MOTHER'S DAY, MONTANA STYLE: SNAPPY'S OFFERING CONCEALED WEAPONS PERMIT AND FLY FISHING CLASSES, SERVED WITH DINNER! GOTTA LOVE THIS MONTANA RIDE, DIG THE CHICKS . . . DUDES OKAY TOO! LOL! YESTERDAY, WAS THE NATIONAL DAY OF REASON . . . WHY? BECAUSE REASON WORKS! LOCAL CHAPTER OF THE RATIONALISTS, FLATHEAD SECULARISTS, CELEBRATED THE DAY OF REASON . . . WHILE A SPIRITUAL PERSON, I AM A HUMAN SECULARIST, AND SO WERE THE FOUNDING FATHERS! THE UNITED STATES IS A SECULAR COUNTRY . . . IT WORKS! NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER, 1952, MCCARTHY ERA, ANSWERED BY THE NATIONAL DAY OF REASON, 2003 . . . UNCONSTITUTIONAL TO HAVE A NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER! RATIONALLY, I BEG TO DIFFER, PRAYER IS NOT THE ESTABLISHEMENT OF RELIGION . . . TO ME, IT IS AN ACT OF COMMUNICATION WITH GOD! RELIGIONS DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT!

Montana Mothers Are Heat Packing, Fly Fishing Gals!

I dig the fact that the women, me, not one of them, are just as likely to have a gun, as their husbands.  With an average of 27 guns per household in Montana, mom, is just as adept at shooting, hunting, and generally fishing as her man.  The first year, I was in Montana, a grandmother, a couple of her daughters, and several kids, cousins, nieces and nephews, all garbed out in Cabala's hunting gear, told me one of the youngsters had just shot their first deer, and everyone but the niece, had their deer for the season, and they would continue to take her out, until she got her deer!  We were all sitting at Subway Sandwich Shop, in Walmart, and I kept looking around for their husbands . . . oh, we are not with our husbands, we just take the kids out on our own, the husbands had to work and they, the females could take the kids out, and catch some fall afternoon sunshine, before the sun went down.  Right on!  They offered their services, and said they would be glad to teach me to hunt, if I would like.  They seemed like a lively, fun group of gals, with a few teens in tow.  This is Montana!

I loved it this morning, when riding on the bus, to hear the advertisement for the concealed weapons permit and fly fishing classes, that came in a package along with dinner and door prizes, and night out for mom and her friends . . . holy shit, I love this place!  I was not raised this way, but I dig the hell out of it, and love the fact that the females are so independent.  The bus driver, Sam, informed me, proudly, that his wife, is a far better shot than he is, some tiny, little wife, who goes target shooting with him and enters in competitions. Other guys I have met, have wives that are champion sharp shooters, and they are as proud as they can be. I love the culture, and the freedom, that these frontier women have . . . I say that, with all sincerity, because, so much of Montana is wild, open, rural, and deserted, being the 4th largest state, with only barely 1 million people, it is not very populated!  So, much like in the early days, of homesteading and pioneering, these women have to be able to protect themselves, and their children, from intruders, both of a human kind and of an animal nature, with bear, mountain lions, moose, and whatever, that might come through their front door.

In fact, in the mornings, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I take a water aerobics class, at the Kalispell Athletic Club . . . room to grow here too!, and one of the exercises, is called, circle the wagons, in which we have our arms up in the air, like we have a lasso, in our hands, and we are trying to rope a cow or something.  When the teacher heard I was from Utah, I think she got a bit self-conscious, and said, that I guess that is a funny name, but I couldn't think of another one, to describe what we do, and it used to be called, ride a cowboy! until her mother came to visit the class, and told her to change the name . . . but, that would fit the Montana cowgirls, save a horse, ride a cowboy!  LOL!  I did get a kick out of the exercise, and thought the name, was one that you would only find in Montana!  Gotta love this Montana ride!

Happy Mother's Day to All Mothers!

Day of Reason . . . Reason to Celebrate!

This will appear to be an oxymoron, but, the glory of God, is intelligence, even though, many of the members of this group, do not believe in God, or reserve the right not to believe in Him/Her, and are big time into the secular approach to life, society, and national rule of law, and they are right, we are a secularist country, and the founding fathers set their individual religions at the door, to do what was best for all of society, America, if you will, regardless of religion, and whether or not you practiced any religion at all! Under the first amendment, you are free to practice religion and free from the practice of religion if you don't want to practice or believe, that is all up to you.  Some of the things the local Rationalists or Flathead Secularists have done, it to fight to get the statue of Jesus taken off the grounds up at the ski resort in Whitefish, that case is up on appeal, because the district court, if I remember, said that it was put there by the Knights of Columbus, and at the time it was private property, and it had been grandfathered in, and therefore, it was not subject to first amendment challenges.

They, Flathead Secularist or Rationalists, recently were involved up at the Montana legislature, stopping the bill that proposed that creationism be taught as part of the public school curriculum, and they also, got an injunction against the local high schools, a few Christmases ago, from being required to perform during the Holidays at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or the Mormons, Christmas celebrations and nativity displays, making it mandatory for the students to attend the concerts, making their grades, dependent on the participation in the Christmas pageant . . . they, the schools were also using school property, buses, and teacher time, to get the students to perform in the religious concerts.  It would have been okay, had the Mormon church, invited students, to join in a concert, on their own, so that members could, and non-members didn't have to perform, having no consequences on their grades!  By forcing the students to perform, and only for one religious denomination in the Valley, it smells of establishment of religion!  Can't do that, so good work, Secularists!

Celebration Was Held at the School History Museum, Kalispell, MT.

Quest Speaker, Renowned Scientist . . . Science: (1) Meaning; (2) Purpose; and (3) Value

Within the context of reason, we all think that we have the ability to reason, which is a problem solving activity, to avoid risk, injury, protect others, and to do the right thing.  There are two types of reasoning: (1) justificatory reasoning . . . justifying our beliefs or the reasons we feel and think the way we do, and; (2) explanatory reasoning . . . used to explain what we observe, like B is the causal link to A.  Science is explanatory reasoning, and applies things we observe trying to explain what we observe through a theory, supported by facts that have been observed, like the melting of glaciers up at Glacier National Park, taking the observation that of the 125 previous glaciers, there are only 27 glaciers left . . . scientists seek to explain that observation, with theories, that make sense and can be verified by any scientist who cares to join in their experiments or agrees with their theory, like that of global warming.

Science is the most advanced method of acquiring knowledge, and it can be done through both inductive and deductive reasoning, based on assumptions with real underlying objectives: (1) existence based understanding; (2) through writing; (3) community science; and (4) research . . . primarily addressing reason and observation, as a way of understanding facts, evidence consistent with theory or claims that are made, but science doesn't prove anything.  These elements of scientific experimentation need to be present: (1) observation and measurement; (2) a theory; (3) developing a model of the theory; (4) experimentation on the theory; and last but not least, (5) repeatability . . . others who can take the same theory and model and get the same results.  All empirical knowledge is tentative. 

Scientific Methodology

It is unprejudiced, conclusions must be held, irrespective of state of mind, religious persuasion, state of consciousness, or ideology.  Science can't answer, values, emotions, morality, and the supernatural.  The importance to society, comes by way of reliance on science as the major driver of technology, and the public should invest in science and the sciences.  Japan is one of the best countries, in investing in the sciences, or they watch what America's scientist are doing, and watch as many of them are either not funded, or underfunded, and they take the results back to their country and create technology based on the scientific experimentation and theories, like dealing with batteries, and they go back home and develop the new batteries using new scientific methods!

Note:  This coming Friday, Flathead County Republican Pachyderm meeting, has invited to speak, local mother, Mary Todd, mother of a young man, working with a large technology company in China, was found dead, after telling his mother that he was experiencing trouble on the job, and that he was not suicidal, and if he ended up dead, it was because he would not give technology secrets to the Chinese!  Mary Todd will be speaking; she has written a book about her son's strange death, and it should go right along the lines of this presentation to the Rationalist . . . it is free, public is invited, Red Lion, noon, can order lunch, see you there . . . lunch is $12.

Scientific Skepticism

Be skeptical on all theories until you see the evidence . . . rational, structural evidence, playing by the Rules of Science, is where to get your information, not through some dishonest tactics.  Indiscriminate skepticism or denial, is not science at all, only a fad science would dismiss, based on the evidence or lack thereof, replacing science, theory, facts, evidence, with their own personal beliefs. We need to remember, in science, as it is in the law, the facts are the facts, evidence is evidence, and the rules of science are the rules of science, as well as the law is the law, is the law!  I was thinking as the speaker talked, who analogous, science is with the law.  Generally, attorneys, on either side of the case, will create or come up with a theory of the case, based on the facts, the evidence, and the witnesses.  Then the theory is presented to the jury, who then, based on all the evidence and facts, within the theory, either of one side or the other, or the prosecution or the defense, decides which factual presentation or theory, best fits the evidence and witnesses.  Anyway, just a thought to help you understand, both science and the law . . . all based on facts, evidence and witness accounts.

Be Smart, Be Rational, Be Skeptical, Rely on Facts, Evidence, and Witnesses, or Expert Opinion!  At Least Have a Rational Basis for Your Positions, Thoughts and Even Politics!

P.S., for any lost rationalists or secularists, who are lost out there in the Flathead, you can find more information about the group, at FlatheadSecular.com, with meetings once a month, and informal get togethers at the Kalispell Pub, I think, and Sunday breakfasts.  Check out the site, I am not the one to ask, but you might meet me there!  I am a human secularist!

P.S. II, the evidence is in . . . from 30,000,000 hits per minute or 54 seconds, down to roughly 250,000 . . . seriously, stolen my blog, science can prove, numbers can prove, and where is the Mormon NSA?  The CIA and FBI, over financial crimes, Internet crimes?  What the fuck?  Add two and two together . . . the 30,000 cyber spies in Utah, are not only allowing access and hacking, but theft and ill gotten gains!  If you are not part of the solution, you ARE THE PROBLEM!