Can an atheist successfully run for political office in the United States?

Recently I have started thinking about running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, but without any money of my own how would I do this? I am not too concerned that my atheist’s views will be a hindrance, but I do worry that it would have a detrimental affect on Democrats. So that would leave me having to run as an Independent. That is not comforting!


In the following weeks I will be posting my thoughts on this subject and outlining my stand on the numerous issues facing all of us. I will post my personal history so that all of you will have some insight into how I think and feel about these issues. I do hope that some of you will provide feedback so I can get a better feel on the concept of running for public office.

Thank you in advance for any insights that you are willing to share.

Doreen “Rene” Chamberlain

Burning of holy books

On Sept. 11, 2010 Pastor Terry Jones of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL intends to burn the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam. If he does this, I promise to burn every Bible I own on Sept. 12, 2010, please join me so that the Muslim people will know that not all Americans agree with this so-called man of god.

 

Every Christian pastor, minister, priest and reverend that does not stand up against the burning of another religion's holy book is just as guilty as Pastor Terry Jones and those who follow him.

Why Limbaugh, Beck and Hannity are so Rich

    I made a surprising discovery today. I know why Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity are both rich and famous. They scare people!

Think about it, people love to be scared. That is why scary movies make so much money, scary rides are so popular and why Stephen King (my favorite author) is both rich and popular. Imagine making a fortune just by taking current events and altering them just enough to make them appear threatening and getting people to pay you to say it. That is the key. You must make people afraid, therefore they get angry, and you have a constant audience. That is why liberal talk radio never does well, it does not scare anyone. As a matter of fact it is the fodder used, by those who do scare people, to create an alternate reality that is scary.

How can liberal talk radio use this formula and still inform the public of the facts. This is not to say that everything coming from Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity and others has no basis in fact. It is just that they leave out a lot of stuff, and fill the void with rumors (they created), innuendoes, and sometimes down right lies in order to create the scary picture they present to their listeners. Reminds me a lot of Orson Wells radio show "War of the Worlds", that scared a great many people in its day. Can you imagine what the followers of Rush, Glenn and Sean would do today if they reported the "War of the Worlds" story as Mr. Wells once did? There would be chaos! People would be terrified, and would hang on every word they said and make these guys even richer than they are now.

Now I find that to be a scary thing. The three of them doing their own version of War of the Worlds, it would be even scarier if they did a radio show of George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead". Then they could add in the religious right aspects of fear and really scare the hell out of everyone. I suppose I could create my own radio show, using these men and others like them, where they are the leaders of a fascist movement hiding under the guise of serious talk radio hosts. I'll bet I could find enough of their own words splice them together and play it as if they were plotting to overthrow the United States government and turn it into a country ruled by them and their ilk. I don't know about those who love these guys, but I am sure it would scare a lot of my liberal and progressive friends. It might even scare those on the right if I added their queen Sarah Palin, as the defacto leader of the New America.

Okay, now that I have explained why these guys are getting rich, I think I am going to create my own show and get rich too. I hope you will all tune in and enjoy the ride. The more of you who call in, the richer I will get. So keep those calls coming, and until the next time, I will see you all on the web.

Rene

New Year New Blog

Welcome everyone to 2010.
I am calling it twenty-ten, not two thousand ten. I don't care which is correct I am going with the one that I like best.

As you can see that the name of the blog has changed to Think About It, but because I am lazy I left the website the same. One of these days I will change it.

Many good things happened to me last year along with a few not-so-good things. Let me start with the not-so-good things: money was really tight so no new clothes for me last year, also I could not go to Ohio to see my grandchildren, or attend my mother's funeral.

Now the good things, I now have grandchildren, not just a grandchild. My daughter gave birth to a girl on Mother's Day, now that is the best Mother's Day gift ever, she also has a son (my little prince). Our Toki (a Belgian Malinois) and our Rolf ( Rottweiler-Shepard mix) surprised us with nine puppies. Only four survived though (that was sad). Two of the pups found homes and we still have the other two. So we now have four dogs, and six cats.

I am still maintaining a 3.9 GPA and I have 18 months left to go before I graduate with a bachelors degree in Psychology, then it is on to my Masters. I may have started college later than most people, but I intend to earn the title of Dr. Chamberlain before I die.

Normally I would not tell you such personal things about my life, but I wanted to show that the old saying is true: "It is never too late to start over". I hope you will come again soon.

Have a great 2010 and I will share things I think about with you throughout the year.
Remember "Dare to Know Thyself"
Rene

Setting Goals

    Here it is April 15 again, and once again, there will be lines at the post offices around the country until midnight tonight. I'll bet almost everyone who waited until the last minute to file his or her taxes says the same thing every year. "I am not going to do this again next year!" What does it take to fulfill that type of promise? It is simple, setting the goal and making it work.

Ha, Ha! if it was that easy we would all be doing it. However, it is not that easy. Am I going to tell you how to do this, NO, I AM NOT. Why? Because I do not know how to do this either. I have studied it in college, and it all makes sense, but it is actually going through with it is where I have the problem. What about you?

I can remember in high school (35 years ago) that I swore that I would never be as disorganized as my parents and their friends were. Surprise, I have done exactly what my parents and their friend did, and I know why! I do not set goals and when I do, I do not follow through with them. Just look at this blog. I started it with every intention of writing everyday, but I didn't do it. Instead I am doing what my parents did, finding all kinds of excuses for not doing something that I might actually be good at. I enjoy writing, I even have hopes of being a writer some day, but I do not do the work I know it takes. Why do I do this? If I could answer that and cure it, I would be the next billionaire.

So, like all of those who waited until today to do their taxes, I am once again going to set a goal. Except this time, I am going to set a S.M.A.R.T. Goal.

I am going to make it specific, I will write on this blog three times a week.

I will make it measureable; I will check my progress at the end of every month.

I will make it attainable, keep a notebook for ideas for the blog and check the notebook each night before going to bed.

I will make it realistic; each blog needs to be only three sentences long (it can be longer, but no less than three sentences).

I will make it both timely and tangible; I will accomplish the specific goal by September 1, 2009 and celebrate with a bottle of the best champagne I can afford.

Check back each week and see how I do.

Mind going blank

    Today has once again left me without something serious to think about. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot to ponder, after all I am in college again, what I mean is that I have focused so much on my studies that I have not made attention to what is going on around me. It is hard to write when the mind goes blank.

    Of course, the mind is never blank; I just cannot seem to find anything interesting to say today. Usually I would be on a rant about what the "believers" have been up to but not today. Today I do not care what they are doing; today I am focusing inward and feeling a bit sorry for myself. There are so many things I want to accomplish and learn in my lifetime and I have so little of it left now.

    I turned 53 in February, I am a sophomore in college, and this is my first degree. It is not as I am working on my second or third, I am working on my first. I wasted over 30 years just living a so-called normal life. I got up every morning and went to a job I did not like to make not enough money to get ahead. We barely made the bills each month and sometimes did not even do that. I didn't help anyone, I didn't learn a new skill, and I didn't even fight against the things I disagreed with. All I did was go to work, come home and sometimes make dinner or do some housework but mostly, just watched TV.

I read over a dozen books on how to get organized, how to make money, how to be happy but I never put anything I read into practice. I just went out and bought another book. I kept hoping I would find a way to get everything I wanted without having to actually work HARD for it. I didn't mind working, I still don't mind working. Having something to do is so much better than not being able to do anything. I've done that and it sucks! Trust me, you never, never want to be physically unable to do something. Having part of your body not able to move is a terrifying and exhausting way to live.

The only advantage was that with each small movement I was able to accomplish gave me such a wonderful feeling that I kept pushing to do it again. That is how I learned to walk without a cane in just three months, and how I recovered the ability to use my hand again. It is what made me get up everyday, get dressed and go to therapy. That wonderful feeling! I wanted to experience it more and more. Then I hit the wall on that. My body responds now, like it is supposed to, but my mind is different. Well, my entire body does not respond properly, my eyes are not working well together. For someone who learns visually, having my eyes not work in unison is very frustrating. It leaves me with a lack of good balance, and a sense of dizziness that does not stop.

Have you ever felt like you had just one drink too many. You are not drunk, well you may legally be, but you can speak just fine, walk without a problem, do pretty much everything you would normally do (hopefully not drive anywhere) but you know you have been drinking. You feel it. You can feel the alcohol in your system and the world looks just a little out of sync. Well, that is my word these days. I don't like it. Not one bit.

Okay, I feel better now. I was able to bitch about how unfair my life is and no one had to hear it. Yea me!

Well, I must get back to the books, at least I won't be wasting anymore of my life. Now I have a goal and I know how to reach it. All of you who ever read this, think about where your life is now. Is it what you want it to be. Do you even know what you want it to be? Even if all you know for sure is what you do not want that is a start.

I am back!

It has been a long time since I last wrote in this blog that I actually changed the name of it. I am back now and those of you who follow me will see me grow, learn and change over the weeks, months and hopefully, years to come.

So get ready, because I have a lot that I want you all to think about. You believers be prepared for I am here and I intend to stay.

Atheist, pagans, heathens and other non-believers of "one true god" unite.