Uncle Ben's Rice...

[Scooter]

[Scooter]

[rubato]

It looks like the Republicans were sitting on all of this just waiting for the right moment to kick him out of the race. Once he rose from the pack and there was enough attention on him it was time to sweep the detritus out of the field. Mind you, the democrats certainly had all of this as well and would have used it in the unlikely event this superstitious religious zealot got the nomination.


yrs,
rubato

[Econoline]

[BoSoxGal]

Oh my, the interwebs are having fun with Ben! (Especially love the one that digs at Brian Lyin' Williams, too!)

[Econoline]

We interrupt your previously scheduled memes for another serious slam-dunk by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar:
Ben Carson Is Terrible for Black Americans
Is he a success story? Yes. Would his presidency be an unmitigated disaster? Yes.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar @kaj33
Nov. 4, 2015

Now that Ben Carson is the leading GOP candidate, the doctor is under a lot more pressure, not just as a candidate, but as a representative of African Americans. The lifelong burden of a minority is that they feel as if everything they do or say reflects not just on their own character, but also on how the rest of their group will be judged by the ruling majority. Jon Stewart satirized this truth on The Daily Show with “Is This Good for the Jews?” in which he assessed how news about prominent Jewish people reflected on all Jews.

Would President Ben Carson be good for African Americans?

Ben Carson is good for African Americans in that he is a deeply moral man who has done much good as a physician and now wants to upsize his good-doing on a national and global scale. His success story is the stuff the American Dream is made of and is motivation for others to follow his path. His accomplishments as a medical doctor are admirable and serve as an inspiration for young black men and women seeking a career in science. His measured, even groggy demeanor, commands attention and respect. Had he decided to dedicate his post-retirement life to promoting STEM education across the country, he would have been a model for the American ideal that anything is possible.

However, he chose to run for president of the U.S., and that’s bad for African-Americans. His repressive, muddled and pious policies and opinions often run against our Constitution—but his questionable proposals will likely, thankfully, be doomed by his lack of political expertise. His presidency would be marked by even worse gridlock while he wastes his time trying to impose his narrow and sometimes ill-informed morality on the other 319 million people in the nation. And it would definitely not be good for African Americans to have a president who flounders helplessly in office because it would perpetuate the stereotype that blacks can’t be effective CEOs, quarterbacks and leaders.

Although Carson is a celebrated physician, he has expressed several opinions that are contrary to scientific evidence and therefore call into question his logic—a quality crucial in a president. His claim that sexual orientation is a choice is remarkably unscientific. He has argued that “a lot of people” in prison change their sexual orientation. As many people have pointed out, sexual behavior is not the same as orientation. Plus, studies indicate the most significant causes of sexual orientation are genetics and in utero hormonal exposure. According to the American Psychological Association, “most people experience little or no sense of choice about their sexual orientation.” For a physician to ignore the preponderance of scientific proof in favor of his own religious beliefs is dangerous because is it justifies enacting laws that restrict human and civil rights. Carson has since apologized, but we should never forget that pseudo-science was used to prove blacks were physically and mentally inferior to whites and to justify slavery.

But Carson’s opposition to science doesn’t stop there. Global climate change is a major issue affecting the future of human life. International conferences take place in order to determine how quickly this process is proceeding, and studies show that 97% of actively publishing climate scientists conclude human activity has caused climate warming. Yet Carson says he has not seen “overwhelming science” that proves climate change is manmade. This head-in-the-sand approach could prove disastrous to the country’s survival, never mind the Earth’s. This comes on the heel of his refutation of the Big Bang theory based on the second law of thermodynamics; physicists responded by explaining that Carson misunderstood and misstated the actual law. His judgment as a man of science was also compromised last February when he blamed an outbreak of measles on illegal immigrants from South and Central America; the Centers for Disease Control concluded that the strains were genetically similar to those found in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Further, there was no way of knowing whether it came from an immigrant, legal or not, or from Americans traveling abroad or even just from here.

Again, when an elected leader ignores testimony from 97% of the world’s experts, renowned physicists and the CDC, we have to question his decision-making abilities. Carson perpetuates the black stereotype of someone who’s too confused or frightened by all that complicated science so he or she ignores it, clinging to superstitions or religion. Obviously, white politicians have been making the same buffoonish claims, but they aren’t representative of a minority struggling to achieve equality.

The president often advocates for the kind of educational system we should have. President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind had a devastating effect on education that we are now changing. President Barack Obama recently called for less testing in school because the focus on mandated testing has taken away from classroom instruction. Education reform is especially important for the black community because of the overwhelming evidence that black children are not receiving the same quality of education as white students. A 2014 U.S. Education Department survey concluded that students of color in public schools are punished more and receive less access to experienced teachers than white students. The same study shows this leads to lower academic performance for minorities, putting them at greater risk of dropping out of school. At the same time, education is under attack by people wishing to rewrite history. McGraw-Hill textbooks in Texas referred to slaves as “workers” who immigrated to the U.S. rather than were kidnapped. Ben Carson, who defers to his religious faith in the face of scientific evidence, does not seem like a strong advocate for quality education.

It’s also alarming to hear Carson refer to black Americans as unable to think for themselves because they disagree with him. “I think black Americans over the course of this next year,” Carson said, “will begin to see that they have been manipulated very, very largely.” This statement implies that blacks have been manipulated but not whites because they don’t have the same intellectual capacity to resist.

A Carson presidency would also be a direct attack on the health of African-Americans: he equated the Affordable Care Act to a form of slavery. Between 2013 and 2014, Obamacare reduced the number of uninsured blacks from 24.1 percent to 16.1 percent. It also funded community health centers, where African Americans make up nearly 25% of the patients, to the tune of $11 billion. This is a matter of life and death, not political posturing. Black Americans have a life expectancy about five years shorter than white Americans. If you’re black, you have a higher chance of dying than whites in eight of the top 10 causes of death. Black deaths from cancer are much higher than white deaths. Blacks are twice as likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than whites. Yet Carson’s own health-care plan, which he proposed last week, is vague and lacks substance. According to the Washington Post, “it would neither expand access to health care nor improve quality, nor save a whole lot of money.” But it would get rid of the Affordable Care Act.

Actually, poverty is the form of slavery that is most insidious in America, and it is perpetuated by institutional racism, which Ben Carson seems to deny exists. African Americans are particularly hit hard by poverty: 38.3% of black children lived in poverty in 2013. Yet, Carson insists that the black community must resist government handouts that have made us a welfare state. He praises blacks in history who have pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps to make something of themselves despite harsh circumstances. He further states: “We must not allow their sacrifice to become meaningless by allowing ‘do-gooders’ to replace the chains of overt racism with the new chains of dependency, low expectations, victimhood and misdirected anger.” What makes this rallying cry so disingenuous is the fact that his mother received government assistance while he was growing up, which he acknowledges was crucial. The government gave him free eyeglasses as a child, which improved his grades. In his book, Gifted Hands, he says, “By the time I reached ninth grade, mother had made such strides that she received nothing but food stamps. She couldn’t have provided for us and kept up the house without that subsidy.”

In 2014, a United Nations Human Rights Council questioned U.S. delegates about what they claimed were continuing racial discrimination against African-Americans and other minorities in jobs, housing, education, health care, and the criminal justice system. U.N. experts concluded that segregation in the U.S. “was nowadays much worse than it was in the 1970s” and that “some 39 million African Americans are particularly affected by structural racial discrimination in the United States.” If Carson refuses to acknowledge institutional racism, then it is unlikely he will do much to alleviate the problem.

Founding Father Thomas Paine, in support of the American Revolution, said, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” The trying times haven’t changed because America by its nature is always in the midst of social revolution. We are always striving to do better for our people by fulfilling the promise of a democratic Eden here and now. How we participate in that revolution determines who we really are. These are the times when all Americans need a champion willing to fight hard to fix the problems that affect people from all walks of life, not deny or ignore them. Ben Carson is not that champion.

---

• TIME columnist Abdul-Jabbar is a six-time NBA champion and league Most Valuable Player.
  He is also a celebrated author, filmmaker and education ambassador. Minority of One, a documentary on Abdul-Jabbar’s life and career, premieres Nov. 3 on HBO Sports.

[/font]

[rubato]

Kareem is a thoughtful and careful writer. And a man of great integrity. My appreciation for him has grown considerably since he has been writing articles.

" ...

Although Carson is a celebrated physician, he has expressed several opinions that are contrary to scientific evidence and therefore call into question his logic—a quality crucial in a president. His claim that sexual orientation is a choice is remarkably unscientific. He has argued that “a lot of people” in prison change their sexual orientation. As many people have pointed out, sexual behavior is not the same as orientation. Plus, studies indicate the most significant causes of sexual orientation are genetics and in utero hormonal exposure. According to the American Psychological Association, “most people experience little or no sense of choice about their sexual orientation.” For a physician to ignore the preponderance of scientific proof in favor of his own religious beliefs is dangerous because is it justifies enacting laws that restrict human and civil rights. Carson has since apologized, but we should never forget that pseudo-science was used to prove blacks were physically and mentally inferior to whites and to justify slavery.

But Carson’s opposition to science doesn’t stop there. Global climate change is a major issue affecting the future of human life. International conferences take place in order to determine how quickly this process is proceeding, and studies show that 97% of actively publishing climate scientists conclude human activity has caused climate warming. Yet Carson says he has not seen “overwhelming science” that proves climate change is manmade. This head-in-the-sand approach could prove disastrous to the country’s survival, never mind the Earth’s. This comes on the heel of his refutation of the Big Bang theory based on the second law of thermodynamics; physicists responded by explaining that Carson misunderstood and misstated the actual law. His judgment as a man of science was also compromised last February when he blamed an outbreak of measles on illegal immigrants from South and Central America; the Centers for Disease Control concluded that the strains were genetically similar to those found in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Further, there was no way of knowing whether it came from an immigrant, legal or not, or from Americans traveling abroad or even just from here.

Again, when an elected leader ignores testimony from 97% of the world’s experts, renowned physicists and the CDC, we have to question his decision-making abilities. Carson perpetuates the black stereotype of someone who’s too confused or frightened by all that complicated science so he or she ignores it, clinging to superstitions or religion. Obviously, white politicians have been making the same buffoonish claims, but they aren’t representative of a minority struggling to achieve equality.
... "

yrs,
rubato

[Econoline]

AAAAAND....back to the sophomoric humor:

[liberty]

I'm not going to bother clarifying your crudely mistaken ideas of the nature of sin and God's relation to sinners.

This here's a true story. Cutting to the chase, I reached a point in my smoking (cigarettes) life when I'd failed so miserably at quitting, so many times, that I sat smoking on my front stoop in a snowstorm and said out loud, "God, if I'm to quit smoking, you have to do it". And I finished smoking the one I had going, put the eight or so I had left in my pocket and went indoors. 7:30 a.m. December 11, 2001 - the anniversary of my father's death from a heart attack.

Never had another smoke since. Never had one moment of withdrawal, etc. I don't call it "magic" - but if it makes you happy to do so, go ahead.

I am not going to question Carson's testimony about his experience of being freed from addiction to anger. (Just his use of the word "magically", if he used it. He should know better. You don't but you have an excuse)

The same thing happen to my wife: One day she was a pack a day smoker the next day she was an ex-smoker. To some it may have seemed like magic, but it was God. To those that don’t want to believe that, it is not my problem. I cast not pearls before swine.

Also, Dr. Carson has made the same mistake that many highly intelligent Christians make in trying to justify the Bible. Don’t try to prove the it; the Bible doesn’t need it. The Bible is not a science book or a history book; it is the word of God. It is not about physical facts of this world, it is about faith, you either believe it or you don’t.

[MajGenl.Meade]

er.... it is history

[oldr_n_wsr]

Carson's story about being 'magically healed' of his anger after praying about it is inherently believable to his co-religionists but inherently foolish to people who don't believe in magic.


The flaw is that he is claiming to go from point A, a boy or young man with violent rages to point C, a calm peaceful person with no anger in his heart without going through all of the points in between.

In the real world people who start out with an anger problem, realize it is a problem, and eventually are successful at overcoming it go through a long series of steps, of insights gained and wisdom internalised where they are less and less uncontrolled and gradually, more and more like the person they want to be. They learn to control the violent behavior and their emotional states as they learn, practice what they have learned and discover flaws uncoreected.

And if god really COULD cure anger that way he would have cured Moses before he killed that Egyptian soldier and before Moses go mad and struck the rock with his staff. Wouldn't he?


yrs,
rubato

Millions of recovered alcoholics and addicts would disagree with you.
Really can't argue with success.
But go ahead, we know what works.
And pass that along to other sufferers.

[dales]

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

New Living Translation
The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.

English Standard Version
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Berean Study Bible
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Berean Literal Bible
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those indeed perishing, but to us being saved it is the power of God.

New American Standard Bible
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

King James Bible
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God's power to us who are being saved.

International Standard Version
For the message about the cross is nonsense to those who are being destroyed, but it is God's power to us who are being saved.

NET Bible
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
The message of the crucifixion is insanity to the lost, but to those of us who have life it is the power of God.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The message about the cross is nonsense to those who are being destroyed, but it is God's power to us who are being saved.

New American Standard 1977
For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Jubilee Bible 2000
For the word of the cross {Gr. stauros – stake} is foolishness to those that perish, but unto us who are saved, it is the power of God.

King James 2000 Bible
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God.

American King James Version
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but to us which are saved it is the power of God.

American Standard Version
For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For the word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God.

Darby Bible Translation
For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us that are saved it is God's power.

English Revised Version
For the word of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness; but unto us which are being saved it is the power of God.

Webster's Bible Translation
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but to us who are saved, it is the power of God.

Weymouth New Testament
For the Message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are on the way to perdition, but it is the power of God to those whom He is saving.

World English Bible
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.

Young's Literal Translation
for the word of the cross to those indeed perishing is foolishness, and to us -- those being saved -- it is the power of God

[Econoline]

er.... it is history

Well, some of it is. (Isaac Asimov wrote an excellent two-volume guide to the Bible--one for the OT, one for the NT, natch--in which he explored all the actual history and geography contained in and left out of the Bible. If you haven't read it, I recommend it.)

Of course, some of it is nothing more--and nothing less--than great literature (and, to be honest, some not-so-great literature): fiction, non-fiction, poetry, mythology, etc.

But none of it is science.

[MajGenl.Meade]

We can agree on that, sort of. Of course, it's not a neurosurgery text either. What is "science"? Actually it's a method by which reality (observation) spurs theoretical conjecture - which in turn is compared and contrasted to the continued observation and further discoveries about reality - which in turn will lead to new theory that is found over time to either conform to reality or require discarding or further adaptation. Roughly speaking. Science is in fact a method - not an actual existent, wouldn't you say?

[Econoline]

Yes, I agree. So, to the extent that the Bible neither encourages the use of this method, nor relates instances of people deliberately and successfully using this method, I would say that it is "not science." (Of course, it's possible to interpret the story of Adam and Eve and the Tree of Knowledge as the first use of the scientific method...but I suspect that that's not your interpretation of that story, nor the interpretation of very many other Christians.)

[BoSoxGal]

Millions of recovered alcoholics and addicts would disagree with you.
Really can't argue with success.
But go ahead, we know what works.
And pass that along to other sufferers.

In all fairness, oldr, as you know there's no such thing as a 'recovered' alcoholic/addict, only a recovering alcoholic/addict. It's one day at a time working the program and recommitting to sobriety. Many, many AA members don't believe in or pray to a traditional God, but rely on their own understanding of higher power to succeed in the program - if I recall correctly, didn't you also grapple with that issue early on?

Ben Carson's depiction of how praying to God 'fixed' his anger problem does seem to fall closer in line with dubious miraculous intervention than the hard work of AA adherence, maintaining sobriety, and truly dealing with the root issues that cause the behavior - the results can be miraculous in the lives of the alcoholic/addict and his/her loved ones, but it takes a whole lot more than prayer.

My dad went to AA once or twice, got a Big Book but never fully read it, and proclaimed himself a recovered alcoholic because he quit drinking 'cold turkey' at 45/46 and never drank again (that we know of). He completed none of the steps and was the most miserable abusive dry drunk bastard you can imagine - but he'd still tell anyone willing to listen that he prayed to God and was made sober.

He wasn't even truly religious, just a narcissistic bullshit artist with a miserably unhappy wife & kids.

For the record, most of what I know about AA comes from attendance at Alateen and Al-Anon meetings, years after my dad was 'sober' - and of course years now working with addicted and alcoholic clients & defendants. I believe the miracle of AA is what happens in the rooms, and it's all about love. So I guess that's God to some folks, but to some folks it's just people who give a damn about other people - as you've exhibited so often in your journey thread.

[BoSoxGal]

Pictures from inside Carson's home:




That one's for you, Meade!



This one, too?

[Econoline]

Okay, I was trying to resist the temptation....but now I've got to post this one:

[BoSoxGal]

[BoSoxGal]

A fake psychology exam at Yale University in 1970 is the subject of the latest bizarre blowup between Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson and the media.

The candidate on Sunday posted on his Facebook page an article from the Yale Daily News that he says proves the veracity of a tale from his 1990 autobiography, 'Gifted Hands,' in which he says he fell for a practical joke while a student at the school.

The article, headlined 'Strictly Off The Record,' tells a satirical story of the exam hoax.

However, the article itself doesn't mention Carson, and merely proves that a Yale professor apparently colluded with a satirical paper at Yale to pull off the exam hoax.

Carson has come under fire for a series of questionable accounts of his past, but he has denied intentional misleading and instead blamed the media for unfair scrutiny.

Carson posted it on Sunday with a note that read, 'On Saturday a reporter with the Wall Street Journal published a story that my account of being the victim of a hoax at Yale where students were led to believe the exams they had just taken were destroyed and we needed to retake the exam was false.'

'The reporter claimed that no evidence existed to back up my story. Even went so far as to say the class didn't exist.'

'Well here is the student newspaper account of the incident that occurred on January 14, 1970,' Carson sniped.

'Will an apology be coming. I doubt it.'

The Journal's story Saturday had indeed questioned Carson's claim.

Carson wrote in his 1990 book that he and other students were told an exam they had already taken had been accidentally destroyed, and were asked to take another one.

While most students walked out, Carson said he stayed behind and re-took the test – a much harder one – only to have the professor and a photographer for the school paper reveal the hoax and congratulate him on his honesty with a $10 bill.

But the Journal wrote: 'No photo identifying Mr. Carson as a student ever ran, according to the Yale Daily News archives, and no stories from that era mention a class called Perceptions 301.'

'Yale Librarian Claryn Spies said Friday there was no psychology course by that name or class number during any of Mr. Carson’s years at Yale.'

On Sunday the Journal refused to back down from its story.

Colleen Schwartz, a spokeswoman for Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co., said: 'We are confident of the accuracy of the facts published in the article and have seen nothing that undermines them.'

Further muddying the waters, the article Carson posted on Sunday describes the hoax but does not mention Carson even though he wrote that he was awarded $10 from the professor.

'Gifted Hands' is one of nine books by Carson, who is leading the GOP primary race in some national polls as well as several in Iowa.

But he has come under heavy fire in recent days for the truthfulness of his personal anecdotes, after CNN and Politico last week published back-to-back stories questioning his written versions of his own personal history.

Separate stories in the 1990 book came under specific attack: Politico challenged Carson's claim that he was offered a full academic scholarship to West Point, while CNN said its reporters could not verify his claims of a violent temper and being homeless at one point during his childhood.

The more I read, the more I think he's got classic narcissistic personality disorder - which doesn't preclude significant achievement/success in academia, etc.

Check out the Daily Mail article with all the photos from inside his mansion - he has extensive shrines to himself, it's weird. (IMHO, anyway.)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... Jesus.html

eta: That pizza dude from the last republican presidential candidate clown car is beginning to seem totally qualified compared to this dude.