying. Prayer in my view is essentially the same as secular meditation, a technique to contemplate ones status and gain solace and solutions to the tribulations generously dealt mankind.
   Jon-Cabot-Zinn is a brilliant pioneer in what he calls mind control. His mind control techniques, for getting hold of your self through meditation, provide methods for shutting down thought processes that do not solve problems but instead create damaging mental anguish. This shutdown allows energy for mental musings that help develop coping skills when immersed in seemingly drowning seas of anguish. These seas often dry up on there own with time any way so mind control softens needless anguish during the waiting period. I believe that religious prayer unlocks similar energies and that by defining your troubles to a God provides you a similarly useful channel to your own mind to soften anguish.
    How about Cathedrals and Religious art and music;-I have to admit when entering magnificent Cathedrals, or viewing religious art of the masters in museums, or listening to religious symphony, a spine chilling awe seems to elicit a presence of God. I also experience a similar awe viewing massive non-religious structures like great dams designed by man to control great natural rivers. The same awe and spine chills were felt when looking skyward while standing between the now fallen towers of the World Trade Center. The WTC was never considered to be great architecture but to an engineer the awe stemmed from a great respect for the designers and builders.    
   Likewise giant forest trees are equally inspiring. I'm not totally certain but from a terse Google search think the fossil record of plant evolution is pretty solid and were all made of the same stuff.
   The magnificent religious art of the likes of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo (both thought to be homosexual) create shivers similar to great structures, as do other great works of art including modern theatre and stellar motion pictures that have nothing to do with religion. Ever cry in a movie?
    Great religious music is likewise stirring, but no more so than Cole Porter's poetic and romantic lyrics set to brilliant rhythms. (Porter was gay by the way).
  My point is simply that the chills caused by architecture, art, and music, whether religious or secular oriented come from the brilliance of man.
    I think another lengthy sermon could be drafted on the accelerated spread of Christianity through art induced sense of awe misunderstood by the religious as inspired works of God. I'm certain that Religious Institutions, wealthy men, and monarchies commissioned some of it for proselytizing Christianity and or for enhancing bragging rights. In Mark Twain's travels he was appalled by the squalor outside the walls of these obscenely rich Cathedrals, though I am sure, chills ran up and down his spine (Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin) when viewing these colossal works of man.

I think it's time to end this sermon (for now anyway) because I am constantly reading new literature and forming hopefully sounder opinion on the myriad of issues presented.

                                     SUMMATION

1. Neo-conservatism = (Bush + Cheney + Wolfowitz + Rumsfeld +++)

2. Neo-conservatism = Arrogance = Greed = Imperial Hubris

3. Creationism = Ignorance = Greed( Dobson + Falwell +Robertson+++)

4. Creationism + Neo-conservatism = Oppression = Increased Economic                            
   

5. Faith based initiatives = Mind Control = Biased Indoctrination                        
                                           = Destruction of Separation of      
                                              Church and State

6. School Prayer = Biased Indoctrination = Destruction of Separation of      
                                                                          Church and State

  Creationism is without any doubt a fallacious frozen mysticism whereas evolution is a continually developing solid young science and equal in investigative diligence to the older sciences of physics, mathematics, and astronomy, all still experiencing dramatic improvements with the evolution of man's intelligence.

                          BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. A Devil's Chaplain: Richard Dawkins
   
2. Jefferson Biography-6 Volumes: Dumas Malone
   
3. The Damned Human Race: Mark Twain
   
4. Stardust: John Gribbin
   
5. The Origins of Virtue: Matt Ridley
   

8. Credo: William Sloan Coffin
   
9. The Innocents Abroad: Mark Twain
   
10. A Pen Warmed Up In Hell: Mark Twain
    
11. Letters From The Earth: Mark Twain
    
12. The Elegant Universe, Brian Green
    
13. Benjamin Franklin-An American Life: Walter Isaacson
    
14. The Jefferson Bible: Thomas Jefferson
    
15. Leonardo da Vinci-Biography: Antonina Vallentin
    
16. Wherever You Go There You Are- Mindfulness Meditation    
    

17. Imperial Hubris: Noam Chomsky
    
18. Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Daniel C. Dennett
    
19. Civilisation-Video Tape-Thirteen Part Series: Lord    
    

21. Bible Old and New Testaments
    
22. About 40 web searches on essentially all topics discussed in        
    

"All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth". Aristotle BC 384-322, Greek Philosopher

"A sordid chapter for state Legislature
 March 24, 2005

 The bashing of homosexuals that continues unabated among some lawmakers is rapidly becoming one of the most shameful chapters in the checkered history of the Alabama Legislature.

 The lawmakers began this session by passing a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages in Alabama. It was an exercise in pure overkill -- such marriages already are forbidden by state statute -- but it gave some of the legislators a soapbox to spout their self-serving views on values and morality.

 Waiting in the wings is Rep. Gerald Allen's bill to prevent public libraries and other public entities from owning, purchasing or making accessible any materials regarding homosexuality or gay culture. It says that no public funds may be used by public libraries (or schools, colleges, universities) to purchase or promote printed or electronic materials that "recognize, foster, or promote a [homosexual] lifestyle."

 Now Sen. Hank Erwin Jr., R-Montevallo, has jumped into the homophobic hammering with a bill making it illegal for gays to adopt children.

 The ignorance and bigotry of this legislation is breathtaking. There is no credible evidence to suggest that homosexuals are unfit to be parents. To the contrary, researchers are unequivocal in concluding that the children of lesbian and gay parents grow up as successfully as the children of heterosexual parents. Sexual orientation simply is not a factor in good parenting.

 Erwin justifies his bill by saying it is consistent