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Intolerance in Mantua, Utah

I read this Letter to the Editor in the Standard Examiner newspaper in Utah today.  It’s sad that we have these kind of people living in our country.  Shown below are the comments to the letter people posted on the newspaper website.  The comments give me hope that not all Utahans are like this.  Feel free to leave your comments.

Sen. Obama is anti-American

This country may be on the verge of a catastrophic tragedy that could change the United States and all that our Founding Fathers gave to us as a legacy including the Constitution, Bill of Rights, etc., if Barack Hussein Obama is elected as president.

We can kiss the United States of America, as we know it, goodbye, and usher in the United Socialists States of North America. Barack Hussein Obama is not only not African-American, as he claims, but is anti-American.

At the onset of his campaign, he would not wear an American flag in his lapel; would not pledge allegiance to the flag and would not stand with his hand over his heart as the flag passed by. He was evidently advised by his handlers to change that attitude and fast!

All I ever hear from Hussein Obama is “your fault, your fault, etc.” I never hear him offer a solution. What you will get from Hussein Obama is higher taxes to pay for his socialistic plans for Americans.

Having traveled to some foreign countries, I have seen what cradle-to-grave coverage means and we Americans won’t like it! Hussein Obama is a “the-end-justifies-the-means” artist. “Barack Hussein Obama” on White House presidential stationary? Puleeeze, gimmie a break!

Ben U. Smith
Mantua, UT

Comments
By: Carl Evers @ 10/11/2008, 3:39 PM

Well Ben U. Smith of Mantua, when I read your comments, I wanted to puke. It’s because of people like you that Utah has a reputation around the country as a state that is full of bigots, racists, and generally intolerant people. I am embarrassed that I have to live in the same state with someone like yourself who is truly unAmerican. When Barack Hussein Obama is elected President of my United States of America, I hope you will take this momentous occasion to pack your bags and leave the country. Your hatred and bigotry is not welcome in my state or my country.

By: dano @ 10/11/2008, 3:36 PM

Sly. Sit down with some fried chicken and watermelon,do some research on the candidates and shut your damn mouth you moron!!

By: Joel S @ 10/11/2008, 3:27 PM

Quoting from your letter: “Barack Hussein Obama on White House presidential stationary? Puleeeze, gimmie a break!” That statement is about as un-American as you can get. What has a name got to do with anything as far as being American. This country was founded by people with all kinds of different names. You also blasted Obama for being a socialist, yet, your own candidate (I’m assuming is McCain”) is proposing that the government buy up all of the delinquent home loans. Most of these loans were given to people who shouldn’t have qualified for them in the first place or to people who were looking to cash in on the crazy housing market gold rush. Who do you think is going to pay for such a large undertaking. YOU and me! If you don’t think taxes will go up as a result of such actions you are very naive. You say you have never heard Obama offer solutions. That is apparently because you are covering your ears and eyes because he has offered more specific plans than McCain has. It sounds like you listen to Sean Hannity way too much. I hope you get a chance to open your eyes and ears and actually listen to the proposed actions of the two individuals who are running for president. It may result in an educated vote instead of one based on biased talk-radio garble.

By: Sly @ 10/11/2008, 3:06 PM

WOW about the only things you didn’t call him were #*&! and Arab Muslum. How good it must be to be a rasist hate mongering pathetic piece of crap like you.

People like YOU are whats wrong with this country NOT people like Obama. And as always just WHAT does his middle name have to do with anything. Did you pck your middle name?

Whats the U stand for? Urislla?

He explained the pin issue not that you can read outside of the Beck or Rush reports. He didn’t put his hand over his heart at the NATIONAL ANTHEM NOT THE PLEDGE YOU IDIOT!!! You are not required to do so so I guess you hate about half the crowd and most of the players at sporting events who don’t do it either right?

If you never hear him give solutions then you aren’t listening or actually you REFUSE to listen so that’s your fault not his. You don’t want to hear so you try and claim he has none well NO YOU DON’T WANT TOT HEAR IT big difference pal.

People like you disgust me. Stay up in MAntua where you belong.

By: mel @ 10/11/2008, 2:28 PM

The end-justifies-the means is my comment from 10/8. I have copied and pasted, as there is a running discussion about who “doesn’t think” and gets all their info from the media. So, here is the original thought.

By: mel @ 10/08/2008, 8:10 AM

Dave, you’re right, but Clinton didn’t advertise himself as being holier than anyone else. Also, Clinton’s problems don’t lessen Bush’s. And Bush’s hypocrisy makes it worse.

I also think starting unjustified wars, getting Hamas and Hezbollah elected, and strenthening Iran are the opposite of Christian. The end-justifies-my- means is not considered ethical anywhere outside of the Bible, where the person-who-wins-is-favored-of-God.

It will be very interesting explaining to Jesus the reasons why you fell for Neocon philosophy. All they want is money and to force their views on the world. Subverting the one truly democratic and free country in the world for their purposes. The only true thing Bush ever said was “Vladimir Putin is my soul mate”.

Complicated – It’s much easier for me to imagine Christ forgiving Bill Clinton
than Bush / Cheney.

By: Nick @ 10/11/2008, 1:12 PM

Smith’s letter is the ultimate expression of un-American thinking.

Racist, willfully ignorant, hateful and error-filled.

Mr. Smith is no doubt impervious to factual information, so let me just say to him…

President Obama will respect your right to believe nutty things. You can spend the next four years hugging your AM radio and muttering angrily to yourself in complete peace.

By: Mike @ 10/11/2008, 11:31 AM

The lunacy of this letter!!!

Let’s look at what has transpired over the last eight years of REPUBLICAN presidential control and 6 years of REPUBLICANS controlling both houses.

We have seen an invasion of a sovereign nation without cause, the END of Habeous Corpus, the condoning of torture, illegal wiretaps which thanks to BOTH parties now retroactively legalizes the warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens and protects the telecos from ANY legal liability. Gutted bankrupcy laws that benefit the SAME financial institutions currently being bailed out while preventing JOE SIX PACK from saving their mortgages which BTW… these SAME financial institutions had to FORECLOSE ON and now are destroying them. The COMPLETE REDISTRIBUTION of TAXPAYER wealth to the robber barrons who were ENABLED by DEREGULATING REPUBLICANS and to a smaller extent demos, and now… nationalized banks. YET…. you call the Obama a “SOCIALIST”?!?!

PRICELESS!!!

Mr. Ben U. Smith, you may be able to give the likes of haniitylimbaughbeck that anal infusion of smoke but to those who are educated, informed and care about the Country NOT the party, you comments are pure racist drivel.

By: Bruce @ 10/11/2008, 11:11 AM

Wow. What a podunk racist.

And by the looks of it, Mr Smith, you’re not exactly American either. I mean, look at your name. It’s hardly indigenous. I’d dare to say your family probably came from somewhere within just a few thousand miles of the middle east (anywhere in Europe is). And you probably practice one of those Semitic, abrahamic desert religions, one of which is Islam. So unless you’re native American, you are hypocritical to insinuate that someone else doesn’t belong here, as you have so blatantly done by emphasizing Senator Obama’s given middle name.

Mr Smith, it is people like you who are anti-American. Your grandchildren will look upon your beliefs in shame, embarrassed by your close-mindedness and repulsed by your lack of acceptance and understanding for people of different backgrounds from yourself. Barack Obama may not be (and I’ll be VERY surprised if I’m wrong) white like you, a NASCAR enthusiast like you, or he may not even like hunting wolves from helicopters (like Palin), but we’ll see if he’s american enough come election day.

For the record, I’m white, mostly conservative, but mostly tired of 8 years of GOP corruption and George W Bush, who has done more to damage our country than any other president. It is GW Bush who has turned the American Dream into a nightmare. I think I’ll take my chances with Barack Hussein Obama, and I bet there are more who agree with me than with you. So enjoy the next couple months while you can, McCain/Bush supporters, because payback’s a b!tch.

Gobama ’08

There’s no such thing as “clean coal”

Don’t be deceived, there’s no such thing as ‘clean coal’
Cherise Udell
Salt Lake Tribune 5/4/08

Let’s be real: “Clean coal” is a marketing slogan not a technological reality. Coal does currently provide us with a reliable source of electricity but at an astronomical price that is hidden from us consumers.
Maybe you pay for it with your child’s asthma. Maybe you paid for it with your father’s heart attack or your grandmother’s stroke that took her speech away. Maybe you lost a baby to SIDS on a particularly bad air day.
Emissions from coal-fired power plants are a leading cause of smog, acid rain, global warming, air toxins – and premature deaths. The EPA estimates that over 30,000 Americans are dying prematurely each year due to emissions from power plants, the majority of which are coal-powered.
This doesn’t even address the high mortality rates associated with the mining process. Thus, coal kills more people annually than homicides (16,000 in 2000) or AIDS (14,000) and nearly as many as traffic accidents (42,000).

So when coal industry advocates like Joe Lucas, vice president of communications for the American Coalition for Clean Coal, and Bountiful resident Bruce Taylor, co-owner of the proposed coal plant in Sevier County, say “cleaner coal,” what exactly do they mean?

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a typical coal plant annually generates:

• 3.7 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary human cause of global warming

• 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2)

• 500 tons of small airborne particles, which can cause chronic bronchitis, aggravated asthma, and premature death

• 10,200 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx), equal to what would be emitted by half a million late-model cars. NOx leads to formation of ozone (smog) which inflames the lungs

• 720 tons of carbon monoxide (CO), which causes headaches and places additional stress on people with heart disease

• 220 tons of hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds (VOC), which form ozone

• 170 pounds of mercury, an extremely potent neurotoxin; just 1/70th of a teaspoon deposited on a 25-acre lake can make the fish unsafe for human consumption. The Great Salt Lake is already heavily contaminated with mercury

• 225 pounds of arsenic, which will cause cancer in one out of 100 people who regularly drink water containing 50 parts per billion

• 114 pounds of lead, 4 pounds of cadmium, other toxic heavy metals, and trace amounts of uranium

None of these numbers sounds “clean” to me. So, does coal advocate Lucas consider a “clean” coal plant to produce only 7,000 pounds of annual sulfur dioxide emissions instead of 10,000 pounds? Does he consider 2 million tons of carbon dioxide instead of 3.7 million tons to be “clean” or how about 120 pounds of mercury instead of 170 pounds? Does “clean” coal only cause 20,000 premature deaths annually as compared to 30,000?

The reality is coal is dirty and will likely remain so.
If the American Coalition for Clean Coal is determined to funnel much-needed tax monies away from the development of real energy solutions that are sustainable and life-giving rather than life-taking, then I want to know exactly what is meant by clean.
Please do not try to manipulate me with deceptive advertising, green-washing or in this case, clean-washing.
Lucas and others in the energy sector must choose between investing in antiquated pulverized coal technology, desperately trying to make it “cleaner” or investing in innovative, renewable and truly clean energy technologies that will position the United States as a leader in the new global economy of the 21st century.
You can guess which choice will be better in the long run for our pocketbook, our economy and our health.
For more information about the high costs of coal check out: http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/fossil_fuels/costs_of_coal.html

• CHERISE UDELL is the founder of Utah Moms for Clean Air and a mother of two daughters.

Why Men Believe (in religion)

Humanists of Utah
Discussion Group
February 2008
By Craig Wilkinson, M.D.

E. Haldeman-Julius was born in Philadelphia in 1889 and died in 1951. He owned a publishing company which published more than 2,200 “Little Blue Books.” The topics of these books included history, philosophy, sex, home economics, poetry, and free thought works by Paine, Ingersoll, and Voltaire, among others. He was not afraid of controversy and one series of books was entitled Appeal to Reason Series. There goal was to bring education to the masses. He was the first to use the postal service to distribute his fifteen cent paper back “Little Blue Books”.

“Why Men Believe,” is taken from his book, The Outline of Bunk circa 1929, page 24. In this essay he reviews what he feels was the essential history of religion. Men originally believed in religion because “they did not know better.” There was no scientific explanation of life. The fantastic dogmas of religion, though puzzling to them, could not be questioned by the stupid masses of men. There was in the first place, the activity of superstitious curiosity and wonder, in the absence of science, trying to explain somehow the mystery of the universe. These explanations would be of the sort that we find in religion: a queer patchwork of supernatural imaginings, myths and marvels. The element of ignorant wonder would sufficiently account for religion. In a word, once his mind got busy, man would awkwardly try to figure out what life meant. And untrained, unguided reflections would result in a religious mess. Religions would produce confusion, and, not least, would evolve into a scheme of power (with rival cults and deities) to be intolerantly maintained.

As for the masses, they were influenced by fear and hope–and susceptible in the first place, through their ignorance. Today hope and fear, while not so intense, still have their part in support of religion. A personal, sentimental hope also induces many to believe, or try to believe, in the promises of religion concerning a future life. Man egotistically rebels against the thought of dying. They surrender a great deal of knowledge and pleasure that is certain for the sake of an extremely dubious, shadowy reward and a hope of living in heaven with their departed loved ones. A belief in religion is only possible, with any degree of satisfying faith, to the simplest type of mind, and even then there is a doubt that is irrepressible, a doubt that is repeatedly awakened by the spectacle of death.

From another viewpoint, to some people, an acceptance of religion is the easiest escape from the wearying necessity of thought. Here is a man who is not equal to reasoning himself to a realistic view of life. Nor is he strong enough to bear what is to him the burden of skepticism. He wants comforting illusion. And without making any intellectual difficulties for himself, without really thinking much about the question, he leans upon a simple, vague, but pleasant faith in religion. Its unpleasant doctrines he forgets and its more attractive promises he choose to believe as a desirous and uncritical act of faith. Perhaps he is not zealous in religious devotion. He is not strong on doctrine; he is not interested in discussion. He has not so much been saved or converted as he has rid himself, in what seems to him the easiest way, of a troublesome problem.

I think E. Haldeman-Julius was as accurate in 1929 as he is in 2008. Faith is really intellectual laziness. Take for example, evolution. When asked how life began, to answer “God did it,” is a cop out. The true story of life was discovered by Charles Darwin. It took him an entire lifetime of study and work. Many other dedicated scientists spent many years of hard work in the trenches, digging fossils and interpreting them, studying the molecules of life including the molecule of heredity that is DNA to find the truth. It was evolution by natural selection on a background of inheritable characteristics and random mutations that, over millions of years, in slow small steps created life on this planet as we know it today.

The religious mindset is characterized by intellectual laziness. On the other hand, it isn’t easy to be a skeptic. Trying to find the truth is a rigorous intellectual exercise. The intellectually honest person must face the truth even when it hurts. The skeptic has a difficult, often thankless, and sometimes painful job. He has the job of bringing reason, knowledge, facts, and most importantly, intellectual honesty to the discussion of the great questions and problems that face mankind. What other choice do we have? Rational thinking based on knowledge and facts must trump a hope or belief without knowledge, “faith.” Vice a versa is just too scary to think about.

Thousands, including Mitt Romney, attend Mormon cult leader Hinckley’s funeral

SALT LAKE CITY – Twenty one thousand Thursday and an estimated forty thousand Friday – that’s how many people have attended the public viewing of LDS cult leader President Gordon B. Hinckley.

Friday, the long lines began forming in the morning and by early evening were encircling the LDS Conference Center.

LDS Church cult officials vowed to keep the doors open late to accommodate all the people.
Now, many of those at the viewing are children.

Several parents we talked to said it was important to bring their kids because President Hinckley is the only Prophet the children have known. It’s interesting and downright sick that people believe Hinckley is a prophet considering he was selected by men of the church. How can mortal men determine who is a “prophet” and who isn’t? The answer is simple, because Hinckley was no prophet and the LDS/Mormon “religion” is not a religion at all. Its a cult.

But the viewing experience also taught the children lessons about life and death and faith.

Friday was the last day to see President Hinckley lying in repose at the conference center in the Hall of the Prophets.

Saturday, a private viewing has been scheduled for the Hinckley family.

Then, at 11:00 am, a funeral service will be held, also at the conference center.

Many dignitaries are expected to attend, including Health Secretary Michael O. Leavitt and presidential candidate Mitt Romney. It is surprising that Romney, a believer and follower of the cult, would rather attend the funeral of the cult leader than campaign in the critical weekend before Super Tuesday.

How sad, very, very sad.

New Hampshire newspaper calls Mitt Romney a phony

 By GLEN JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

The Concord Monitor broke with political tradition Sunday, telling readers in the state with the first presidential primary why they should not vote for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney instead of whom they should support.

In a scathing anti-endorsement that called Romney a “disquieting figure,” the New Hampshire newspaper’s editorial board said he looks and acts like a presidential contender but “surely must be stopped” because he lacks the core philosophical beliefs to be a trustworthy president.

In particular, the newspaper noted the former Massachusetts governor’s change of heart on such issues as abortion rights, stem-cell research and access to emergency contraception, as well as on signing an anti-tax pledge.

“When New Hampshire partisans are asked to defend the state’s first-in-the-nation primary, we talk about our ability to see the candidates up close, ask tough questions and see through the baloney. If a candidate is a phony, we assure ourselves and the rest of the world, we’ll know it,” the newspaper said. “Mitt Romney is such a candidate. New Hampshire Republicans and independents must vote no.”

Romney’s campaign sloughed off the criticism and instead pointed to his endorsement Sunday by the Sioux City Journal in Iowa, the state whose Jan. 3 caucuses kick off the presidential nominating process. Romney also has been stumping hard in New Hampshire ahead of its Jan. 8 primary, including stops here and in two other communities on Sunday.

“The Monitor’s editorial board is regarded as a liberal one on many issues, so it is not surprising that they would criticize Governor Romney for his conservative views and platform,” said Romney spokesman Kevin Madden. “Governor Romney has taken firm positions that are at odds with the board’s support for driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants, their position against school choice and their advocacy for taking `Under God’ out of the Pledge of Allegiance. The governor happens to disagree with the editorial board on all those issues.”

In its endorsement, the Iowa newspaper said: “Romney combines an outsider’s new face with a proven track record of success as an executive in both the private and public sectors. …Personally, he is engaging, even charming, he has shown an ability to reach across partisan divides, and he is passionate on the campaign trail. In terms of leadership qualities, he possesses ‘it,’ and the importance of ‘it’ should not be diminished.”

Julia Sweeney – Letting go of God – RadioWest – Utah show

RadioWest on NPR’s KUER radio had a one hour program today with Julia on her upcoming show in Park City and her change from being a believer in God to a believer in the goodness of people without the need for belief in supernatural beings. It’s an excellent interview and preview of her show.

I’ve made a MP3 of the full RadioWest show with Julia. You can download it here and listen to it with any MP3 player. Feel free to post your comments here once you’ve listened to the show.

If you didn’t catch my previous post about her popular appearance on This American Life, you can read it here and listen to the audio.

Julia Sweeney.com
Sweeney is an atheist, something she brought to light in a one-woman show entitled Letting Go of God. In it, she discusses her Catholic upbringing, early religious ideology, and the life events and internal search that led her to believe that the universe can function on its own without a deity to preside over it.

She began performing the show live in Los Angeles. In May 2006, she performed the piece in Austin, Texas, at The Paramount Theater. The Austin show was followed by a half-hour discussion between Sweeney and Ira Glass (host of This American Life). An excerpt of the show subsequently appeared on This American Life in an episode entitled Godless America. Letting Go of God was released on CD in 2006, and was filmed live on stage in May 2007 (release date t.b.a., pending postproduction).

In 2006, Sweeney was awarded the Richard Dawkins Award and the American Humanist Association’s “Humanist Pioneer” award, and joined the advisory board of the Secular Coalition for America. She also does commercials for the Freedom From Religion Foundation on Air America Radio.

Julia Sweeney – Letting go of God – This American Life

Update: Be sure to read my related post here. It’s the audio from her KUER RadioWest interview that aired in November 2007.

Here is a 28:45 minute MP3 (6.58MB) clip of her show as it aired on This American Life on 3 June 2005. This episode became the single most popular story ever aired on the program.

Julia Sweeney.com
Sweeney is an atheist, something she brought to light in a one-woman show entitled Letting Go of God. In it, she discusses her Catholic upbringing, early religious ideology, and the life events and internal search that led her to believe that the universe can function on its own without a deity to preside over it.

She began performing the show live in Los Angeles. In May 2006, she performed the piece in Austin, Texas, at The Paramount Theater. The Austin show was followed by a half-hour discussion between Sweeney and Ira Glass (host of This American Life). An excerpt of the show subsequently appeared on This American Life in an episode entitled Godless America. Letting Go of God was released on CD in 2006, and was filmed live on stage in May 2007 (release date t.b.a., pending postproduction).

In 2006, Sweeney was awarded the Richard Dawkins Award and the American Humanist Association’s “Humanist Pioneer” award, and joined the advisory board of the Secular Coalition for America. She also does commercials for the Freedom From Religion Foundation on Air America Radio.

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Salt Lake City, UT Anti-War Rally 10/27/07

Rarely a day passes when we don’t hear the bumper sticker slogan “support the troops”. The best way to support the troops is to speak out against the war as much as you can, any way you can.

On 27 Oct 2007 in 11 cities across the country there will be marches and rallies to support the troops and demand that they be brought home. Below is information about the Salt Lake City, UT support the troops, bring them home rally.

http://www.oct27.org/

What do we really mean by saying “Support Our Troops”? How are you supporting the troops right now? Here is what you can do: Join Utah and other surrounding states including Idaho, Colorado, and Montana, in a major march and rally on Saturday October 27th, 2007 in Salt Lake City. The action starts at 11:00 AM at the Utah State Capital where an Iraq War Veteran will give the opening address for this day of action. We then march down the hill to the Federal Building where more activities and speeches are scheduled at 12 PM. The event culminates at Washington Square, 400 South State Street in Salt Lake City, where from 1 to 3 PM nationally recognized speakers will address the gathering.

We also plan to feature great music and many local/regional anti-war street performance groups and displays.