in Madison, Wisconsin for the FFRF convention

[RussBLib]

9. Day 2 - Saturday

Today started off with the "Non-Prayer Breakfast" where we all raised hell and got very loud instead of having that awkward "moment of silence." It was truly bedlam for about 30 seconds. The food was typical convention fare: rather crappy eggs, bacon, and weirdly spiced potatoes, but they did provide plenty of coffee, a requisite for me.

Even though I and my wife are both now (barely) over 60, we looked around and found a table with members that looked to be younger. Looks can be deceiving. One of the people at the table was Mitch Kahle, and I knew that name sounded familiar. Sure enough, you can read about Mitch here, here, here, and catch some of his YouTube videos here. Mitch and his wife were a hoot. We had a special "Lifetime Member" on our badge, but Mitch got a special "FFRF Star" tag on his. I also had a good chat with a Kay Ellig, a friend of Mitch's and new member. She is a french horn teacher and avid photographer. Now that I am retired, I am spending much more time on my own photography, and she gave me some good pointers on taking pix and travelling with camera equipment.

We skipped the next hour or so of the program but came back in time to catch some of the Legal Accomplishments of the FFRF. Each year for the last five years, FFRF has added one full-time attorney. And they have been very very busy. You have probably seen several of them. FFRF probably has a better success % than just about any other group I am aware of. Why? Because we are on the right side of the law.

Next up was the Freethinkers of the Year Awards, given to four people. One could not attend as he is serving in the military in Syria, but his partner, Jesse Castillo, was present. Jesse is a cop who lives in Alpine, Texas, which is in Brewster County. The sheriff of Brewster County handed out lots of bumper stickers to his officers with the Latin cross on them. It wasn't mandatory, but that doesn't make it legal. Jesse was one of the cops that did not put one on his vehicle, so he had special standing in the courts. Needless to say, FFRF won the case and the stickers were removed. Now they can be purchased at many locations in Alpine, but the religionistas cannot seem to grok that we don't give a shit what private citizens do to their cars or private property, but just keep that crap off of government vehicles.

Jerry Bloom of Connecticut was also awarded a Freethinker of the year award for getting a cross removed from a city park. He related a story I was sort of aware of. He talked about the earthquake and tsunami that hit Lisbon, Portugal in 1755. I'd heard of the event and that it wiped out a lot of Lisbon. What I did not know was that the earthquake and tsunami hit on a Sunday morning at 9:30am, on All Saints Day, while practically everyone was in church. The survivors of the events questioned why God would allow such devastation on a Sunday morning, on a religious holiday, while everyone was in church. Jerry said this was the start of a wave of enlightenment and rejection of God. That God is quite a card, isn't he?

The last recipient was Marie Schaub of Pennsylvania, who got a Ten Commandments monument removed from her daughter's high school. The monument had stood there for 65 years. She was pretty hilarious. FFRF recorded all of the recipients, and when they publish them try to check it out.

It's very inspiring to hear the stories of everyday people sticking their necks out and suffering the abuse that you know they get for opposing religious iconography. It makes me want to scour my own area to find state/church violations. I would encourage all of you to do the same. It's the right thing to do.

Brent Michael Davids gave a talk on "Do you know an American Indian atheist"? He's from the Mohican tribe and his talk caused several tears to be shed in the audience as we all remembered the genocide suffered by the native Americans. I had the pleasure of chatting with Brent for several minutes earlier in the day and, like most other native Americans I have met, he is so humble and real that you cannot help but like them and feel so fucking sad at what we white people did to them. And still are doing, by the way. Like I have done before when I talked with native Americans, I sincerely apologized on behalf of all white people and felt stupid doing it, but he expressed his gratitude at my gesture.

Michelle Goldberg was up next with a talk on "Donald Trump and Christian Nationalism." It was scary as hell. Michelle has just been hired as a New York Times columnist. You may recall she wrote a book called "Kingdom Coming" in 2006 in response to the Bush administration and goddamnit, it's coming true and getting worse. Her talk was chilling, as she talked about all of Trump's regressive cabinet. Geez, we are in a deep hole.

We missed Steven Pinker's talk. He's the FFRF Honorary President. He's a cognitive psychologist but I have to say his books are so thick, literally and figureatively, I have a hard time getting thru them.

Back for the dinner and we met some other great people at our table from New Mexico, Ohio, and Nebraska. It's a joy talking to people who are so sympatico. The food was nothing to brag about.

Roy Zimmerman was the after-dinner entertainment and he is just fantastic. I got to talk with him for a few minutes after his performance and I will remember it for a long while. If you are not familiar with him, check him out on Google.

Julia Sweeney was the final act and she went into a long talk about the "God movies" that have made money in the last few years from Pure Flix movies like "God is Not Dead" and "God is Not Dead 2" among other schlock. I have not seen one single one of these movies, but it's rather sad and scary that they are even being produced, much less than anyone is going to see them. This company is like a malignant cancer.

I did take a lot of pictures but didn't post any here because I have a hard time posting pix on this site. Unless they are already posted on some website, it's hard to just upload one here. Could be because I'm old and getting senile.

Anyway, we really enjoyed the convention and met some great people. This is our first time to attend, but it won't be our last. Next year has been set in San Francisco, and my nephew lives there, so we are already making plans.

Peace. Out.