Godless Rachel

Roe v Wade took so long that the fetus they were going to court over was actually born. When women celebrate the date of the victory, the boy who was born celebrates the fact that decision took so long. When we hear things like that it stirs our emotional connection to our fellow humans. We are biologically programmed to do so, social bonding is part of our biological rhythm. This has more to do with why some people are pro life, than any religious decision. Basically, we are programmed to desire altruistically to aid our own species. That is why abortion has been misunderstood by those who claim to be pro life. It is also why abortion is a difficult decision, compounded by social guilt, and societal pressure to bare offspring that a person may not be financially, or emotionally, or even psychologically ready for. What women who need an abortion are facing is one of the most insidious attacks on their choice, just short of taking their choices completely away from them. Roe V Wade

      During a time when exposure to viruses like the measles and mumps, America took a stand and called on everyone to vaccinate their children. In fact, being in public school, meant, you had to show proof of vaccination. It was so successful that two things happened. The first is that we stopped worrying about people getting them so much, and we got healthy enough that some people challenged vaccines for various reasons. The reason for the anti-vacc hysteria was all due to one scientist who abandoned his moral ethics for a lump of cash, and claimed that vaccines caused autism. After hearing this, many concerned parents stopped vaccinating their kids, and the fire spread. Suddenly people were looking to blame vaccines for almost everything.  The effects of vaccinating the whole of a population was that diseases that had killed 4-500 people per year, like measles, and hospitalized 38,000, was not only a reduction in the number of cases of deaths, but infections. It was just shy

If you know Fayetteville  Arkansas, then you know how desperately they need something, anything to alleviate the crushing weight of a religious society. That can also be said for most of the bible belt and most of America. Logicon is the new kid on the convention block. It has been going for just a few years, and it is not in an atheist or humanist popular area, but the shock is, if you build it, the people will come. Well the people are coming, and the building has stopped. Unfortunately the funding fell through and the convention might have to be canceled. Not for the best either. It was to feature Jerry DeWitt, Dr. Darrel Ray, Dorion Sagan, and  Lisa Corrigan. You can access the link here Logicon Now, the need is urgent. With less than a month left to go to raise the funds needed to make it happen, Jason Bathon and the organizers of the event are scrambling to find major funding sources. After all, the speakers are booked, the venue is booked, the guests are booking an

Does America want an actual conversation about Fat? That burdensome thing on our thighs, bums, and well for some of us, all over? Or is it easier to blame obese people for their own fate, as we drive through, big gulp, grab and go, and super size our waistlines. Do we really want to hear that yet another gene linked with obesity has been identified? Well, we need to, because corporations are taking advantage of genetics and blaming the victims. Having a gene, by default, does not mean it is active, or that it will be the one expressed. You can have many genes which don't express and never do anything guilty inside your body. However, certain genes express when stress hormones are introduced. A dormant gene can go to functioning, when the switch is turned on by a stressor, which, is made to preserve you. Stress hormones are part of evolution, the trigger the fight or flight response, but they do much more, during a time of limited resources those genes would have been vital for

When it comes to evolution, many people don't understand what Darwin saw and why he believed that even humans had evolved. We have genetics now to solidify our evidence for evolution, but we also have a greater understanding for how similar to all our cousins we are. In biology there is a Taxonomy which classifies families and groups of species. It separates others, but tells us how the lines are drawn. One important feature of evolution to understand is Pleisiomorphies and Synapomorphies. These are how things arose, who shares them and who doesn't. Pleisiomorphy is an appendage which has a similar function, but arose from different lines of evolution. Synapomorphy is an appendage which is similar in form and arose from common ancestors. The importance in these is expressed in the photo above. The Bat, which is a mammal, has five digits on its upper appendages, it has evolved to have them at different lengths, and four of the five compose the wing portion of the bat,

I spent the last week or so listening to people tell me their negative ideas about fat people, obese people, what ever you might call us. I listened to people plagued with it themselves. I watched numerous videos on You Tube about morbidly obese people. I watched surgery after surgery, people going through gastric bypass surgery, having gastric bands put on. I watched scientific shows on what we eat and what it does. Then I went through information on what eating healthy food does for the body. It was all a big lump of a few things. 1. High Fructose Corn Syrup seems to be crucial in adding obesity to people. It's in everything, almost. People are more obese than ever and the numbers are growing every day. 2. It is not just America getting obese, but every country with fast food. 3. Gastric Bypass surgery is for those who know they are going to fail at another and another diet, because some people are predisposed to over eating. 4. Shaming people because they are obese, o

Most people would say the new pope is a brand new curtain dressing for a dying, stagnant organization that has been loosing thousands of members the last few years while Ratzinger held the role of Pope. Others would say that he is another trickster looking to reel people back in. Some would say he is here to shake up the masses, and others yet would say he is the pope of the people. No one seems to know quite where his loyalty lays, but even atheists have been ranting on about him. His move to do away with the golden throne, shed the fancy robes and sneak out at night disguised as a priest has people scratching their heads. Then came the blow to corporate America when he spoke out about poverty levels increasing while the rich get richer. Suddenly he is the right winged agenda's enemy number one. After all, how dare he speak out against a perfect relationship with money and religion. How dare he not be on the side of the people using his name to say horrible, cruel things abou