The Conflict In Georgia

The trouble in Ossetia, Georgia is really a proxy conflict between Russia and the United States over the strategically important area. The Americans are going to get their asses kicked out there and quite rightly so. The USA in a round about way is trying to do something similar to what Khrushev tried in Cuba. The Americans could not tolerate that threat, but now they expect the Russians to? George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice need to get a grip on reality. The world has woken up to them.

Trevor E. Cowan

Technorati Tags: Georgia, Russia, USA

The Credibility Of Religious Dogma

To debate religious dogma is akin to debating whether fairies exist at the bottom of the garden or not.
Debate would lend both a legitimacy that neither deserves or warrants. Both being full of myths and fables and could never withstand the test of credibility or sanity.

You only need to look around you for proof of God’s existence I hear you say? Well! I am sorry to have to
dissolution you, but everything in existence was made by the pink, blue spotted unicorn God that I worship. My challenge to you is to prove that your fictitious supernatural God made everything and my pink, blue spotted unicorn God did not.

Oh yes! One more thing. Do not attempt to use the bible to verify your claims as that would be a circular
argument. Just like saying ‘The bible is true, because the bible tells me it is true’. See what I mean? The bible is here say and would never withstand a test of credibility, or stand up in a court of law.

Merely claiming a thing is true, does not actually make it true. No matter how long people have been saying
it.

One last thing. I have heard (true or not a cannot say) that they have now printed a new edition of the bible that only has blank pages. This is to be called the non-fictional bible.

Trevor E. Cowan

THE SPRING EQUINOX

The Spring Equinox.

 

From http://www.answers.com

 

A. The point at which the ecliptic intersects the celestial equator, the sun having a northerly motion.

B. The moment at which the sun passes through the vernal equinox, about March 21, marking the beginning of spring in the
Northern Hemisphere.

The Spring Equinox is know as: Alban Eilir, Eostre, Eostre, Feast Of Annunciation
Of The So Called Virgin Mary, Festival Of Trees, Lady Day, NawRuz, No
Ruz, Ostara, Ostra, Spring Rites And The Vernal Equinox.

Although various groups such as religious, pagan and a few others would like
to lay claim to this time as being their own, and upsets some if
other groups lay claim to it as well, negates the fact that the
Vernal Equinox was occurring long before mankind existed, and I dare
say will be occurring long after mankind has vanished.

The rituals connected with the Vernal Equinox are just that. Rituals made
up by man. Some transposed from another date due to expediency by
groups such as the Roman Catholic church to try to smother other
groups such as Pagan groups that were more popular at that time.
While it did work for a time, modern day people are starting to see
through this ruse and Paganism is resurging.

Have you ever thought what an egg had to do with the Christian Easter? The
egg is a Pagan symbol for fertility, and the Easter Bunny (originally
a Hare) is a sacred animal to the Pagans.

The only thing we know for certain that it is the Spring (Vernal Equinox)
is the Spring Equinox, no matter what name we give it or what rituals
we hang on it, and will always remain so. The Day and Night will be
of equal periods of time.

Trevor E. Cowan

One law for all

Have you ever wondered why it is if a
public official gets caught out lying that they get let off with a
scolding and told not to do it again, (but the invariably do) but if
a member of the general public get caught doing the same thing the
receive a very heavy fine, and or perhaps a jail sentence. If they
were to claim a loss of memory to some critical piece of evidence in
a court of law, they would be incarcerated until the did remember.
But politicians use this same excuse frequently and nothing happens
to them.

Or if a cooperate tycoon or a
government official misappropriates thousands, if not millions of
dollars belonging to the public they either get off with a fairly
light sentence (quite often not going to jail) or not being convicted
at all. But if a little old lady or a solo mother on the pension
where to steal 1 lb of butter or a packet of biscuits to feed her
family they want to throw her in jail and strip her of her pension.

You know how they get away with this?
It is because people like you and I, the ordinary person in the
street let them get away with it. We are so apathetic we just shrug
our shoulders and leave it for someone else to deal with, but they
never do. They get away with it because we let them get away with it,
and we are getting exactly what we deserve. No more and not less.
silence is taken as condoning their actions.

This will continue until enough of us
so called ordinary people get off our back-sides and yell in a loud
clear voice. STOP! We have had enough of this crap. The law states
that there is only one law that covers all people, and we demand that
this law covers everybody equally without fear or favour.

Trevor E. Cowan

Brainwashing

Young children not having had any
chance to develop an effect defence against brainwashing fall easy victims
to the 100% shameless brainwashing techniques employed by religions.
Especially when that religion is presented as being an absolutely and
infallibly correct concise set of philosophies and doctrines. They
would think if mother and father believed in it, then it must be
right. Not realizing of course that mother and father had be
indoctrinated themselves when they were young, largely with the help
of the church and their parents. And so it goes…

Trevor E. Cowan

U.S. Green Card Lottery

I keep getting these ‘U.S. Green Card’ Lottery advertisements popping up on my computer screen telling you that ‘If I am lucky enough to win their lottery’ you will have the ‘privilege?’ of living and working in the United States Of America. Oh yeah? What arrogance and what cheek. Do Americans think that it is everybody’s dream to go to live and work in America?
I am a proud Australian. I live in the freest and most wonderful country in the world. Now why would I want to throw all of that away to go and live in a country like the USA? I only wish the American Government would give me credit for having a little more intelligence and stop annoying me with their pathetic ‘come on’ advertisements as I find them rather insulting.
I know of one man after having married an Australian woman decided that he would like to live in Australia and make it his home, so took out Australian citizenship. The American embassy could not believe that anyone would want to give up American citizenship to become a citizen of another country. They then sent him two visits, and his wife a separate visit by a couple of psychiatrists to have him examined as they were sure that he was mentally deranged and needed their help. This unfortunately is the mentality one has to contend with when dealing with Americans.

Trevor E. Cowan

God/Goddess/Universal controlling force

Am I claiming that there is no God/Goddess/Universal controlling force or anything else that governs the universe? No! What I am saying is that I have not seen any evidence to support there being a God/Goddess/Universal controlling force. Either has anybody else, or the debate on whether there is a God or not would come to an abrupt end with their claim having been proven. The onus is on the church and believers to prove that their God/Goddess/Force exists, as it is illogical and impossible to prove that something does not exist. After all, they are the ones making the claim.
What I am saying is that if such a force did exist, it would not be the type of God/Goddess/Force depicted by man made religions. Man made religions are built on unsubstantiated rhetoric that has it’s roots based in myths and hearsay, and is designed to control the masses through fear, guilt and shame, with a vague promise of salvation, provided that you obey the religious dogma implicitly.
I can understand why beliefs in religion last so long. It would take a great deal of courage to admit that you have been taken in by religion for years. Who would want to admit to themselves that they had been that gullible? It would also be difficult to stand alone, particularly if your family and friends were still believers. You would have the whole lot attempting to brainwash you into coming back to the fold again. This is one reason why religion has remained with us for so long. Because it cannot stand up to honest scrutiny, so discourages scrutiny of any kind.

Trevor E. Cowan

Gathering Reliable Information

To be a Freethinker, I feel that one needs to deal with ‘Empirical’ information only. That is information derived from ones own senses by experiment and observations rather than from theory or hearsay.
I feel that this should be applied in our personal assessment of Global Warming.
Past experience has shown that Governments will only let out what information that they think expedient at that time. A half a truth is a lie, no matter how nicely you may wrap it. Then when they are caught out, they claim that is what they received in a report, and it is not their fault if the information was wrong. George W. Bush on the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq would be a classic example of this. Passing the buck in other words. Businesses will say will tell you just about anything to make a sale. Take a lifetime guarantee that they offer on some products. You go back with a failed product only to find that business no longer exists, or the manufacturer has gone out of business.
Acquiring information via the local grapevine can be most misleading also, as the story tends to get bigger and better with the telling. How many stories have read in a newspaper that were either untrue or blatantly exaggerated so the paper could make a sale. Even information that has been collected from reputable sources tend to be unreliable if not written down immediately. Information passed on by word of mouth tends to have a certain bias to it, as it is usually told to favour the tellers sympathies.
See what I mean? They only really reliable information you can get, is what you have gathered yourself.

Trevor E. Cowan

Intelligent Design?????

I am not unintelligent enough to believe in intelligent design.

Trevor E. Cowan

Does God Exist?

Harry: ‘God exists.’
Janet: ‘What proof do you have?’
Harry: ‘None. But you cannot prove that he does not exist, therefore he does exist.’

Janet: ‘God is a green spotted five legged pink unicorn.’
Harry: ‘What proof do you have?’
Janet: ‘None. But you cannot prove such a God does not exist, therefore it does exist.’

Janet then smiles sweetly at Harry.

Trevor E. Cowan

The Truth

All my life I have heard that people should always tell the truth, but life’s experience has taught me that the truth can produce devastating results unless it is handled with care.

Trevor E. Cowan

Myth Based Belief Systems

Many people cling to an antiquated myth based belief system in spite of there not being any rational or empirical evidence to support it. The alternative is to admit to themselves that they had been wrong all of these years, and this is not possible for some to accept.

Trevor E. Cowan

The Price Of Owning Yourself

Quote:
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

Friedrich Nietzsche
Unquote

The Church Of Rome

From Wikipedia

The term ‘catholic’ is derived from the Greekadjective καθολικός pronounced katholikos, which means “general” or “universal”.
This term appears in both the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed, statements of faith adhered to by almost all modern denominations. When the word “catholic” or “universal” is applied to the Church, it is generally intended to indicate that the institution is the uniquely legitimate Christian church intended for all of humanity.
You may want to think about this the next time you use the term ‘Roman catholic church’ I know I will never use this term again. Instead I will refer to it as ‘The church of Rome’. Which I personally feel is more accurate.
Trevor E. Cowan

A New Labor Government In Australia

Well! The Australian 2007 are now at an end, and the coalition Government formed from the Liberals and Nations which was headed by John Howard has been literally thrown out of power in an ignominious defeat by the Australian people. The coalition does not now hold power in any of the Australian States or Territories. So bad was the coalition defeat that even the then Prime Minister John Howard even lost his seat of Bennelong, making him only the second prime minister to lose his seat.

At long last the people grew tired of listening to the Howard Government’s lies about such things as ‘The children overboard incident’ (which turned out to be an election stunt), the ‘We will never introduce G.S.T.’ (and they did not long after with the help of the Democrats), the introduction of ‘Work Choices’ (a horrendous Bill that stripped workers of their rights). Hoarding billions of dollars so they could gloat about how much money they had (instead of spending it on hospitals, education, and other places where it was sorely needed, then wasting the bulk of it at the last minutes by election stunt giveaways).

Now we have a labor Government headed by Kevin Rudd. Time will now tell what promises they will keep, and which they will ignore, but I am not holding my breath expecting miracles.

Trevor E. Cowan

The Much Misused Word ‘Prejudiced’

I feel that that the word prejudiced is used far too often on people merely because they do not agree with your way of thinking, and needs to be treated with more care.

Say you were living an immoral life. I am considered to be prejudiced if I do not agree with your immoral way of life. Am I supposed to remain silent if questioned on how I feel about your way of life, or speak up and risk being classified as a prejudiced person? Personally I will always speak out because it is my right, and I will not be cowered into silence. Just because a person is prejudiced does not automatically put them in the wrong.

A few examples are:

I am prejudiced about people driving while either speeding, drunk or on drugs because it is a danger to others.

I am prejudiced against people that rob and assault elderly people because I think they are cowards.

I am prejudiced against religions that kill and torture people because they will not follow their belief system. (How many have been slaughtered in Gods name?)

I am also prejudiced against homosexuals. Now let’s get another thing straight here. I am not homophobic (which is another popular misused term). Homophobic means to ‘Fear’ homosexuals. I in no way fear homosexuals (I am also not religious, so have no barrow to push there) I do however disagree with their way of life when I see a defenseless vulnerable child being reared in an unnatural situating. Oh! I have been told that homosexuality occurs in nature, so that makes it natural. Heart attacks, Tuberculosis and Cancer occur in nature also, but any sane minded person will avoid these if they can. So! Does this make me prejudiced against homosexuality? Yes! It does, but I feel for the right reasons.

I am prejudiced against slavery of any kind. I would not condone slavery in any form. (I find it sickening that a person should be enslaved due to race or color)

You may feel that after reading this that I am the most prejudiced person around. Well maybe I am, and I am proud to be able to stand up and be counted for the things that I feel are right, and also able to speak out and be counted for the things that I feel are wrong.

Too often now in this crazy world of Political Correctness that we now live in are people cowered into silence and acceptance because they are frightened of being branded prejudiced, intolerant, homophobic or some other name. I feel to have any positive change it is about time we all became willing to stand up and be counted for what we truly believe in.

For years now we have had these minority groups jumping up and down and making a loud noise to get laws changed to suit themselves while the majority remained silent, and that silence was taken for acceptance. It is like a bad case of the tail wagging the dog, and it is about time this was changed.

Trevor E. Cowan

P.S. You may disagree with me here, and of course that is right to do so and I respect that.

 

Australian ‘Do Not Call Register’

The ‘Do Not Call Register’ came into force in Australia for both fixed and mobile phones on 3^rd May 2007.

There are exemptions provided for ‘Educational Institutions, Religious Organizations, Political parties and Market Research calls’.

Now! Let us take these very convenient (for the Government) exemptions one by one.

Educational Institutions: The Government has spent the last year of so boasting about how much extra money that it has in reserve. If the Government has that much extra money, let them spend it on education like they should be doing and stop providing loop-holes in the ‘Do Not Call Register’ so people are asked to give additional money through donations. People have already donated through their Income Tax, or is the Government trying to tell us that this is not so?

Religious Institutions: People like John Howard and Tony Abbot have made their religious commitment quite clear, and I have no bother with this. People can also believe in other Fairy Stories like ‘Jack And The Beanstalk’ for all I care. But I feel that it is wrong just because some people that are high up in the Government are religious that they think they should be allowed to push their religious agenda. I see that an exemption for ‘Atheism’ was not granted. Interesting hey?

Political Parties: Well! This was to be expected wasn’t it. Is the General Public not exposed to political misinformation, false promises and downright lies via the media without being exposed to them in the privacy of our own homes? Is there no escaping them? With most politicians, the more they try to convince me of something, the harder I look for what is really going on. Let’s face it. If an idea is really good, it will sell itself.

Charities: Once again. The If the Government has that much extra money, let them spend it on Charities like they should be doing and stop providing loop-holes in the ‘Do Not Call Register’ so people are asked to give additional money through donations. It came over our news a few days ago that as little as $1 out of $10 reached the destination it was intended for. That means out of every One Million Dollars collected, only One Hundred Thousand dollars reaching the destination and Nine Hundred Thousand dollars being absorbed on the way. So who is really gaining the benefit, the people in need of the relief or the collection agencies? For every dollar you give, means the Government saves a dollar so they can vote themselves exorbitant pay rises while begrudging the ordinary worker a pay rise. Let us have a closer look at this.

$1000000 Collected
$900000 Expenses
$100000 reaches destination

If 90% of my donation is to be siphoned off, I sure would like to know where it is going.

Market Research: If your so called Market Research experience is similar to mine it just means that they start of by saying ‘This is Market Research, we are not trying to sell you anything. Which I will give some is correct. But what they are doing is researching you to find out what they can sell you. Then you start getting telemarketing phone calls, letters in your letter box, people knocking on your door etc.

Well! Mr Howard and the Australian Government. I feel it is very arrogant of you to think that you have the say in who you think should be allowed to contact me and who cannot contact me and I have already started to do something about it. When I get a phone call from one of these ‘Exempted’??? organizations now I simple tell them The Howard Government in their arrogance may have exempted you, but I haven’t Please do not call again and goodbye.

Trevor E. Cowan

 

Animal Rights Groups

I agree with the animal rights movement up to a point, but I draw the line when their rational becomes nonsensical. I do agree that no animal should be made to suffer needlessly, but let’s face it. There are some real Hare brained, or should that be Hair Brained people in the animal rights movement, and the scary thing is that some are in a position of real power.

I have also seen these same self righteous people wearing lovely expensive leather shoes, with matching handbag for the ladies of course, (Hmmmm maybe some of the men?) and leather belts. Do these people think that they managed to skin the animal without harming it?
Hmmmmmmm Maybe we could be a bit selective in what animals we should not harm. Maybe that could work? How about we do not harm Whales, seals, sharks, kangaroos, koalas etc, but ignore being kind to the things that we like to eat? Maybe that would work. For instance. Here in Australia we could kill all the flies and cane toads we like, but pass a law that we are not allowed to kill any kangaroos? Except for when we want to kill kangaroos for dog food of course. After all. All those dogs owned by those nice kind animal rights people have to eat. Don’t they?
I think this all boils down to there being too many people around that cannot mind their own business, and want to be seen helping a worthwhile cause. The only advice I would like to give these people is to really think it through before opening your mouth or putting pen to paper and use all of the facts instead of just the ones that suit you. You never can tell, you may come up with something that is workable and really worth while.
If a fox were to enter a hen-house and rip all of the chickens to pieces before carry one off to eat, that is alright because that is what foxes do. Well killing animals and eating them is what people do, and have been doing so for thousands of years. If you want to have a soy burger that just tastes like meat, that is fine by me. Just do not try telling me what I should be eating. Besides! Eating a soy burger with a patty that tastes like meat should be telling you what you would rather be eating. Otherwise why not have a burger that tastes like peanut butter?

Trevor E. Cowan

Not Homophobic

The word ‘Homophobia’ was invented by George Weinbert who defined it as ‘The dread of being in close quarters with homosexuals.’ It grew to mean a general ‘Fear of homosexuals or of homosexual behavior.’

Today we have reached the stage where every time anyone makes the slightest remark against homosexuals, they are branded as being ‘Homophobic’, this being an attempt by the ‘Homosexual’ community to get people to the state that they are frightened to open their mouth to voice an opinion or to make the slightest remark that can be detrimental to homosexuals.

Now! Lets get a few things straight here:

1.I am not in the slightest bit religious, so I do not have that barrow to push.
2.I am definitely not afraid of Homosexuals, although I sure as hell neither understand them, or have any desire to.
3.My personal preference is that I would avoid Homosexuals as much as possible. I cannot and will not be forced into accepting their behavior as being normal, nor will I be forced into silence.
4.I would prefer my family to avoid Homosexuals. I would like my children to lead as normal a life as possible.

Why am I writing this Blog? It is to let people know that you do not have to be ‘Homophobic’ to have a strong distaste for homosexuality. I have never ‘Feared’ homosexuals in the slightest, to the contrary, I find them quite humorous, and you also do not have to be forced into accepting it as being ‘Normal’ or forced into silence by the homosexual community. I dislike chocolate ice cream as well, but that does not mean that I fear it. Hmmmmm maybe the homosexual community would claim that I am chocolateicecreamphobic, or something else just as ridiculous.

If Homosexuals want to live the way they do, that is alright with me, just don’t try branding me as ‘Homophobic’ or try to make it look as though I am in the wrong just because I do not and will not be coerced into accepting their way of life. I have the right to live the way I want to live also.

Trevor E. Cowan

Technorati Tags: homophobic, homophobia, homosexual

I Believe That God Does Not Exist

Does that make me an Atheist? No! Atheists claim that there is no God.
I do not claim that there is no god. What I am saying is that I have not found any evidence supporting the existence of God.
Many people say that the Bible tells us there is a God. You cannot use the Bible to verify itself. It would be like saying ‘The Bible is true, the Bible tells me so.’ This would never stand up as proof in a Court of law or anywhere else. It would just be taken as here say which would not be admissible. Prophets have claimed to have spoken to God. Did they have any witnesses to these events? Not to my knowledge. Are we supposed to just take their unsupported word for this? People claim that the Bible was written by God, so it must be true. Oh Yeah! What about the story of Jonah and the Whale? Even the church has scrapped that bit as being an impossibility. So many other biblical claims are just as ridiculous. If God did indeed write the Bible, he sure made a mess of it.
The Bible is very clearly the work of highly imaginative men in a primitive time, full of errors and ambiguous at best. If the Bible was a manual for an automobile, you would discard it as being useless. There is not a shred of scientific evidence that God exists and in this enlightened age a God goes against common sense and logic and credibility.
We do not have any proof that God answers prayers.
Oh! You say. But I prayed to God, and God answered my prayer. Did God answer your prayer? Truly? Or would it have happened that way anyway? What about amputees? Does God answer an amputees prayer to have a missing limb restored? Or is God prejudiced against amputees and not answer their prayers? I figure If God could not only make the world, but the whole universe, bring dead back to life and make man from dust and a woman from a mans rib, then restoring a missing limb should be a fairly simple task. You see! If you pray for something that could go either way, and it just so happened that it went they way that you wanted, then maybe you could think that God answered your pray. But if an amputee prayed to have a limb grow again, it could still conceivable go two ways, but I have never heard of an amputee growing a new limb yet.
I outgrew invisible imaginary friends when I became an adult, but I realize that some people may still need an invisible imaginary friend, and that is fine by me. So long as they do not try to force their invisible imaginary friend on me, or get upset when I do not choose to believe in it/him/her.
I have heard people say to me, prove that God does not exist. I do not have to prove that God does not exist, I am saying that I have not found any evidence that he does exist.
I could say that my God is a blue and gold spotted zebra. Now try and prove that does not exist. It would be an impossibility and stupidity even to try.
Some people try to frighten me by telling me that if I do not believe in God, I will go to Hell when I die.
Well! If people do not believe in my blue and gold spotted zebra God, when they die it will send them to a place where they have to listen to Barry Manilow recordings 24 hours a day seven days a week. That would be worse than Hell.

Trevor E. Cowan