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Blogs
Save Funding for Mental Health and Low Income Services (GAMC)
Sat, 02/20/2010 - 10:12 >> CausalCrunchDear Friends,
As many of you know, the Minnesota governor recently vetoed funding for mental health services as well as services for lower income Minnesotans (GAMC). I am writing this to ask if you'd spend a few minutes contacting some MN State House Representatives in an attempt to override the governor's veto. Otherwise, people who are barely making it in this world will be asked to shoulder a 29 million dollar cut in order for our state to manage its deficit. A number of members of the state congress have indicated that they will attempt to override the governor's veto. The senate seems to have enough votes to do this, but the house appears to be a few votes short. It is predicted that the house will vote on the veto override on Monday, so time is of the essence. The reason the house appears to be a few votes short is that 38 of the representatives who previously voted in favor of the resolution are now expected to vote against it due to pressure from their political party. So it is on these members of the house where pressure is urgently needed. Below I have listed these representaive's e-mail addresses. I have also attached to this blog an excel spreadsheet which includes their phone numbers. I strongly urge you to e-mail these representatives. Calling them would mean even more. Also, send this information to all your like-minded friends. ... Read more
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Minnesota Mental Health Funding Resolution
Sat, 02/13/2010 - 01:17 >> CausalCrunch
Print out a copy of this text, get folks to sign on, and send it to the Governor, and the MN legislature.
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We the undersigned, urge the Minnesota Legislature and Governor to find a balanced approach to funding GAMC – don’t make us choose between health care, medications and important community services.
We have learned that $29 million in cuts to mental health services have already been proposed. We are concerned that this will result in a reduction of important community services to people who live with a serious mental illness. These services include supportive and affordable housing, mental health crisis teams, community support services, and case management. Essential services such as transportation to and from appointments for people without the means to travel would also be lost. We are also concerned with the cuts to Mental Health Service grants. Cuts to these grants will jeopardize essential services such as housing supports and rent subsidies.
On Wednesday, the Governor suggested a new lottery game to raise $12 million for a new Vikings stadium. That's the same amount that would have to be cut from adult mental health services. ... Read more
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Criminalization of Dissent: Unlawful Arrests at the RNC One Year Later
Sat, 09/05/2009 - 21:38 >> ineptsegueA show and tell of ineptsegue's (my) arrest while protesting peacefully at the RNC, one year after being detained all night without justification.
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Runnin' Down a Dream
Sun, 04/26/2009 - 10:13 >> atomic punkYesterday I ran my first race of the year--the "Get in Gear" 10K in Minneapolis. I've been quite sick with a cold during the past two weeks, so I had to spend the first of those weeks with no running, and during the second of those weeks, I was running but wheezing a lot and having to do shorter and slower runs than I really needed to be doing for my training. I am still a little sick and have fluid in my lungs that makes me wheeze a little even when I'm not running.
Despite all of this, I decided to go ahead with my 10K run as planned, since they do not give refunds on registration fees and since my sister (#3) was also registered for the race and had plans to drive up from Dubuque, IA to run it with me. The weather forecast for yesterday had said that it would be in the 50s and raining, which was particularly a concern for me since I was running sick, but it turned out that they only got it half right. It was in the 50s but with no rain and, in fact, a little bit of sun. It was a gorgeous run along the Mississippi River, starting near Minnehaha Falls, and over 7000 people came out for the run. That meant that the first challenge was parking, but they had free parking for runners at the nearby VA hospital, and they had shuttle buses taking us to the starting line, which made things a lot easier for us than they could have been. ... Read more
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Bad Car-ma
Wed, 04/15/2009 - 10:25 >> atomic punkI took my car in today to get a new tire and an oil change. They said it might take them awhile to find a matching tire, so they gave me a loaner car to drive today. ... Read more
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The intricacies of novocaine
Thu, 04/09/2009 - 13:45 >> atomic punkI survived having my first ever cavity filled! And I also learned a lot about novocaine--the hard way.
As others told me, the dentist gave me lidocaine first to make the shot less painful, and I also took the suggestion of looking away as the needle came at me. I felt some pinching, but as the dentist said when he saw the look on my face as he pulled out the needle, "It's not nearly as bad as it looks." He gave me about 15 minutes for the novocaine to take effect, and then the hygienist came in and asked, "How's that novocaine feeling for you?" I wasn't exactly sure what I was supposed to feel when it was ready, so I told her that my cheek felt swollen. Then she started asking about my tongue and my lip, which I thought was because they wanted to make sure they hadn't overdone it or gotten the wrong nerve or something. So I happily informed her that neither my tongue nor my lip were feeling the novocaine at all. I was quite dismayed when her response was, "OK. I'll have the dentist give you another shot of novocaine, then." ... Read more
Bad Car-ma, Part... I lost count
Wed, 04/08/2009 - 19:43 >> atomic punkI've been sick all week. I called in sick to work on Monday, and even though I have continued to feel like crap, I decided to go to work yesterday and today because I had stuff I had to get done. But about half-way through my shift this evening, I found myself staring at a shelf looking for a binder I see every day, and I was completely unable to focus enough to even remember what the binder looks like. At that point I decided that it was time to call it quits for the week. I called a relief worker to come in for me, finished up a few things, and put my jacket on to step out the door. That's when one of my residents came to the door of my office and asked the question that now sends chills of terror down my spine: "Is that your Mazda Protege out there?" ... Read more
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What is Beingism.org?
We are an online community of passionate, thoughtful people who believe that the consistent application of reason leads to a secular, progressive, naturalistic, and compassionate philosophy of life. We hold that all beings share an interest in their own happiness, and that compassion for others is often instrumental in attaining happiness. We also hold that incorporating compassion into our social, cultural, governmental, and political systems is the key to creating a society that is maximally free and fair to all beings. Though we reject the idea that there is any utopian cure for our world's ills, we believe that better solutions to complex problems can be found by using science and research in an effort to understand causes and consequences. [more]
We also recognize that for most people, including ourselves, conflicts between compassion and self-interest exist, and that living ethically can be difficult. As a partial remedy, we join together as members of a supportive community to pursue not only the happiness of others, but also our own.
While Beingism's most fundamental premises as described above are unlikely to change, our philosophy is organic, evolving as its adherents and debaters discuss it. We welcome new ideas, just as we welcome new members to our community. Join us for discussion and debate, activism and aid.
Are You a Beingist?
Beingism is a philosophy of life based on rationality and compassion for oneself and others. It is nondogmatic, progressive, and atheistic.
You might be a Beingist if you believe:
- Reason and science are our best means of understanding the universe.
- Everything that exists is natural -- nothing is supernatural.
- Ethical values are subjective, but nevertheless very important to people.
- There's no such thing as free will, and causality appears to play a significant role in the way our world operates.
Other premises include:
- Everyone wants to be happy and have a fulfilling life.
- A belief in free will as it is commonly understood is a major barrier to compassion and
- Although suffering is sometimes unavoidable, no one deserves to feel pain.
- People are generally more likely to be happy in a culture where power and control are shared together rather than held by elites.
- We all benefit to some extent from the success of others, and with effort and patience, society can be structured such that this is even more the case.
If you agree with these ideas and you wish to call yourself a Beingist, then you are one. Please join us! If, on the other hand, you're not sure about some of it -- or if you just flat out disagree -- let's communicate.
Beingism's Purpose
Our mission is to establish a coherent vision of ethical behavior and social activism for people disinclined to accept religious and faith-based philosophies of life, and to further it by creating community and developing new and enjoyable ways of changing the world for the better.
It may be that nonreligious individuals are less likely to form communities than their religious counterparts. Certainly, the lack of a preexisting community (such as an established church) is a relative hindrance to community-building. No doubt also willingness to question pervasive societal norms, particularly when they are part of belief systems from which most people derive emotional, social, and/or financial support, probably tends to accompany an individualistic (rather than community-oriented) approach to life. In addition, social stigma reduces the community resources available to nonreligious people, both financially (e.g. nonreligious institutions are not given the same financial benefits as faith-based organizations) and socially (e.g., fear of discrimination leads to increased difficulty in reaching out to find others with similar values). Unfortunately, these factors have fractured communities of nonreligious people, making it extremely difficult for them to agree upon or articulate a positive vision for the future, or to create social change. This lack of community also leads religious communities to conclude that nonreligious people are without ethics.
When we say that we're "nonreligious," "agnostic," "atheist," or "unbelieving," we're really only saying what we aren't. These words certainly reflect an aspect of our identity, but we can be (and we are) much more than this: We are a community of people with many shared ideas and values, including reason, happiness, and compassion.
Creating the social change these values ask of us isn't always easy. Powerful forces oppose it, and devoting effort to creating change may mean hard work helping others or engaging in activism. It may mean giving up the time to do other fun activities. Sometimes it means being stigmatized by ideological enemies as unpatriotic, weak, contrary, or worse. And even if we don't fear wasting our efforts or being criticized, we may simply not know how to go about it by ourselves.
By working together, we can avoid many of these problems. By doing so, we not only get closer to creating the kind of society we want to live in, we also find ways to enjoy the process. By unleashing our creativity and passion in the common pursuit of a well-chosen goal, and by finding whatever connections between us as we may, we make it exciting and enjoyable. The point is that we can be ourselves -- and change the world.