Doug's Views – Page 56 – Ocassional Thoughts of an Independent Progressive Atheistic Humanist

October 19, 2012April 18, 2020

Failure Of Green Energy Companies Doesn’t Mean We Don’t Need Green Energy

President Obama visits a wind turbine factory

A couple of my conservative friends post on Facebook with glee every time a green energy company that received government loans fails or if the Chevy Volt has problems. They are against spending any tax payer money on research or production of technology that will free us from a dying petroleum based energy system. They are missing the point. The failure of specific companies doesn’t mean the technology is faulty. Government support for innovation of technology is actually a common practice and is one reason we enjoy some of the things we have in our lives like computers. It would also strengthen our country against the evildoers.

One of my conservative friends posted me a link to this article:

October 17, 2012April 18, 2020

Not Surprised I Side With Jill Stein

featured image with text I side with Jill Stein

One of the mainstays of the Internet are self-check quizzes you can take. The ones I like are the political ones. The most famous is the “World’s Smallest Political Quiz” to find out if one is a Libertarian – I’m not by the way. Another quiz that actually can help one understand US politics today is the isidewith.com. You answer questions on various issues and as if by magic the quiz tells you which Presidential candidate your views align with. I wasn’t surprised mine were aligned with Jill Stein from the Green Party.

October 16, 2012April 18, 2020

Findlay Ohio Tax Issue Highlights Bad Republican Ideas

Findlay Ohio Mayor Lydia Mihalik

Back in my hometown of Findlay Ohio, voters, this November, will be asked to pass a renewal of a 0.25 percent income tax that was passed three years ago as a result of the great recession of 2008. The battle for the passage of the tax highlights how wrong Republicans are about taxes and economics in general. It mirrors the failures of trickle down economics on the national level.

October 15, 2012April 18, 2020

My Prediction For The 2nd Presidential Debate

On Tuesday, October 16th, President Obama and Mitt Romney will have their 2nd of three debates at Hofstra University. It will be a town hall style debate, with questions asked by undecided** voters, which means there won’t be any podiums and the candidates will get to walk around. I’m sure you’re like me and you have other things to do and don’t want to watch the full debate, I’m going to put on my pointy election debate cap and make a prediction on the winner.

Basically the Romney campaign needs the debate to be a win or at least a draw.

October 13, 2012April 18, 2020

I’m White And Have A Penis – So What!

Self-portrait – Really!

Not since college have had been immersed in gender politics like I have recently. It’s weird that in the twenty plus years since I experienced diversity debates in college, the arguments haven’t changed. I think it’s because the young people who come up in the freethought movement discover biases based on gender and feel that this is one injustice they can overcome. I have to admit that I’m white and I have a penis – so what! I think we all need to work on those issue we can solve together and acknowledge that we can’t be perfect. I’m not going to pick a side and I’m not going to apologize for being white and male.

What sparked this blog post is the STILL burning Atheism+/gender identity storm in the freethought community. Each side of the debate are doing purity checks and using extreme gender politics in an effort to make a utopia in their own image. Instead of using our tools to make a better world all freethinkers, both sides want to burn down our own house and rebuild it how they assume it should look – opposing view points be damned.