August 13, 2007


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY

THE IMPORTANCE OF CONSCIENCE

I don't believe in religion, but I do believe in conscience. President Abraham Lincoln talked about the "better angels of our nature," which is really about conscience. Conscience is that little voice that motivates you to do what is right even when no one is looking. Conscience is the twin of empathy, which allows you to put yourself into another person or living creature's place. You feel their pain. Conscience should be a far more prominent part of our government policy. There is a new book by an Iraq war veteran named Joshua Key. Mr. Key talks about seeing other soldiers kicking severed Iraqi heads around like soccer balls. He deserted the military, not because of cowardice, but because his conscience wouldn't allow him to be a participant in this atrocity any longer. The book is called The Deserter's Tale.

FUTURE VALUES

Since Dan Quayle and the first Bush administration we've heard a lot about "family values." Right-wingers like to lecture us about "traditional values." Maybe it's time to take a look at values that haven't evolved yet, things like ending war and deprivation and racism for all people on this planet. "Traditional values" have given us war, torture, oppression, racism, homophobia, sexism, slavery, and exploitation. That is what makes the space program something worthwhile, the chance to move beyond the boundaries that have always gripped us and seek something better. I have an interest in the shuttle Endeavour's mission because astronaut Barbara Morgan is from Fresno. I hope the shuttle returns safely to earth and that space exploration evolves into a peaceful quest for all people on this planet. This article by Tad Daley is at www.alternet.org:

Bertrand Russell taught us that the greatest moral imperative was this: "One must care about a world one will never see." So in addition to all of our urgent work on all of our urgent struggles, progressives should consider joining and participating in the work of hardy and underappreciated space advocacy organizations like the Planetary Society, the National Space Society, the Mars Society and the Space Frontier Foundation.

Perhaps the single best line of the Heinlein Centennial was uttered to us on an enormous video screen, from Sri Lanka, by 90-year-old Arthur C. Clarke, when he said, "Robert Heinlein will be revered by future generations. If any."

Stephen Hawking, similarly, in remarks just before boarding his widely publicized zero-gravity airplane flight in April, said, "Life on Earth is at risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus. ... I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space."