One thing that I think is striking about our current financial crisis and the collapse of many of the institutions that we’re familiar with is the dominance of the 60’s “flower power” generation in positions at the top of troubled organizations.

This cohort, now in their 50’s and 60’s, went from an ethos of “peace, love and harmony” to one of “grab all that I can for me” with amazing velocity. The generation before – the people in their late 60’s and 70’s – are somewhat shocked, and those like me, a few years behind, feel like there’s nothing left for us.

It is this generation, the children of the late 40’s and early 50’s, that have sucked our economy, our ecology and our ethical compass completely dry. It is this generation that learned to take without giving. It is this generation that will leave us bankrupt.

Flower power, my ass.

Pope visits Africa, reaffirms ban on condoms – CNN.com.

Can you believe this?  In sub-Saharan Africa, the Pope had the balls to assert that condom use was somehow sinful?  OK, so let the whole colony die of AIDS.  I suppose its OK if they pray the rosary, say their hail marys and our fathers, and get sprinkled with some holy water.  I wonder if all the pedophile priests also follow the condom ban.

Are these guys this out of touch?  Are they this clueless?

Why is Benedict’s assertion any different than the Jihadists saying “go kill someone.”  After all, he’s telling an infected population to infect each other.

Oh, I forgot – we’re humans and we’re smarter than that.  That’s because the catholic church taught us that fucking is bad… that our urges – the same as any other mammal, reptile, bird, fish or fucking amoeba – are somehow wrong.

Religion is poison – drink from it and you’ll die an untimely death… and still wind up in the same cold, cold ground that I will.  Benedict is an idiot.  Period.

Having had the fortune, on occasion, to be close to the top executives in a couple of companies, I have always wondered what about them demanded and sought compensation that was many multiples of my own (10 to 20 times as much). It wasn’t that I was poorly paid – I was compensated fairly, maybe more than fairly, for my labor.

Instead, I wondered what it was about the senior executive marketplace that drove these mere mortals, none particularly smarter than I, to levels of compensation that, to mainstream Americans, is both ridiculous and offensive.

A couple of weeks ago, it hit me. At the senior executive level (and at the law firm partner or sports star level ), compensation isn’t based upon the value of the money as a means to purchase goods or services. That is what money means to me (and to most of us).

No, to this group of people, money has a secondary meaning. It is a measure of their relative worth among their peers. Thus, the law firm partner who moves from a practice with a profit-per-partner of $800,000 to one of $1.1 million isn’t so much looking for an extra $300k in the bank (although that may be useful). Instead, he is looking for the extra meta-value that such number brings to him.

This fact is repeated in sports and industry, where compensation packages seem breathtaking to the general public – those of us who are more interested in putting food on their table and a roof over their family’s head. It causes outrage amongst us. But we stand seemingly powerless.

I do have a solution. I call it SuperScrip. Let’s just say that compensation at a firm was paid in both dollars – convertible at the grocery store and your local Ford dealer – and SuperScrip – useful in high end country clubs, Bentley dealerships, and Tiffany’s.

Most of us who drive a Ford, eat food from a Kroger’s and pay a normal mortgage in a normal area, would have no use for SuperScrip. The elite, desiring these luxuries, would have a use for it – and would demand it. They could have all of it, from my perspective!

Interestingly, this approach did seem to be the case in the former Eastern Bloc (and perhaps still in some repressive regimes) where dollars and euros were the “SuperScrip,” while the local schmenge was for ordinary folk. However, this has not been tried in a free economy, where people would have the choice to aim for SuperScrip or not.

ABC News: America Is Becoming Less Christian, Less Religious.

I know that some will think that this is a shame but I, for one, am celebrating the good news!  Maybe religion will, once and for all, get out of our laboratories and schools.

Why is this happening?  I can venture a guess.  Unlike past crises, where the holy could easily blame the secular for the trials and tribulations, this crisis came of age during a religious renaissance (fundamentalism in all religions has grown dramatically over the past 30 years).  Clearly, becoming more holy didn’t avert the crisis – in many ways it may have made it worse.

There are religious wars all over the world right now.  In past years, the religious wars tended to happen in minor states that, frankly, no one cared about.  But now, the US is involved in one – our Crusade against radical Islam.  And, gee, religious wars kill just as many, cost just as much (maybe even more)  and are just as horrific as secular ones.

So its no wonder that, this time, we’re turning our back on orthodoxy.  It’s about time!

Now that we seem to finally peeling the cold, dead hands of religion away from Science (see Obama Aims to Shield Science From Politics), I have a suggestion.

Let’s apply science to religion for a while and see what we find out.

• Water to wine?  Fail.
• Bread to flesh?  Fail.
• Tongues? No – Gibberish.  Fail.
• Voodoo Dolls?  Fail.
• Jihad?  No, suicide silly.  Fail.
• Shabbas goy?  Jeeze… Fail.
• No work on Shabbas?  Instead, the elevator stops itself?  Fail.

Turns out that most religious bullsh*t doesn’t stand the test of science any better than science stands the test of religion.  But…

• If I want to get to the moon next week, I’m voting for science.
• If I want my cancer cured, I’m voting for science.
• If I want to win a war, I’m voting for science.
• If I want someone to read this post, I’m voting for science.

Me, I’ll put my faith in something that shows results, not something that shows intolerance, stupidity and lies.

Science Wins.

Religion really is a sick phenomenon… I hope she gave the cardinals the finger…

And to anyone who says “its not the religion, its the people in it,” I ask the question – what else is religion but the people in it?

Catholic Church Excommunicates 9 Yr Old Who Had Abortion But Not The Father That Raped Her.

Southern christians, in their own eyes carrying out the lords work, call into question the whole concept of Jesus. If they are, in fact, following jesus, then jesus must have been a pretty mean-spirited, nasty guy.

After all, that is the way that southern christians act. Fortunately, if they’re right that the bible has any truth – which I doubt – then they will be first in line to burn in hell – where they belong.

That’s great. But you know what? It is beyond credibility that this group of yahoos would kill an industry because of some idealogical bull crap… but wait, isn’t that why we’re in Iraq? Idealogical bull crap.

I’ve long believed that this particular group – evangelical christians and those who curry their favor – are more interested in driving us as fast as they can to the judgment day than anything else. They keep proving it over-and-over.

Now, its time to take action against them. Refuse service to them – everywhere they go. Boycott institutions that they love – like big churches, chambers of commerce, and country clubs. Make them play golf alone.

And more than anything, vote these lying, cheating, holier-than-thou a-holes out of office.

Frankly, I’m sick of the religious right’s attempt to interject itself and control the behavior of those who aren’t affiliated with it. The “Yes on Prop 8″ campaign is a perfect example. Prop 8 – which attempts to institutionalize discrimination against gay couples – is “christiandom’s” (and I use little letters and quotes intentionally) to turn us into a fundamentalist christian nation.

In this case, the bad actors are the LDS (Mormons) and the Catholic Church. They should be ashamed of themselves for supporting this institutionalized discrimination. If being christian means hating with “christian love” those different from you – then something is definitely f*cked up.

But should we be surprised? Fundamentalists (christians, jews, muslims) have, for a long time, replaced the word “hate” with the word “love.” Thus, they kill to save you “because they love you.” Mormons baptize the dead – people who didn’t necessarily want to be baptized – “because they love you.” They kill because “they love you” or in Jesus’, Mohammed’s or God’s name. No, this is institutionalized hatred, plain and simple.

This country will burn in its own self-created hell if we keep following these pretenders to truth. It has already begun, and I expect it will continue. Unfortunately, we may all be damned.

The wall between church and state must be made taller and be fortified, not weakened by these false prophets.

I wonder why this has become the horrible concept that it is. After all, in the past 8 years, we have seen a redistribution of massive proportions – some of which is voluntary, some of which isn’t.

Lets look at the most extreme redistribution – health care. One can go along nicely and then, one day, have an accident or be struck by a disease. All of a sudden, the retirement is gone, the house is gone, and the family is broke. Even with good insurance. Is this not redistributive?

The recent financial crisis is another redistribution. Money was carefully saved, put into corporate pension plans, and otherwise responsibly stewarded. Then, one day, out of the blue, a “credit crisis” ensues and those who acted perfectly responsibly – with care and prudence – find their wealth redistributed or evaporated.

Trickle down has proven a failure. The wealthy haven’t recently invested in productive means, they have invested (particularly recently) in financial instruments that have little effect (or a detrimental effect) on productivity. This isn’t the days of old – where investment was made into a company that produced goods and services for the population. It is, instead, a day of investment in “financial instruments” who’s primary goal is to profit from the losses or risks of others.

Perhaps a little redistribution to the middle class would make more sense. After all, another $1,000,000 to a wealthy person is not likely to enter the commercial marketplace – instead it will be parked in a financial instrument that makes money on the margins. However, $10,000 given to a family that makes $100,000 will, in all likelihood, find itself back in the retail marketplace, buying clothes, cars, and other items that they need or want – and that keep our economy alive.

This isn’t a centrally-controlled economy – which was the real crime of communism. Instead, it is a recognition that putting money in the hands of people who will spend it will do more to bootstrap our economy than putting it in the hands of people who will invest in non-productive means.