#intelligenceoverignorance

My top three, forever and always:

God Game, Andrew Greeley. Dated in a lot of ways but the underlying view of what it is to be God is a storyline that will stick with you. (How God views Man)

Stranger In A Strange Land, Robert Heinlein. Just read it. It’s self-explanatory. (How man views God)

Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl. Should be required reading for the Trump Era.  How one psychologist survived the concentration camps and discovered something important for his therapy. (Man’s self)

Other Books:

Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Fucking Funny. Make sure to read the footnotes...OMG the foot notes. Also if you are a Supernatural fan the description of Crowley at the beginning should make you smile.

I will Fear No Evil, Robert Heinlein. Gender and sexuality have been questions for cultures and writers for years and will be for years to come. The answers and even the questions left hanging here are awesome in their presentation and their scope.

The Martian, Andy Weir. Good, fun, funny and probably 90% scientifically accurate. Read the book, it’s as good as the movie and has some depth to it the movie couldn’t have, due to the fact...hey movie.

Servant of the Bones, Anne Rice. The religious aspects are interesting...but it is the basic philosophy and good storytelling that will grip you.

The Dragon Riders of Pern, Anne McCaffrey and Tales of Valdemar, Mercedes Lackey. Both of these series have ups and downs, but if you want good fantasy with that has “human” meaning fallible main characters than this is the place to go...oh and some of the first to have homosexual main and side characters as well.

Not all middle eastern countries hate America. Do not blame the mistakes of a few without knowing the intentions and beliefs of the whole.

Why can’t taxes be used for both? There should be funds in place that are specifically for veterans and in turn not be touched by any government program.

But then again, there should be other programs in place to take care of our nation, like a fund to provide tiny houses for the homeless because there aren’t enough shelters; like raising minimum wage every year more than 3 cents, so we aren’t making the same as those in 1979; like providing free health care and free college classes; like working to build up forgotten neighborhoods instead of abandoning the area and the citizens forced to stay there due to income; like not allowing people on food stamps to stay on food stamps for years and eat better than those with salary jobs; like making the cost of living less than the annual income allowing savings to accrue and reasonable enough for the middle class families saddled with low salaries and high student loans….work on those issues at home while also helping those who were not born in a free country, those who were not given the choice if they wanted to go to school or which pair of shoes to purchase or the option of not eating, those who cannot express their true opinions or sexuality due to fear of being killed….fix these problems before you try to compare the two. Fix these cracks in the foundation before you try to demolish someone else’s character, religion, way of life, and country.

You were born in country of wealth, freedom, opportunity, and abundance yet you treat it as though it was a right instead of a privilege. Those who immigrate here come for betterment, for safety and security, for life, for happiness, for the ideals spelled out in the Declaration of Independence. They are not taking your jobs or your men/women, or your neighborhoods, or your land, or your food…you did not want these things until they chose to acquire them. They came for a better life and they worked hard because they know the struggle of truly being oppressed, fearful, and without.

This bashing of other people, countries, religions, organizations, communities, races, ethnicities, professions, and personal choices has to stop. America is no longer the melting pot you thought you wanted. A melting pot mixes everything together, resulting in one product, which never shows the many different ingredients that created it. Instead, treat America as the garden salad it truly is. Allow ingredients to work together to make an incredible end product; the ingredients that are good on their own, but when combined make a better dish; ingredients that can be identified by their differences but not shunned for their uniqueness.

Please join my dog Darwin in celebrating Darwin Day -- in honor of Charles Darwin’s birthday and the sciences that have contributed to our understanding of the world in which we live.  

International Darwin Day was founded in 1993 by Dr. Robert Stephens to honor the accomplishments of Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution continues to inform groundbreaking discoveries in biology, genetics and medicine, along with other fields of research.

Not a single Republican presidential candidate has publicly acknowledged the theory of evolution.  A senate resolution -- the Darwin Day Resolution (Senate Resolution 337) -- provides vital Congressional support for science and the teaching of evolution in public schools.