CFI Forums

un-for-sure-ities

2008-09-07T08:35:12-05:00

Rather than continue hijacking perryb’s thread, I thought I’d start my own.

I had to dig out the poem to check, but unfortunately, asanta, I did not rhyme the word, so I cannot elevate myself to genius status. Here is the poem for your amusement:

the prose and cons of poetry

please be seated

the table contains contents
and the index is more
than just a finger of speech
poetry is love it is the tree
in which the poet dreams

my dark vision
shall become the light of the world

do not cry dear children
the wheel has only rolled once
the worst is yet to come

feel free to deny your existence
feel free to laugh and smile
at the un-for-sure-ities
die when you feel like dying

we do not know death
but remember
we did not know life until we got here

laugh at the world
laugh at the world
laugh at the world

Democracy the Best Form of Government?

2008-09-04T12:10:27-05:00

Democracy the Best Form of Government? -why???

Inside Job—9/11 Truth and other 9/11 Discussion (Merged)

2007-12-12T09:50:28-05:00

I have a new project I alluded to in an earlier post...I know many of you here do not believe 911 was an inside job or that the US Gov was responsible.

What I ask is this. IF any of you at the very least believe we have not been told the truth about what really happened on 911 that you please register here http://www.unitedfor911truth

I do not expect anyone to participate in the forums as we all have our home forums and groups...all I ask is that if you are in any way a 911 Truther that you register and post a brief 3 or 4 sentence bio in the forum for your state or country…

If there is a forum here that I haven’t seen that expressly deals with the events of 911 I would be happy to link it.

This project is new. There is very little activity so don’t let that turn ya off...when all is said and done we will have more than a million Truthers registered.

Thank you in advance to those that take the time.

New CFI Centers or Communities

2008-09-03T15:43:18-05:00

I live in Washington a relatively non religious state not far from Seattle a city known to have a lot of atheists and free thinkers. How would CFI create a new Center/Community? Why haven’t that already done so?

The worst news ever

2008-08-30T11:49:37-05:00

http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=9387790

Ok my title is melodramatic and probably isn’t even true but this is just so bad.

The depressed side of me can’t help thinking, nothing at all is better than this. I’m in tears.

Stephen

Gustav

2008-08-31T12:23:48-05:00

In 2005 I had some pretty contentious discussions on the ABC message board about Katrina ‘victims’.

My husband and I had been discussing for years the potential impact of a serious hurricane in New Orleans. I just couldn’t understand the complete lack of personal responsibility inhabitants showed in preparing for their own danger; just a personal plan for worst case scenario which acceptably could have included something as simple as walking down to the nearest firestation or police sub-station and say, “I need help"-before the damn thing hits. The thing most upsetting to me was the lack of responsibility people showed in caring for their pets. I was particulary disgusted by the chants of “We need help”; for such an outspoken, demanding bunch they certainly didn’t have much to say until they were in dire straits.

Now I understand ultimately the levees are the responsibility of the federal government, BUT, LA is a poor state and I suspect if one looked closely at the federal revenue recieved from LA it would not support anywhere near the cost of improving the levees. And, I know, I know, we’re all responsible for each other, but the federal revenue from a state should be pretty even with federal subsidies that state recieves. (I would make an exception here for farm subsidies; I think it’s in America’s best interest to produce our own food.)

But I said at that time I felt it would be best to not use federal funds to rebuild particularly the Ninth Ward, or really any area of NO protected by the levees. And I understand that Amsterdam faces the same issues but that doesn’t mean we have to unnecessarily spend money illogically rebuilding homes in natures path, because there is plenty of land in Anerica far less dangerous to build on, a luxury the Dutch don’t have.

I would say the same for homes in tornado alley; any new homes built there should be bermed in if they would like to be insured. No new construction whatsoever should be allowed anywhere in the southwest that pulls off the Colorado River, because pretty soon we’re going to have to build huge water conveyance infrastructure to all the idiots that already chose to build lavish homes with pools in a friggin desert. *Insert cartoon image of me pulling my hair out in clumps here*. Anyone that lives in Flordia or the southeastern coastal US or a floodplane should not expect federal bailouts if their homes are destroyed in a hurricane. People that build in southern CA, same with the bermed in concrete strutures for fire risk. I could go on.

The world has gotten to an attitude of I want what I want when I want it; particularly in our habit of multipling. Just because we want to live somewhere or have more humans, if that area is already at maximum human capacity, then we’re just SOL. Around the world there are groups of very poor individuals, just like those left in NO during Katrina (and I realize not everyone left there fits this category) that live hand to mouth yet inexplicably, exsasperatingly, maddeningly, continue to breed. Because NO is an American city those individuals feel it is the duty of other Americans to continue financing more schools, housing, water and sewer, roads, etc for their offspring.

This pretension of theirs disgusts me. When I see a woman standing there demanding a handout with children hanging all over her, I just really could care less. All I care to do is finance her sterilization. And unlike poor women in some other parts of the world, these idiots have access to all the free condoms, birth control, and cheap, safe abortions they might need!

My stance may seem hard-hearted, but I feel the best possible thing is that endangered sections of NO were not rebuilt and the people that were shipped out on the federal dime and haven’t gotten it together to return on their own, well that’s for the best too because we’d just be bailing them out again.

*I have a completely different stance on the pitiful response of the Bush administration to Katrina. I simply mean to address the personal responsibilities of individuals in this post*

Raising Secular Humanist Kids

2006-12-01T06:32:18-05:00

This is an enormous topic, but in general I’m interested in the community’s experiences raising their children in a non-religious, rationalist way. I am raising a daughter, and doing so as an agnostic and a rational naturalist/materialist is challenging in a predominantly religious and somewhat anti-science, anti-intellectual cultural environment. I’m always looking for new ideas and approaches, as well as books/educational materials/community groups to help. Some questions I consider in my own parenting are:
1) What’s the best way to respond when, inevitably, your child is exposed to religious stories/ideas in school, at a friend’s house, etc and has questions, or complains about not having something a friend has as part of their religious tradition (a holiday, ritual, etc.)
2) What identity label can we give our kids? When my daughter says, "Friend A is Jewish, Friend B is Christian, what are we?" what do I say?
3)How do you handle the subject of death without the easy sop of an afterlife where everybody gets back together and Lives happily ever after?
Obviously, a discussion in this format cannot be comprehensive, but I’m mostly hoping to hear any experiences or thoughts on the subject from those of you out there parenting from this world view. Thanks!

Post your desktops

2008-07-20T20:18:03-05:00

As part of a mini-psychology experiment I am doing with a friend of mine, would you mind posting your desktop images (include your reasoning, please)? I am comparing results here to three other forums.

I’ll go ahead and start

Human Nature and Continuing Human Existence

2008-08-19T09:30:05-05:00

Evolutionary biologists and anthropologists generally have no problem understanding that the ideas of ‘democracy, the best form of government’ and ‘natural rights and freedoms’ are ‘mere artifacts of thus-far human intellectualization’.
In that such ‘ideas’ are intrinsically subject to supercession then, i will be happy to discuss this in a belief-system-free atmosphere -http://www.condition.org/humexis.htm . -perryb

Interesting article about water conservation

2008-08-25T10:37:52-05:00

or more accurately, the psychology of environmentalism take to the extreme. The article is quite un PC, in some assertions, but makes some very interesting points. What is your take?

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/5603/