Afghan men, Taliban men, and the false Muhammad to whom they pray are animals, cowards, and an embarrassment to Islam and the true prophet Muhammad

Afghanistan is the most dangerous country in the world for women. Abuse and even torture by men, particularly Taliban men, is common.

The recent case of the torture of Sahur Gul reminds us again of the fact that 90% of Afghan women experience human rights violations at the hands of men in the Afghan society. Last year we learned of Bibi Aisha and how her uncle cut off her nose and ears as her husband held her down and a crowd looked on.

It’s not often that we should retreat to stereotypes, but in the case of Afghan and Taliban men an exception must be made.

The Islam in which Afghan and Taliban men believe is not the Islam of the prophet Muhammad. The Muhammad to whom these men pray is not the prophet of Islam.

Afghan men, Taliban men, and the false Muhammad to whom they pray are animals, cowards, and an embarrassment to Islam and the true prophet Muhammad.

There, I said it.

To Afghan and Taliban men I say: shame on you, your false prophet, and your misguided faith. Stand up to this behavior and cast this stereotype to the dung heap to which it belongs.

Open Letter to a Religious Bigot

 

RECEIVED THIS MISSIVE FROM A RELIGIOUS BIGOT:

Subject: no comment, just read it 

In God we trust!

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.   2 Chronicles 7:14 

Barack OBAMA, during his Cairo speech, said:   “I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America ‘s story.”  

AN AMERICAN CITIZEN’S RESPONSE:  

Dear Mr. Obama:  

Were those Muslims that were in America when the Pilgrims first landed?  Funny, I thought they were Native American Indians.  

Were those Muslims that celebrated the first Thanksgiving day?  Sorry again, those were Pilgrims and Native American Indians.  

Can you show me one Muslim signature on the United States Constitution?  

Declaration of Independence ? 

Bill of Rights? 

Didn’t think so. 

Did Muslims fight for this country’s freedom from England ?  No. 

Did Muslims fight during the Civil War to free the slaves in America ?  No, they did not.  In fact, Muslims to this day are still the largest traffickers in human slavery.  Your own half brother, a devout Muslim, still advocates slavery himself, even though Muslims of Arabic descent refer to black Muslims as “pug nosed slaves.”  Says a lot of what the Muslim world really thinks of your family’s “rich Islamic heritage,” doesn’t it Mr. Obama? 

Where were Muslims during the Civil Rights era of this country?  Not present.

There are no pictures or media accounts of Muslims walking side by side with Martin Luther King, Jr. or helping to advance the cause of Civil Rights. 

Where were Muslims during this country’s Woman’s Suffrage era?  Again, not present.  In fact, devout Muslims demand that women are subservient to men in the Islamic culture.  So much so, that often they are beaten for not wearing the ‘hajib’ or for talking to a man who is not a direct family member or their husband.  Yep, the Muslims are all for women’s rights, aren’t they? 

Where were Muslims during World War II?  They were aligned with Adolf Hitler.  The Muslim grand mufti himself met with Adolf Hitler, reviewed the troops and accepted support from the Nazi’s in killing Jews. 

Finally, Mr. Obama, where were Muslims on Sept. 11th, 2001?  If they weren’t flying planes into the World Trade Center , the Pentagon or a field in Pennsylvania killing nearly 3,000 people on our own soil, they were rejoicing in the Middle East …  No one can dispute the pictures shown from all parts of the Muslim world celebrating on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and other cable news networks that day.  Strangely, the very “moderate” Muslims who’s asses you bent over backwards to kiss in Cairo , Egypt on June 4th were stone cold silent post 9-11.  To many Americans, their silence has meant approval for the acts of that day. 

And THAT, Mr. Obama, is the “rich heritage” Muslims have here in America .  

Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to mention the Barbary Pirates.  They were Muslim.  In 1803, action against the Barbary pirates took the Marines to the northern coast of Africa and the “shores of Tripoli” where they earned the name “Leathernecks”. 

And now we can add November 5, 2009 – the slaughter of American soldiers at Fort Hood by a Muslim major who is a doctor and a psychiatrist who was supposed to be counseling soldiers returning from battle in Iraq and Afghanistan .  

That, Mr. Obama is the “Muslim heritage” in America.

“Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.”
        John F. Kennedy
        35th president of US 1961-1963 (1917 – 1963)

 

TO WHICH I REPLIED: 

Subject: RE: no comment, just read it

Religious bigot!

 

TO WHICH THE RELIGIOUS BIGOT THEN REPLIED:

Subject: RE: no comment, just read it 

“A bigot is a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices. The correct use of the term requires the elements of intolerance, irrationality, and animosity toward those of differing beliefs.“

Actually, I am quite tolerant of all religions except Muslim.  When their holy book, The Koran (Qur’an), says:

• 4:88 What is the matter with you, then, that you have become two parties about the hypocrites, while Allah has made them return (to unbelief) for what they have earned? Do you wish to guide him whom Allah has caused to err? And whomsoever Allah causes to err, you shall by no means find a way for him.

4:89 They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah’s way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper. 

• 8:12 When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them. 

And their holy leaders, the Imams, say things like: “I eventually came to the conclusion that jihad against America is binding upon myself just as it is binding on every other Muslim” American-born imam Anwar al-Awlaki

I can enter into a discussion with Buddhists, Shinto’s, Catholics, Mormons, etc, knowing that my life is not forfeit if I do not agree with them.  It is not so with any Koran-believing-Muslim.  For him, I must convert or die (or run). 

 

MY OPEN LETTER TO A RELIGIOUS BIGOT:

Subject: a personal, heart-felt recommendation 

I’ve always respected your intelligence – you’re clearly a smart guy. 

But “smart” doesn’t mean that the stuff you think up is reasonable or even sane. 

Bill, I’ve ignored this for too long – and I’m not going to sugar coat it – you are exhibiting serious mental problems. Your judgment is badly flawed, your reasoning is seriously distorted, your fears are exaggerated, and your anxiety is continually evident. 

I highly recommend that you seek psychological counseling and discuss your convictions with regard to the issues that have you so fearful and agitated. 

Seek out someone who is neutral with regard to your religious and political beliefs, a Ph.D. level clinical psychologist or higher, preferably one who specializes in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Tell him or her that someone who has known you for many years, someone with whom you have shared your concerns and fears for twenty years or so, is seriously worried about you. 

I haven’t seen her in years but I’m sure Judith would gladly give you a referral. She is one of the top clinical psychologists in this part of the US, teaches at UT Southwestern Medical School, has supervised over 70 Ph.D. candidates there, is extremely active in the North Texas psychoanalytic/psychotherapy community; and knows who all of the resources are. (Judith Sampson, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, Suite 203, 5952 Royal Lane Dallas, TX 75230, 214-691-7434) 

Are you resistant to such a recommendation as this?? Might your resistance be evidence of deep seated fears with regard to the outcome?? Do you remember the quote “What are you pretending not to know?” 

From your last email – 

You said “No comment, just read it” – and then you commented anyway. Can you recognize the inconsistency of such statements?? 

Apparently just to further your case, you referred to someone who you clearly know to be an Islamic radical as an Islamic “holy leader.” Would you refer to leaders of the Ku Klux Klan, the Army of God, the Christian Identity, the Christian Patriots, the Lambs of Christ, the Concerned Christians, or the Hutaree – all American Christian terrorist organizations –  as “Christian Holy Leaders?”   

Your email offered no solution and stated that dialogue was impossible. You honestly believe that all Muslims must change their ways (convert) or die – don’t you? Previously, I’ve invited you to tell me what solution(s) you might propose in response to your past racist, bigoted missives but you have ignored me. Are you willing to admit that you wouldn’t mind seeing all Muslims killed?? Are you man enough to acknowledge that such thinking might be sick?? 

Of you and I, you are the one who claims that scripture is inerrant – true without the possibility of error. Then read the verses below and consider why you cherry picked quotes from the Koran and then ignored these from your own NIV. You haven’t killed or stoned anyone lately, have you?

Before you respond “Yes, the scripture is accurate but . . .” can you acknowledge that a any right-thinking Muslim might respond the same to the verses that you quoted?? 

Deuteronomy 13 NIV

  ¹ If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, ² and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” ³ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. ⁵ That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.

    ⁶ If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, ⁷ gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), ⁸ do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. ⁹ You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. ¹⁰ Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ¹¹ Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.

    ¹² If you hear it said about one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you to live in ¹³ that wicked men have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods you have not known), ¹⁴ then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, ¹⁵ you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. Destroy it completely, ^[a] both its people and its livestock. ¹⁶ Gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. It is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt. ¹⁷ None of those condemned things ^[b] shall be found in your hands, so that the LORD will turn from his fierce anger; he will show you mercy, have compassion on you, and increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your forefathers, ¹⁸ because you obey the LORD your God, keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes. 

Leviticus 26 NIV

    ¹ ” ‘Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the LORD your God.

    ² ” ‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD.

    ³ ” ‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, ⁴ I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. ⁵ Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.

    ⁶ ” ‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. ⁷ You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. ⁸ Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

    ⁹ ” ‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. ¹⁰ You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. ¹¹ I will put my dwelling place ^[a] among you, and I will not abhor you. ¹² I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. ¹³ I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

Punishment for Disobedience

    ¹⁴ ” ‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, ¹⁵ and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, ¹⁶ then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. ¹⁷ I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.

    ¹⁸ ” ‘If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. ¹⁹ I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. ²⁰ Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit.

    ²¹ ” ‘If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. ²² I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted.

    ²³ ” ‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, ²⁴ I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. ²⁵ And I will bring the sword upon you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. ²⁶ When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.

    ²⁷ ” ‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, ²⁸ then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. ²⁹ You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. ³⁰ I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you. ³¹ I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings. ³² I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. ³³ I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. ³⁴ Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. ³⁵ All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.

    ³⁶ ” ‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them. ³⁷ They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies. ³⁸ You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you. ³⁹ Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their fathers’ sins they will waste away.

    ⁴⁰ ” ‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers—their treachery against me and their hostility toward me, ⁴¹ which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, ⁴² I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. ⁴³ For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees. ⁴⁴ Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the LORD their God. ⁴⁵ But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the LORD.’ ”

    ⁴⁶ These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the LORD established on Mount Sinai between himself and the Israelites through Moses. 

2 Chronicles 15 NIV

¹² They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul. ¹³ All who would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. 

Jeremiah 48 NIV:  A Message About Moab

1 Concerning Moab: This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Woe to Nebo, for it will be ruined. Kiriathaim will be disgraced and captured; the stronghold will be disgraced and shattered. 2 Moab will be praised no more; in Heshbon men will plot her downfall: ‘Come, let us put an end to that nation.’ You too, O Madmen, will be silenced; the sword will pursue you. 3 Listen to the cries from Horonaim, cries of great havoc and destruction. 4 Moab will be broken; her little ones will cry out. 5 They go up the way to Luhith, weeping bitterly as they go; on the road down to Horonaim anguished cries over the destruction are heard. 6 Flee! Run for your lives; become like a bush in the desert. 7 Since you trust in your deeds and riches, you too will be taken captive, and Chemosh will go into exile, together with his priests and officials. 8 The destroyer will come against every town, and not a town will escape. The valley will be ruined and the plateau destroyed, because the LORD has spoken. 9 Put salt on Moab, for she will be laid waste; her towns will become desolate, with no one to live in them. 10 “A curse on him who is lax in doing the LORD’s work! A curse on him who keeps his sword from bloodshed! 11 “Moab has been at rest from youth, like wine left on its dregs, not poured from one jar to another– she has not gone into exile. So she tastes as she did, and her aroma is unchanged. 12 But days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will send men who pour from jars, and they will pour her out; they will empty her jars and smash her jugs. 13 Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed when they trusted in Bethel. 14 “How can you say, ‘We are warriors, men valiant in battle’? 15 Moab will be destroyed and her towns invaded; her finest young men will go down in the slaughter,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty. 16 “The fall of Moab is at hand; her calamity will come quickly. 17 Mourn for her, all who live around her, all who know her fame; say, ‘How broken is the mighty scepter, how broken the glorious staff !’ 18 “Come down from your glory and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitants of the Daughter of Dibon, for he who destroys Moab will come up against you and ruin your fortified cities. 19 Stand by the road and watch, you who live in Aroer. Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping, ask them, ‘What has happened?’ 20 Moab is disgraced, for she is shattered. Wail and cry out! Announce by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed. 21 Judgment has come to the plateau– to Holon, Jahzah and Mephaath, 22 to Dibon, Nebo and Beth Diblathaim, 23 to Kiriathaim, Beth Gamul and Beth Meon, 24 to Kerioth and Bozrah– to all the towns of Moab, far and near. 25 Moab’s horn is cut off; her arm is broken,” declares the LORD. 26 “Make her drunk, for she has defied the LORD. Let Moab wallow in her vomit; let her be an object of ridicule. 27 Was not Israel the object of your ridicule? Was she caught among thieves, that you shake your head in scorn whenever you speak of her? 28 Abandon your towns and dwell among the rocks, you who live in Moab. Be like a dove that makes its nest at the mouth of a cave. 29 “We have heard of Moab’s pride– her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and arrogance and the haughtiness of her heart. 30 I know her insolence but it is futile,” declares the LORD, “and her boasts accomplish nothing. 31 Therefore I wail over Moab, for all Moab I cry out, I moan for the men of Kir Hareseth. 32 I weep for you, as Jazer weeps, O vines of Sibmah. Your branches spread as far as the sea; they reached as far as the sea of Jazer. The destroyer has fallen on your ripened fruit and grapes. 33 Joy and gladness are gone from the orchards and fields of Moab. I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses; no one treads them with shouts of joy. Although there are shouts, they are not shouts of joy. 34 “The sound of their cry rises from Heshbon to Elealeh and Jahaz, from Zoar as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah, for even the waters of Nimrim are dried up. 35 In Moab I will put an end to those who make offerings on the high places and burn incense to their gods,” declares the LORD. 36 “So my heart laments for Moab like a flute; it laments like a flute for the men of Kir Hareseth. The wealth they acquired is gone. 37 Every head is shaved and every beard cut off; every hand is slashed and every waist is covered with sackcloth. 38 On all the roofs in Moab and in the public squares there is nothing but mourning, for I have broken Moab like a jar that no one wants,” declares the LORD. 39 “How shattered she is! How they wail! How Moab turns her back in shame! Moab has become an object of ridicule, an object of horror to all those around her.” 40 This is what the LORD says: “Look! An eagle is swooping down, spreading its wings over Moab. 41 Kerioth will be captured and the strongholds taken. In that day the hearts of Moab’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor. 42 Moab will be destroyed as a nation because she defied the LORD. 43 Terror and pit and snare await you, O people of Moab,” declares the LORD. 44 “Whoever flees from the terror will fall into a pit, whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare; for I will bring upon Moab the year of her punishment,” declares the LORD. 45 “In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stand helpless, for a fire has gone out from Heshbon, a blaze from the midst of Sihon; it burns the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of the noisy boasters. 46 Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are destroyed; your sons are taken into exile and your daughters into captivity. 47 “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in days to come,” declares the LORD. Here ends the judgment on Moab.

How can you tell?

“You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”

(from Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott; on page 22 of Bird by Bird she attributes this quote to “my priest friend Tom”)

Believing Doesn’t Make It True

Please read this article by my friend and long time (20-year) next-door neighbor, Steve Bankinship. If all you do is read his personal note at the end, I expect you will be moved by and benefit from his experience. 

Believing Doesn’t Make It True
By Steve Blankinship, Associate Editor
Power Engineering Magazine, October 2009 

People believe all kinds of things. But just because some beliefs are ill-founded— based neither on sound economic nor engineering principles—does not prevent a significant number of people from believing they are true. Many such beliefs are held, nurtured, protected and proselytized with a religious fervor that transcends common sense. And they can reach a level where it becomes hard to separate science, political philosophy and religion. 

I would be far from the first to equate environmentalism (whatever that means these days) to a religious movement. A quick web search will turn up any number of essays, op-eds and even a few books on the topic.

About six years ago, I attended a green energy conference in Austin, Texas, that featured a speaker from Europe (Germany I think it was, not that it matters) who extolled the virtues of covering every new structure built with photovoltaic collectors. And many existing structures, too. Personally, I think the general idea behind such policy has a great deal of value and is worth exploring. 

Then, right in the midst of an otherwise interesting, even compelling, case for such ubiquitous PV saturation, he launched into a tirade against the pope. I do not recall the connection he was trying to establish between power production and the Vatican. But I do remember thinking at the time (as I do now) that his views on the papacy seemed completely irrelevant at an energy event, were probably inappropriate at any technology event and just plain goofy, not necessarily in that order. 

That pope-dissing solar energy advocate comes to mind when I see much of what is said in today’s energy debate. Too much of it is simply too far out there and too much is based on extreme beliefs. Much of that discussion is about an eventual transition from an overwhelming dependence on coal, natural gas and nuclear generation. Too much of it is based upon a blind faith in the ability to transition to an almost total dependence on renewables (which, by many environmentalists’ definitions, do not include hydroelectric and biomass) coupled with conservation measures, many of which are very plausible, very achievable and with a short-term return on investment that’s expected to be reasonable. 

It’s a debate dominated by people ill-equipped for it: lawyers, politicians, political advocates, zealots and visionaries typically associated with the political left and purveyors of pie-in-the-sky technologies that can achieve economic viability only through massive and permanent public subsidies, if even then. 

Since at least the early 1970s, belief systems regarding energy and the environment have been engrained into young minds by teachers and the textbooks used as their study guides. These beliefs have been nurtured and complemented by Saturday morning TV cartoons, countless movies berating evil corporations, the horrors of nuclear power and greedy coal companies that have raped the earth and killed their employees with coal dust and cave-ins in order to fuel pollution-spewing power plants. 

They have created a generation of adults who believe they can continue to enjoy a lifestyle that only abundant and affordable electricity can provide—and do it without coal, nuclear, natural gas or even without hydro or biomass-based solutions. 

Before you draw any preconceived beliefs about what I believe, I have told my friends in the power sector for years that I view myself as an energy agnostic … and that I’m very religious about it. I don’t care how we make energy as long as it meets four essential criteria. 

I believe we must have a strategy based on what is abundant, clean, reliable and affordable or offers a reasonable promise of being so by date-specific deadlines. Having worked in the power industry for nearly 40 years, I probably know more about what all the various interests and players have done—both good and bad—than many who claim the high ground on greenness claim to know. I have seen the results of mountaintop mining and various controversial mining practices that compromise safely and kill miners outright. 

I have seen what comes of irresponsible strip mining. I have also seen the remarkably positive results of responsible overburden removal. I have witnessed what has been achieved by modern reclamation techniques that convert recently mined terrain that was once barren scrub land into rolling green pastures, wetlands, wildlife preserves or almost anything one can imagine that improves upon what was there before mining ever took place. I have seen power plants built before the 1960s that didn’t even employ particulate removal (electrostatic precipitators and bag houses) and coal plants built as late as the 1970s without wet or dry flue gas desulfurization and without selective catalytic reduction. 

Equally important, I have seen, fully recognize and fully appreciate the positive role the environmental community has played in forcing these technologies to development and on to commercialization. Without the activism these groups have employed, we would not have these technologies today. And certainly would not have them at the stage of advancement we have today. 

I have also seen laws that have brought about unintended consequences, such as New Source Review that kills any attempt to improve plant performance and efficacy and lower carbon emissions per unit of electricity produced. NSR has forced old, unreliable coal plants to continue operating while producing more carbon per unit of electrify generated. 

I have seen supercritical and ultra-supercritical technologies that can increase combustion temperatures and operating efficiencies high enough to replace coal plants built many decades ago with plants that increase power output with less fuel while producing less carbon emissions. This technology is already available and being used, both here and in other countries. 

This summer I spoke with an executive from a major engineering, procurement and construction firm. Like me, EPCs can be energy agnostics. They are happy to build whatever kind of power plant energy providers order and regulatory commissions approve. He said his company roughly estimated that if we just retired average coal plants in the existing coal fleet—not even the least efficient ones—the U.S. could build 9,000 to 10,000 MW of new coal plants using supercritical boilers and not raise our carbon footprint one bit. And integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plants using carbon capture and storage can possibly be built producing significant energy while emitting zero carbon, SOX, NOX and mercury. 

I am fully aware, probably to a greater extent than most anti-nuclear activists, of cavalier safety designs and practices routinely employed by the former Soviet Union, whose approach to a nuclear program was creating hybrid plants that provided both power and weapons-grade fuel for Mother Russia. Such astonishingly foolhardy practices led to what happened at Chernobyl, which remains the only commercial nuclear reactor accident in the 50-year history of commercial nuclear power known to have produced even a single civilian fatality. 

Like many Soviet commercial reactors, Chernobyl didn’t even provide such rudimentary safety elements as a containment building surrounding the reactor. It was as if you placed a nuclear reactor on an open platform in Utah and ran it at full power whenever the power was needed. 

Opinion polls continue to reveal that a significant number of people believe humans have never walked on the moon. They believe our Apollo missions were staged in a TV studio as an elaborate hoax perpetrated on the public for any number of self-promotional, politically motivated reasons. I personally knew an elderly couple who held this belief. This couple also believed, with equal fervor, that professional wrestling was a very real sport involving no orchestration whatsoever. 

Speaking of space, how many times have we heard people make statements like this: “If we can send a man to the moon, why can’t we (fill in the blank)?” When it comes to amateur energy pundits, it’s “If we can land a man on the moon, why can’t we create all our power from wind and solar?” The rather obvious, yet apparently elusive, flaw in this thinking is that scaling up some technologies to commercial level is a different thing entirely. We sent fewer than two dozen astronauts to the moon at an astronomical (no pun intended) cost per man. I don’t care to research a more accurate figure, but suffice it to say it was at least in the tens of millions of dollars per astronaut, expressed in 1960- and 1970-era dollars. How can one apply such numbers to the cost of providing all the electricity for everyone on earth, wherever and whenever they need it? 

Perhaps singer/composer Stevie Wonder summed it up best, when he wrote and sang, “When you believe in things you don’t understand, then you suffer. Superstition ain’t the way.” Be very careful in separating superstition from belief. And when you hold firm beliefs, make sure you have come to embrace them only after careful consideration, vetting and using that faculty you have that separates us from all other species, namely an intellect. 

One final and very personal note. I believe that every person needs to have a colonoscopy once they reach middle age if they have never had one. Depending on the results, they need to follow their doctor’s recommendation for follow-ups. I firmly believe colon cancer is one of the few absolutely preventable cancers, but only if caught early by a colonoscopy, which is the surest way of doing so. I did not have this completely painless and only slightly unpleasant procedure performed until it was far too late. 

And so it is, with deep sadness and regret, that I will no longer be able to continue working with my dear friends at Power Engineering and all of you who read us, watch us and contribute to the excellence of our pages, videos, webcasts, programs and events. Being engaged in the power industry means you are involved in one of the most important and critical industries on Earth. And objectively writing about it is especially important to all of society, and to every one of us. 

I pray you will continue to explore the truth, separate facts from fervently held but unfounded beliefs and promote deployment of technologies that will best assure peace and prosperity for our world, both for our current generation and for those to come. 

Editor’s Note: This was Steve’s last column. He died September 22 after battling the cancer he wrote about. He was 63. Steve was a longtime journalist with a passion for the electric power industry. Steve was a writer, editor, communications manager and company spokesperson and policy analyst. He joined this magazine in 2000 and was instrumental in creating, nurturing and expanding the Coal-Gen conference; he is shown, above, moderating the 2007 Keynote Session. Those of us at Power Engineering magazine appreciated his integrity, intellect and sense of humor, which never left him. Equally remarkable in his final days was his quiet poise and strength. In the end he offered us many lessons for which we had not thought to ask. Steve lived in Dallas and is survived by his wife Patricia, sons Robert and Charles and by countless friends around the world.

Power Engineering October, 2009

The gospel truth

When Mother Theresa got to Heaven, God welcomed her with open arms. To celebrate, He opened a can of tuna and some crackers. 

Every day God repeated this ritual, always with tuna fish and crackers. But Mother Theresa couldn’t help but notice that when she looked down between the cracks, everyone down below was feasting on elaborately prepared meals and desserts. 

One day she mustered up the courage to ask “Why are they eating like that and all we have up here in Heaven is tuna fish and crackers?” 

“Well, you know how it is,” God replied. “When there are only two of us there’s no sense going to a lot of trouble.”

Wars, massacres and atrocities in the name of God

Back in the days when I was a very outspoken atheist I used to regularly claim that “More people have died in the name of religion than for any other reason” or “More people have been killed in the name of some God or other than for any other reason in the history of mankind.” While making such statements seemed to bolster my position and shore up my need to be right I’m afraid I eventually had to admit I was very misinformed. 

Here’s one scholar’s list of the worst things people have done to each other in the history of the world:

 50 million Second World War, 1937-45

40 million Mao Tse-tung, China, 1949-75

40 million Mongol Conquests, 13th Century

25 million Manchu Conquest, China, 13th Century

20 million Taiping Rebellion, China, 1850-64

20 million Annihilation of the American Indians

20 million Iosif Stalin, USSR, 1924-53

19 million Mideast Slave Trade

18 million Atlantic Slave Trade

17 million Timur Lenk, Asia, 1616-1644

15 million First World War, 1914-18

9 million Russian Civil War, 1917-22

9 million Thuggee (Thagi), India, 13th C. to ca. 1838

8 million Decline & Fall of Rome, 150-475

7 million Thirty Years War, Europe, 1618-48

5 million Congo Free State, 1886-1908

3 million Chinese Civil War, China, 1945-49

With the exception of the assassinations of the Thuggee (a religious cult from which the term “thug” derived), all of these wars, massacres or atrocities were fought almost exclusively over political and cultural differences. For the sake of comparison, the Crusades (1095-1291) claimed about 1,000,000 lives (and many historians today would claim that the Crusades were actually political/cultural wars fought under the guise of religion).

The bottom line is that the casualties from wars fought over religious differences are statistically quite insignificant when it comes to world totals from all wars, massacres or atrocities.  For more information, consider Matthew White’s Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century.