I want to be careful not to make this “Whining about Prison.” It’s something I used to do a lot, when I was younger and still self-centered enough to think that my life was actually not my fault. And whenever I catch myself complaining about prison, or hear […]
I’ve talked about this before, how the data suggests that atheists act better than religious people. Here’s something else. Where are the atheist crazies? I can’t find them. Whereas religion has plenty. There are no atheists who deny their children modern medicine (like Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christian Scientists). […]
Religion is usually the end of rational thought. Take, for example, how people choose their religion. A rational approach would be to examine the world’s many religions, look for evidence, and settle on the one that provided that evidence. But how many people do this? How many even […]
There’s a term in economics called opportunity cost. It’s what you miss out on when you choose to do one particular thing over another. E.g., if you pass on overtime at work to do something person, the opportunity cost would be the extra money you would have earned. […]
Most of the guys who leave here and come back always talk about it’s often too hard out there for an ex-con to make it. Well, I’m going to put this to the test in less than 17 months. I’ll be an ex-con with nothing but a high-school […]
All of these opponents of drug legalization ask “penetrating” questions such as “Do you really think pot is harmless?” It’s ridiculous and beside the point. I don’t think any reasonable person thinks that pot is harmless. Obviously, if you inhale smoke into your lungs over and over, it’s […]
It’s part and parcel. Yesterday I was sitting at a table where two guys were talking about ancient alien astronauts or whatever the latest show on the History channel is touting. I tried to bring in some actual history and anthropology, but it wasn’t wanted. The same day, […]
It kind of bugs me when people say, in response to some terrible event, that “everything happens for a reason.” Of course they’re correct in the sense that there is such a thing as cause and effect, so there IS a reason for everything. But that’s not what […]
So it seems Pamela Geller’s group says a lot of hateful things and then she tries to say that she’s fighting the good fight for freedom. Whatever. She’s ridiculous for insisting that anyone who criticizes her is “working for the jihad and sharia law in America.” But at […]
A lot of religious believers have told me that when something terrible happens in their lives, such as the loss of a loved one, the idea of God and his supposed plan gives them comfort. I used to believe this way, and now I’m pretty much sickened by […]
My cellie left, so for the first time in more than two years, I have a cell to myself. It’s freaking exhilarating. A small taste of what it’s going to be like when I finally get out of here next year. You never think how much privacy and […]
They’re the same, of course. But after the attempted terror attack by radical Islamists on the free speech event in Garland, Texas, questions are arising about whether Pamela Geller’s group is simply a hate group targeting Muslims. Maybe. But I still think the point that they therefore “had […]
I’m reading a history of the Christian Science movement in America. The very name of should be a red flag; there is no such thing as a KIND of science. People have tried to assign various adjectives to it for various reasons, i.e. Jewish science, Western science, feminist […]
So the six officers in Baltimore have been charged with various charges. Good. Obviously there was some wrongdoing there rising to the level of criminal behavior. Now, everyone says that the cops are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Certain supporters of the police, and commentators on Fox News, […]
I’m taking this communications course, and it’s ran by a very kind individual whose job description is to work with communities and get us employed when we are released. And some definitely need more help than others. It’s great to have programs like this, to give prisoners tools […]
It’s unfortunate that the very legitimate issues of police overreach and brutality are being smeared by criminal opportunists in Baltimore. They don’t care about the death of that poor man in police custody; they want to steal liquor and burn down old folks’ homes. I’ve seen riots here […]
There’s always the cliched expectation that religion can make a con’s life better. The first time I ever went to the Hole, shortly after I arrived in prison in 1997, it was exactly as I expected: a bare cell, metal toilet, mattress, and blanket, and you were there […]
People have to stop viewing religion and science as competing views about reality. Religious stories were created by people who didn’t have great knowledge of reason and science, and so they explained the natural world in the only way they could: with magic and gods and myths. Science […]
So the gay marriage question is going before the Supreme Court, and apparently two of the justices have themselves actually performed gay marriages (Kagen and Ginsberg). So Bill O’Reilly and other conservatives are saying they should recuse themselves from the decision, because they’re obviously biased. Well, no doubt […]
There aren’t education opportunities in prison for most people, despite programs. I’m fortunate enough to be in a good one myself, for technical design and computer drafting. But even aside from “official” programs, there is essentially no limit to what we can achieve in educating ourselves alone. All […]
I’m in kind of a weird place in my time: 18 years in, and only 18 months left. It’s pretty amazing, actually. And strange, because in many ways, it’s actually more difficult now that my release date is getting close. Before, years ago, it hardly mattered because it […]
It never fails in this place; there is always a chorus of anti-intellectual nonsense, people saying, “What’s the point of that, I’m never going to need it in my life.” Yes, because education is very underrated. All of those successful people in life got that way by spurning […]
This morning on the news, I heard how Ben Affleck tried to get a PBS show to hide the fact that he had slave-owner in his ancestry. Whatever Affleck is thinking, one of the talking heads said that he could see how Affleck would be ashamed of that. […]
I think both the conservative and liberal approaches to criminal justice are extreme. When conservatives say “longer sentences and harsher punishments, that’ll teach em,” it’s ridiculous. And when liberals say, “it’s not their fault, more programs and they’ll all change,” it’s also ridiculous. We need something like Aristotle’s […]
People who say they’re not bigots, but oppose gay marriage for religious reasons, don’t make any sense to me. If you are trying to keep strangers from getting married, even by voting, what do you call it? And who cares if it’s for religious reasons? All the religious […]
It’s always amusing to see this conservative scolds on TV, like Bill O’Reilly talk about how the young people these days are so terrible. He points out some awful event, like an alleged gang rape at Spring Break, and says this is indicative of how kids are callous […]
It’s the most common attitude in prison. Convicts against the cops. And it’s the most destructive. It gets you in the mode of glorifying prison and criminal activity. It makes you proud of scamming and lying and stealing. It’s irrational. And individuality is the way to fight against […]
Mark Twain once talked about African Sleeping Sickness (a much bigger killer in his time) and it’s effects: sleepiness, skin eruptions, madness, death. What loving god would have created this thing, he asked? This horrible disease that causes so much suffering to random, innocent people? Better yet, there […]
I saw the parents of Walter Scott on TV thanking the man who recorded the tragic murder of their son by that police officer. They said that God had put him there with his camera, that he was meant to be there. And the witness himself said something […]
So I’m sure everyone has seen the video of that cop shooting Walter Scott in the back (and then moving his taser to his prone body). I’m not one of these “I hate cops” inmates; on the contrary I respect law enforcement, including correctional staff. But clearly this […]
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