The Humanist Association of Orange County ( HAOC) is a
chapter of the American Humanist Association.
Please visit our website at http://www.ochumanists.org
HAOC Board
President: Pete Anderson
Vice President: Dave Silva
Treasurer:.Harry Becker
Secretary: Jerry Parks
Member at large: Carl Mariz
Member at large: Benito Franqui
NEXT
HAOC MEETING
Sunday, September 19,
1:30 P.M.
Dave
Silva and Carl Mariz will speak about their experiences running for political
office, emphasizing points of interest to humanists.
NEXT CFI-WEST MEETING
( Costa Mesa )
Sunday, September 19, 4:30
p.m.
( $6.00 or free for Friends of the Center ):
Austin Dacey will speak on
"Common Knowledge: Reconnecting Science and the Public"
The architects of 20th century American science policy saw that basic scientific
research would require public, which is to say governmental, support. While the
system they erected helped propel the country to world technological dominance,
it has reached a breaking point. Science is public, yet everywhere it is
challenged by the private: corporate forces move to commodify information,
privatizing the global "knowledge commons." Private conscience objects
to the incursion of biomedical and neuroscience into humanity's hidden
territory: the genes, the mind, procreation. America and the world are in search
of a new public philosophy of science, a new policy of public science. One key
lies in recognizing science as a source of culture. This process calls for the
creation of new interdisciplinary academic institutions. A lecture and
discussion featuring Dr. Austin Dacey, director of Center for Inquiry's new
Science and the Public program, a joint initiative with State University of New
York at Buffalo.
NEXT SKEPTICS SOCIETY MEETING
Sunday,
September 26, 2:00 p.m.
Women in Science: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century
by Laura Woodmansee
Science
journalist Laura S. Woodmansee, author of Women Astronauts and Women of Space: Cool Careers on the Final Frontier, will
talk about the changing role of women in science from ancient times to today.
Laura will discuss how the pioneering women of science overcame obstacles to
follow their dreams. Today, women work in every field of science and space
exploration, but it hasn’t always been this way. Even today, women are
underrepresented in most technical fields. Laura has interviewed many powerful
women in science including astronauts Sally Ride, Eileen Collins, Susan Helms,
Shannon Lucid, the late Kalpana Chawla of Space Shuttle Columbia, Jill Tartar of
SETI, Mars engineer Donna Shirley, and many others. Discover what experiences
and advice these role models have shared. Laura’s new company, Space Girl
Productions ( www.woodmansee.com ) ,
creates entertaining educational videos and DVDs. Book signing to follow lecture.
ORIGINS
Forthcoming PBS broadcast September
28 and 29, 2004, 8-10 pm http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/origins/about.html
Has the universe always existed? How did it
become a place that could harbor life? What was the birth of our planet like?
Are we alone, or are there alien worlds waiting to be discovered? NOVA presents
some startling new answers in "Origins," a groundbreaking four-part
NOVA miniseries hosted by dynamic astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director
of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. Tyson leads
viewers on a cosmic journey to the beginning of time and into the distant
reaches of the universe, searching for life's first stirrings and its traces on
other worlds.
The series' first hour, "Origins: Earth is
Born," gives viewers a spectacular glimpse of the tumultuous first billion
years of Planet Earth—a time of continuous catastrophe. Vivid animation lets
viewers witness the traumatic birth of the moon from a titanic collision between
Earth and an object believed to have been the size of Mars. Bombarded by meteors
and comets, rocked by massive volcanic eruptions, and scoured by hot acid rain,
the early Earth seems a highly improbable place for life to have taken root.
Despite such violent beginnings, scientists have found new clues that
life-giving water and oxygen appeared on our planet much earlier than previously
thought.
Hour Two, "Origins: How Life Began,"
zeroes in on the mystery of exactly how it happened. Join the hunt for hardy
microbes that flourish in the most unlikely places: inside rocks in a mine shaft
two miles down, inside a cave dripping with acid as strong as a car battery's,
and in noxious gas bubbles erupting from the Pacific ocean floor. The survival
of these tough microorganisms suggests they may be related to the planet's first
primitive life forms. Tyson deepens the search by investigating tantalizing and
controversial chemical "signatures" of life inside
three-billion-year-old rocks and meteorites found around the world.
In Hour Three, "Origins: Where are the
Aliens?," Tyson explores such provocative questions as: would "ETs"
resemble us or the creatures of science fiction? Are there "aliens"
already amongst us on Planet Earth—brainy creatures whose intelligence is very
different from our own? And are planets on which life can flourish rare or
common in our universe?
Hour Four starts with a bang—the big bang in
which everything began. "Origins: Back to the Beginning" explores how
the colossal, mind-boggling forces of the early universe made it possible for
habitable worlds to emerge. The clues begin with a race among scientists to
capture lingering echoes of the big bang's ferocious energy in a microwave
"whisper" from deep space. The race pits underdog astronomer Tony
Readhead and his improvised detector in the high Andes against NASA scientists
and their state-of-the-art satellite probe. Tyson shares his excitement with
viewers as computer animation of the big bang's echo emerges on the screen.
It's as close as we can get to a "photograph" of the primordial
universe. Here we glimpse the seeds from which all the galaxies, stars, and
planets eventually grew.
In the search for answers to the many provocative
questions the program raises, Tyson catches up with one of astronomy's most
exciting recent findings: the discovery of the first planets outside our own
solar system. Detecting more than 100 of these planets over the last few years,
astronomers have developed an ingenious technique worthy of Sherlock Holmes for
deducing whether or not they might be suitable for life.
As for the ultimate question—whether we can
contact an alien civilization—Tyson tells us to stay tuned, reminding us that
the quest for origins has involved us in one incredible surprise after another.
A SICK SOCIETY ?
by Jerry
Parks
Something seems awfully wrong
with our society. What particularly drives that opinion home is the monthly
receipt in the mail of a free copy of a large, slick and obviously expensive
advertising magazine that is apparently made especially for the Orange County
elite. It always contains a few articles about the doings of society, some
articles about elegant vacation destinations all over the world, articles about
fashion and styles, etc., all interspersed with lots of ads about the most
elegant places to shop, expensive styles featuring the most grotesque and
outlandish designs that clearly are meant just to be worn once or twice to make
a fashion statement and then discarded.
And there are lots of real-estate ads for desirable homes. A recent issue
features a number of real-estate ads for homes, in 27 of which they deemed to
show the asking price, which averaged out to over six million dollars apiece,
although that included one bare building site to which you can add your own
special mansion. Presumably the ads that didn¹t show the price were even more
expensive.
Some of the fashion shots/clothing ads seem the most repellent, featuring
grotesque and unfunctional clothing, more intended to shock and attract
attention than to be of use. In one, a man wears a denim jacket just like one
from Wal-Mart, but that had been scuffed up and ripped here and there to look
really used, for $830, with a pair of white canvas-type trousers with purposeful
rips and paint smears for only $1375 plus a few other items like sneakers for
only $70, a small chain around his neck for $250, etc. for a total cost of only
$3305 (assuming that he is not wearing any underwear). All that just to look
like he had - at first glance at least - just dropped in from skid row! And the
women¹s get-ups were even more absurd.
All of that is obviously aimed at the affluent society here in the OC who don¹t
think that they should pay anything in the way of taxes to help those who
desperately need the bare necessities of life, or even to help pay for the
current ongoing costs of the war that we are now needlessly engaged in. And, of
course, they want less money to go to public schools since they have plenty of
extra money to send their kids to private schools. Or, God forbid that wildly
expensive cars should be taxed a little more! Their only mantra seems to be less taxes!
You¹d think that such a target audience should be glad that they are so well
off - and have so much extra spending money - that they¹d be proud to pay a
share of their income to help run the best country in the world. Instead they go
to all kinds of legal maneuvering to avoid paying any taxes, and follow the
ideology that helping the poor only encourages them to not try to find a job,
while unearned income (inheritance) should never be taxed no matter how huge a
sum is involved but that even the lowest wage earners should be taxed on their
income. And let future generations worry about the burden of our national debt
and the splurging waste of our natural resources that we are irresponsibly
incurring in the name of a very minor and temporary boost in the economy that
will clearly leave future generations in trouble. Yes, it all does seem a bit
sick!
DOES EVERY VOTE COUNT?
by Jerry
Parks
A recent article in Hightower
Lowdown reviewed the problems with
electronic voting machines. Gamblers are more protected from unscrupulous
operators than are the users of such voting machines. The software for gambling
machines is on file with the state and the machines are regularly spot-checked
by public officials. But manufacturers of voting machines consider their
software secret. Manufacturers of gambling devices must submit to criminal
background checks. No such requirement for voting machine manufacturers. Labs
that certify gambling machines must be independent of the manufacturer. For
voting machines the certifying labs are selected and paid for by the
manufacturer. California has outlawed one brand of voting machine after
determining that it is easily manipulated and is subject to errors. That
manufacturer simply states that their lab has determined that it is
OK. The CEO of one manufacturer has publicly stated that he is committed to
reelecting President Bush! (All is fair in love, war and politics?) These
machines provide no paper trail and no way to have a recount. Only the
manufacturer certifies that the tally is correct! In the last big election in
Florida the electronic results were frequently wildly different from what the
latest polls showed, always in favor of the Republicans. Is that any way to run
an election?
BOOK REVIEW
Plan
of Attack by Bob Woodward
Reviewed
by Jerry Parks
According to the blurb on the jacket of Plan
of Attack this is the definitive account of how and why George W. Bush
decided to occupy Iraq. Woodward had access to some 75 key participants involved
with the White House and had exclusive interviews with Bush.
What emerges, after plowing through this long, detailed and somewhat boring book
is the fact that, from the very beginning, the Bush White House clearly had the
removal of Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq as its number one foreign policy
goal. When Bush was first briefed by the outgoing Clinton administration and
George Tenet of the CIA he was specifically warned that bin Laden and his
terrorists were the major danger. Not until after 9/11 did Bush, who was more
focused on domestic issues, giant tax cuts for the wealthy, and the removal of
Saddam Hussein, did Bush focus on the terrorist problem.
Four days after 9/11 in an exhaustive debate at Camp David, and after it was
suggested that possibly the capture of terrorists could be combined with the
removal of Saddam, not one of the president¹s top advisors recommended
attacking Iraq as a first step. Colin Powell was adamantly opposed and saw no
real linkage between Saddam and 9/11. However some of the Neocons saw the
situation as a possible opportunity for an excuse to get Iraq.
But, of course, war plans had to be made just in case it ever was decided that
war with Iraq was necessary. And when war plans are made they begin to take on a
life of their own. Momentum builds. Probability increases. Review of old
intelligence information was undertaken to see if any better links between
Saddam and bin Laden could be found or inferred. Information that indicated that
Saddam had WMD was resurrected, while equally good information that said it had
all been destroyed after the Gulf War and that nothing new had been made was
ignored.
Advice that indicated that the removal of Saddam would be welcomed by most Iraqi
was spread around. Warnings that such a war would harden the entire Muslim world
population against us was ignored. Brent Scowcroft, who had been the national
security advisor to Bush¹s father during the Gulf War, declared that an attack
on Iraq could turn the entire Middle East into a cauldron and thus destroy the
war on terrorism. He also said that the real threat to the US was not from
Saddam but from al Qaeda. Powell said that a war could destabilize friendly
regimes and divert energy from the war on terror.
Once
the White House had made the decision to go to war, they started the propaganda
machine to convince the populace. Cheney and Bush gave talks stating that there
was no
doubt
that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction that are an immediate threat to the
US. At the same time, however, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee
noted that there was no
evidence that Saddam posed any immediate threat. And then, of course,
there was Bush¹s claim, that Tenet referred to as the they-can-attack-in-45-minutes-shit,
which clearly was known by some, and should have been known by all, to be false.
But, as the title suggests, most of the book centers on details of how the plan
of attack evolved as it changed from something to be available in case it was
ever necessary, through many variations, until it became something alive, like a
Frankenstein¹s monster.
CLOSER TO TRUTH
Past PBS broadcast ( http://www.pbs.org/kcet/closertotruth
)
Reviewed by Michael
Shermer in E-Skeptic #31 for August 26, 2004 :
I wanted to alert e-Skeptic
readers to a PBS documentary series organized and hosted by Robert Kuhn,
produced by the documentary film maker Linda Feferman (Timothy Ferris’ Life
Beyond Earth documentary is her production), and co-produced by Bruce Murray,
Caltech planetary scientist and the JPL wizard they call the Christopher
Columbus of the solar system ( he was Director of the NASA/Caltech Jet
Propulsion Laboratory from 1976 to 1982, which included the Viking landings on
Mars and the Voyager mission through Jupiter and Saturn encounters), and
co-founder with Carl Sagan of the Planetary Society. It’s a terrific series.
The show is described as “an
inside opportunity to witness how the pioneers in humanity's quest for greater
understanding chart their expedition into the unknown, journeys that are marked
by a rigorous pursuit of truth, a readiness to challenge current belief, a
willingness to overturn dogma, an open-minded exploration of inferences and
implications, and a tough-minded reliance on critical thinking.” Robert
Lawrence Kuhn is a real polymath who has made this series happen simply because
he loves science. Dr. Kuhn has an A.B. in human biology (Johns Hopkins), a Ph.D.
in anatomy / brain research (UCLA Brain Research Institute), and an M.S. in
management (MIT Sloan Fellow). He has taught psychology at MIT and was an
adjunct professor (business and financial strategy) at NYU. He is Senior Fellow
at the IC2 Institute of the University of Texas at Austin; a trustee of
Claremont Graduate University; chairman of Pacvia Communications ( Beijing);
vice chairman of China Technology Innovation Corp. (Beijing); and has advised
the governments of China, the United States, Germany and Israel on economics and
technology.
I participated in two
episodes:
Can Religion
Withstand Technology?
A skeptic, a devout Muslim
scientist, and an expert in the sociology of religion examine an intriguing
paradox: as the world becomes more scientific, extreme religions are gaining
ground. More people than ever before are devout as measured by attendance in
houses of worship. In the U.S. alone, on a percentage basis, three times more
people attend a church, synagogue, temple, or mosque than did when the nation
was founded.
Details: http://www.pbs.org/kcet/closertotruth/explore/show_14.html
Can We
Believe in Both Science and Religion?
Science and Religion have long
been considered adversaries on the battlefield of grand worldviews because at
the most fundamental level they both claim to do much the same thing: provide
deep insight into the nature of the world around us and give a profound sense of
our place or purpose in the universe. Science is founded on empiricism and
analysis; religion on revelation and faith -- and some say they exist in such
different spheres that they neither contradict nor interact.
Details: http://www.pbs.org/kcet/closertotruth/explore/show_02.html
I thought the second episode
especially might interest e-Skeptic readers, so what follows are the bios of the
three participants, the description of the episode, and the a link to the
transcript.
Closer to
Truth Participants
Dr. Muzaffar
Iqbal, Islamic
Scholar, Chemist
Muzaffar Iqbal, Ph.D., is the
founder-president of the Center for Islam and Science in Canada. Iqbal began his
career as a biochemist and held academic and research positions at universities
in the United States and Canada. Later he moved to Pakistan where he worked with
the Organization of Islamic Conference and the Pakistan Academy of Sciences,
helping to develop scientific institutions in the Muslim world.
Iqbal's areas of active
interest include the intellectual history of Islam, the Islamic philosophy of
science, Islam and the West, and Islam and the contemporary world. He has
written and edited several books. Apart from the ones that deal with Islam and
the modern world, they include two novels, many short stories, compilations of
ancient poetry, and a biography of Herman Melville. His most recent books are Islam and
Science and God, Life
& the Cosmos: Christian and Islamic Perspectives. Iqbal is also the editor of
Kalam, a moderated listserv and news service dedicated to the promotion of a
constructive discourse on Islam and science. www.cis-ca.org/muzaffar.htm
Dr. Nancey Murphy, Theologian
Nancey Murphy,
Ph.D, Th.D., is a professor of Christian philosophy at the Fuller Theological
Seminary, a corresponding editor for Christianity Today, and an ordained
minister in the Church of the Brethren. She also serves on the boards of the
Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences at Berkeley, and is a member of the
Planning Committee for conferences on science and theology, sponsored by the
Vatican Observatory. Murphy is a leading scholar and a highly sought speaker at
nationwide conferences on the relationship between theology and science. She is
also a prolific writer. Her books include On the Moral Nature of the Universe, Beyond Liberalism and
Fundamentalism, and the
award-winning Theology in the Age of Scientific Reasoning. Most recently, she co-authored the
award-winning Whatever Happened to the Soul? www.counterbalance.org/bio/murph-frame.html
Dr. Michael Shermer, Skeptic
Michael Shermer ,
Ph.D, is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine and the director of the
Skeptics Society -- both large, international venues for defending the
scientific method and refuting the claims of pseudoscience, religion and
mysticism. Shermer is the author of four books, including: Why People Believe Weird Things; How We Believe: The Search for
God in an Age of Science; and The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets Nonsense. He has also
co-authored a number of books, including Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say
It?, and is a monthly
columnist for Scientific American. Shermer also used to be a competitive transcontinental cyclist,
and is the author of several books on cycling. www.skeptic.com/director.html
Description of the
Closer to Truth Episode on Science and Religion
When you take a skeptic and put him in with two believers, you can bet that sparks will
fly. For this episode, we have one of the world's foremost skeptics, Michael
Shermer, a Ph.D. in the history of science, President of the Skeptics Society,
and publisher of Skeptics Magazine (it doesn't get more skeptical than that).
Theologian Nancey Murphy. a leading authority on the relationship of science and
religion, particularly cosmology and the soul, is ready to admit that science
has made a pretty convincing case in recent times for closing off areas that
used to be the province of religion, but she is still a believer. She admits
that science is explaining how phenomena arise with greater speed and scope than
ever before. But Murphy and chemist Muzaffar Iqbal, founder of The Center for
Science & Islam, and a renowned expert on the relationship between science
and Islam, see no advances in science in explaining why these phenomena arise in
the first place -- the "why" question.
Science and
Religion have long been considered adversaries on the battlefield of grand
worldviews because at the most fundamental level they both claim to do much the
same thing: provide deep insight into the nature of the world around us and give
a profound sense of our place or purpose in the universe. Science is founded on
empiricism and analysis; religion on revelation and faith -- and some say they
exist in such different spheres that they neither contradict nor interact.
In recent years,
there has been an explosion of interest in the relationship between Science and
Religion. Essentially, how does scientific knowledge alter our perception of
religion? Is it possible for science to bring deeper meaning to religion,
instead of undermining and eroding its basic tenets? Or ultimately, is
"religious knowledge" a misnomer? Is it really only "religious
belief"?
Transcript: http://www.pbs.org/kcet/closertotruth/transcripts/302_sciencereligion.pdf
Portions copyright
PBS.
Permission to
print, distribute, and post with proper citation and acknowledgment. Copyright
2004 Michael Shermer, Skeptics Society, Skeptic magazine, e-Skeptic magazine.
Contact at www.skeptic.com and skepticmag@aol.com.
If you'd like to join the distribution list (it's FREE), email join-skeptics@lyris.net . To
unsubscribe, send an email to leave-skeptics@lyris.net
QUOTES
Contributed
by Gene Barmore
"We can have concentrated wealth in the hands of the few, or
we can have democracy, but we cannot have both".
Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
"Progress is not automatic; the world grows better because people wish that
it should and take the right steps to make it better".
Jane Addams, 19th century social reformer, and founder of Hull House.
"Equal
title to the free exercise of religion implies the right to believe in no
religion at all, as well as the right to believe and worship as one
chooses."
James Madison
"Religious
bondage shackles and debilitates themind and unfits it forevery noble
enterprise, every expanded prospect."
James Madison
WORDS
OF WISDOM
Contributed
by Gene Barmore
Do
you know what would have happened
If it had been Three Wise Women
Instead of Three Wise Men?
They would have asked directions,
Arrived on time,
Helped deliver the baby,
Cleaned the stable,
Made a casserole,
Brought practical gifts and
There would be Peace on Earth.
ON THE LIGHT SIDE
GREAT? MINDS AND ONE CHICKEN
contributed by JoAnn Walker
GEORGE W. BUSH
We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road.
We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road or not.
The chicken is either against us or for us. There is no middle ground here.
COLIN POWELL
Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the
chicken crossing the road.
HANS BLIX
We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed
to have access to the other side of the road.
JOHN KERRY
Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road I am now against it!
RALPH NADER
The chicken's habitat on the other side of the road had been polluted by
unchecked industrial greed. The chicken did not reach
the unspoiled habitat on the other side of the road because it was crushed by
the wheels of a gas-guzzling SUV.
PAT BUCHANAN
To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
RUSH LIMBAUGH
I don't know why the chicken crossed the road, but I'll bet it was getting a
government grant to cross the road, and I'll bet that somebody out there
is already forming a support group to help chickens with crossing-the-road
syndrome. Can you believe this? How much more of this can real Americans
take? Chickens crossing the road paid for by their tax dollars. And when I say
tax dollars, I'm talking about your money, money the government took
from you to build a road for chickens to cross.
MARTHA STEWART
No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing
order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price
dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.
JERRY FALWELL
Because the chicken was gay --- isn't it obvious? Can't you people see the plain
truth in front of your face? The chicken was going to the 'other
side'. That's what they call it the other side. Yes, my friends, that chicken is
gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I
say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal
media whitewashes with seemingly harmless phrases like "the other
side."
DR SEUSS
Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken
crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
To die in the rain. Alone.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR
I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having
their motives called into question.
GRANDPA
In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the
chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
BARBARA WALTERS
Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken
tell, for the first time, the heartwarming story of how it experienced a serious
case of molting, and went on to accomplish its life long dream of crossing the
road.
JOHN LENNON
Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together in peace.
ARISTOTLE
It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
KARL MARX
It was an historic inevitability.
RONALD REAGAN
What chicken?
CAPTAIN KIRK
To boldly go where no chicken has ever gone before.
SIGMUND FREUD
The fact that you are at all concerned that the chicken crossed the road reveals
your underlying sexual insecurity.
BILL GATES
I have just witnessed eChicken2004, which will not only cross roads, but will
lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook, - and Internet Explorer is an
integral part of eChicken.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
BILL CLINTON
I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of chicken?
AL GORE
I invented the chicken!
THE BIBLE
And God came down from heaven, and he said unto the chicken THOU SHALT
CROSS THE ROAD. And the chicken didst cross the road, and there was much
rejoicing.
COLONEL SANDERS
Did I miss one?
WEAPONS OF MATH INSTRUCTION
contributed by JoAnn Walker
At New York's Kennedy airport
today, an individual later discovered to be a public school teacher was
arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a
protractor, a set square, a slide rule, and a calculator. At a morning press
conference, Attorney general John Ashcroft said he believes the man is a
member of the notorious Al-Gebra movement. He is being charged by the FBI
with carrying weapons of math instruction.
"Al-Gebra is a fearsome cult," Ashcroft said. "They desire
average solutions
by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use
secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to themselves as 'unknowns', but
we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of
medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer
Isosceles used to say, 'there are 3 sides to every triangle'."
When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, "If God had
wanted us to have better weapons of
math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes."