Buncombe Turnpike

The Buncombe Turnpike, the big commercial enterprise of antebellum Western North Carolina, arrives at a resort in Hickory Nut Gap, as depicted in the mural at the McClure-Ager home in Fairview.

Source: Asheville Citizen Times (Asheville, NC), 12 October 2020.

Automobile Racing Can Be Confusing

Automobile Racing Can Be Confusing

Who races? Where do they race? Who are the drivers? What are the cars? Who are the sanctioning bodies? From where comes the money to finance the teams?

Below is a very rough draft primer on racing.

There are many race series sanctioned by various bodies. Most race fans will be familiar with the "big six" --

1. Formula One (includes Monaco)

2. FIA World Endurance Championship (includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans)

3. Indy Car (includes the Indianapolis 500)

4. IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship (includes Rolex 24 at Daytona)

5. Sports Car Club of America (SCCA)

6. NASCAR (includes the Daytona 500)

_______________ 

Religion

In the past, I have deferred to someone's faith when it is described as a belief in something that cannot be proved. That was a mistake. And, of course, to claim that I "know" would place me in the same presumptuous position of many of the religious people with whom I disagree.

However, I find inherently suspect a belief in something that cannot be rationally supported.

If a person who believes, for example, in the god of the Christian Bible does so based upon faith (belief in something that cannot be rationally supported), I have trouble not placing that person in one of three categories (which categories are not necessarily mutually exclusive):

1. Stupid (low IQ);

2. Ignorant (uneducated); or

3. Crazy (delusional).

While these categories may seem a bit coarse (and pardon the crude vernacular labels), my experience (be it necessarily anecdotal) provides some support. Of course, these categories reveal my own prejudices, and might be used by the religious in an attempt to explain atheism (used in the classical sense).

Thus, I am revisiting my usual position that I "respect" a person who professes faith as the cornerstone of the person's religion. It is just not enough for me. I am setting up the following to guide my further thought: "Why should I respect a person's belief in something that cannot be rationally supported?"

Perhaps my use of "respect" over the years has been the wrong word. Perhaps "acknowledge" would be more appropriate. While not at the end of this inquiry, at this juncture, I do not "respect" a person who relies upon faith as the basis of the person's religion. I "acknowledge" that the person has chosen to abandon reason, but I cannot "respect" that abandonment. While this word quibbling may be wasted time, I think not, at least not for me.

As noted above, more analysis and thought are required on this subject.

Apocalypse

Apocalypse

1. We now are living in the church age and moving toward the Rapture, toward the End Times.

2. Jesus has given us our talents and instructed us to occupy until he comes. We then will be judged on how wisely we used our talents. Because Jesus is returning soon, we better not waste our talents.

3. Jesus will Rapture all true believers out of this world. They will just just disappear, ascend to Heaven with Jesus.

4. With the loss of Christian influence in the world, Satan will have free rein to take power through a political leader, called the Antichrist, who then will rule over the world for seven years. This period is called the Tribulation.

5. Antichrist rule will lead to a series of wars, which will culminate with Jesus returning (second coming) with an army of saints to fight the battle of Armageddon, in the literal land of Palestine.

6. Jesus will defeat the Antichrist, vanquish evil, and establish a new kingdom that will last one-thousand years.

7. Then comes the Final Judgment.

The Three Brothers Myth

The Three Brothers Myth

The family story often is of three brothers who immigrated to America, rarely two or four or five or six. Sometimes one is lost at sea during the voyage over, or one went north, one went south, and one headed west, never to be heard from again. There are rarely any sisters involved in the big move across the ocean.

Be wary of the three brothers myth. Confirm through your research that there were, in fact, three brothers, that the three brothers were indeed brothers and not two brothers and an uncle, for example, or that the three brothers were not just three men with the same last name.

Obama Hatred

Obama Hatred

I find it difficult to have a rational discussion with many (most) who dislike President Obama. Either as a result of Fox News or their innate inability to think rationally (or both), they continue to throw up the same stuff. Here is a sampling. I omit the really stupid stuff (birth certificate; vacation days/golfing; travel expenses; actually a Muslim; does not love America; etc.).

Obamacare is a failure and is ruining the United States.

President Obama has no foreign policy achievements, none.

Employment remains high because President Obama changed the method used to determine the unemployment rate.

And, of course, Benghazi.

Iran: Nuclear Weapons Negotiations

Is no deal really better than a bad deal?

This is what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his US Republican sycophants are preaching? What happens if no deal is reached?

Without an agreement, Iran will be free to continue developing nuclear weapons. Sanctions may be extended and even strengthened. However, most international sanctions are porous. And, do not discount that Iran already has taken into consideration the possibility of increased sanctions.

Currently, the so-called P5+1 are negotiating with Iran. This includes Germany and the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council: United States, Russia, China, France, and United Kingdom.
If the negotiations break down, what is the likelihood of reassembling this coalition? Will China and Russia come back to the table? Russia sold to Iran much of the nuclear equipment now being used. Would Putin use Iran as a pawn in his apparent desire to expand Russia's sphere of influence?

Both Israel and the United States have stated that Iran will not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. Thus, if no agreement is reached, what will happen? The answer is not pleasant, at least not to some. Without an agreement, the remaining option is force -- using military might to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions. But will it work? And at what price?

Most Cops Are Not Your Friend

In My Opinion, Most Cops Are Not Your Friend

Not legal advice from a lawyer, but:

Unless you have suicidal legal tendencies, never, never, never, open your mouth to a cop. Did I say never?

Never allow a cop into your house unless there is a warrant. And, even then, call a lawyer. Can you decipher a warrant? Like handcuffs?

If your child is involved. Never, never, allow a cop to speak with your child. What they say will not be used to help your child.

Have excuses? See above: Shut the fuck up.

Offer nothing. Protect your rights. Here is more:

Caswell County Courthouse: "In God We Trust"

Historic Caswell County Courthouse to Have "In God We Trust" on the Facade

This unanimous decision by the Caswell County Board of Commissioners was posted earlier. Here is the article from "The Caswell Messenger":

"The Caswell Messenger" (Yanceyville, North Carolina), 18 March 2015

[Caswell County] Commissioners unanimously approved an outside proposal to display the words "In God We Trust" on the exterior of the local government center.

The proposal, presented by Fred McClure of the U.S. Motto Action Committee, invited Caswell to join up to 20 other North Carolina counties who have recently moved to display the national motto on the outside of their own government centers.

Letter to President Obama on Iran

What is in the recent letter from Congress to President Obama on the Iran nuclear weapons negotiations? The letter is dated 20 March 2015?

1. No Pathway to a Bomb
2. Must Know What Iran Has Already
3. Cannot Trust Iran
4. Negotiations Should Recognize Iran's Support of Terrorism
5 Congress Has a Role
_______________

1. No Pathway to a Bomb: A final comprehensive nuclear agreement must constrain Iran's nuclear infrastructure so that Iran has no pathway to a bomb, and that agreement must be long-lasting. [This primarily has to do with centrifuges that enrich uranium.]

Ted Cruz: Sweet Obamacare Irony

Sweet Irony

Ted Cruz is going on Obamacare.

The newly announced Republican presidential candidate told CNN's Dana Bash on Tuesday that he will sign up for health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act -- a law he has been on a crusade to kill.

Common Core

Sweet Angel of Death

The Nabka: The Year of the Catastrophe

The Nabka: The Year of the Catastrophe

Nakba Day (meaning "Day of the Catastrophe") is generally commemorated on 15 May, the day after the date of Israeli independence. For the Palestinians it is an annual day of commemoration of the displacement that preceded and followed the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948.

During the 1948 Palestine War, an estimated 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled, and hundreds of Palestinian towns and villages were depopulated and destroyed.

These refugees and their descendants number several million people today, divided between Jordan (2 million), Lebanon (427,057), Syria (477,700), the West Bank (788,108), and the Gaza Strip (1.1 million), with at least another quarter of a million internally displaced Palestinians in Israel.

The displacement, dispossession, and dispersal of the Palestinian people is known to them as an-Nakba, meaning "catastrophe" or "disaster.”

Political Correctness

Political Correctness

Political correctness (or PC) was in decline for a few years, but has returned with a vengeance. This is borne out by the recent spate of protesting the appearance on college campuses of even the mildest controversial speaker.

Many now are treating even faintly unpleasant behavior or ideas as full-scale offenses. One analyst has defined these as microaggressions (small social slights that might cause searing trauma, often self-induced).

What happened to freedom of speech, if that freedom ever truly existed? Where are the defenders of those who espouse what they perceive as unpleasant ideas?

“Freedom of speech is a constitutional guarantee, but who gets to exercise it without the chilling restraints of censure depends very much on one’s location in the political and social cartography.”

- - Bettina Aptheker

"Playing the Race Card"

"Playing the Race Card"

Many conservative opponents of President Obama use a mindless defense to any suggestion that their dislike of the President is based upon race. They just accuse their critic of "playing the race card." This, of course, avoids the subject, and is an easy but simplistic method of argument.

The following is from a recent Playboy interview of former Vice President Dick Cheney:

“At different points, President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have suggested that racism is a factor in criticism of them. Is there any truth in that?”

Cheney responded: “I think they’re playing the race card . . . ."
_______________

Watch for the race card defense, as it may be a smoke screen for latent racism. At a minimum, it indicates a lack of thought.

Dr. Eben Alexander's Near-Death Experience

"I Had a Dream"

Dr. Eben Alexander had a dream that was real to him. Hallucinations can be "real" to those who have them. A brain deprived of oxygen functions differently. His claim that his brain was completely shut down has been disproved.

However, even if you accept his description of his medical condition, how do we properly assess his primary conclusion?: "Death is not the end of consciousness." This is what the religious call the "soul."

Dr. Eben is arguing that his near-death experience provides evidence that a soul exists. Others have made this argument, which in a more-developed form goes like this:

Sometimes, when people are near death, they have weird experiences: experiences that seem like their consciousness is leaving their body. These experiences are rare -- even those who believe in the soul acknowledge that near-death experiences only happen to a small proportion of people near death -- but they happen.

Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand

Some who call themselves liberals have a knee-jerk negative reaction to anyone who professes support for the principles of Ayn Rand. They appear to do so based entirely upon the identity of the person, and not based upon any knowledge of the teachings of Rand. They mumble something about "Atlas Shrugged," throw in an ad hominem comment or two, feel smug, and move on.

Many arguments are available to oppose those who espouse Rand's views. Research what they are, and you will be in a better position to engage Rand proponents on a rational level.

Yemen Civil War

Yemen Civil War: Outsiders Intervene Against Houthis

A few weeks ago, I posted here an explanation of Sunni and Shia Muslims, and recommended that this divide be kept in mind when analyzing events in the Middle East. Today, that divide is on display in Yemen.

Saudi and allied warplanes struck rebels in Yemen on Thursday, with Saudi Arabia threatening to send ground troops and inserting itself into its southern neighbor's civil war, potentially opening up a broader sectarian conflict in the Middle East.

The swift and sudden action involved 100 Saudi jets, 30 from the United Arab Emirates, 15 each from Kuwait and Bahrain, 10 from Qatar, and a handful from Jordan, Morocco and Sudan, plus naval help from Pakistan and Egypt, according to a Saudi adviser.

The Egyptian state news agency on Thursday quoted Egypt's Foreign Ministry as saying Egypt's support also could involve ground forces.

What do those countries have in common? They're all predominantly Sunni Muslim -- in contrast to the Houthi rebels, Shiite Muslims who have taken over Yemen's capital of Sanaa and on Wednesday captured parts of its second-largest city, Aden. The Saudis consider the Houthis proxies for the Shiite government of Iran and fear another Shiite-dominated state in the region.

The second map shows in green the area of Yemen controlled by the Shia faction, called the Houhtis.

Afghanistan-Iran-Israel

Afghanistan-Iran-Israel

If you are concerned about Israel, you should be concerned about Iran. If you are concerned about Iran, you should be concerned about Afghanistan. Look at the map.

Note the lengthy border between Afghanistan and Iran.

The US has 9,800 troops on Iran's border, and has in Afghanistan sophisticated military facilities constructed over the past fourteen years (including bases that can accommodate large transport aircraft) . Yesterday, President Obama revealed that these troops will remain in Afghanistan longer than originally planned. This should come as no surprise.

The US has stated that it will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. We currently are attempting to prevent this through a negotiated agreement. If that agreement fails and Iran continues to develop a nuclear weapon, the US is well-placed in Afghanistan to use the military option.
Thus, if you care about Israel, you must care about Afghanistan.