Owl & Ibis - A Confluence Of Minds

Peggy Noonan with President Ronald Reagan  Bill Maher Diagnoses Liberal 'Progressophobia' Peggy Noonan June 21, 2021 Bill Maher I don't share Maher's view presented in Peggy Noonan's piece linked above. That being that ultra liberal progressives are "deeply destructive" as Noonan puts it. They are a nuisance but can only be understood comparatively within the raucous din that is US society. With the exception of Antifa, liberal progressives are not prone to preemptive violence, gerrymandering, voter suppression, denying that institutional racism exists, and attending rallies bearing Nazi and white supremacist insignia and chanting "you will not replace us". Preserving white privilege and dominance is not on the liberal progressive agenda. For the most part, ultra liberal progressives can be ignored and out-muscled/out-maneuvered by the Democratic party mainstream. Consider the approaches to governance taken Pelosi and Biden. There is nothing, not...

Sincere thanks to those who attended my June 27, 2021 Owl & Ibis Zoom presentation, and for your participation in the far-ranging discussion that followed. The following are links to the slideshow. MS PowerPoint (contains music, videos, and slide animations): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AZGFOsPxgmqtzdanWQ_lYHbBv-n-poPz/view?usp=sharing NOTE: The slideshow works best using MS PowerPoint. See the attached narration, Slides 12 & 13, for when to click on the video images to start them.  All other transitions in the slideshow are automated and need not be clicked . PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JrQvbXhFvF2PAWZMOjxxMLXVoOQerX0S/view?usp=sharing N arration: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tiFpbVfmyAdK5Nn92OVYlOMOeedLu8ii/view?usp=sharing Jim }:> & ~:)

  Photo: The Hedgehog Review Scientific Authority and the Democratic Narrative Jason Blakely Fall 2020 The Hedgehog Review The essay above has some merit but I think some of its claims go a bit far.  The statement "the various voices that advance various [moral] goods must be given a fair hearing" is one. Another is "W hen it comes to the stories informing public policy in a democracy, scientists and nonscientists, experts and laypeople, must be on equal footing. Batshittery, TV punditry, conspiracy theories, disinformation, intelligent design, theology, medical quackery must all stand on an equal footing with science, reason, and humaneness as learned from history, anthropology, and philosophy in forging the way forward in a democracy? I think this is a large part of the reason humankind is in the paralyzing dilemma, confusion, and peril it is presently in. The widespread public misinterpretation of  cultural relativity  and  false equivalence  are be...

  My wife Immy Rose and I are happy to announce that Pius Health Clinic Uganda Charity, Ltd. was recently approved for  501(c)(3) tax exempt status  by the US Internal Revenue Service! PHCUC is a public charity we started to help support Pius Health Clinic, a not-for-profit health clinic in rural eastern Uganda. We invite you to join us in financially supporting this charitable effort to bring not-for-profit medical care and health maintenance services to people who have the greatest need. Pius Health Clinic began fully operating on January 1, 2021. Here is a link to the clinic's website where you can find pictures and a description of the clinic and how we got it up and running: Pius Health Clinic If you have the MS PowerPoint app, you can view a brief narrated slide presentation about the clinic that includes a short video here: Pius Health Clinic Slideshow Immy Rose and I are the sole administrators of the charity and operate it out of our home. We therefore ...

  My sincere thanks to those who attended the May 29, 2021 Zoom meeting of Owl & Ibis - A Confluence of Minds. For those who were unable to attend, the following links are provided: Counterculture Part I Narration Counterculture Part I Slideshow Counterculture Part I PDF Here are excerpts from my the narration of my presentation: Wikipedia defines counterculture as a  subculture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society; sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores. Counterculture has the potential to trigger dramatic cultural changes. Many equate counterculture with social activism, especially the pursuit of greater individualism and   less authoritarianism based on a belief in the possibility of personal and social transformation. This is part of what the notion of counterculture represents and what counterculture can lead to.  But counterculture is deeper and more fundamental in huma...