Author: Wayne Wilson

Darwin Day

Our 9th annual Darwin Day speaker was Dr. Alan R. Rogers, professor of Biology and Anthropology at the University of Utah. He addressed us on “The Genetic Admixture between Archaic and Modern Humans”

With our increasing ease of examining gene structure, we are starting to realize how very closely we are related to other hominids. For about six years we have known without question that archaic hominids and Neanderthals share genes with us.

Dr. Rogers described the nature of the evidence that supports this view. To start the investigation, comparing DNA from bones and teeth of ancient hominids with DNA from modern humans allows us to estimate the genetic mixing (admixture) using shared alleles (any of several forms of a gene which are found at the same place on a chromosome).

DNA of modern Eurasians and Neanderthals appears to be 1.5-2.1% identical. This same percentage holds true for modern people of East Asia and Papua New Guinea, but not Africa. Thus, gene mixing must have occurred after modern hominids left Africa but before they expanded throughout the world.

The technique of examining nucleotide site patterns allows us to differentiate between derived and ancestral alleles. The derived alleles are new and shared with Europeans and Africans. There are about 100,000 of these. The ancestral alleles are shared with ancients (notably Neanderthals and chimps). There are about 300,000 of these.

Matching derived and ancestral alleles to a population tree allows us to trace genes back in time to see where common ancestors diverged and where the mutations occurred that caused those separations and thus, the diverging populations.

In a cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia which has been occupied on and off for 125,000 years, varying types of hominid DNA has been found. The cave is named Denisovan after the last occupant, Denis, a hermit in the 1700’s. A finger bone from this cave of a Denisovan woman called “X-woman” shows derived alleles most common in Australia, New Guinea and Oceania.

A derived allele (mutation) associated with lung physiology that allows Tibetans to live successfully at high altitude (and thus carry Sir Edmund Hillary to the top of Everest without using oxygen) is clearly from the Denisovan genome.

We have inherited our innate immune system from the Denisovans. It is old and used to defend against things we have had to fight for hundreds of thousands of years. (T-killer cell systems).

Further work delineating how much DNA modern humans share with Neanderthals is done with exclusively modern DNA. The longer a gene locus exists; the more time it has had for recombination mutations to occur. As generations pass, Neanderthal DNA gets broken up and recombined with non-Neanderthal DNA. The farther back in time a Neanderthal gene was present in our DNA, the shorter the Neanderthal nucleotide segment will be when examined. The research with modern genes focuses on long segments of chromosomes assessing the nucleotide recombinations.

But some Neanderthal DNA didn’t help them to survive and so was lost. Then, selection of beneficial genes became less effective because the population size was small. There weren’t enough Neanderthals to be able to shed the deleterious gene mutations and keep the benign or positive mutations. The health of a population depends upon getting rid of deleterious mutations. Neanderthals were on their way out when Homo sapiens arrived 20,000 years ago. We didn’t eradicate them.

However, many of the deleterious genes we inherited from them are still present in our population today. A predisposition for depression may be from Neanderthals, as is the propensity for obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, some skin textures, and certain kinds of heart disease.

This is not to say that new mutations are not occurring today. Solar rays, gamma rays, chemicals and other environmental effects break DNA. New non-infectious diseases are occurring, which shows that new mutations are currently arising. Cystic fibrosis is caused by a change somewhere in an enormous gene leading to thicker pulmonary secretions.

In the ensuing discussion all sorts of questions were entertained such as: How does one explain left handedness, which seems to have no evolutionary advantage? Dr. Rogers suggested that left handedness persists because the rare left handed person has the advantage of novelty in not being like all the other combatants. The “gene” for left-handedness creates a successful defense and thus persists.

Dr. Rogers fielded all questions sympathetically and with expertise; well-spoken and brilliant is our judgement. We thank him for his time and hope to hear from him again.

Dr. Rogers’ new book, The Evidence for Evolution (University of Chicago Press, 2011), demolishes the ideas of Creationists by using evidence and logic, rather than emotionalism and rhetoric. It is a perfect way to celebrate Charles Darwin.

—Lauren Florence, MD

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Ideology and Theology

One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that the delusional is no longer marginal; it has come in from the fringe, to sit in the seat of power in the Oval Office and in Congress. For the first time in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power in Washington. Theology asserts propositions that cannot be proven true; ideologues hold stoutly to a world view despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality. When ideology and theology couple, their offspring are not always bad but they are always blind. And there is the danger: voters and politicians alike, oblivious of the facts.

—Bill Moyers

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Field Trip!

In conjunction with our 10th Annual Darwin Day Celebration in February 2017, Humanists of Utah will be staging a field trip to the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry on Saturday September 17, 2016. This is intended to foster interest in our February Celebration. Utah State Paleontologist Dr. James Kirkland will escort us on our approximately 8-9 hour bus trip 30 miles south of Price, Utah and back. If there is enough interest will may stop at the CEU Museum in Price, as well. Along the way Dr. Kirkland will tell us about the fantastic array of world class fossil beds that exist in Utah. He will also share some notes on the annual meeting of the Society of Paleontologists being held in the Grand Hotel in Salt Lake City this year. We have tentatively set the cost at $30.00 per person although there will be scholarships available. Lunch/snack options are still being discussed, we will also have suggestions on what to wear. This is a full size bus, not a van and will carry 50 persons.

Questions or RSVP contact Bob Mayhew at (801) 582-3160 or bj@humanistsofutah.org.

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Discussion Group

On Sunday, February 28th from 1:30 – 3:00 in the afternoon, eight happy humanists gathered at Mestizo Coffeehouse in downtown Salt Lake City to discuss Humanist Ethics. It was a lively and engaging discussion, and we hope these monthly Sunday afternoon gatherings will continue to draw a diverse crowd from around the valley to discuss topics related to humanism and humanist philosophy for years to come!

To offer a recap for those unable to attend, Minister Elaine Stehel wrote down the many great answers participants gave to the following question: “What sources give you inspiration as you strive to make ethical decisions and lead an ethical life as a humanist?”

Science; computers; intelligence; love; respect; microscope set; curiosity; geomorphology; awe; wonder; earth; the universe; mystery; a goal to minimize harm; awareness of the consequences of our actions; guilt; a desire to do good to others and to see good in the world; the golden rule; honesty; and integrity.

Thank you to all those who were able to attend and we hope to see many more of you on the fourth Sunday of March, the 27th! If you would be more likely to attend if we held the discussions at a different coffee shop each month, please let Elaine know which locations would be most convenient to you and your family.

—Elaine Stehl
elaine@humanistsofutah.org.

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President’s Report

Happy March everyone! It is a little early to get too excited about spring, but it’s hard not to when it is so pleasant outside. However, even though it is pleasant out, it is not really “good weather,” because what we really need is much more moisture. But whether winter returns or not, I will be planting peas and other hardy crops soon. Also in that light I will continue to advocate for growing local and buying local where possible and for us meat eaters, we should buy local that is grass fed and treated humanely. I am finding this easier to do at the various weekend markets around the valley.

Anyway, in this month’s report, I have just a little rambling to do, as there are several items I want to touch on.

First I want to thank everyone who came to our Darwin Day celebration, I had a good time and I hope you did also. I also want to thank all those who helped make it happen, Art King for arranging for our speaker, Bob Mayhew for set up and take down, my nephew Chris Lane for set up and take down and Elaine Stehel for handling the merchandise and literature and helping promote the event.

As Elaine and I have been mentioning we are starting to plan the Tenth Annual Darwin Day with Humanists of Utah already. Our Darwin Day events have been smaller in size the last few years and we mean to change that by starting early and planning big. We are planning to have it at the University of Utah again as we did for the first several events. We plan to spread it out a little, with an afternoon and evening of things to do (as we did the first few years). This will all be possible if we get enough volunteers.

While I am mentioning volunteers I need to emphasize that having enough volunteers will determine how many other projects we can sponsor. We will have a kiosk at the Pride festival again this year and I will be there for that, but I will need help. There are also some street fairs in the summer that would be a good way to make ourselves Humanists of Utah) better known to the public. But in the last few years we had no volunteers, so no street fairs. I hope we can change that.

As I ramble I almost forgot that we had our first discussion group in quite a while. It was enjoyable to sit and talk again. Our old discussion group use to be one of my favorite things to do and I am glad it is back. This has been a project that Elaine has undertaken and I thank her for reviving it.

One more thing, you will see an announcement in the newsletter about our planned bus trip to the Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry in September. Amy and I have already RSVP’d and the chapter has reserved the bus so I hope you will RSVP and come along.

Finally, I will not be able to attend March’s meeting, as I will be heading to St. George for a memorial service on that day. But Elaine will pick up some of my cookies, so enjoy and I will see you soon.

—Robert Lane
President, HoU

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The Salt Lake Tribune

Our speaker at the January 14th meeting, Terry Orme, Editor and Publisher of the Salt Lake Tribune, thinks Utahans, and even Mormons, want their news from a broad arena of sources, including their church. He says, “They get enough from their church on Sundays.”

The beginning of the Legislative session, this year on January 25th, gets the Tribune writers excited. They feel that reporting on the Legislature is the most important thing they do. Pat Bagley has said that it will be “like shooting fish in a barrel.”

For this upcoming session, the Tribune is taking polls to ask questions to decide what we, the readers find pertinent to the work of the Legislature. Examples of these questions are:

1. Do we want the state to try to take over millions of acres of Federal land? Are we willing to lose $14 million in the resulting lawsuit?
2. What issues should we be considering associated with Medicaid expansion? The Legislature is entering its 4th year having failed to act concerning expanding Medicaid. It seems to be frustrating at best and inhuman and cruel at worst.
3. What is the Legislature’s roll in solving the problem of homelessness? Homelessness is being dealt with in SLC. But it’s a regional or even a state-wide problem.
4. There are at least a couple of questions related to the prison. Is the relocation of the prison a settled question? Is there a part in providing Medicaid coverage to the prison population that helps with recidivism?
5. Should the state fund a water pipeline from Lake Powell to St. George?
6. What is our best use of education resources? Utahans want more money spent on education and don’t like being last in the nation in terms of spending. But year after year, the legislature does not change the amount the state spends on education. Does the state need computers for every child in school?
7. Should the state be in charge of an alcohol sales program?
8. What are the issues concerning Senator Lee, and Governor Herbert attempting to cut funding for Planned Parenthood?
9. Is the economy really doing better? Are the Tribune’s readers getting raises?
10. Who is responsible for the air in Salt Lake? It seems to be getting worse. Nothing has been done so far. What do we have to do to get clean air?
11. What position do we take concerning medical marijuana and why?
12. Do we maintain the death penalty, even with the limited availability of the required drug cocktail?
13. What should be done with the “literally miles” of video camera footage from police body cams? Should it be available to the public? Last year there were 14 people killed by firearms which were controlled by police. In 2015, of the first three Utah homicides, all were officer involved homicides.
14. How can gerrymandering be dealt with? Salt Lake County has been cut into so many legislative districts that the voters are disenfranchised. Mr. Orme thinks this is the biggest issue in our state.

The Tribune will have poll results of these questions in the paper for the legislature to see. Then after the session, the Tribune wants to discuss what happened at the session. Did lawmakers follow the wills of their constituents? The goal of the Tribune is to give people enough information to hold the legislature and governor accountable.

The question, however, always is, “Will they listen?”

Accountability is a big issue with our legislature. Decisions are made behind closed doors. The legislature can’t meet with their constituents because they are hidden away. The public may never know how their representatives vote on an issue. Last year the legislature passed the Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA). This bill restricts access to public information and was rushed through. The Tribune tried to get open meetings and formed a group to push all together for accountability. After the public strongly demonstrated against it, the GRAMA bill was repealed.

Editorial note: We need the Tribune to continue to help us keep our Legislature responsive to our community. We are grateful to Mr. Orme for his discussion with us and his work at the paper of record.

—Lauren Florence, MD

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Magic of Reality
~Book Review~

I have been a Richard Dawkins for a long time having read Ancestors Tale, Greatest Show on Earth, Unweaving the Rainbow, etc. Some of my friends find these books too filled with Biology jargon.

Along comes Magic of Reality which Dawkins seems to have written to a different target audience, people with little or no background in the natural sciences. The message is the same, only the language has changed.

This is a powerful book emphasizing the overwhelming evidence that could/should be used to change calling the “Theory of Evolution” to the “Law of Evolution.”

If you have tried Dawkins before but found the language difficult I highly recommend this book!

—Wayne Wilson

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Chapter Happenings

Humanists of Utah is ready to start up a 2016 Discussion Group! To be held the last Sunday of every month—beginning February 27—at 1:30 p.m. Our first discussion will be led by Board Member and Humanist Minister Elaine Stehel, at Mestizo Coffeehouse (631 W North Temple in Salt Lake) on the topic of Humanist Ethics. Please e-mail elaine@humanistsofutah.org with questions, comments, or suggestions for upcoming discussion topics.

Calling all lovers of everything Darwin! We need your expertise on our 10th Annual Darwin Day Planning Committee. If you are interested in meeting periodically throughout this year to make our 2017 event spectacular and memorable, please send a letter of interest to the Board at board@humanistsofutah.org. We will try to have our first planning meeting in March 2016.

–Elaine Stehel

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President’s Report

Greetings freethinkers, now that it’s February, I’m already getting anxious for spring. I know it doesn’t look very promising outside right now with all the snow we have. But I’m starting to notice the daylight hours getting a little longer and that’s encouraging. Plus Home Depot is tempting me now that they have this year’s seeds already out. As I may have mentioned before, I’m going to get more active in supporting the grow local/buy local concept. But for now my focus needs to be on our Darwin Day celebration.

This February’s Darwin Day will be the ninth. You have probably already received a message or two from other board members regarding Darwin Day and other matters. Please take the time to respond to our Survey and let us know what kind of programs you would like to see. We are hoping your feedback will help us make improvements that will increase attendance and membership and make for a more enjoyable schedule of events. So your input will be very helpful.

Also in the messages will be calls for volunteers for the various projects we will be planning. Bob Mayhew is planning a bus trip to the Cleveland Lloyd Quarry for later in the year, plus Elaine Stehel is planning to get a monthly discussion group going again. Plus, during the year we will be participating in the Pride Festival and hopefully some of the street fairs this summer. So we could use a few volunteers to help out.

Getting back to Darwin Day, the fact that it is the ninth has made us mindful that next year will be a sort of a milestone being the TENTH annual celebration. So the Board is planning to make this event extra special. To accomplish that we will be forming a committee soon after this year’s Darwin Day to plan the “Tenth Annual Darwin Day with Humanists of Utah”, and we’d love to have you join us in the planning.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself here with talk of the tenth Darwin Day.

We will be hosting the Ninth Annual Darwin Day on Thursday February 11^th. We will start at 6:30 with a reception with some finger foods to munch while we mingle. There will be a literature table and a table with some Evolve Fish items for sale. At 7:30 we will present Dr. Alan R. Rogers, Professor of biology and anthropology at the University of Utah as our speaker (See more details elsewhere in the newsletter.) Then after Professor Rogers gives his presentation, we will serve our traditional birthday cake with Darwin’s image on it. I’m looking forward to our annual celebration of science and hope to see you there.

I can’t sign off though without saying something about the Ranchers and their occupation up in Oregon. I don’t want to spend a lot of time right now deriding their actions and goofy thinking (I could write a tome). But it does kind of make me laugh when I think of what they really want. They want free resources to run their business. I mean, what business wouldn’t like free resources? They want free forage for their animals, but I’m sorry, there are no free rides folks. When I had a cabinet shop years ago, it would have been great if ANY of the “resources” I needed to run the business were free. But it just doesn’t work that way.

I’m not sure, but it may be that the rangeland cattle business is on its way out, especially during drought years when forage gets pretty scarce. Perhaps the scarcity of forage due to the drought is what’s driving them to want more access to areas where there’s still something for their cattle eat.

Anyway, bye for now, and I hope to see you next Thursday, where the thinking should be a bit more rational.

—Robert Lane
President, HoU

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The Right Side of History

By whatever name we’re called—and we have many names,
Like humanists and secularists—we all have similar aims.

One is a world that’s rational, that looks at actual facts,
At objective evidence to inform our thoughts and acts.

Too many in this world, though, do not accept this view
And embrace their ideologies which to them are true.

They hold back much needed progress as climate change deniers,
Preaching to the world that climate change scientists are liars.

Anti-evolution creationists are hell-bent on winning,
Believing that Genesis records the world’s beginning.

How many patriarchs are there who populate the Senate
Who believe in “legitimate rape” as a guiding tenet?

Birther Donald Trump and many others still pursue
The idea that Obama is not native born; and, too,

That Obama’s socialistic and a Muslim; they insist we see
That he wants nothing more than to destroy democracy.

And still too many people think that men choose to be gay.
The disregard the evidence that they were born that way.

The list of false beliefs goes on and on, there is no end.
They skew debate and everything on which our lives depend.

I think the number of ideologues will decrease
As non-rational beliefs dwindle, promising us peace,

And that sometime in the future there will by no mystery
About who today is on the right side of history.

—Earl Wunderli

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President’s Report

Happy new year everyone, I hope you had a pleasant holiday season.

Looking back on 2015, for me it was a rather busy year in spite of my being mostly retired. I could spend some time reflecting positively and negatively on the year. There is plenty to reflect on both personally, locally, nationally and worldwide. And, have no doubt I will have a lot to say about subjects like Donald Trump, terrorism, the environment, etc. in the month to come. But for now I would rather contemplate the coming year.

Personally, I had sort of a wow experience as I realized that I will soon be (no doubt) getting notices of my fifty-year high school reunion. Now I’m feeling like a real geezer (with apologies to those who don’t like the word geezer.) It should be interesting see who shows up. I remember last time Amy and I sat at a table where two of the wives (obviously Mormon) were determined to sit with mostly folded arms determined NOT to have a good time. It was held at a country club with all the decadence of a cash bar. But enough about the past for now.

In regards to our Humanists of Utah schedule, we have as our January guest speaker, Terry Orme, editor and publisher of the Salt Lake Tribune. Interestingly, my wife Amy knew Mr. Orme when He was doing the concert reviews and such. Her father John O’Connor was an editor on the city desk at the time and from what I’m told, Terry would pass on extra tickets to concerts to John for his daughters. So I’m looking forward to meeting and hearing from Mr. Orme and I hope you will join us.

In February we will be hosting our ninth annual Darwin Day celebration. This year it will be held at our usual venue in Eliot Hall at the Unitarian Church. As usual, there will be a reception before the speaker with catered finger food and a birthday cake for after the speaker.

I know I’m getting ahead of things a little bit, but one reason I have been excited about our Ninth Darwin Day event is that next year will be our tenth. That seems to me to be a milestone of some note. Hopefully the tradition will go on for many years. It has also been a dream or aspiration of mine to eventually form a foundation that could help make sure in goes on indefinitely. Now I realize forming a foundation is no simple task. It takes a lot of work and funding to plan and implement such a project, but I certainly think it is worth the effort.

That’s about all I have to say for now except to ask that you let us know what we can do to get more of you to join us more often. You know, we rarely here from some of you and we would like to see you.

Thanks to all for your support.

—Robert Lane
President, HoU

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John Chesley
August 26, 1932 ~ June 1, 2015

Long time HoU member John Chesley died of natural causes at his Taylorsville home. He was one of most regular attendees for many years, often arriving in one of his custom restored classic cars, at least in nice weather.

Long before he had heard of humanism, John Chesley was a humanist: independent thinker, committed to ethics, and respectful of human dignity. His humanism manifested itself one day in church, and yet there was little in his background to indicate that he would react as he did.

A native Salt Laker, he went to Douglas Elementary, Roosevelt Junior High, and East and South High Schools. He married and went to work at Hill Air Force Base where he developed his expertise in supplies, ensuring that not only Hill but other military bases had the right supplies at the right time. Hercules hired him for his expertise ten years later at its Bacchus plant in Magna, and Bestway Products seven years after that, where he remained for the next 31 years, and still runs its repair shop, although he now works only half-time on his way to full retirement. The Naval Air Reserve also used his talent in supplies for 30 years, first at its aviation unit at the Salt Lake Airport and then, when it was closed, flying him monthly to the aviation unit at Buckley in Denver and still later to Alameda in California.

Early on, however, while he was still at Hill and raising his four boys and a middle girl, he lived in a tight-knit LDS community and “went with the flow,” becoming active in scouts and the rest. One Sunday, with his mind wandering during the service, he sat upright as a young American Indian girl gave a 2 ½ minute talk, concluding that her people had been “bad people.” He wondered, as an independent thinker, about the ethics of teaching her to disrespect her own culture and the dignity of her people. He never went back to church.
This episode occurred just before he divorced his wife, moved to Farmington, and undertook to raise his five children alone, first the oldest two and a year later the remaining three. He did marry again, but this one ended in a mutual and friendly divorce, his second wife moving away and marrying twice since then. Enough is enough, he thought, and has not married again. His five children all live close by.

Although he remembers Hugh Gillilan speaking at his father’s memorial service in 1965, he recalls being introduced to humanism only about three years ago while he was listening to talk radio at work and heard Flo Wineriter explain the humanist philosophy. John recognized immediately that this was exactly what he believed. He called Flo, who sent him some literature, and the rest, as they say, is history. He joined Humanists of Utah, and, in his semi-retirement, has been doing an enormous amount of reading. He says he always hungered for knowledge.

—Earl Wunderli

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July 4, 1876

And what more (in the Declaration of Independence)? That the people are the source of political power. That was not only a revelation, but it was a revolution. It changed the ideas of people with regard to the source of political power. For the first time it made human beings men. What was the old idea? The old idea was that no political power came from, or in any manner belonged to, the people. The old idea was that the political power came from the clouds; that the political power came in some miraculous way from heaven; that it came down to kings, and queens, and robbers. That was the old idea. The nobles lived upon the labor of the people; the people had no rights; the nobles stole what they had and divided with the kings, and the kings pretended to divide what they stole with God Almighty. The source, then, of political power was from above. The people were responsible to the nobles, the nobles to the king, and the people had no political rights whatever, no more than the wild beasts of the forest. The kings were responsible to God; not to the people. The kings were responsible to the clouds; not to the toiling millions they robbed and plundered.

And our forefathers, in this Declaration of Independence, reversed this thing, and said: No; the people, they are the source of political power, and their rulers, these presidents, these kings are but the agents and servants of the great sublime people.

For the first time, really, in the history of the world, the king was made to get off the throne and the people were royally seated thereon. The people became the sovereigns, and the old sovereigns became the servants and the agents of the people. It is hard for you and me now to even imagine the immense results of that change. It is hard for you and for me, at this day, to understand how thoroughly it had been ingrained in the brain of almost every man that the king had some wonderful right over him, that in some strange way the king owned him; that in some miraculous manner he belonged, body and soul, to somebody who rode on a horse, to somebody with epaulets on his shoulders and a tinsel crown upon his brainless head.

—Robert G. Ingersoll
July 4, 1876

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President’s Report

This month, I want to finish with my short series about guns and gun violence. But first I want to thank Susan Fox, Rob Duncan and my nephew John Lane for their help during the Pride Festival. Their assistance lugging stuff around, setting up and manning our kiosk is much appreciated.

The festival was a success and enjoyable for all who attended. Our spot was in a better spot for traffic. We had over twenty people sign up for our free subscription and we handed out many of our brochures and other literature. We also sold over three hundred bucks worth of merchandise. One bummer though was that the first time our canopy was tested with rain…It leaked. Luckily we had a large back up tarp that we used as a rain fly over the canopy.

It was a pleasure to be a part of the festival, to witness this wonderful diversity of loving people and to support such a good cause. I hope that some of you who signed up for the free subscription will come and join us at one of our meetings or events. We would love to get to know you.

Guns and Violence
Part 3

Last month I finished by saying that I would relate a couple of incidences I responded to and also to say a thing or two about police officers.

In the Air Force I met and worked with a few men I would consider adrenaline addicts. They were always looking for a reason to give someone a hard time, hoping for a reaction so they could assert their authority. I also met many who served properly and with courtesy.

I guess the point I should get to is in regards to all the recent killings by the police around the country. Some are obviously wrong, with one example of a cop charged with murder for shooting a guy who was running away, in the back.

But I don’t think the general public really understands what it is like to be on patrol with deadly force at your hand and some, shall we say, troublesome people to deal with. Once while on patrol late at night, I pulled up behind some guy dancing in the middle of the street. After I ordered him to the side and I pulled over to the curb, he ran up to the patrol car and jumped in on the passenger side. I took the keys and exited the vehicle, drew my weapon and ordered him out of the vehicle. I had no way to know his intentions or whether he was armed in any way. Had he not complied and put his hand on the riot shotgun in its mount he would have died. As it turned out he was unarmed and unhinged.

Another time I responded to a domestic disturbance in the NCO housing area. When I knocked on the door, rather large women nearly knocked me down with the screen door as she pushed her way out on to the sidewalk…waving a large butcher knife and looking to slice up her husband, who had disappeared.

As I back peddled and drew my weapon I ordered her to drop the knife. She did comply, but if she had come at me with the knife I would have had to shoot a woman with a knife.

These life threatening incidences were all a result of others actions, not mine.

Along with those kind of experiences, when apprehending some individuals you are subjected to attempts to fight you, head but you, kick you, bite you, spit on you and attempts to get at your weapon.

So I hope as we scrutinize the actions of police officers we remain mindful of what they face often on a daily basis.

Well that’s enough on that subject for now.

Here’s hoping to see you at our July 9^th meeting.

—Robert Lane
President, HoU

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Understanding Public Opinion

Jeremy Pope, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Co-Director of the Center for Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University, held the attention of our group with his insights into the nature of public opinion at our May General Meeting.

The central thesis of his remarks is that the subject, Public Opinion, is complicated. People have many sources to digest while forming their own opinions; perhaps the most important being socialization, what do our friends and peers think? People’s own personal experiences play a major role of what they think as individuals. Attained education levels tend to make people more tolerant of diverse groups. Self-interests, reference groups are also important. The surprise to this author is that “the media” is the least important determining factor of public opinion.

Basing opinions on a single published poll will not yield an accurate picture of current public opinion. Compiling polls has a much better chance at figuring out what the public thinks. However, major pollsters, not unlike individuals, tend to be affected by a “herd” phenomenon where they prejudice their published results to match what other pollsters conclude. The example given was the outcome of the 2012 Presidential Election. Obama beat Romney by a comfortable margin even though the aggregate of polls were convinced that the election would be very close.

The next surprising point was that public opinion really doesn’t change very much over time. For example the numbers around abortion have not changed significantly since the landmark Rowe v. Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973. This is despite millions of dollars being spent by organizations on both sides of the issue. The major exception to stability of public opinion is Gay Marriage. The percentages supporting freedom to marry have literally changed places in the past 30 years.

Pope concluded public opinion is generally not informed, people do not easily change their opinions. It is also not very ideological outside the walls of our national and state legislatures. People will agree with part of the positions that an elected official promotes but almost nobody falls strictly into line with the politico. Finally, public opinion appears to be inconsistent which delights people like Professor Pope because it means job security for him and his colleagues.

—Wayne Wilson

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The Religious Right Are Politically Stronger Than Ever
Reprinted from Mr. Doerr’s letter in the Charleston (WV) Gazette, 4/5/2015

James Haught’s March 22 article, “Cultural change is slow but deep”, accurately reported demographic shifts in religion in America, but that’s not the whole story. The “nones” or religiously unaffiliated may be 20 percent of our population now, but in the 2014 elections—in which only 36 percent of eligibles bothered to vote—exit surveys showed that only 12 percent of voters were “nones.”

Further, while very conservative churchgoers, usually labeled the “Religious Right”, are diminishing somewhat in numbers, they are politically stronger than ever. They and their political allies nationwide have:

1. Advanced their agenda of diverting public funds to faith-based private schools through vouchers and tax credits, even though American voters between 1966 and 2014 have rejected such measures by an average 2-to-1 margin in 28 state referendum elections from coast to coast; and this is damaging the public schools serving 90 percent of our kids.
2. Increased restrictions on women exercising their rights of conscience and religious freedom to terminate problem pregnancies for medical or other serious reasons.
3. Denied climate change—involving carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere, resource depletion, toxic waste accumulation, deforestation, desertification, soil erosion and nutrient loss, rising sea levels (40 percent of world population lives in coastal areas), shrinking biodiversity, and increasing sociopolitical instability and violence, all of which is fueled by human overpopulation—thus endangering the planet.
4. Increased federal and state court rulings that undermine the constitutional church-state separation that protects the religious freedom of each and every one of us.

There is indeed a culture shift, but our country is not out of the woods by a long shot. Americans of all persuasions—Protestants, Catholics, Jews, the “nones” and others—need to work together to stop the erosion of our basic values before it is too late.

—Edd Doerr

(Note: Edd Doerr is President of Americans for Religious Liberty, Jim Haught is editor of the Charleston (WV) Gazette, and both are columnists in Free Inquiry. – Thanks to PIQUE, the Newsletter of the Secular Humanist Society of New York)

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President’s Report

Guns and Violence
Part 2

Last month I started a series with my president’s message about guns and violence. I want to continue the series, but as I was thinking about all the blathering I want to do, it became apparent to me that two installments aren’t going to be enough. For one thing, I’m having too much fun reminiscing about my past. I hope it’s not too boring.

Continuing on with how guns and ammo were a part of my life, the next step from fireworks and hunting, my life with “guns and ammo” takes a big leap when I attend the United States Air Force munitions and weapons tech school. During this training a person learns about all the different weapons systems. It literally included everything from small arms ammo to nuclear weapons. If I remember right, they called it CNBC (Conventional, Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical). That covers a lot of different weapons and the 1300 stock list of weapons and components was huge. But the first thing they teach is of course safety. Like I said earlier, “With explosives, no second chances.”

In retrospect attending this school was fascinating and strange, with many hours slow motion films of these weapons demonstrated. We humans put a lot into developing and manufacturing all kinds of ways to kill each other. The school lasted for several weeks of all day long in the classroom and plenty to study back at the barracks.

After finishing this schooling, I was stationed at Hill Field for a few months before I was shipped out to U-tapao Air Force Base in Thailand for a year, mostly during 1968. The base was a big one because we were a B-52 base where bombing sorties went out to targets in Vietnam almost continuously.

My Job was in the bomb dump at a facility called BABS (Bomb Assembly Building) where we installed the fuses and delay elements, suspension lugs, couplers and fins. They were then ready to be put on the wings pylons (24) or installed into racks of 42 (2 racks per aircraft) for a total of 108 bombs. It’s one hell of a weapons system.

I actually enjoyed the munitions career field and began working with the guys in EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) to get my foot in the door. If they had sent me to EOD School, I probably would have had a very different life as a career man in the Air Force.

BUT, when they sent me back after my year in Thailand, they crossed trained me (do to an imbalance in my field) to a Security Police Squadron. I really hated being out of munitions. But like a good young Sargent, I did my duty.

The little more than two years that I worked Security Police Law enforcement Is where some of my duality about gun violence and police violence got its start. In that time I went to a couple of fatal vehicle accidents, a couple of other accidental deaths, fights, a small riot, a few fires, one armed robbery and numerous “domestic disturbances.” These conflicts, where you deal with a variety problems, is where one side of my duality came from. The other side came from working with fellow security police officers. Some were very good officers and some were very bad ones.

Next month I will continue by relating a couple of intense encounters I had at a domestic disturbance and another incident just on the street. But I need to close up for now.

Actually, as I write this, tomorrow is the 6^th and I will be setting up our booth at the Pride Festival for the second year. You won’t see this until after the festival, but I hope I see a few of you there this weekend. If not, perhaps I’ll see you for our movie night this month. I’ll be bringing my DVD of The Court Jester. It’s a delightful classic comedy with Danny Kaye, Basil Rathbone and Angela Lansbury. I will bring my homemade popcorn and other movie junk food. See you soon.

—Robert Lane
President, HoU

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