...An excellent letter to the editor regarding secular morality...

 I get so tired of the religious right thinking they're the only ones with a sense of decency so I really enjoyed reading this letter...


Monday, October 18, 2010

Michael Gerson rejects the idea of godless morality ["A moralist in atheist's clothing," op-ed, Oct. 15]. "Of course we can be good without God, but why the hell bother?" he wrote. "If there are no moral lines except the ones we draw ourselves, why not draw and redraw them in places most favorable to our interests?"

That atheists do lead moral lives and act selflessly, as Mr. Gerson admitted in the case of Christopher Hitchens, proved the error of the point.

The critique was further undermined by the fact that many of the moral prescriptions of Scripture guide almost no one today, from condoning slavery (Ephesians 6:5) to the murder of unruly children (Deuteronomy 21:18-21). This indicates that we bring a preexisting moral sense to these teachings, accepting those that agree with it and rejecting those that don't.

Without God, we'd simply allow this moral sense to guide our actions -- as most of us, atheists and theists alike, already do.
Aaron Ross Powell, Alexandria

One of the best things to hit my e-mail inbox each week is Amazon's free download newsletter with the latest on music releases and free downloads


A really great MP3 sampler (free!) is Projekt: Afar. Some wonderful stuff is on here including a haunting song that could have come out of the best part of 80s new wave: "The Ice Garden" by The Twilight Garden....

An incredible digital album with almost every one of the songs a winner, including "The Future" by The Limousines (who sound a lot like Passion Pit...which is a good thing!)



But the absolute best song on Experience Music is the super catchy sing-it-in-your-bathroom-while-you're-brushing-your-teeth...it sounds so bouncy and upbeat until you really hear the words:

I’m gonna let you down
Gonna toss you around
Gonna make you want everything you haven’t found
I’m gonna hold your hand
Then ask you to stand
Ten feet away

Oh it’s just like you said
I live in my head
I’m saving up all that I have ‘til I’m dead
It’s always the same
And never the same way

But oh if you don’t want me though
I’ll only want you more
I fall in love with hard to get
You know you’re just like me
A mystery with nothing more to see
A virtual reality

I’m in a love affair without a love song
I’m in the habit of having what I don’t want
I’m just a hologram
You can see but don’t touch me baby
Oh I bet you want me

I am taking up space I’m right out of place
I’m holding a half-hearted smile to your face
It’s pretty enough but watch out it fades away
Time is ticking so fast
Does anything last
Soon I will be just apart of your past
I’ll leave you with this
You hold on in blissful memories

Oh if you don’t want me though
I’ll only want you more
I fall in love with hard to get
You know you’re just like me
A mystery with nothing more to see
A virtual reality

I’m in a love affair without a love song
I’m in the habit of having what I don’t want
I’m just a hologram
You can see but don’t touch me baby
Oh I bet you want me now

Now that you can see
I’m not, not what you make of me

I’m in a love affair without a love song
I’m in the habit of having what I don’t want
I’m just a hologram
You can see but don’t touch me baby
Oh I bet you want me now
Talk about intimacy and commitment issues...a powerful pop song!!!

Timewarp titles...

Just been looking at the series romance section in the new issue of RT Book Reviews....the Harlequin Presents titles always make me laugh when they're not making me wonder if the editors are stuck in the 1970s. Who reads this stuff? :)

click here for Harlequin Presents laughs

I've been reading the new book Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters by Marilyn Monroe and it is pretty heartbreaking to look at at times...It's clear from the photocopies of her original handwritten notes (with the typeset versions on the opposite side) that her mind was a very crowded place and that she felt and thought about things far more deeply than even a die-hard fan could have ever imagined.

Reading her private thoughts feels invasive...like I should look away. And like there's also this inexplicable wish that someone special and sincere in her life could have been able to truly understand and protect her...see that she wanted to be far more than just a dumb blond. (An interviewer supposedly laughed at her when she said she would love to play the part of Grushenka from The Brothers Karamazov.)

As someone who was teased mercilessly as a child about her out-of-control kinky, curly hair I've got to say that I would have LOVED to have seen this as a little girl:


http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/sesame-street-teaches-self-esteem-22512445

I know there have been some mixed reactions to this video gone completely viral in the past few days, but I see it as something great for girls' self-esteem and its heart is definitely in the right place!!