The Unclad Soul

Carl Sagan, the brilliant and eloquent astronomer and astrophysicist said not long before his death, "I worry...that pseudoscience and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive.  Where have we heard it before?  Whenever our ethnic or national prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our diminished cosmic place and purpose  or when fanaticism is bubbling up around us--then, habits of thought familiar from ages past reach for the controls." He did not live to see how prophetic his words would prove to be. Today, with a small but vocal and hostile segment of our population incensed over the re-election of President Obama, we see people stuck in old mindsets of fear and hate trying desperately to grab for the controls. The Tea Party wants a recount of the election.  Some extremist Republican politicians want the pr...

Dear Mr. Romney, I watched on television at home the final night of your Republican National Convention.  There were certainly some moving moments but there were disappointing ones too.  For me anyway. I thought the older man and woman whose son David you were close to were very sincere and lovely people. I have known people like them in my lifetime and they are genuine and decent in every way.  You were obviously a caring inspiration to them at a very difficult time in their lives. And the woman whose husband and ill daughter you and your wife befriended and loved was a beautiful contribution to your night; so articulate and warmly authentic in her appreciation of you.  But I felt at times these loving people bordered on being exploited in the way they were presented.  The older couple was clearly uncomfortable under the bright lights reading from a teleprompter no doubt for the first time in their lives in front of thousands of people.  ...

The Republican debate in New Hampshire last night was proof again that the GOP is in a mess. Their party leaders apparently realize that Mitt Romney is the only one of their candidates who might have a chance at defeating President Obama. The problem is Romney is just so undesirable to most Republicans. They see him as a moderate and not a true conservative. They know he is someone who has changed his stance on so many important issues and so they consider him no longer trustworthy. And this leaves them in the mess they are in. I find Mitt Romney a puzzling man. He seems polished and poised and certainly has the intellectual capacity to lead and be president. But there is something strikingly disingenuous about him. He often appears to try too hard. He’s wealthy and has lived a privileged life and seems to strain at relating to the ordinary common person. He has jokingly called himself “unemployed” which is basically true. The man has been running for president forever. ...

I watched the final Republican debate last night. The candidates were in Sioux City, Iowa and were trying their best to convince voters of their individual bona fides. It was mostly a very disturbing two hours of saber rattling, Obama bashing, and self congratulating nonsense. We have no statesmanship left in this country; certainly not among any of the current Republican presidential candidates, except perhaps for Ron Paul. I have been disappointed in many of President Obama’s decisions but I do see a certain amount of decency in him. The man had a huge task handed to him the minute he walked into the White House. Blaming him for the poor economy is simply refusing to see the reality of how damaging the Bush years were. What troubles me the most, however, about the Republicans running for president is how all of them, except for Dr. Ron Paul, simply pander to voters, promise the moon, trash Obama and all Democrats, thirst for war, and create more division in the country. ...