VIDEO: OUR PALE BLUE DOT - EARTH
--- CLICK THE PLAY ARROW BELOW ---

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." Daniel Patrick Moynihan Just 40 years after a famous TIME magazine cover asked "Is God Dead?" the answer appears to be a resounding "No!" According to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in a recent issue of Foreign Policy magazine, "God is Winning". Religions are increasingly a geopolitical force to be reckoned with. Fundamentalist movements - some violent in the extreme - are growing. Science and religion are at odds in the classrooms and courtrooms. And a return to religious values is widely touted as an antidote to the alleged decline in public morality. After two centuries, could this be twilight for the Enlightenment project and the beginning of a new age of unreason? Will faith and dogma trump rational inquiry, or will it be possible to reconcile religious and scientific world views? Can evolutionary biology, anthropology and neuroscience help us to better understand how we construct beliefs, and experience empathy, fear and awe? Can science help us create a new rational narrative as poetic and powerful as those that have traditionally sustained societies? Can we treat religion as a natural phenomenon? Can we be good without God? And if not God, then what? This is a critical moment in the human situation, and The Science Network in association with the Crick-Jacobs Center brought together an extraordinary group of scientists and philosophers to explore answers to these questions. "We only speak of faith when we wishto substitute emotion for evidence." Bertrand Russell

American Civil Liberties Union mission is to preserve your first amendment rights, your right to equal protection under the law, your right to due process and your right to privacy.
Cato Institute is a public policy research foundation headquartered in Washington, D.C. intimately linked with libertarian principles but be aware of how seductive their ideas can be.
Center For Inquiry is a fantastic site dedicated to promoting and defending reason, science, and freedom of inquiry in all areas of human endeavor.

Center for Media and Democracy strengthens participatory democracy by investigating and exposing public relations spin and propaganda, and by promoting media literacy and citizen journalism, media "of, by and for the people."
Corp Watch is a research group supporting the campaigns which are increasingly successful in forcing corporations to back down.
Corporations and Health Watch analyzes corporate practices that harm health and campaigns to change these practices across six industries: automobile food, alcohol, pharmaceutical, firearms and tobacco.
Center For American Progress is a nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for all.

Common Cause is a nonpartisan nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 by John Gardner as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest.
Corp Watch investigates and exposes corporate violations of human rights, environmental crimes, fraud and corruption around the world. We work to foster global justice, independent media activism and democratic control over corporations.
CSPAN.ORG is a private, non-profit company, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a public service. Our mission is to provide public access to the political process.
CQ Money Line is the most comprehensive and objective resource on money in politics.
Center for Defense Information is dedicated to strengthening security through: international cooperation; reduced reliance on unilateral military power to resolve conflict; reduced reliance on nuclear weapons; a transformed and reformed military establishment; and, prudent oversight of, and spending on, defense programs.
Capitalism Magazine in defense of individual rights. Always read with a critical eye!

Critiques Of Libertarianism subject is libertarianism including Objectivism. This is not an anti-libertarian site, despite its critical nature of particular aspects of libertarianism that are untrue or undesirable.
Disinformation is designed to be the search service of choice for individuals looking for information on current affairs, politics, new science and the "hidden information" that seldom seems to slip through the cracks of the corporate-owned media conglomerates.
DraftResistence.org is specifically encouraging resistance to the registration laws of the United States, seeing registration as the necessary step toward conscription (the draft).
Earth Justice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment.

Electronic Frontier Foundation was created to defend our rights to think, speak, and share our ideas, thoughts, and needs using new technologies, such as the Internet and the World Wide Web. EFF is the first to identify threats to our basic rights online and to advocate on behalf of free expression in the digital age.
FactCheck.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.

F.E.A.R. Forfeiture endangers American rights.
Free Press is a national nonpartisan organization working to increase informed public participation in crucial media policy debates, and to generate policies that will produce a more competitive and public interest-oriented media system with a strong nonprofit and noncommercial sector.
Greg Palast award winning Investigative Reporter.
Gyre.Org is an attempt to track the breakthroughs and implications of the next military and technological revolutions.
Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world.
Idealist.org is an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives.
Implode-O-Meter tracks the housing finance breakdown: a saga of corruption, hypocrisy, and government complicity.

Journalism.org research, resources and ideas to improve journalism.
Jurist legal news and research
'Lectric Law Library is one of the best free legal resources on the Web.
Long Now Foundation hopes to provide counterpoint to today's "faster/cheaper" mind set and promote "slower/better" thinking. We hope to creatively foster responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years.
Multinational Monitor monitors multinational corporations around the world.
Media Matters For America is a Web-based, not-for-profit progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.
Move On is a service – a way for busy but concerned citizens to find their political voice in a system dominated by big money and big media.

New Politics Institute is a new kind of think tank helping progressives understand today’s transformation of politics due to the tumultuous changes in technology, media and the demographics of the country.
National Whistleblower Center  is a nonprofit, tax exempt, educational and advocacy organization dedicated to helping whistleblowers. Since 1988, the Center has used whistleblowers’ disclosures to improve environmental protection, nuclear safety, and government and corporate accountability.
Oligopoly Watch is an attempt to make sense of the business pages in the newspaper, particularly the stories about mergers and acquisitions.
Open Democracy is the leading independent website on global current affairs offering stimulating, critical analysis, promoting dialogue and debate on issues of global importance and linking citizens from around the world.
Open Society Institute is a private operating and grantmaking foundation, founded by George Soros, that aims to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform.
Progressive Policy Institute is a research and education institute defining and promoting a new progressive politics for America in the 21st century through its research, policies, and perspectives, while fashioning a new governing philosophy and an agenda for public innovation geared to the Information Age.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"If you talk to God, you are praying;  If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia."
--Thomas S. Szasz, The Second Sin

In the United States the dominant religion is Christianity. Christianity is one of many religions around the world. With so many religions around the world it does not seem unreasonable to conclude that the "religion" phenomenon has been part of the human experience for quite some time. But in the U.S. Christianity is dominant - and current statistics state Christianity is dominant in the world as well. And as most people know the soil of Christianity is the Jewish religion which is expressed in the Old Testament.

The Judeo-Christian biblical god is a macho male warrior. Though he said "Thou shalt not kill," he ordered death for all opposition, wholesale drowning and mass exterminations; punishes offspring to the fourth generation (Ex. 20:5); ordered pregnant women and children to be ripped up (Hos. 13:16); demands animal and human blood to appease his angry vanity; is partial to one race of people; judges women inferior to men; is a sadist who created a hell to torture unbelievers; created evil (Is. 45:7); discriminated against the handicapped (Le. 21:18-23); ordered virgins to be kept as spoils of war (Num. 31:15-18, Deut. 21:11-14);spread dung on people's faces (Mal. 2:3); sent bears to devour 42 children who teased a prophet (II Kings 2:23-24); punishes people with snakes, dogs, dragons, drunkenness, swords, arrows, axes, fire, famine, and infanticide; and said fathers should eat their sons (Ez. 5:10) And are there bible contradictions? Consider the following and you decide: PSA 145:9 The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. And then on the other side of the god-coin, JER 13:14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD:I will not pity, nor spare, or have mercy, but destroy them.

Want More Freedom From Religion ?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization founded by Ralph Nader in 1971 to represent consumer interests in Congress, the executive branch and the courts.
ProCon.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) public benefit corporation whose purpose is to educate the public about controversial issues by presenting facts, news, and thousands of diverse opinions in a pro-con format.
Reason Online is the monthly print magazine of “free minds and free markets.” It covers politics, culture, and ideas through a provocative mix of news, analysis, commentary, and reviews. Reason provides a refreshing alternative to right-wing and left-wing opinion magazines by making a principled case for liberty and individual choice in all areas of human activity.
Reason Foundation advances a free society by developing, applying, and promoting the libertarian ideas of individual liberty, free markets, and the rule of law.
Rockridge Institute is committed to the democratization of knowledge about politics while deepening and broadening the public's understanding of the political world.
Sierra Club is America's oldest, largest, and most effective environmental organization.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Secular Humanism is a term which has come into use in the last thirty years to describe a world view with the following elements and principles:

• We are committed to the application of reason and science to the understanding of the universe and to the solving of human problems.
• We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for salvation.
• We believe that scientific discovery and technology can contribute to the betterment of human life.
• We believe in an open and pluralistic society and that democracy is the best guarantee of protecting human rights from authoritarian elites and repressive majorities.
• We are committed to the principle of the separation of church and state.
• We cultivate the arts of negotiation and compromise as a means of resolving differences and achieving mutual understanding.
• We are concerned with securing justice and fairness in society and with eliminating discrimination and intolerance.
• We believe in supporting the disadvantaged and the handicapped so that they will be able to help themselves.
• We attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, and strive to work together for the common good of humanity.
• We want to protect and enhance the earth, to preserve it for future generations, and to avoid inflicting needless suffering on other species.
• We believe in enjoying life here and now and in developing our creative talents to their fullest.
• We believe in the cultivation of moral excellence.
• We respect the right to privacy. Mature adults should be allowed to fulfill their aspirations, to express their sexual preferences, to exercise reproductive freedom, to have access to comprehensive and informed health-care, and to die with dignity.
• We believe in the common moral decencies: altruism, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, responsibility. Humanist ethics is amenable to critical, rational guidance. There are normative standards that we discover together. Moral principles are tested by their consequences.
• We are deeply concerned with the moral education of our children. We want to nourish reason and compassion.
• We are engaged by the arts no less than by the sciences.
• We are citizens of the universe and are excited by discoveries still to be made in the cosmos.
• We are skeptical of untested claims to knowledge, and we are open to novel ideas and seek new departures in our thinking.
• We affirm humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of despair and ideologies of violence and as a source of rich personal significance and genuine satisfaction in the service to others.
• We believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than despair, learning in the place of dogma, truth instead of ignorance, joy rather than guilt or sin, tolerance in the place of fear, love instead of hatred, compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of ugliness, and reason rather than blind faith or irrationality.
• We believe in the fullest realization of the best and noblest that we are capable of as human beings.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sustainability Institute focuses on understanding the root causes of unsustainable behavior in complex systems to help restructure systems and shift mindsets that will help move human society toward sustainability.
The Grist is a site dedicated to environmental news and commentary.
The Century Foundation is a nonprofit public policy research institution committed to the belief that a mix of effective government, open democracy, and free markets is the most effective solution to the major challenges facing the United States.
ThomasPaine.com is is an online public affairs journal of progressive analysis and commentary combining depth with immediacy to equip progressives to compete effectively in the 21st century’s marketplace of ideas.
Sustainable Food Laboratories mission is to accelerate improvement in mainstream food and agriculture systems so we can sustain a high quality life on earth.
The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax-exempt organization that conducts investigative research and reporting on public policy issues in the United States and around the world.
The Foundation on Economic Trends is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization whose mission is to examine emerging trends in science and technology, and their impacts on the environment, the economy, culture, and society.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The brain is essentially made up of 3 parts: the brain stem, the limbic system and the cerebral cortex. It is now known that the brain stem and limbic system, often called the Old Brain, is where nonconscious forces act on the cerebral cortex, the area of the brain where our sense of self is housed, and called the New Brain.

Some cognitive research has suggested that there are fundamental nonconscious forces or "drives" that are located in the old brain. And that these drives profoundly impact our conscious behavior, i.e. the New Brain, whether we realize it or not. Here are the drives:

1. to nurture
2. to be nurtured by
3. to have sex
4. to fight
5. to flee
6. to submit
   

To suggest that there are 6 and only 6 drives seems a bit presumptuous. But the fact that we are moved by these "drives" in a very real way is a fact that needs to be taken seriously. Given the fact that one can be directed with very little effort(hypnosis and crowd hysteria for example)and that one tends not to consider these directives consciously seems reasonable grounds for study. Such study derives its fodder from cognitive research.

Limbic System - A Room In The House Of The Nonconscious

The limbic system wraps around the brain stem and is beneath the cerebral cortex. It is a major center for emotion formation and processing, for learning, and for memory. The limbic system contains many parts, including the cingulate gyrus, a band of cortex that runs from the front of the brain to the back, the parahippocampal gyrus, the dentate gyrus, and most notably, the hippocampus and amygdala. The hippocampus is involved in memory storage and formation. It is also involved in complex cognitive processing. The amygdala is associated with forming complex emotional responses, particularly involving aggression. The limbic structures are also connected with other major structures such as the cortex, hypothalamus, thalamus, and basal ganglia.

Limbic system structures are involved in many of our "emotions" and "motivations", particularly those that are related to "survival." Such emotions include fear, anger, and emotions related to sexual behavior. The limbic system is also involved in feelings of pleasure that are related to our survival, such as those experienced from eating and sex. Certain structures of the limbic system are involved in memory as well. Two large limbic system structures, the amygdala and hippocampus play important roles in memory.

As an aside:
See the works of V.S. Ramachandran , Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition and professor with the Psychology Department and the Neurosciences Program at the University of California, San Diego, and Adjunct Professor of Biology at the Salk Institute. See V.S. Ramachandran documentary on the brain called "Phantoms in the Brain: Part 1 : Part 2"

Also see "The Century of the Self" to understand how we can be moved to behave by forces of which we are unaware when conditioned by the cultural milieu in which one is raised.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The National Priorities Project is a research organization that analyzes and clarifies federal data so that people can understand and influence how their tax dollars are spent. Located in Northampton, MA, since 1983, NPP focuses on the impact of federal spending and other policies at the national, state, congressional district and local levels.
Tax Justice Network campaigns for transparency in international finance and opposes secrecy. They support a level playing field on tax and we oppose loopholes and distortions in tax and regulation, and the abuses that flow from them. We promote tax compliance and we oppose tax evasion, tax avoidance, and all the mechanisms that enable owners and controllers of wealth to escape their responsibilities to the societies on which they and their wealth depend.
Tom Hartmann is an author and progressive liberal writer, author and talk show radio host at Air America.
Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world. UCS combines independent scientific research and citizen action to develop innovative, practical solutions and to secure responsible changes in government policy, corporate practices, and consumer choices.
Wendy McElroy has her site for Individualist Feminism and Individualist Anarchism.
Wiser Earth is a community directory and networking forum that maps and connects non-governmental organizations and individuals addressing the central issues of our day: climate change, poverty, the environment, peace, water, hunger, social justice, conservation, human rights and more.
World Future Society is a nonprofit, nonpartisan scientific and educational association of people interested in how social and technological developments are shaping the future.
World Population Awareness goal is to preserve the environment and its natural resources for the benefit of people, families, and future generations. Unfortunately, with exploding population growth, excessive consumption on the part of the more well-off people in the world, errant technology, and corrupt governments, the environment is in trouble and the sustainability of the people of our planet is threatened.