Mitt Romney: "The Bible is the word of God"

Last night in the YouTube Republican Debate, Mitt Romney said that "The Bible is the word of God... I don't disagree with the Bible. I try to live by it." Haven't we learned our lesson by electing someone who thinks "God is on my side, so whatever I want to do is justified by divinity"?

If Romney lives by the Bible as the word of God, then he would have to "execute any child who hits or curses his parents" (Exodus 21:15, 17), as the Bible tell us. If he were to follow the Bible, Romney would have to kill anyone who suggested believing in another religion, as the Bible says, "thou shalt surely kill him, thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death" (Deuteronomy 13:6-10).

Finally, God says that he visits "the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and fourth generation" (Exodus 34:7). Therefore, God has condemned Romney with wickedness and immorality because his ancestors were polygamous. I guess he doesn't disagree with that.

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/fv/long.html

Hopes for Downtown St. Pete

The fate of downtown St. Pete should reflect what is in the best interest of all of the citizens to enjoy the waterfront. These democratic values may suggest very different decisions regarding what is done with the Albert Whitted Airport space, the planned stadium, and other downtown bayside developments.

What planners don't seem to realize is that what people come, live, visit, and move to St. Pete for is the waterfront, beachy lifestyle with a touch of class. (Planners, please market research the public before making decisions for them.) The problem is that although the classy, beachy lifestyle is why we love St. Pete, technically downtown St. Pete does not have much of a beach.

Downtown St. Pete could take a lesson from Rio, where a beach could be created and maintained with parks, beach volleyball, boardwalks, skating/running paths, water squirting parks for toddlers to run through, and great retail and restaurants all within walking distance. Give downtown to all the people and reflect their hopes.

The wealthy get their way

You won't be getting a safe toys bill this holiday season. The politics of wealth, of greed, of corruption, of corporate pandering have won over democracy.

Why would our lawmakers protect us from large corporate interests, like those selling us the cheapest toys, when they are paid by these corporate interests? Why would our government go from subsidizing large corporations with few regulations to protecting the people?

On any question you have, now that democracy is eroded, the answer to every policy question will always be that the one who has the money wins.

Published in the St. Pete Times 11/27

Dr. Quantum

This is great! Dr. Quantum explains the famous double-slit experiment where where we learn that the act of observation collapses of the wave function. This experiment was part of the beginning of our attempts to understand the strange quantum world.

LOVE IT!

-Harry

Obama’s Ready, Are We?

Those who think they saw Obama cowering from Hillary Clinton are misled. Obama is an Abraham Lincoln who stands up for what he knows is right. Clinton is a politician first and foremost who thinks what is right is what will get her elected.

Obama is going from good to great and can’t be bought. Clinton is in the pocket of corporate corruption and corporate corruption is in her pocket.

Barack Obama is ready to be our President, but are we ready for a truly great man as our President? Just like a teenage girl, are we won over by a flashy, slightly bombastic charmer or are we behind a golden nice guy, one who’s integrity we can bet on all the way to the bank? This mama says, “Vote for Obama!”

Photo Gallery

I went through some recent photos I've taken and uploaded a few I liked; some are a bit random. Hopefully, I will update the photo gallery with more when time allows for it.

As I was uploading these, I came across my friend Alex's Randomosity photo collection which seemed similar in theme, although inspiring.

You can see my pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hsauers/PhotoGallery1

-Harry

How to Make a Turkey Sandwich

I make myself a turkey sandwich for lunch just about every day for some reason. The other night as I made my sandwich, I documented the process with my camera, a "how to make a turkey sandwich" photo essay if you will. Consider it either a genuine guide to help kids make a turkey sandwich for themselves, an exercise in post modern culinary surrealism or a genuine waste of time. Decide for yourself.

How to Make a Turkey Sandwich
Since many of us eat turkey this time of year, I thought it would be nice to share my photo essay on how to make a turkey sandwich. I happened to make this sandwich a few weeks before Thanksgiving, but Thanksgiving turkey could be used here instead of the store bought deli turkey; any turkey will make a good sandwich. I make one of these just about every day.

-Harry
;-)

Hope for US Science

Recently, I read an argument supporting the superiority of United States' science education over that of Western European countries; specifically it was argued that there is more "hope" for science in the US than in some other Western European countries, such as France. The argument went on to suggest that if we use statistics and not "emotional impressions" we will see that by looking at the number of Nobel Prize winners in science from the US as compared to that of France that the truth will be apparent in the numbers. The argument went on to list the 76 Nobel Prize winners from the US and the mere 33 Nobel Prize winners in science from France. This information can be found on Wikipedia here and I assume it to be true.

However, since they got me thinking about statistics, I thought...

I find these numbers interesting considering France's population (61+ million) is roughly one-fifth that of the United States (300+ million). Given this, if France were merely on par with the US, and not below it scientifically, using the Nobel prize winner measurement, I would expect France to have approximately 15 Nobel Prize winners in science over the same number of years. Instead, they have more than double this. So, in a way, these statistics used to show that the US is better than France scientifically actually show just the opposite. By these stats, France is twice as good at churning out Nobel Laureates in science than the US.

I am actually surprised by these stats. My emotional impression would suggest that the US kicks most countries' butts in this Nobel Prize measurement. I guess I should use statistics and not my emotional impression. Hmmmm.

However, by these other statistics which show Nobel prizes by country, per capita, the US still beats France by 2 rankings (Yea America!). The link above shows that the US ranks #11 behind these 10 Western European countries:

1. Iceland
2. Sweden
3. Switzerland
4. Denmark
5. Norway
6. United Kingdom
7. Austria
8. Ireland
9. Germany
10. Netherlands

Maybe it's something in the water over there.

Still looking for Hope,
Harry

Priorities

The priorities are all super out of whack. We have unsecure borders, ports, and nuclear power plants, yet we send our young to a grist mill. China actually owns our country and could shut us down, yet we spends trillions of tax payer dollars on babysitting a civil war. We don't pay our recruits or give them a decent hospital, but we use tax payer $ to pay unregulated mercenaries 10X what the army gets. We do not have enough Arabic speakers and translators, yet we wiretap our own citizens.

While we were embroiled in a useless war, India, China, Japan, and Western Europe overtook America in science, technology, and education. We have squandered our legacy of freedom and innovation on war mongering and religiosity to the exclusion of scientific advancements. Western Europe laughs at us b/c have of our people do not believe in evolution, the foundation of almost all of science.

The secret intelligence agencies still do not function correctly together, yet the army sends the CIA recalcitrant suspects to interrogate. Where are the spy satellites and robotic spy planes? Those along with super-specifically targeted smart missiles should almost be enough on the military side of the war on terror. Man on man land wars are so last century. Where is the clever propaganda? Do we secretly infiltrate al-Qaeda? Do we secretly cause instability and create suspicion from within of our enemies? Most importantly, do we see the $ flow and change that to suit us? Do we care about western allies?

Do we try diplomacy? Why haven't we cleaned up Russia's nuclear weapons that are being smuggled out by terrorists by the thousands and sold to the highest bidder? Why can't we calm Russian, N. Korea, and Iran down with surface ego appeasements? They just want their egos massaged, that shouldn't be too hard to do.

Do we care about the constitution or only about executive privilege? Why is Congress spineless to defend constitutional rights? Why do lobbyists write laws? Why are we 'hos for oil? Why do we ever let child molesters out? Why don't we put our best minds on terrorism and profiling terrorism and undercutting it with communication campaigns (what I want to do with my life!).

The priorities are all out of whack. Gov. should get the smartest, most honest, best quality people they can find, get them on the bus, and then let the best decide where to drive it. Instead, we have not so smart people getting people that are not so great, but are "loyal Bushies" on the bus and they driving it around with big war bombs from 50 years ago, pointing and shooting at "bad guys" b/c they've played to many us against them video games.

The real problem with Islamaland is that this is their dark ages. So how did we come out of ours? Those little Italian city-states started more free markets--> merchant class--> democratic processes in the city-states for the merchant class--> therefore translating to reduced power of religion on everyday lives of these people--> disposable income for arts--> arts and science and learning classics advance together--> wealthy banks are now controlled by this new class--> scientific advancement and humanism flourish--> leading to enlightenment ideals of secularism for governance, embracing diversity as benefit, and belief in the rational man. Ok Islam...now it's your turn.

-A

Diatomaceous Earth

Hi!

I just wanted to share with you a way to get rid of all bugs of any kind without any toxins. It is called Diatomaceous Earth. It is fantastic for plants and soil, but tears up the stomachs of all bugs. It is made from diatoms or dried up unicellular aquatic plants and animals. They make a silicone-type cell wall. So when bugs eat it, it is like glass shards to their insides.

Right now, I'm using it to get rid of chinch bugs, aphids, and ants. I will wear a mask and put some into the fertilizer spreader to control for chinch bugs all over the lawn. They say to mix it in water to spray for aphids, but I just threw a cupful of dust on the plant and they and the ants are disappearing. I'll probably line the perimeter of the house with it and hope it also deters termites a little.

Very important: Although you can eat DE, you CANNOT breathe it!!! It will tear up your lungs like shards of glass, so wear a mask. Also, if you'd like to "de-tox" or get rid of a parasite yourself, you can take a teaspoon of it mixed with a glass of water. Neat, huh? Just don't breathe it. You can rub it into your dog and you will not see any more fleas or ticks.

Also, we have some flying ants in our house. The way you know they are flying ants and not termites is ants have a squeezed-in segmented abdomen, which ours do. So I sprinkled Borax laundry booster all around my doors and corners and that is working great, too. It is nice to know that there are non-toxic ways to get rid of bugs that really work.

8th highly-effective people habit = VOICE

Going from Good to GREAT --> 8th highly-effective people habit = VOICE

1. Draw 4 overlapping circles.
2. In one circle, write, “Good At.”
3. In the second, write, “Passion.”
4. In the third, write, “People Pay For.”
5. In the last circle, write, “Conscience.”
6. Fill them answers in according to who you are.

The middle space where all of the circles overlap is your unique, God-given, inalienable VOICE. Fill that space in. Now, use it and become truly Great.

God bless you.