U.S. Government Will Allow Religious Nuts to Bury a 1 of a Kind Scientific Specimen

Democrats like to paint Republicans as being anti-science and of course this is true.  Republicans dispute scientific facts about everything from the harmful effects of pollution to the fundamental basis of biological science.  But when it is politically expedient, democrats can be just as anti-science.  On September 28, 2016 democrats caved-in to religious nuts who want to bury an extremely rare specimen where it will be lost forever to science.  The specimen is known as Kennewick man, first discovered 20 years ago.  It’s a nearly complete skeleton of a man who lived 9,000 years BP.  Skeletal remains of humans from this age in North America are so rare that only a few have ever been discovered.  The Army Corps of Engineers was going to let Native American tribes bury this precious specimen shortly after its discovery, but some scientists banded together and sued for the right to study it.  They won in court and luckily we now have increased our knowledge about the life of early archaic man in the Pacific northwest.  In 2015 a genetic study of this specimen determined Kennewick man shared a common ancestry with modern Native-Americans.  Unfortunately, this gave new legal momentum to the religious nuts who want to perform a ceremonial burial with the specimen, even though the study did not show any direct relationship with the tribes that inhabit the region today.  An amendment introduced by a democratic congresswoman was attached to a bill signed by then President Obama that will let these idiotic Indians throw away any more potential scientific knowledge we can learn about Kennewick man.  Future advancements in science could give us the opportunity to glean further knowledge from the specimen, but alas, unless there is another successful lawsuit, this rare specimen will be lost.  And it’s all because of the unnecessary deference given to stupid superstitions.

The government is going to let ignorant Native-Americans bury this 9000 year old skull. A nearly 1 of a kind scientific specimen will be lost to science forever.

I didn’t realize that Obama and the democrats were just as anti-science as the republicans.

In my opinion all religion is brainwashing for simple-minded people, and scientists know this, though they are often reluctant to say so.  If this dispute involved Christian fundamentalists, many scientists would be loudly protesting this amendment.  I’m sure they would call them “bible thumpers.”  But they seem unusually quiet about this because they are afraid of being called racist or politically incorrect for getting in a conflict with an indigenous belief system.  Well, I won’t be silenced.  I have no tolerance for ignorant beliefs no matter what group spouts them.  These Native-Americans are pushing their religion on us, and I think it is an outrage.  This specimen doesn’t belong to them.  They did not personally know Kennewick man.  None of their great-great-great-great-great grandparents knew Kennewick man.  In fact the ancestors of some of these tribes may have even fed upon Kennewick man’s kin.  (See: https://markgelbart.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/native-american-cannibalism-and-dog-eating/ ) Their claim on this specimen is based on phony political correctness. They can’t demonstrate to which tribe Kennewick man belonged, probably because none of the tribes existed yet when he lived.  So all the 5 tribes of the Pacific northwest (Umatilla, Nez Pierce, Colville, Yakama, and Wanapum) are going to share the burial ceremony, and the specimen is going to be buried in a secret location to prevent disinterment. How ridiculous.  What politically correct bullshit.  When Europeans discover thousand year old human specimens in Europe, no group ever comes forward to claim they have the right to the remains because they are relatives.  Human remains are not sacred…they are just bones.

Native Americans on their way to bury scientific knowledge.

After I die I do not want to be cremated.  I want to be buried, so there is a chance my remains could be discovered by scientists 30,000 years in the future.  They can study or do whatever they want with my skeleton, and I’m pretty sure I won’t care.

Advertisement

Scientists give Religion too much Respect

Warning: I’m standing on my soap box today.  This blog article might offend Christians, Jews, Muslims, mentally disabled people, the LGBT community, and Native Americans.

I was having a hard time understanding a recent news report on National Public Radio.  The story was about opposition to the execution of a mentally disabled man in Georgia.  I couldn’t figure out what the hell mentally disabled meant.  When I think of the disabled, I think of someone like my wife who can’t walk.  Finally, I remembered mentally disabled was the politically correct term for retarded.  Politically correct fascists have declared the word, retarded, to be offensive and derogatory.  I don’t understand how calling someone mentally disabled could be any less offensive than referring to them as retarded.  Public figures are so afraid now of offending certain groups of people they use confusing terms that just muddy communication.  Another example is the ban of the word, queer.  Instead, the accepted term is LGBT, even though that isn’t any more clear than using the word, queer.  A person listening to a  news report about LGBT people doesn’t know whether the reporter means the L, the G, the B, or the T.  Aren’t the L and the G redundant anyway?  Clarity in language doesn’t matter anymore, just as long as no one is offended.

Scientists are usually among the most enlightened members of society and fear offending people more than most.  This is a shame.  Half of Americans reject the fundamental basis of biological science because it interferes with the narrative of their Sunday school bible stories.  I wish that just once, a prominent scientist would stand up and publicly declare that the bible is full of shit.  People believe the bible is a holy sacred work.  It is not.  It was written thousands of years ago by ignorant fanatics who  favored slavery, oppression of women, and the execution of misbehaving children among many other crimes against humanity.  The God of the bible is pro genocide.  Yes, God told the Israelites to kill every man, woman, child, baby, farm animal, and pet in the town of Jericho.  Christians claim Jesus repudiated the excesses of the Old Testament, but this isn’t true.  In Mathew 5:17 Jesus endorsed all of the Old Testament atrocities when he said, “Do not think I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets.  I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”

After the walls of Jericho tumbled down, the Israelites committed genocide, slaughtering men, women, children, farm animals, and pets; all according to God’s orders.  The bible is full of shit like this.  Anyone who considers the bible to be a “holy” book hasn’t really read it.  The bible is for morons.

Mohammed, the founder of Islam, was a mass murderer, an armed robber, a bigamist, and a pedophile.  The Islamic religion was forced upon the Middle East at the point of a sword, just as Christianity was forced upon Europe.  During the Age of Reason secular forces gained control over religion in most of Europe, allowing science and modern progressive values to advance.  If not for this power transfer, western civilization would still be oppressed by a theocracy, not unlike that seen in the Arab region today. Laws in Western countries are no longer written by clerics…for the most part.

Here is an exception. The U.S. Congress passed the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act–a law influenced by religious beliefs.  Indian skeletons and associated artifacts found on government land are supposed to be reburied, according to the stupid superstitions of the tribe that has the closest cultural affiliation to them. Politicians think it is important to show respect for Indian traditions.  I think this law is an impediment to archaeology and historical knowledge.  Scientific data can be lost because the religious beliefs of some idiotic Indians might be offended.

The conflict between science and Native American Indian religious beliefs became apparent in the case of Kennewick man.  The skeleton of a 9500 year old man was discovered along the Columbia River in Washington.  Specimens of humans from this time period in North America are incredibly rare.  Kennewick man was almost a 1 of kind type of discovery, yet the Army Corps of Engineers planned to give the skeleton to a local Indian tribe that was going to bury him without study.  Fortunately, a group of scientists pooled their money together and sued the government for access to the specimen, and several judges ruled in their favor.  Local Indians could not prove they were culturally associated with Kennewick man.  Bill Clinton, the rapist president, ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to bury the site where Kennewick man was found, so scientists couldn’t study the archaeological context, but at least they are allowed to study the skeleton.

Reconstruction of Kennewick Man’s face.  Idiotic Indians wanted to rebury the skeletal remains and prevent archaeologists from studying this extremely rare specimen.

Some Indians believe skeletons are sacred spiritual remains.  This is a really stupid belief.  There probably is no such thing as a spirit, and even if there is, I doubt a spirit would hang around its lifeless remains.  Shouldn’t a spirit be gone to the spirit world?  Physical remains should be unimportant, if there is such a thing as a spirit world.  There just is no logic in the belief that a corpse is sacred.

Alcohol abuse causes 12% of Native American fatalities–4 times the rate of the general population.  Indian babies are born with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder at 7 times the rate of the general population.  39% of Native American women suffer spousal abuse–by far the highest of any ethnic group.  The prevalence of alcoholic wife-beating losers in the Native American population is a  much more serious problem than whether some ancient bones get reburied or whether the Washington Redskins change their name.  Indian protestors need to change their priorities to focus on problems that really matter in this world, rather than the imaginary spirit world.

If Indians are offended by the Washington Redskins, I’ve got the perfect solution for them…Don’t go to any Redskin games, you stupid jerks!