Eupraxsophy

Why We Need to Expand Social Security, Not Cut It | The Nation

Obama’s budget proposal is both bad politics and bad economics—our real crisis is that most Americans lack the means for a secure retirement.

The New America Foundation calls for adding a supplement to Social Security that would guarantee all retirees about 60 percent of their average wage in retirement (similar to that of most other developed nations).They would pay for the expanded benefit not by increasing the payroll tax rate, but by raising the payroll tax cap and eliminating top-end tax breaks, particularly those now offered to private retirement plans that disproportionately benefit the wealthy. The authors argue that under their plan, we would end up spending about the same percentage of GDP on the nation’s retirement system, but with a much fairer distribution of support.

4 weeks ago -

6

Cell Therapy Shows Promise for Acute Type of Leukemia

Patients like the ones in the study, who relapse after chemotherapy, usually have only a few months left, Dr. Sadelain said. But now, three of the five have been in remission for 5 to 24 months. Two others died: one was in remission but died from a blood clot, and the other relapsed. The survivors have gone on to have bone-marrow transplants. Their prognosis is good, but relapse is still possible, and only time will tell.

1 month ago -

3

The foundation of a humanist ethic is that it has to start from our best understanding of human nature and the human condition. The “human condition” is somewhat easier to describe than “human nature”, that complex thing which literature, psychology, philosophy and individual experience all struggle to understand. Whereas a study of history and a thoughtful reading of literature together offer abundant insights into the human condition, the sheer diversity in human nature makes the task of understanding it a work that could demand whole lifetimes as we seek to make sense of ourselves and others, especially the others we care about.

But the effort to understand human nature is itself constitutive of what makes a good and worthwhile life. It is easy to prove this: consider the opposite, namely, a life lived in carelessness and indifference towards the question of who we are and how we can best relate to others. What a waste that would be. In attempting to understand humanity we can expect to find that what motivates people is, too often, not very admirable and sometimes downright appalling. But this is not the majority story. In every village, town and city in the world, every minute of each day, there are millions of acts of ordinary co-operation, courtesy and kindness, and they constitute the majority of human interactions.

A.C. Grayling

1 month ago -

6

Few people outside of Australia know about James Harrison, but he is likely responsible for saving over a million lives. Born in 1936, he underwent major chest surgery at the age of 13 that required a critical blood transfusion. Realizing the importance of blood donations, he made a pledge to donate regularly once he turned 18 (which was the required age at the time).

He started donating in 1954, and after the first few donations, it was discovered that his blood contained a very rare antibody, which prevents infants who receive his blood plasma from dying of Rhesus disease, a form of the hemolytic disease of the newborn. The research based on his donations created a vital vaccine, and his blood plasma has since been given as treatment to 10% of pregnant women whose blood is not compatible with that of their children.

Since blood plasma can be donated as often as every 2-3 days, he was able to reach his 1000th donation in May 2011 — meaning an average of one donation every three weeks during 57 years. His donations have helped to save over 2.4 million babies — including his own daughter Tracey

2 months ago -

709

motherjones:

A new report says that our excessive food waste is “a tragedy that cannot continue.” How much have you thrown away today?

(via colderthanpenguinpussy)

3 months ago -

229

The Blessings of Atheism: The Absence of an Afterlife Lends a Greater, Not a Lesser, Moral Importance to Our Actions on Earth.

Believing this to be my only life is what makes me try to live it to the fullest. Believing that my fellow humans only have one shot at living happy and fulfilled lives is what motivates my efforts to improve the human condition (of course this is not to say that religious people aren’t capable of doing good things either - I just tire of the assumption that secular people must be nihilistic or even immoral).

4 months ago -

6

Atheists do not want to deny religious believers the comfort of their faith. We do want our fellow citizens to respect our deeply held conviction that the absence of an afterlife lends a greater, not a lesser, moral importance to our actions on earth.

Susan Jacoby, The Blessings of Atheism

4 months ago -

13

The Secular Humanist Response to the Newtown Shootings

4 months ago -

2

The Top 10 Science and Reason Books of 2012

4 months ago -

2

5 months ago -

10

Iranian film director Jafar Panahi, left, and Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, were just awarded the Sakharov Prize for their defense of human rights against an oppressive regime. They’ve each been jailed in the notorious Evin Prison and banned from practicing their respective careers.

“The award…is a message of solidarity and recognition to a woman and a man who have not been bowed by fear and intimidation and who have decided to put the fate of their country before their own.”

A Slideshow of Modern Slavery

If only slavery were still a thing of the past. It may gone formally and explicitly, but in practice it remains as prevalent as ever: as near as we can tell, close to 30 million people are enslaved worldwide, not including those who are virtually enslaved through forcible, low-paid work.

7 months ago -

2

I Believe: An Atheist's "World View"

I believe in absolute and unconditional equality amongst all people. We must not make exceptions for women, gays, Asians, left-handers, no-one. Organizations that seek to curtail the rights of any demographic should be disbanded, ridiculed or lose their tax-exemption status.

I believe that the right of people to live in a manner of their choosing, self-evidently excludes any right to prevent others from living how they choose. A person’s faith cannot be used to justify hindering the lives of others. This particularly applies to children, who must be protected from harm, including (and especially) harm caused by their own parents.

I believe children’s wide-eyed wonder and inquisitiveness should never be stifled. They should be encouraged to explore, to experiment, to make mistakes, to make a mess, to get it wrong. This endless curiosity should be practiced and celebrated by all people of all ages in all countries.

I believe that we should all be educated in several broad subjects: literature, mathematics, logic, morality, science and the scientific method. Education should be ubiquitous and free for every living soul on the planet.

I believe that young children need to be protected from religious indoctrination disguised as education. Teenagers should be taught about religious history to show how modern religions developed and the effect they have had on the world.

I believe that mankind should never stop pursuing all avenues of exploration and discovery. No ideology or political movement should hinder or discourage asking questions about the world around us. And when new discoveries are made, we should accept them, even if we don’t like them. It’s not anyone’s fault but your own if scientific conclusions are at odds with your unexamined faith.

7 months ago -

3

I Believe: An Atheist's "World View"

religiousragings:

Edward Falzon: Author of biblical parodies

I believe in absolute and unconditional equality amongst all people. We must not make exceptions for women, gays, Asians, left-handers, no-one. Organizations that seek to curtail the rights of any demographic should be disbanded, ridiculed or lose their tax-exemption status.

I believe that the right of people to live in a manner of their choosing, self-evidently excludes any right to prevent others from living howtheychoose. A person’s faith cannot be used to justify hindering the lives of others. This particularly applies to children, who must be protected from harm, including (and especially) harm caused by their own parents.

I believe children’s wide-eyed wonder and inquisitiveness should never be stifled. They should be encouraged to explore, to experiment, to make mistakes, to make a mess, to get it wrong. This endless curiosity should be practiced and celebrated by all people of all ages in all countries.

I believe that we should all be educated in several broad subjects: literature, mathematics, logic, morality, science and the scientific method. Education should be ubiquitous and free for every living soul on the planet.

I believe that young children need to be protected from religious indoctrination disguised as education. Teenagers should be taught about religious history to show how modern religions developed and the effect they have had on the world.

I believe that mankind should never stop pursuing all avenues of exploration and discovery. No ideology or political movement should hinder or discourage asking questions about the world around us. And when new discoveries are made, we should accept them, even if we don’t like them. It’s not anyone’s fault but your own if scientific conclusions are at odds with your unexamined faith.

The most troubling reality about these beliefs is how many are in the Bible. None of them are.

People aren’t equal in the Bible, except in that we are all equally worthy of death at Yahweh’s hand. Women are repeatedly described as property. Foreigners are to be killed or enslaved. And gays aren’t even good enough for slavery.

Education and discovery is discouraged and punished in the Bible. A single mistake, even one made while attempting to appease Yahweh, often leads to instant death.

The biblical books are also objectively wrong on matters such as astronomy, arithmetic, geometry, biology, and, of course, evolution.

I believe that human beings have the power of thought, reason and empathy. I believe that we all have the inate ability to determine right from wrong, without seeking guidance from warmongering goat-herders or self-righteous pedophiles. We are respecting neither ourselves nor each other if we insist that we are unable to think critically nor develop our own morality without divine assistance.

I believe that no religion has ever offered anything unique to matters of morality. They recycle values that were already universally regarded as ‘good’ and then claim ‘ownership’ of these ideas. They then make the claim, and it is almost always believed, that without faith a person cannot know right from wrong.

On the contrary, the common values that exist in the world today, are testament to reasoned, discussed, secular philosophy.

I believe that religious institutions are selling a fake product to gullible people. They promote dissatisfaction with this life, so people can look forward to the next. They offer false comfort to those in need, and they claim credit for the efforts of scientists, engineers and doctors, asserting that a saved life is a ‘miracle.’

There isn’t a monotheistic religion on Earth whose sacred texts don’t mandate the eradication of all other faiths. Real, human advancement and self-determination is little more than a pipe dream as long as so many of us cling to bronze-age gods and demons.

So if you remain insistent that your faith is the one true faith, that non-Christians are non-human, that those without faith are without values, or that my use of the word “believe” somehow makes me religious, then I believe…

… that you can bite me.

This would be a good model for the Atheism Plus movement. Certainly for Humanism.

(Source: skepticalavenger)

7 months ago -

55

Law School Dean Who Defied Segregation Dies

Joshua Morse III, who as dean of the University of Mississippi School of Law in the 1960s defied segregationist tradition by admitting the school’s first black students, a move that led to the desegregation of Mississippi’s legal profession and judiciary, died last Friday at his home in Tallahassee, Fla. He was 89.

In a time of civil rights marches and often violent racial strife in the Deep South, Mr. Morse challenged prejudice and parochialism by fostering a markedly progressive period at the school. He used Ford Foundation money to recruit minority students, promoted a student legal assistance program for the poor, exposed students to liberal ideas and hired Ivy League professors from the North.

But his efforts lasted only six years. Pitted against the state’s legal establishment, he stepped down in 1969, and the school reverted to more conservative leadership.

Mr. Morse admitted Ole Miss’s first black law students in 1963, a year after James Meredith became the first black to enroll at the university, a watershed event in the civil rights struggle. By 1967 black enrollment at the law school had expanded to about 20 in a student body of 360.

Black graduates were soon admitted to the state bar, joining a legal fraternity defined by alumni of Ole Miss, which Time magazine called the “prep school for political power in Mississippi.”

Reuben Anderson, the first black graduate of the school, in 1968, went on to become the first black appointee to the State Supreme Court and the first black president of the Mississippi bar. The school’s first black woman to graduate, Constance Slaughter-Harvey, in 1970, became the first black woman to be named a judge in Mississippi.

7 months ago -

8