Thursday, April 29, 2010

the supreme court is biased

I have a real beef with the U.S. Supreme Court, because every person currently appointed to it is a person who is not only religious but solely of the Abrahamic religions. Most of them are Christian (and predominantly Protestant at that), and now with the official addition of Kagan who is Jewish. I don't mean this blog as an attack on Christianity or Judaism, but rather, I think it begs the question: Where are all the Athiests, the Ignostics, the Taoists, Hindus or Buddhists?

I realize that these people aren't appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court with their religion listed as a major factor, as they are quite educated outside that, but it is an irrefutable fact that religion is a big deal and has extremely strong influence over millions of minds worldwide. Religion or at least superstition has been around pretty much forever. Superstition stems from fear of the unknown, and perhaps religion may have originally, as well, with everyone from mere barbarians to simple Chinese farmers to the Greeks worshipping gods of this and that, of the sky, the earth, the sun, etc. Its fair to say that religion can and in most cases does consume the minds of it's believers. It helps people to think one way, and rarely encourages thinking in another. It instills values and ideologies into people, usually from a young age, and it wholly shapes who they are, and the way they think and act.

The Supreme Court is precisely that: thinking, then acting. If the biggest issues our country faces has to be solved by those we appoint to be on the Supreme Court, then wouldn't we gain the best, most unbiased results from a collection of more diverse mindsets and backgrounds rather than from a group of people who despite whatever education they may have had still think the same in a core value kind of way?

I know America is still a young country, and is just starting to stretch out and embrace people of different religions, sexual orientations, genders, ages, etc. I know for the first part of America's existence we were heavily under the influence of Christianity from England. I know that not everyone from every religion cares about American politics, and that the odds of lining up and keeping a rainbow of Supreme Court judges aren't high, but I think more open-mindedness needs to be encouraged. We need to push tolerance and education, give every mind all the information it could want so that eventually the Supreme Court can be functioning how it really should.

- s.

something about that is fucking scary to me....

Sunday, April 18, 2010

proof all we need to shut up fox news and the tea-partiers is... MORE VEGETABLES!!!

man. i am bad at blogging regularly. anyway, i just fixed a delicious vegetable lunch for myself. *eating now* ive really taken a liking to vegetables this year and i've never felt healthier. anyway, as i was cooking lunch today, i was thinking something random. i was thinking (it's a little "obvious" at first but bear with me), people who eat a healthy fresh diet are generally healthy; their bodies function well and they think clearly. people who take the time to eat really healthily usually exercise at least semi-regularly, and if you are taking the time to be this healthy your mind is without a doubt stronger, more focused and working properly. it also goes without saying that if you are eating well and moving around regularly, there are more endorphins in your body making you feel like a happy, chill person who is probably open to lots of things. healthy people like this are good at budgeting time to cook & exercise, so they have little to no need to intake crap like fast food, soda, painkillers/other non-natural things, because they want to be functioning the best they can be. and people who are that conscientious about eating and health are probably just as conscientious about other things in their lives, including but not limited to politics. people who are healthy most likely feel mentally healthy as well, and it would seem if that they would be more apt to thinking about this, that, and everything. once you start really thinking, you'll no doubt think about politics; soon enough you'll bother to research and learn more about things in politics, and you'll be more open-minded to different thoughts and theories. it would seem that someone healthy and interested in politics who took the time to research things would sooner or later end up describing themselves as democrat, maybe even liberal, because they are healthy relaxed people who probably enjoy freedom and choice in other aspects of their life and of course want it to carry over into something like their political beliefs (the dems and liberals obviously support that concept).

now, on the other hand. people who don't give a crap about eating healthy and make excuses like "i am a busy, important person, and i don't have the time to cook 3 fresh meals a day and exercise regularly," etc, probably appreciate things like canned soda, fast food, fast-acting pills, etc, because they fit their lifestyle. these people- generally speaking of course, there are ALWAYS exceptions- are "busy" people. now, whether that's legitimately busy or just self-important busy, is not my concern. anyway, my point is that if these types of people are too busy to do something so important as cook fresh healthy food for themselves and their families, they are definitely NOT the types of people who will spend exponentially more time thinking through and researching something as complicated as politics (and thusly economics, and all that other complicated stuff). keeping that thought in mind, i have a second point here to make: people who are as busy as these types of people need to get all of whatever it is they do done in a day, and they are likely the types of people who appreciate tons of rules and regulations, to keep things "simple" and "streamlined," like a drive-thru at a fast food place. also, the same types of people who really dig rules and regulations are 9 out of 10 times going to be religious, and more specifically, christian. big surprise here that the political party most associated with tons of rules and regulations is.... *drumroll please*... yep! you guessed it- the republicans. just saying. now an adult, say, who is this exact type of person, who is busy busy busy and always in a hurry BUT feels obligated to be "politically involved," persay, won't spend tons of time carefully selecting which political party to join. they'll pick- at a glance- whatever party most quickly seems to mirror their own beliefs and lifestyle. in most cases, it would seem that they would come to identify themselves as republican. any other party, they would have to spend precious time thinking and researching, and beleive me, they've got better things to do.

also, coming back to proper diet, someone who is busy probably relies on conveniences like fast food, canned soda, etc regularly. someone who's diet consists of fast food for the most part isn't going to be feeling or thinking at 100% or hell, even above 80%. i think that the more shit you eat and have coarsing through your veins, the angrier and stupider (<-- made up word) you are generally going to be. think about it- which party do you generally see being more upset, more easily? there's little things going on in our country right now, that only republicans are freaking out about, because really they ARE insignificant, but because republicans generally don't research things, and would rather become "politically informed" through the quick little news and politics blips that fox news offers (because for some reason they are further reaching into the ignorant masses than cnn is or god forbid even msnbc). then these people, who are probably in a state of constant stress and panic from their "busy" lives, trying to get everything to work smoothly together, whose poor little brains don't get enough exercise and nutrients regularly, are definitely way more likely to get upset over a news or politics-related story. and when dumb, ill-informed people get upset, they never shut up about or do anything productive to solve the problems. this is more than evident through the decisions they make on a regular basis: the new tea party, supporting crazy attention-whores like sarah palin and glenn beck, supporting sickening and dishonest corporate conglomerates like goldman sachs, wal-mart, disney, mcdonalds, etc, supporting a worldwide unprecedented retardation in human diet which resolves around chicken nuggets and pizza, etc.

anyway, my point overall may not 100% accurate, but you have to admit there's something to it. healthy people are generally smart people. smart people don't freak out and do stupid shit like support sarah palin and her tea partiers. so eat your vegetables like your mother always to you to, and shut up.