Write Cory Maye a letter!
Category: Life

Cory Maye is an inmate in Parchman prison in Mississippi, serving time for shooting a police officer. I've blogged about him before and emailed people about his case because I think he's innocent and the shooting death was an unfortunate accident, one of many caused by the War On Drugs.

Maye recently wrote a blogger covering his case a request for pen pals. I hope some of you could find the time to write Cory and wish him well. I sent a Colorado scenic postcard to him today.

Cory J. Maye #100961
Unit 32-C Building
Parchman, MS 38738

You can also donate money here.

You can read about the Cory Maye case in The Case of Cory Maye in Reason magazine. Also, the author maintains a blog with extensive info on Cory Maye.

11:08 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Denver People's Fair
Category: Music

Each year (since 1971) Denver has People's Fair, which is, as my roommate describes it, Denver's Woodstock. There are 120 music acts that perform, and over two days some 350,000 people attend. I went today with one friend, and tomorrow Greg and I are going. It was a perfect day -- sunny and maybe 75 degrees. Here's some photos I took.

The first three are of the "unsinkable" Molly Brown's house. Most photos are around the Capitol, Courthouse, and surrounding office buildings. Some of the later photos are around the Denver Art Museum.

The fair-skinned, blond, blue-eyed girl in the Indian outfit really is a Native American -- she grew up on a reservation. She told us there's certain tribes that have light skin. Plus, she has a touch of Scandinavian ancestry. I thought she looked about 13 years old. Get this: she's 20!

The last photo on the last page is The Bartholomew, a six unit condo next to the Molly Brown House. This is a new building (2003), not a renovation, but it looks like such a cool place to live. The units are a bit under 2,000 sf and cost $400k and up. The entire Capitol Hill area of Denver is one of my favorite areas.

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Those crazy Scientologists!
Current mood: amused
Category: Religion and Philosophy

There's a church of Scientology near where I live; the other day I went past it and saw a "Now Hiring" sign. I thought, "I've got to get a picture of that!"

I walked past it today wearing dark sunglasses (as this was to be a covert mission - haha) and a camera in my backpack. I stopped across the street and snapped the first photo you see here, and immediately the woman visible in the second photo came out to talk to me. Here's the exchange:

Her: May I help you?
Me: I'm just taking photos.
Her: For what purpose?
Me: Some of my friends may find them humorous.
Her: We don't allow photographs to be taken of our building.
Me: I'm on a public street, not your property. I haven't harmed you in any way.
Her: OK

Then she walked away, probably because I stopped taking pictures and was putting my camera away. Or maybe she realized I knew there was nothing she could really do about it.

Those crazy Scientologists!!

Note:I deliberately smudged out her face and the license plate on the car.

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Letter to my sister
Category: Religion and Philosophy

Now Sally, you know every time you take a sip from that cup, the baby Jesus weeps. :-D

There's been some people who have been offended by the quotes on Starbuck's cups, like this lady who saw the same quote you did:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/05/06/ddn050607cup.html

Here's the Baptist Press accusing Starbucks of "blatantly pushing the homosexual agenda" for using this quote:

http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=21387

"My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long. I surrendered my youth to the people I feared when I could have been out there loving someone. Don't make that mistake yourself. Life's too [expletive] short."

Oh yeah, the Homosexual Agenda. In my official copy, it says on page 271 "plant a subversive quote in a consumer product, and you'll convert a straight person." That's exactly what happened - Pastor Ted Haggard, a 100% straight man with a wife, was sitting in a Starbuck's minding his own business, when he looked down at his coffee cup, saw the quote, and was overcome with desire to get high on meth and have gay sex with a male prostitute. Thank Jesus he was able to attend counseling for a few weeks to "pray the gay away."

Love ya,

Stewart

Sally wrote:
> Hey Stewbaby,
>  
> Below is a quote printed on my Starbuck's coffee cup that I got yesterday.  I 
> thought you would enjoy it...
>  
> The Way I See It #247
>  
> "Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help?  As 
> cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of 
> our imaginations for guidance?  Why not search inside ourselves for the 
> power to overcome?  After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the 
> catastrophes we need to endure."
>  
> - Bill Scheel
> Starbucks customer from London, Ontario.
> He describes himself as a "modern day nobody."

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War with Iran - sheer lunacy
Category: News and Politics

The Case for Bombing Iran: I hope and pray that President Bush will do it.

A) Ahmadinejad did NOT say "wipe Israel off the map" -- see Lost In Translation.

B) We can't win.

I say we can't win because:

1) Our military is stretched thin right now.

2) US popular opinion isn't exactly in the mood for yet another war against a country that hasn't attacked us.

3) Iran is no pushover. They have (if you include para-military personnel) the largest military in the world. Iran also has a number of anti-ship missles such as the Sunburn and Yakhont that could do serious damage to our carrier groups in the Persian Gulf, not to mention oil tankers. If you think the Iraq war isn't going well, wait until we go to war with Iran.

4) Iran may talk tough, but they actually have gone a long time without war. The US (with help) took over their country in 1941, then the US helped overthrow their government again in 1953. When Iraq invaded Iran in 1980, the US backed Saddam Hussein. This was the last time (1998) Iran was at war with anybody. If this happened to us, wouldn't you be pissed? What if Canada had tried three times to overthrow the US government and succeeded twice? Then Canada's newspapers run silly editorials calling for pre-emptive, unprovoked bombing of the US because the US wants nukes to protect itself from....gee....who, people with a history of attacking the US?

5) No ally will back us. Most of the world will think even less of the US than they already do now.

It's just lunacy to me. Iran may not like Israel, and the US does have legit interests in the Gulf. But going to war with Iran?

1:59 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Photos from Denver
Category: Life

Yesterday I walked around the neighborhood taking some photos:

http://www.vardaman.org/denver2007/

One of the things I like about Denver is there's lots of areas in the city that are walkable. All except the last few photos are within a quarter-mile of me. There's a city center with a library, shops, stores, restaurants, bars, etc., a Walmart, a grocery store, a huge pool hall with perhaps 50 tables (Table Steaks: second page, third photo), and a train station. That 12 story Wells Fargo building is about 1,500 feet up the street from me.

2:27 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Back in Denver!
Category: Life

Hell, yeah, back home in Denver! I'm loving it here.

Here's a couple of photos from my going-away party. Now that I found my camera I'll be taking some pics of Denver.

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The God Debate: Rick Warren and Sam Harris debate God
Category: Religion and Philosophy

Read the whole thing: The God Debate.

One theme I've heard over and over all my life is the canard that atheists cannot be moral because morality requires faith or comes from a god.

WARREN:...If life is just random chance, then nothing really does matter and there is no morality-it's survival of the fittest. If survival of the fittest means me killing you to survive, so be it. For years, atheists have said there is no God, but they want to live like God exists. They want to live like their lives have meaning.

Then this:

WARREN: I believe that history split into A.D. and B.C. because of the Resurrection. And the Resurrection is not only the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is the hope of the world: it says there's more to this life than just here and now. That doesn't mean that I do less, it means that this life is a test, it's a trust and it's a temporary assignment. If death is the end, shoot, I'm not going to waste another minute being altruistic.

Let's think about this for a minute. Warren is saying (like so many other religionites) that without God (and presumably an afterlife), there's no logical reason to behave nicely in this world. This is how he sees non-believers like me -- my kind do not behave morally.

For starters, let's look at the altruism of the two richest people in the United States: Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. Both are giving nearly all of their net worth to charities, and both are atheists. Neither will garner good will in the afterlife for doing good deeds, because they don't believe in an afterlife to begin with.

Next, is Warren's morality really all that moral? In his worldview, you behave nicely now because A) you will personally be rewarded in the afterlife for it, or B) you will be punished for not doing it. A bit self-serving, don't you think? A person who thinks like this is not truly altruistic; he's actually quite cynical. He weighs options of his actions in terms of avoiding the stick or chasing a carrot. All for an imaginary friend he believes in without evidence, but on faith. Like the faith of the True Believers that piloted jets into towers with similar stick/carrot beliefs.

I don't have the luxury of being forgiven later. I can't live a lifetime of evil, yet be saved in my final hour by accepting Jesus (or any of a thousand other One True Gods). I have to be decent, right here, and right now, not later. Because I do not have a 'later.'

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Neil Peart's liner notes from Rush's new album
Category: Religion and Philosophy

Neil Peart, Rush's drummer and main lyricist had this to say in the liner notes of Rush's new album:

I was also thinking, like Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion, about how children are usually imprinted with a particular faith, along with their other early blessings and scars. People who actively choose their faith are vanishingly few; most simply receive it, with their mother's milk, language, and customs. Thinking also of people being shaped by early abuse of one kind or another, I felt a connection with friends who had adopted rescue dogs as puppies, and given them unlimited love, care, and security. If those puppies had been 'damaged' by their earlier treatment--made nervous, timid, or worse--they would always remain that way, no matter how smooth the rest of their life might be. It seemed the same for children.

via Richard Dawkins

9:26 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

The 'dope' may be you...
Category: News and Politics

I was in one of my employer's remote offices today, overhearing two people talking about marijuana use -- a 21 year old relative had succumbed to the scourge, such a shame, etc. I asked; "What took him so long? My first experience with pot was at age 13."

Naturally, they gave me look of horror.

I haven't touched the stuff since 2003, rarely used it anyway, yet the attitudes in America about marijuana disturb me.

Court TV's COPS tonight featured a bust of an Hispanic male for mere small quantity possession. I felt so sorry for the guy -- unlike most perps on COPS, he's not violent like a drunk.

Then I read this: Alcohol as a Drug: A Moral Revolution:

In particular, those who discuss drug policy (outside Islamic societies) have no obligation to pretend they themselves are - nor any right to assume that their audiences are - abstinent from alcohol.

And The War on Drugs Is Really a War on Minorities:

Consider this: According to a 2006 report by the American Civil Liberties Union, African Americans make up an estimated 15% of drug users, but they account for 37% of those arrested on drug charges, 59% of those convicted and 74% of all drug offenders sentenced to prison. Or consider this: The U.S. has 260,000 people in state prisons on nonviolent drug charges; 183,200 (more than 70%) of them are black or Latino.

Stop. Please. Stop.

8:24 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment