(Note: Due to a personal schedule commitment, this week’s blog entry is being made earlier than usual.)

By training I am a physician, although now retired. A board certified obstetrician and gynecologist, to be specific. Partly because of this but mostly because, simply, I am a human being, I cannot but express revulsion and horror over the ignorant, immoral, politically and religiously motivated kidnapping of those 300+ girls in Nigeria by the radical Islamic insurgency, Boko Haram. This group, which seeks to replace the sitting Nigerian government and institute strict sharia law, is opposed to anything it deems “western”, such as secular education, including the education of females, and any other elements it determines may be a part of “western culture”. The group is a living anachronism, a throwback to ignorant barbarism so far removed in time as to be almost incomprehensible in the 21^st century. Or is it?

In recent years, Islamic fundamentalism has been the cause of much worldly mayhem, but it would be wrong to view it in historic isolation. Religion has been associated with, and frequently has been the primary motivating factor, in much human cruelty throughout the ages and, to strike what may be a sensitive nerve for some, Christianity has certainly been responsible for its share of historical havoc. It just happens that today it’s Islamism.

Before we sit back smugly and pat ourselves on the back for having come so far and become so civilized, however, we should look around at what’s happening right here and now in the U.S. As I wrote in my last blog entry, the Supreme Court has just given the go-ahead to sectarian public prayer at governmental meetings, which will result in violation of the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution by providing de facto endorsement of Christianity, it being Christian prayer that is being pushed by religious bigots in local jurisdictions. The Tea Party and other fundamentalist Republicans largely behave as a Christian Taliban, attempting to impose their irrational, inconsistent, neo-puritanical morality upon us all through restrictive and often punitive legislation. To wit: the mandating of transvaginal ultrasound prior to elective abortion, a measure designed both to deter and humiliate in its violation of both corporeal and mental autonomy. What’s next? Stoning?

The terrorism of Boko Haram, then, should horrify but not leave us feeling particularly superior. Bad things could happen – are already beginning to happen – here at home, and all it will take for the triumph of evil is, as has been noted so many, many times in the past, for good people to do nothing. Speak up. Vote. Stand for our common humanity. Let’s be sure that the legacy we leave for our children and grandchildren is not a theocratic police state.

Today’s Annoyance: Those idiots who agitate to “keep the government out of Medicare”.

Apparently, the Supreme Court, or at least five of its members, have misplaced their copies of the U.S. Constitution. This must have been some time ago, considering some of the screwy decisions we’ve been seeing in the past few years, but the most recent outrage, the court’s decision on prayer at government meetings, is a real doozy, arguably worse than Citizens United.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…

So reads in part the first amendment. It is the embodiment of a concern held by the country’s founders born of bitter past experience with religious intolerance and persecution and, until now, it has been a bedrock assumption of the American ideal.

Despite the protestations of many conservatives and, especially, the Tea Party Taliban, the United States of America was not founded as a fundamentally Christian country. The founders were largely deists with varying degrees of religious belief, and the first amendment was created to prevent the adoption of any formal state religion or endorsement thereof. The recent decision by the Supreme Court, however, has thoroughly undermined this essential principle by explicitly enabling any governmental body to begin its meetings with a prayer that allows reference to a particular faith. In practice, this will most often lead to a specifically Christian prayer, leaving atheists, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Mormons, Voodoo practitioners, Scientologists, Rastafarians, and Pastafarian Flying Spaghetti Monster believers, among others, out in the cold.

Why, you might ask, will Christianity be favored? There are two reasons. First, Christians, in aggregate, constitute the religious majority in the country, and American Christians are the most persistent of U.S. religious groups in pushing their views upon everyone else in the public and political arenas. Second, there seems to be some sense, especially in the city governments of conservative communities across the country, that board and committee meetings should begin with a prayer, and this is generally a Christian one. As has been widely reported, other religions have had great difficulty in trying to gain equal time in the “begin-with-a-prayer” ritual.

The last thing in the world we need is an American theocracy imposing its own twisted world view upon everyone. If what’s going on in the Middle East, Africa, and elsewhere isn’t enough to frighten you over the threat of an American fundamentalist Christian hegemony, just remember the Inquisition. It could happen here, but don’t let it. Regardless of your party preference, take a stand for America’s traditional “wall of separation” between church and state. Speak up and vote accordingly, or you could find yourself the next one being stoned to death in the public square for __________ (fill in the blank).

Today’s Annoyance: The local weatherman who keeps telling us in redundant language about weather fronts that are “exiting out” of the area. How about just “exiting” or, maybe, “leaving”? Sheesh. It’s like back in the 60’s, when folks were trying to get into “where you’re at”. Come to think of it, “where you’re at” is still with us. It makes my ears hurt.

I just read that 17% of Americans believe that the sun revolves around Earth. Also that 61% don’t believe in the Big Bang, and 52% don’t believe in evolution. These are terrifying statistics. More than indicating a shocking degree of ignorance, it’s a terrible indictment of our educational system and a depressing commentary on the prominence of religious superstition in the country. And it’s going to get worse.

As I write this, there is a movement active on a number of U.S. college campuses to enact rules requiring disclaimers on certain course descriptions warning that some material in them may be offensive or disturbing to students. In other words, in the very institutions that should be challenging and stimulating students with new, controversial, and unfamiliar concepts, there are those who want to warn them that they might want to avoid classes that do just that.

Recently it was revealed that the most banned book in the U.S. in 2012 was author Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants. It even outranked Fifty Shades of Grey. Why? Because a certain faction in our country thinks kids shouldn’t learn about hygiene when the vehicle uses the word, “poop”.

Taking all these facts together, I’m forced to repeat the words of William Bendix in the old Life of Riley television show: “What a revoltin’ development this is!” Or, more specifically, to wonder just how ignorant, prudish, and stupid people can be. H.L. Mencken said it best when he commented that nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

I sometimes wonder where we’re headed. American students rank 37^{t h} in math proficiency, coming in just behind the Slovak Republic. As a nation, we are woefully ignorant of both world and our own country’s history, of world geography, science, literature, and we lack foreign language proficiency to an extent that’s shocking compared to the rest of the developed world.

Politicians, especially those of right wing persuasion, refuse to acknowledge or address all of these issues in any constructive way, their reasons being religious and economic (their own economics, actually). They’re cynical, ignorant, and willing to let the country transform itself into a third world nation with faith that “the Rapture” will ultimately resolve all problems by saving the worthy. In succinct terms, this makes me sick.

Here’s a question. If all of our technology vanished today – no more cell phones, Twitter and Facebook, cars, planes, refrigerators, i.e., everything – and we all found ourselves at square one lighting candles, would today’s younger generation have the knowledge and ability to re-create the modern world?

Think about it. Do people who are convinced that power lines cause cancer understand that their cell phones are sending out radio waves into their brains? Do people understand that if Earth were to stop spinning, people would not actually fall off into space, as someone once suggested to me? Do people really think that “intercessory” prayer can help people to survive surgery? It is almost beyond belief that such people, people who don’t have the math skills to balance a check book, would be able to re-create the technological world in which we now live and which, by the way, we take for granted.

Ah, but you say we actually do have enough older, established scientists and engineers and even some younger ones who are up to the task. Yes, it’s true, but none of the current crop of ignoramuses in government will fund them. And besides, we have ceded too much of our manufacturing capability to foreign countries. We’d have to rebuild factories and machinery that we don’t know how to build or, more likely, come up with the long green to buy it all from other countries, mainly China. Men of my age remember taking shop courses in junior high and high school, and being able to learn a trade in many occupational training schools. But we’re getting to be old farts, and schools hardly provide that kind of training these days since, as a society, we no longer value it. Instead, everyone is supposed to go to college. Not everyone should and, even among those who show promise, vast numbers of them are so ill-prepared by their prior education that they cannot write a simple, declarative English sentence without spelling and grammatical errors.

Depressing? You bet. I want to believe that all this can be fixed. That people will cast off religious superstition, overly selfish economic motivation, and apathy, that they will demand better education in basic math, language and science, and vote for increased investment in vocational training programs for those who really shouldn’t or don’t want to go to college. But in a country where half or more of the population can’t be troubled to go to the polls to vote, what hope is there for change?

It’s often been said that we get the government we deserve, but that’s the punitive view. I think we deserve better. People just need to get off their butts and demand it. If they don’t, we’ll never get the rascals out.

Today’s Annoyance: People who, like, can’t get a simple sentence out without, like, saying the word, “like”.

So, what the f#@k is it with Republicans? The “party of Lincoln”? The party that is supposed to revere the country’s Founding Fathers? How is it that this once respectable institution has fallen so far into the black hole of anger, self-interest, and vindictiveness? To wit, these widespread Republican positions, behaviors, and beliefs:

• Opposition to civil rights legislation.
• Abandonment of any respect for separation of church and state with brazen and repeated attempts to turn the country into a Christian theocracy.
• Gutting of the voting rights act and attempting to impede access to the polls by minorities whom they fear will vote for opposition candidates.
• Puritanical opposition to insurance coverage for contraception while supporting coverage for treatment of erectile dysfunction.
• Hostility toward Social Security.
• Cutting of food stamp coverage for those in need.
• Opposition to equal pay for equal work for women.
• Opposition to sensible immigration reform, including the Dream Act and paths to citizenship.
• Support for budgetary cuts in programs designed to aid the poor.
• Opposition to any increase in the minimum wage and, even, to the minimum wage itself.
• Opposition to health care reform and support for cuts in Medicare and Medicaid.
• Rejection of established scientific truth: global climate change, evolution, and almost any hard data in conflict with preconceived notions or religious superstition.
• Refusal to support environmental protection measures (since, after all, Armageddon and the Rapture will take care of things permanently!).
• Opposition to any sensible firearms regulation.
• Opposition to campaign spending limits.
• Veiled racism, including persistent “birther” nonsense and opposition to anything coming from President Obama regardless of merit.
• Using anecdotal and single example evidence to promote biased generalizations.

What is wrong with these people? And why do so many of those who stand to be hurt the most by the policies supported by their Republican representatives keep re-electing them?  I wish to hell I knew. All I do know is that many of the Republicans I speak with seem to have this inchoate sense of anger with the world and a degree of self-interest that borders on the solipsistic: “It’s all about me. Go f#@k yourself.”

Republicans seem ignorant of history, either rejecting well established evidence of the Founding Fathers’ thinking or simply twisting it in ways unrecognizable to well educated individuals. Self-interest – often naked greed – seems to be the motivating influence for many Republican office-holders, and the more moderate Republicans, if any remain, are too cowardly to stand up to the nut cases.

Pundits are saying that Republicans may well capture the Senate in the upcoming midterm elections. Once again, ignorance and stupidity may result in people voting against their best interests. One really does have to ask why any minority voter, why anyone receiving Medicare or Medicaid, why anyone dependent upon food stamps, why anyone who uses contraception…would vote Republican. It makes no sense. None at all. But, then, watch Fox’s loony bin of angry white guys and blonde bimbos spewing their ignorant, venomous propaganda. Well, as Republican Abraham Lincoln noted, you can fool some of the people all of the time… But, then, Lincoln freed the slaves. The current bunch of GOP bigots seems to want to resurrect the chains.

Oh, and by the way, there are plenty of unhelpful Democrats around, too, many of them in public office. Why the hell aren’t they more supportive of the President? More willing to stand up for what they say they believe? Why do those guys keep getting elected?

Being a hopeful cynic, I look forward to people waking up and voting the rascals out but, as I listen to NPR and read my daily newspaper, I just don’t think it’s likely to happen in my lifetime.

Today’s Annoyance: I think the foregoing is enough for this week.