Pat Schwind Presents: Strategic Edge Thursday, 07/02/2009

Frank Rickey presents "Individualism by Thoreau": To what Extent can Government Legitimately Compel Individuals to Act Against their Own Free Will?

Minutes of 06/18/2009

1. Attended 06/18/2009 : Rich Woods, Frank Rickey, Mark Sordahl, Pat Schwind, Ed Casper, Olga Strickland, Geri Seckinger, Barb Bentley, Pinky Parmar, Mike Kielsky, David Stobberingh, Steve Avilla, Ernest Robles, Tony Barnhart, Grant Molinar, Powell Gammill, Paul Putz, Ed Stroup, John Lynn, Cecil Ash, Art Felsinger, Randy Jones, Vici Duarte, Josephine Polk-Matthews, Keith Cyrnek, & our speaker, Atheist Monty Gaither.

2. Atheist Monty Gaither gave one of the most informative presentations we've ever had at the S/E: How Religion has Messed Up the World, Forever. I wish I had more space to go into all the detail Monty did. But I can't for a couple reasons: I try to keep this write up brief enough, so that my fax recipients can get all the info on 1 page. The other reason is that I just got a new computer, & the non-ergonomic keyboard sucks; my hands & forearms are aching, from just typing in the "attended" info, & this brief paragraph.

   I took 3 full pages of "notes", as Monty detailed the evil purpatrated in the name of religion, over the last few millenia. Mostly by Catholics, to spread Christianity, but virtually all "organized religions" are terrible impediments to progress, liberty, freedom, science, & knowledge in general. Religion simply holds back mankind from fullfilling its full potential, especially the potential of women, who are almost slaves in most religions, even today.

   Crusaders murdered Jews & Protestants. In my 7 years in Catholic school, Charlemange was reveared as almost "Christ-like"; they ignore the fact that he killed 4,500, (I thought it was closer to 20K) Saxon chieftans, for refusing to renounce their pagan religion. The same goes for Ferdinand & Isabela, who financed Christopher Columbus; the nuns never mention that this king & queen also were behind much of the hideous behavior of the Spanish Inquisition. In fact the phrase "inquisition" is never mentioned in Catholic history lessons. Most of my 9 siblings (who lived to adulthood) had 12 years of Catholic school. But the subject of the inquisitons, of which there were 4 seperate stages, never arises. Hmmmmmmm!! Why not. Because religion, as practiced by most "true believers", is really incompatible with serious historical inquiry, science & the truth. That's why they call it "blind faith". It's not based in reality, reason or a search for what's truly right or wrong.

   Roman emporer Constantine murdered countless Christians, until he had his "divine revelation"; then almost overnight, became one of the most brutal butchers of "non-believers", & established Christianity as the official religion of Rome. Too bad if you were a Jew, Pagan or someone who wanted to worship your old Roman gods.

   A couple years ago, Mary Mackenzie of Arizona Norml gave a presentation at the S/E, on how Christianity was simply the death knell for the progress of women's rights, particularly via the persecution of midwives. Monty explained that they were often "burned at the stake", because they had the knowledge needed to ease the pain of childbirth. But King James (of King James Bible fame), put an end to that, since "women should not escape the curse of Eve". Honest to god; how evil can old white men be!?

   The Church discouraged all kinds of scientific inquiry, especially re: real medicine, simple hygene, & astronomy. Cleanliness & pain relief of all kinds were disparaged; teachings of famous Greek scientists who knew the earth was indeed round, & not the center of the universe, were confiscated & burned.

   More recently, religion is behind the suppression of women's rights, & was used routinely to justify slavery & anti-semitism. In more modern times it's behind the bombing of women's health clinics, schools for girls, & groups of non-believers. It's literally a sickness, that should be relegated to the realm of fantasy & the notions of children & the ignorant. But we just suffered through an 8 year administration (W), in which reason, science, & common sense were riduculed as crutches of wimps, too weak to rely on their gut instincts or strong religios convictions. Professional guides & Rangers at the Grand Canyon were forbidden from providing factual answers to the question, "how old is the canyon?", because the 'Religious Right' had so much influence over the simple functions of government, that they'd be reprimanded for stating a figure "more than 5 or 6K years"! Unbelievable.

   Years ago, James Burke had a great series on one of the educational channels, called "Connections". He routinely ridiculed "religion in action" for messing up the world. Monty reminded us how religion is responsible for pharmacists refusing to dispense legally available birth control pills or other contreceptives, especially the "morning after pill".

   Folks, I've taken too much space already, but I must mention how bad Islam really is for the world. This religion was spread via violence, & for most Moslems today, it's used to suppress women, science & freedom something ferocious. Islam is prob'ly the worst thing that ever happened to women's rights in most of the world's poor regions. It's on the news everyday. If you disagree, please call so we can set up a debate; please don't show up at the S/E to "put some infidel to the sword". We can discuss this as adults.

   Of course I have to mention the Jews, who feel that they're "god's chosen people". This has worked out great for the Jews; but the poor Palestinians aren't doing so well under such belief. And the Britts tried to stop the Hindu practice of "widow burning", which still exists; religion in action.

   One final comment: We had a "good crowd", but only a few real hard core religios folks, so Monty was sort of "preaching to the choir". I especially want to thank local legislator, & my good LDS friend Cecil Ash, for having the guts to show up, & quite adequately defend he beliefs. I'm a hard core lefty atheist, but I really respect the principals & courage of Cecil.

3. Our next meeting is this Thursday, 07/02/2009

   Please arrive before 7:30 AM at “JIM’s CONEY ISLAND CAFE”, 1750 No. Scottsdale Rd., Tempe, at the southwest corner of Scottsdale & Cavalier, Click Here for a map, 1 block south of McKellips, ~ 1 mile north of the 202 Freeway.

   Our speaker will be Frank Rickey presents "Individualism by Thoreau": To what Extent can Government Legitimately Compel Individuals to Act Against their Own Free Will?

   Bring Guests!

4. Future Speakers
   • 7/2- Frank Rickey presents "Individualism by Thoreau": To what Extent can Government Legitimately Compel Individuals to Act Against their Own Free Will?

   • 7/16- Ex-Cop Seymore Smith: One Man’s Struggle vs. an Unjust System; Commentary from the Az. Justice Project.

   • 7/30- Ahmad Daniels: A Black Marine's Battle for Civil Rights in the Vietnam War.

   • 8/13- MMA Fighter & Heritage Capital Consultant Mike Van Arsdale will discuss "Energy, Diamonds & Dubai", & then give a real live MMA Demonstration in the parking lot, on thick carpet. Yeah, it'll be HOT, but we can handle it.

   • TBD- The Holocaust: History's Greatest Genocide or Outright Hoax? Pat Schwind & hopefully a real 'expert', will debate Holocaust Denier Friedrich Paul Berg. I just need more time to get "up to speed".

   • TBD- Nuclear Power: I need a 'Greenie" to debate my good friend & nuclear engineer, Joe Napier.

5. Publisher's Note: I have a few announcements:

   1. In case you missed it 2 weeks ago, after almost 13 years at America's Homefunders, I left. No hard feelings; Donna was very good to me there. I have my good friend, Rick Dunham of Impact Mortgage handling my new business for me, until I decide where I want to work. It will prob'ly be at Impact, but that's not yet "set in stone". Rick was my sales manager at Sterling Mortgage in '94, we're good friends, & he's a great guy to work with.

   I've been too busy with other matters, I haven't had a chance to change my "Bio" page on the web site; so it still says I'm at AHI, even though I left a few weeks ago.

   2. The folks who got the "minutes" via fax, have not for the last 6 or 8 weeks, because my "Winfax" program got "corrupted" so bad, that until I get it fixed, I can't use it to send faxes at all. I had a friend try to fix it, but couldn't, & in the process, the entire (~1K) data base got wiped out, so I can't even easily find the folks to call them if I wanted to!! That's life.

   3. The new computer just got set up a few days ago, & I did not realize it did not yet have "spell check", until after my computer guru took off for vacation a couple days later. He assures me that he'll install that program, & get the other bugs (hook up old keyboard, etc.), ASA he gets back in town. He's a good guy who's done a great job for me over the last 12+ years, so I really can't complain too much. But this new (pure strait) keyboard is simply driving me nuts!

Sincerely, Pat Schwind, MBA