In 1689, John Locke wrote A Letter on Toleration. In the letter, written as a response to certain questions about his religious views, he says:

Who sees not how frequently the name of the Church, which was venerable in time of the apostles, has been made use of to throw dust in the people’s eyes in the following ages? But, however, in the present case it helps us not. The one only narrow way which leads to heaven is not better known to the magistrate than to private persons, and therefore I cannot safely take him for my guide, who may probably be as ignorant of the way as myself, and who certainly is less concerned for my salvation than I myself am.

Locke is not 100% behind total toleration of any religion, but the exceptions are based on conditions that existed in the 17^th century. He was a very influential political philosopher, especially among many of the “founding fathers”.

I’m not going to go into my personal beliefs for the simple facts that they are personal and beliefs. They may not suit you, and if you can’t believe them what’s the point? As Locke says, you can’t force someone to believe something, you can only force them to say they do to avoid punishment. It’s a situation akin to, and all too frequently over time, involving torture.

When politics and religion are mixed, history shows us that religion is always, not sometimes, always, corrupted. Over time it is religion that is altered to suit the needs of politics. Separation of church and state is the best way of protecting religion and allowing people to believe whatever they want. Does anyone really want a judge to decide the meaning of religious texts?

In unrelated news: you can put the foulest forms of medication in a quarter can of Science Diet a/d, add some water to make a gruel, and a cat will lick the bowl clean. The stuff [a/d] is expensive [$1.30/can] but, you never use more than a quarter of a can at a time for an adult cat because it is so rich. It’s good for dogs too. Definitely not recommended for over-weight pets.

Sinfonian of Blast Off! has been following the career of Sara Gonzalez, who was appointed by Governor Charlie Crist to be the chair of the state’s Public Employee Relations Commission. Some might wonder why a dermatologist’s assistant with an undergraduate degree in biology and a master’s in physician assistant studies should be appointed to a position normally held by a lawyer with labor law experience, but that is staid, old-fashioned thinking that ignores Mrs. Gonzalez’s most important qualification: she’s the wife of Crist’s recently hired general counsel, Jason Gonzalez.

Alas the naysayers have won out as Sara Gonzalez has withdrawn her name after the nasty people in the Republican Senate made it known that there was no way they were going to approve this concept. Well, there is a certain amount of bad karma associated with counsels named Gonzales, but apparently even the wingers in the Florida Senate felt this dog wouldn’t hunt.

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I’ve been tied up with vets, sewers, taxes, and a very annoying Motorola cell phone that they apparently designed not to disturb people by making the ring tone audible, so posting has been light at the cottage of cats and chaos.

As Mustang Bobby at Bark Bark Woof Woof noted Spring Break in Daytona Beach is apparently the place for midwestern college students to get drunk and detonate dynamite. From WKMG: Dynamite Explosion In Daytona Was Second In Two Nights, Students Say. Safe to say the state of Florida takes a dim view of dynamiting motels, even during Spring Break, and the three young men involved will be three significantly older men before they get back to college.

The Pensacola Beach Blog is really annoyed at the local media for failing to fact check press releases from our local Congresscretin: Jeff Miller’s Mendacity – Masked Again.

I wrote about the chuckehead from Chumuckla [think Deliverance, but no one capable of playing the banjo¹] back in June of 2006 in Sell Out To Big Oil, and now he’s claiming credit for stopping the bill he voted for and the local media is printing the lie.

1. I grew up here, I’m allowed to defame the local communities, as they have opposing high school football teams.