Red meat for Mensa
Phil Dillon, Emporia
Thursday, October 7, 2010
I went to Bruffs a couple of weeks ago to hear what Tom Holland, the Democratic candidate for governor, had to say. It turned out to be a real Sam Brownback bash. It was “Sam this” and “Sam that.”
I learned that Sam is guilty of many things, in desperate need of absolution or a long stretch in Leavenworth. The campaign season is young and I expect before it’s over we’ll find that “Sam” is guilty of dumping trash on the moon and polluting Saturn.
Maybe the candidates will start sporting brass knuckles and we’ll have a real slobberknocker of a campaign. I’m from Massachusetts and as they say back in Boston, “Politics ain’t beanbag.”
There wasn’t much in the way of startling new information presented, other than the revelation that “Sam” has doubts about evolution. The Mensa crowd gathered gnawed at that piece of red meat like vultures feasting on a possum carcass, howling with delight as they did.
When the laughter subsided, it was time for questions and answers. And that was it.
When I got home, I checked the Brownback website. I found nothing about evolution, the Big Bang or punctuated equilibrium. There was, however, a short blurb in his roadmap about promoting math and science.
I also spoke briefly with Holland after the meeting. I freely confessed that I’m one of those ignorant folks who has questions no scientist has ever satisfactorily answered for me.
Every year, toward the end of summer, monarch butterflies light on the butterfly bush in our back yard. Their journeys start in Canada. They make their way south, sometimes in sweeping arcs over the Appalachians. The journey is complete when the monarchs gather in the Mariposa sanctuaries of northern Mexico.
Is this incredible migration just a matter of time and chance being cobbled together? Or, is there more to it?
Before I retired, I spent a good number of my work days driving south on the Kansas Turnpike. The trips would start early, usually at the break of dawn, chasing Orion’s Belt and bull haulers down the road. I’d occasionally stop at mile marker 109 and gaze over the hills to my west and back across the highway at the sun rising. The silence would overwhelm the roar of the big rigs heading north and south.
In those moments I’d find myself captured in a world where “moth and rust don’t corrupt.” I’d sense my own smallness displayed against a very large universe. I’d watch the tallgrass dance. The few moments I’d spend there seemed like an eternity. I’d often find myself humming Van Morrison’s “Hymns to the Silence” accompanied by a tear or two trickling down my face.
I’d feel, as John Wesley once said, “strangely warmed.” I’d sense that while I was (and am) a very small speck in the cosmos, I am also known, and I’m known by name. Then, when my epiphanies were complete, I’d get into my car and return to the rat race.
In the later afterglow, I’d find myself wondering how Shakespeare’s sonnets or Job’s questions about suffering fit into this world of blind chance.
I’d wonder how marveling at beauty could possibly advance notions like survival of the fittest.
I’d wonder why I feel that in addition to my daily journeys to Wichita and back home, I’d find myself longing for a home I haven’t seen yet, a place where I’ll someday sit by the crystal clear waters and have all my “why’s” and “how’s” answered and my earthly doubts erased.
I don’t know how these things fit into an evolutionist’s scheme of things, nor am I troubled by the idea that questioning science may mark me as the village idiot. I’m really not anti-science.
In my youth I was enraptured by man’s first forays into space. I would have loved to be an astronaut. I’ve always been fascinated by Einstein’s theory of relativity. I dutifully take my flu shot every year. I own a computer. I have a nine-inch manmade scar running through the center of my chest, testimony to my willingness to trust science.
I’m not troubled by new ideas or revelations. Some scientists think there may be parallel universes. There’s string theory and the notion that some of these universes are not so well-ordered as ours, places where a fella’ could order a whiskey sour and wind up getting three fingers of rotgut rye instead.
I’m not troubled by any of that.
Should Sam Brownback’s doubts about evolution, or anyone else’s, be a campaign issue? I don’t think so, but I’m not running against him and I’m not down by double digits in the polls. Red meat translates into votes for the underdog and Kansas is, after all, red meat country.
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
Go to Lew Rockwell The Persistence of Red State Fascism.
October 7, 2010 at 11:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
To much red meat will kill you and it does not take a genius to figure it out!!!
October 7, 2010 at 11:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
Go to MENSA Candidate Hank Johnson-D /GA.
October 8, 2010 at 12:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
Go to Bob Chapman on Radio Liberty 10/04/10.
October 8, 2010 at 12:58 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
http://www.kwch.com/news/campaign10/f...
October 8, 2010 at 6:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
Be careful Phil, your feelings of self importance and superiority are showing.
Your description of the crowd,
"The Mensa crowd gathered gnawed at that piece of red meat like vultures feasting on a possum carcass, howling with delight as they did."
reveals so much about you, and in turn why the Gazette feels the need to fill space in their paper with your opinion pieces.
NOTE TO GAZETTE: Please print Mr. Dillon's op-ed's in smaller print and enlarge the cartoon section.
I saw a small group of people who wanted to meet the candidate and get his views so that they might cast an informed vote in the election. While Senator Holland may have come up short on specifics, (don't they all), it was a chance to get the "tone" of the man.
I saw a group of concerned citizens wanting to do the right thing. That and 1 angry, bitter man. And I am not talking about the candidate.
October 8, 2010 at 7:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Renew (anonymous) says...
reddog...Youtube How to Copy and Paste. Seriously. They have a video for it.
October 8, 2010 at 9:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MelissaE (anonymous) says...
"NOTE TO GAZETTE: Please print Mr. Dillon's op-ed's in smaller print and enlarge the cartoon section."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
For another laugh, here's a few quote's from Phil's blog (I rolled my eyes, too):
“And how would you respond to a father like myself who believes that homosexuality is a sin?”
"There’d be no goose stepping. We’d be treated to a new breed of despots, dancing around the halls of power in Birkenstocks."
"It’s no wonder politicians have become such skilled practitioners of the pickpocket’s art."
Hey Phil....I've seen your name on ballots.....just sayin.
Go back to Boston. We can see that you think highly of yourself & your intelligence and we can also see that you think of most Emporians as idiots.
So....STFU already.
October 8, 2010 at 9:46 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Good comment, Steve.
Phil, your elitist Boston slip is showing with your "Mensa crowd" comment. This attempt at satire fell flat I'm afraid, especially since you yourself have been a rather vociferous crowd member from time to time around here. I remember more than one time when you were boo'd and hissed as you delivered some lengthy diatribe at some meeting or another.
The trick to being an editorialist is to refrain from being a participant in the event.
Now, let's work on getting "I" out of your writing. Just once, let me see one of your pieces without that pronoun.
October 8, 2010 at 9:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
create,
Have you looked at the KVOE radio website?
In comparing it to the gazette site, it is much more up to date with some real news stories and lots of pictures. easier to read.
The only thing lacking is a reader, listener response feature, like these forums.
Something to think about Steve Sauder?
Is it just me or has the Gazette lost some credibility and trustworthiness, objectiveness the last few years?
i suppose that's the way of all news sources now.
October 8, 2010 at 10:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
Here is a little spoof for all us Mensa types.
It's from 2007, but still applicable.
http://www.kickthemallout.com/article...
October 8, 2010 at 10:52 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sail (anonymous) says...
Love the way the demms show the respect and tolerance for Phill, hmmm do ya think there is only one way to look at a subject... the cool-aid way or the hwy seems to be the demm mantra.
October 8, 2010 at 11:12 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
Youtube G. Edward Griffin on Banking, the Economy, & U.S. Government Debt.......I have a viris that is keeping me from paste.
October 8, 2010 at 12:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
You don't have a virus, reddog. You probably have a bum mouse. Go get a new mouse and you'll be just fine. Then you can cut and paste like a big dog.
October 8, 2010 at 1:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Steve, I doubt that Sauder would allow such a group of mensa know-it-alls on his website. We may not agree with him. How often has he sneered at the posters on this forum for our opinions?
Nah, we should be thankful that the EG allows this forum. They seem to go about their business despite our comments. Ya gotta have broad shoulders if you're gonna be in the business of news.
October 8, 2010 at 2:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
sail.
Do you mean Kool-Aid?
That tasty beverage manufactured in Mexico?
Respect and tolerance is a two way street.
You give some , you receive some.
create, I understand that broad shoulders are needed in the news business. It's the uppity narrow mindedness that's depressing.
October 8, 2010 at 2:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
HenryVIII (anonymous) says...
reddog,
It’s easy as 1-2-3!
1) Ctrl+A = Select All
2) Ctrl+C = Copy
3) Ctrl+V = Paste
1) Click in the address bar of the page you wish to link. Then, hold the Ctrl key and press the A key. This will highlight the whole URL.
2) Next, hold the Ctrl key and press the C key. This will copy the link to your clipboard.
3) Head on over to the Gazette article you want to comment on and click in the comment box. Hold the Ctrl key and press the V key. This will paste the contents of the clipboard into the box. Make sure you have a space before and after the link so it doesn't try to add text to the URL.
'enry
October 8, 2010 at 3:01 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lots_to_learn (anonymous) says...
I love you guys!!!
October 8, 2010 at 6:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
beefeater (anonymous) says...
Bravo, Phil, Bravo.
You shared your thoughts and feelings publicly and skillfully, without malice, without slander.
Jesus said, "out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks".
Just keep being true to yourself, as these boards will continue to do likewise.
October 8, 2010 at 6:38 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
http://politicalhumor.about.com/libra...
October 8, 2010 at 9:32 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sail (anonymous) says...
+AGREE, Steve on the two way respect. I will temper my poison type, but man some of those demms can get real P/O sometimes.Thanks for the spelling tip, I admit I need help sometimes.Steve you are a great defacto moderator.
October 9, 2010 at 2:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sail (anonymous) says...
HEY rewba, no comments? Thought you would be all over this one.
October 9, 2010 at 2:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
empgazfan (anonymous) says...
Yet another I-don't-understand-it-so-it-must-be-divine nutcase.
October 9, 2010 at 8:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
REWBA (anonymous) says...
Sorry sail, Steve_Corbin already said what I was thinking. lol
October 9, 2010 at 9:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
biscuitboy (anonymous) says...
I agree REWBA....Steve said all there really was to say. Phil, your overblown, underrated, ego is hanging out all over the place.
October 10, 2010 at 2:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )