Gooday Randolph !!

Randy, the next Prez of the good ol' US of A will be a woman president
--she will assume office on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 after there has
been enormous
turmoil & many countries totally destroyed in the Middle East,
including Israel, Iran,
Syria, Lebanon & Jordan.

Don't ask me what frickin' color she'll be -- your Uncle Wally will
leave that to other peoplez
imaginations !!!!

HOOROO

UNCLE WALLY

Time until Tuesday, 20 January 2009 at Noon (Washington DC time)

=3D 770 days
=3D 18488 hours
=3D 1109321 minutes
=3D 66559282 seconds


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http://www.humaniststudies.org/enews/?id=3D271&article=3D2

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 Will Be No Time for Celebrating

GUEST COLUMN By DAVID A. NIOSE

For HumanistNetworkNews.org

Nov. 15, 2006

Now that the mid-term elections are over, the date Jan. 20, 2009 has
become perhaps the most anticipated day in America, if not the world.
It is, of course, the date that the Bush administration leaves office.
On that day, with a big sigh of relief, we=E2=80=99ll watch "the decider"
return to Crawford.

And we should dread that date.

Of course, it=E2=80=99s unlikely that George W. Bush will be succeeded by
someone who is even more in the grip of the religious right and more
hostile towards science and reason. As such, humanists and other
progressives may perhaps anticipate a friendlier climate after Jan. 20,
2009.

But that is precisely the problem. Having survived eight years of a
president who never saw the contradiction of pointing to Jesus as his
favorite philosopher before proceeding to commence a war that has
killed thousands of innocent civilians, humanists will feel that the
nightmare is over when someone else -- anyone else -- takes the oath of
office on Jan. 20, 2009.

In fact, however, religious conservatism will continue to be a powerful
social and political force in America after Bush leaves office. As we
prepare to enter the second decade of the 21st century, four decades
after landing men on the moon, millions upon millions of Americans will
still believe that the Earth is only a few thousand years old and that
evolution is "just a theory." The forces that were mobilized to make
the Bush II presidency possible will still be a key part of the
American political fabric.

On Jan. 20, 2009, humanists may feel like celebrating, but any serious
survey of the American landscape will find little cause for
celebration. Even in the unlikely event that a remarkably secular,
progressive ticket takes the oath of office that day, the considerable
forces of organized religious fundamentalism will be planning a
comeback. It will be no time for complacency.

Indeed, in the big picture the real challenge for organized humanism is
not to win any particular election, but to shift the entire landscape
so far away from religious conservatism that such anti-reason,
anti-science candidates cannot be taken seriously. If humanists
concentrate efforts on raising public awareness of humanism and the
good works of humanists, thereby improving the public image of
humanists and increasing the popularity of open humanist identity, some
of these goals could be within reach:
More high-profile public figures openly identifying as humanists and
discussing their humanism;
Open nontheists running for and getting elected to office;
Acknowledgement by public figures of the danger of shaping public
policy around conservative religious views;
Increased appreciation for education, science, reason and critical
thinking as core American values, reflected in both popular culture and
public policy;
A more informed citizenry, with less apathy towards government and
politics and more active participation in the political process.
Regardless of who succeeds Bush, these goals will be far from
accomplished on Jan. 20, 2009. On that date, it may seem as if America
will be awakening from a nightmare, but in truth the humanist community
will still have much work to do.

In fact, complacency on the part of humanists and other progressives,
mistakenly thinking that the problem ends with Bush=E2=80=99s departure, =

make rational public policy and real progress even more elusive.

Many humanists commonly say that they believe there are millions of
humanists in America who simply don=E2=80=99t know that they are humanist=

and perhaps that statement points to the real mission. By ensuring that
more people become aware of humanism and openly identify accordingly,
humanists can weaken the political potency of religious conservatism.

This partially explains why European social democracies, where open
humanist identification is commonplace, have managed to keep religious
conservatives away from the centers of power. It=E2=80=99s no coincidence
that in most of Western Europe, where open secular humanists are
accepted and given a place at the table in shaping public policy,
religious conservatism is a weak political force. Such is not the case
in America, and we live with the results.

And we=E2=80=99ll continue to live with the results until organized human=

succeeds in promoting humanism and open humanist identity. Hence, in
some ways Jan. 20, 2009, will be just another day.

David Niose is an officer and director of the American Humanist
Association


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Perseid wrote:

Obama's magic
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/12/12/obama/index_np.html


As Barack Obama addressed the largest pre-presidential-primary
crowd in modern New Hampshire history Sunday afternoon, Democratic
state party chair Kathy Sullivan was sitting directly behind the
Illinois senator. From her vantage point, Sullivan saw exactly
what Obama saw -- 1,500 rapt faces staring up at him with
curiosity, affection and hope. Turning to her seatmate Sylvia
Larsen, the president of the state Senate, Sullivan whispered,
"Imagine what it must be like to be him."

For Obama, the "Imagine" has almost reached John Lennon levels.
His political ascent has already reached those star-studded heights
where even political insiders like Sullivan cannot fully comprehend
the pressures from the adoration and expectations that envelop him.
He was not supposed to run for president this time, for Obama was
the Democratic future held in reserve for 2012 or 2016. We are
witnessing something rare -- a would-be candidate tantalizingly
signaling his potential availability and the rank-and-file of the
Democratic Party responding beyond his most rapturous dreams. As
Chicago-based media consultant David Axelrod, one of Obama's
closest advisors, said in an interview Monday, "I wasn't alive
then, but this is the closest thing to a draft since Adlai
Stevenson in 1952." (Stevenson, the reluctant governor of Illinois,
was nominated on the third ballot at the Democratic Convention.)

GUEST COLUMN By DAVID A. NIOSE
For HumanistNetworkNews.org

<snip>
This partially explains why European social democracies, where open
humanist identification is commonplace, have managed to keep religious
conservatives away from the centers of power. <snip>

Perseid wrote:

Obama's magic
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/12/12/obama/index_np.html


As Barack Obama addressed the largest pre-presidential-primary
crowd in modern New Hampshire history Sunday afternoon, Democratic
state party chair Kathy Sullivan was sitting directly behind the
Illinois senator. From her vantage point, Sullivan saw exactly
what Obama saw -- 1,500 rapt faces staring up at him with
curiosity, affection and hope. Turning to her seatmate Sylvia
Larsen, the president of the state Senate, Sullivan whispered,
"Imagine what it must be like to be him."

For Obama, the "Imagine" has almost reached John Lennon levels.
His political ascent has already reached those star-studded heights
where even political insiders like Sullivan cannot fully comprehend
the pressures from the adoration and expectations that envelop him.
He was not supposed to run for president this time, for Obama was
the Democratic future held in reserve for 2012 or 2016. We are
witnessing something rare -- a would-be candidate tantalizingly
signaling his potential availability and the rank-and-file of the
Democratic Party responding beyond his most rapturous dreams. As
Chicago-based media consultant David Axelrod, one of Obama's
closest advisors, said in an interview Monday, "I wasn't alive
then, but this is the closest thing to a draft since Adlai
Stevenson in 1952." (Stevenson, the reluctant governor of Illinois,
was nominated on the third ballot at the Democratic Convention.)

After much evidence that political leaders have screwed the voters by
getting them involved in an unwinnable, unnecessary war, and have lied
and covered, and bungled around during the course of it, they've begun
to swarm around a new 'political messiah' -- hopeful he'll be the
embodiment of their highest altruistic expectations. Not unlike the
despair and disillusionment that pervaded the political landscape in
the aftermath of Watergate, today's depressed electorate turns to a
friendly fresh face, a crisp unwrinkled persona, and an image of
honesty and moral uprightness. Back then, it materialized in the form
of Jimmy Carter. As fickle as politics has always been, any veteran
observer would rightly suspect that America's continuing moral dilemna
won't be 'fixed' by another smart, personable, smiling political
entity. We've had 'em before -- Kennedy being a shining, albeit tragic,
example.
Dr. Bipolar