Desperados Under the Eaves

Brilliant

2010-07-04T09:32:00.001-05:00

God Hates

2010-04-28T13:45:00.000-05:00

A few thoughts on Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. I’ve noticed a huge backlash even among theists against Fred and his bunch. It’s easy to trace the backlash to when Fred decided to get some real publicity he would start protesting at soldier’s funerals. While appreciate the push-back from moderate Christian sources against Phelps, I wanted to point out one thing: There was very little push-back when Westboro was only protesting funerals of gay civilians. They protested the the funeral of Mathew Shepard, a gay man who was killed because of his homosexuality.

You must forgive me if I find all the push-back a bit “too little too late” now that Phelps is targeting military funerals. He’s been spreading his hatred for many years now, and moderate Christians didn’t seem to be very concerned about it. Only when they show up at a funeral of a soldier is his message “extreme” or “non-Christian.” I might be tempted to conclude that his behavior was fine with these new critics when he was only protesting the funerals of gays.

As an aside, I can not really see a legal reason why Westboro cannot protest at a military funeral. Free speech is free speech. The only time our commitment to free speech really matters is when someone repugnant like Fred Phelps is speaking. If we only allow speech that we like, than that is not free speech.

I’m pretty sure the extreme reaction to Westboro has to do with the dark underbelly of Christianity that they shine a light on. Their attitude toward gays isn’t all that different than many evangelical’s viewpoint. Sure, they aren’t unsophisticated as to say “God Hates Fags,” but they’ll gladly tell you that God condemns homosexuality and that it’s a “sinful lifestyle.” It doesn’t take an extremely obtuse reading of the Bible to conclude god does indeed hate fags, or at least he’s willing to destroy entire cities to get rid of them. It’s one of they few sins that somehow prohibits you from being a “good Christian.” (Why most of the other sins, like adultery get a pass, I’ll never know.) To be fair, these folks will pray for and try to “save” homosexuals, not spit at them. I do note the difference.

I’ve long been convinced that moderate Christianity provide the setting for the extremists to work in. Sure, they don’t sail the ship, but they help build it. When they don’t do their do diligence in countering extremism in their own ranks, they bolster this perception. Taking a stand against protesting a gay funeral takes a bit more courage than wrapping yourself in the flag and taking a stand at a soldier’s funeral. It’s a nice gesture, but we can do better and stand up for everyone.

AA BS

2010-04-20T14:03:00.000-05:00

Judge backs Redding Atheist who balked at Religious Anti-drug Program.

Summary: An Atheist serving a drug program was order into drug treatment. Despite asking for a non-religious program, and despite such programs being available, his jackass of a corrections officer told him he had to stay in the program run by Alcoholics Anonymous. After being forced to attend anyway, he was then arrested because he was being “disruptive” in the program.

I’m of course happy that the court saw things the right way, and didn’t force someone to be subjected to religious bullshit in order to complete his sentence. The disturbing part is how hard it was for this man to get justice done. He should not have had to go through the ordeal at all. It doesn’t seem from the article that the parole office in question received any kind of discipline for his actions however. I hope he gets a large settlement. A message has to be sent that violating peoples constitutional right to not have religion shoved down their throat by the government.

On a side note: It’s disturbing that Alcoholics Anonymous gets so many “captive” clients, because they’ve never shown that their programs are at all effective. In fact, there is a lot of evidence that they are less effective than many alternatives. AA was developed using so called “spiritual” values, not with any scientific study. Not surprisingly, when you try to tackle something as complicated as substance abuse using what “feels good” you tend to fail. Proving effectiveness with research is time consuming and difficult after all.

(Please spare me your stories of how AA helped your uncle/dad/mom/whatever. If you don’t understand why anecdotal evidence is of no use, then you need to go do your homework.)

Talkin' about the man

2010-04-19T20:21:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty much required to post this link to: Talkin’ about the man: 18 real and fictional characters in Warren Zevon songs.

Breaking Good News

2010-04-01T16:33:00.000-05:00

Simon Singh won his libel case in the UK. Who is Simon Singh. He’s a very courageous Science Writer who was sued by Chiropractor Quacks in the U.K. He tested claims that they could treat a host of childhood diseases.

“Singh was accused of libel by the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) over an opinion piece he wrote in the Guardian in April 2008. He suggested there was a lack of evidence for the claims some chiropractors make on treating certain childhood conditions including colic and asthma. The BCA alleged that Singh had in effect accused its leaders of knowingly supporting bogus treatments.”

This is a huge victory for the skeptical community in the U.K. Way to go Mr. Singh!

Don't just take my word for it.

2010-04-01T15:47:00.000-05:00

What do I know anyway?

Here’s a list of great places to go to get more (and probably better) information on skepticism, rationalism, atheism and lots of other great “isms.”

The James Randi Education Foundation: home of the million dollar challenge to prove paranormal claims. So far no one has won. Huh.

Quackwatch: Homeopathy, Chiropractors, and Anti-Vaccinators oh my! Not exactly thrilled with the “So 10 years ago” layout of this site, but the info is good.

Skeptic.com: home of Skeptic Magazine.

Center for Inquiry: Got Claims? They’ll investigate them.

American Atheists: Stand up and be proud.

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State: This is an important one for atheists and believers who believe the wall of separation is important.

Richard Dawkins: The leader of the so-called “new atheists.” Those are the atheists that are so radical they actually say they are atheists in public. Scary.

Depleted Cranium: The Blog of Bad Science. No, he doesn’t do bad science, he debunks it.

Friendly Atheist: Good for a more global view of atheism.

There. That ought to get you started. Go out there and do your own research for a change.

Texas two-step

2010-03-30T13:10:00.000-05:00

Should we be worried about the Texas Textbook Massacre? In case you haven’t heard, the state of Texas has stacked the deck in writing the textbook standards in the state. Thomas Jefferson’s Enlightenment ideas are too “liburel” for Texas. They are also making sure that the contributions of minorities are marginalized or ignored. Is any of this surprising? Hardly. To be honest, my opinion of the “Great” state of Texas couldn’t be much lower. This is state that probably spends more on executing it’s citizens than educating them. (hyperbole warning: not an actual statistic.) As the New York times summed it up:

There were no historians, sociologists or economists consulted at the meetings, though some members of the conservative bloc held themselves out as experts on certain topics.

Given the general anti-intellectualism of the far right these days, it comes as no surprise that politics is driving most of the decisions, not scholarship.

Why does this matter if you don’t live in Texas? Because Texas and California combine to be by far the largest buyers of textbooks. The textbook makers have generally had to have their books pass the standards of those states, or it wouldn’t be profitable to print the books. This is how Texas standards of education become your standards. Given that Texas graduates 61% of it’s student from high school (of those who enter 9th grade) which is puts it 43rd in the nation, it’s entirely possible that you don’t want your standards to be influenced by people who “held themselves out as experts on certain topics.” Maybe those same experts could turn their expertise on helping Texas’ struggling schools?

I believe that there is hope on the horizon, however. I’ve long given up hope that it is possible to change the mind-numbingly obtuse political and cultural climate of Texas. What does bring some hope is technology. I believe that higher tech publishing methods will allow publishers to tailor their textbooks to different states. Texas won’t hold sway over everyone’s children anymore. Sadly, Texas will still be churning out uniformed young adults, but that hasn’t slowed them down in the past.

Swing and a Miss

2010-03-22T12:03:00.000-05:00

This Blog Post by Andrew Brown entitled “Catholic Child Abuse in Proportion” is a marvel in missing the point. At least, I’m going to give Mr. Brown the benefit of the doubt and say that he missed the point. A more cynical person might find a deliberate attempt to muddy the water.

To save you some reading, Mr. Brown goes through some elaborate statistics in order to prove his central point: that the rates of abuse among the Catholic Clergy are no worse than other organizations. He describes the rates of abuse as “not remarkable.”

I don’t even care to look at Mr. Brown’s numbers. I don’t care because they do not matter one bit. Child abuse will happen anywhere children are. What Mr. Brown seems to want to bury here is what the real scandal is:

THE COVER UP!

It’s the Catholic Church’s years of covering up abuse by Priests that is the issue here, Mr. Brown. Shipping Priests around to different locations and passing the problems on to others. I consider the people who covered up the abuse only slightly less guilty than the abusers themselves. So no Mr. Brown, I don’t care about all your statistics about rates of abuse. They do not matter.

The blog post also ends with quite a statement: “Certainly the safeguards against paedophilia in the priesthood are now among the tightest in the world.” Really? They are? He cites no proof for this statement, so I really don’t feel the need to find my own facts to refute it.

The question remains: can one miss the point this widely by accident?

Could it be Satan?

2010-03-16T13:35:00.001-05:00

The Vatican chief exorcist has found the true cause of the sex scandals rocking the Catholic Church. It’s this guy:

That’s right Satan is in the Vatican. This is why believing in magic and devils is such an advantage. You don’t have to take responsibility for anything. How did an organization supposedly led by God’s representative on earth let so many children get abused by it’s own members? Satan did it. Very convenient. It’s also an insult and a joke to all those who’s lives were shattered by this scandal.

I have to wonder what this revelation does to the whole Free Will solution to the Problem of Evil? Was it Satan or was it free will? I’m sure an apologist would say that the Devil tempted people but they used their free will to make choices. Seems like a lot of rhetorical contortion to me though. With whom does the blame reside? Is Satan responsible or are the priests (and the officials who covered it up) responsible for their own actions?

Genius

2010-03-10T13:40:00.000-06:00

The Journey Part 3

2010-03-10T12:59:00.000-06:00

It’s been so long since I wrote about this. Here are the direct links to part one and two:
The Journey Part 1
The Journey Part 2

When we last left our bold adventurer, he had just discovered the clergy is full of crap.

Did I go out and start researching things on my own right away? Hell no. I had high school to finish, and college to look forward to. That day in the church was always in the back of my mind, however.

I went to college and didn’t think about religion or church all that much. I fell into what had to be the most secular group of friends you could ever find. It just didn’t come up all that often. I just called myself agnostic and left it at that. (See this post for my discussion of that term.) The closest to religion I ever got was the people I knew who were Neopagans. They weren't much for evangelicalism.

One day I read a book called Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Now let me just stop one minute and say right up front: this book is mostly bullshit. It's very fun to read bullshit, however, as evidenced by The Da Vinci Code that was ripped off inspired by it. It does have one virtue. It makes a pretty good case that what is presented by orthodox sources as the history of Christianity and the formation of canon was peppered with quite a bit of bullshit too. While the author's conclusions are certainly a bit off kilter, they were able to show me that there was quite a bit more to the story of Jesus and the Catholic Church than I'd previously been told. I thought back to that priest complaining about a movie he never went to see and it all started to click.

I started to look for better sources. I wanted to know how the sausage was made. I wasn't interested in learning about the philosophical implications of atheism or anything like that. I just wanted to know what those priests had been keeping from me all these years.

To be continued...

Miracle Aborted

2010-03-07T12:31:00.000-06:00

Bad news on the effort to make Pope John Paul II a saint. Seems that the lady he cured isn’t really cured, and might not have had the condition The Vatican thought she had:

“Now, a Polish newspaper, Rzeczpospolita, reports Simon-Pierre's symptoms have returned. The newspaper also said her doctor, on his Web site, suggested she did not suffer from Parkinson's but from a disease with the same symptoms that is known to go into remission.”

This is a serious blow to the late Pontiff because you need a miracle or martyrdom for the Sainthood to be approved. I will not be surprised, however, if another miraculous remission miracle is found to keep John Paul II on track for sainthood. Given this display of ineptitude in Papal investigations, maybe it’s not a surprise all that sexual abuse went on under their noses?

Here’s the question that comes into my head at a time like this: Why do all the modern miracles suck so bad? They are always cures of some hard to diagnose condition. No one ever regrows a limb, or gets their club-foot straightened out anymore. Heck, in the past we have reports of Catholic Saints flying! Speaking as an atheist here, but if the Pope flew across St. Peter’s square I’d have to at least reexamine my beliefs for sure. Why doesn’t God do this anymore?

The answer is obvious of course. As the ability of science to explain how disease works (including diseases that go into remission) coupled with our technology that allows fantastic claims to be investigated more easily has made the modern miracle more difficult. God has to work in even more “mysterious ways.” The miracles have to become more subtle because we don’t have to rely on word of mouth from illiterate villagers that Saint Whats-his-face flew across the town.

Don’t worry John Paul, I’m sure the same crack squad of investigators that found out about priest sexual abuse will whip you up a new miracle so that you can get your rightful place among the saints.

Notebook 3.0 Review

2010-03-01T16:10:00.001-06:00

I completed my last blog post with a help of a little Mac app called Notebook by Circus Ponies Software. What is Notebook? The biggest problem with reviewing Notebook is describing what it does. Here's the basic description from the Circus Ponies website:

"is your desktop cluttered with files? Are you drowning in sticky notes? Boxes of note cards? 3-ring binders? Do you remember where to find that important web clipping? The brilliant idea or crucial instruction you scribbled on a piece of paper? Circus Ponies NoteBook is the award-winning application that helps Mac users manage all those bits of information that lack a good home. Whether it's the notes, clippings, and to dos of your life, or the e-mails, diagrams and spreadsheets of that important project, NoteBook helps you keep it all organized and accessible."

Basically if you need to gather, store and work with information than Notebook can help. I use it for so many things now it's hard to count. The list of things it does is stunning.

• draw diagrams and shapes
• voice annotation
• annotate PDFs
• Keep to do lists
• manage projects
• store clippings from email, web, or any other location

It's hard for me to do justice to what it can do. The best place to start is to watch the video tour on the website. If those videos don't peak your interest, than this program is not for you.

There is one word of caution. Notebook is well integrated in OSX's services menu and applications. That means that Notebook works seamlessly with Mail, Address Book and Safari. Want to save an address? you can just drag and drop the card from Address book. If you clip something from an email from Mail, the person's contact info is automatically added to the clipping. What if you don't use these applications? Well, Notebook still works and you will find a lot of uses for it. I love notebook so much that I went back to using some of them. I use Safari for web research because it's just so easy to clip information to notebook. (On a side note, this wouldn't be a problem if Firefox would be integrated with the services menu.) There is a bit of a learning curve for some of the advanced features, but the videos and community forums have lots of great information. Another great feature is the Multidex. It's an instant index of everything in your notebook:

"Find anything instantly using NoteBook's patented Multidex™, that locates information based on what you remember about it: a name or number, the date you entered it, a keyword you assigned, even any combination. Then share it all by creating PDFs or publishing your Notebooks to the web, including direct web export to your MobileMe account."

There are two niggling issues with notebook. One is being worked on. Notebook 3.0 was supposed to ship with support for tables. That was delayed. (You can still imbed a table from another application such as Numbers, however.) The other issue is the inability to currently make your own official templates. You can do it of course by making a template and then immediately using "save as" to give it a different name, thus saving the original. But the ability to save something as a template is a huge omission.

As you can tell by this post, I love Notebook and use it all the time. Watch the videos. I was hooked after watching them. There is a free time-limited demo available.

Crusade

2010-03-01T15:38:00.002-06:00

A disturbing trend has come to light from several sources. That trend is the influence Christian Evangelicals are having on the U.S. Military. This article from Harper's magazine shows in pretty stark detail the level of the evangelical infiltration in the U.S. Military. Further reading can be found here from the Baltimore Chronicle. Leaving aside that it is basically unfair and unconstitutional to favor one groups religious views over another in the military, it's also jeopardizing the military mission overseas. Convincing Muslims that we are really on a religious crusade plays right into the hands of recruiters in radical Islamic Groups.
Do Evangelicals really have that much influence? By many accounts they do. Soldiers are told about the importance of Christ from the moment they enter basic training in some cases. The Freedom From Religion Foundation keeps a great record of violations by military officials. Read here for an example of evangelicals breaking the rules on sectarian prayer. Quoting from an account from a soldier:

"Early that morning, a unit from the 109th National Guard Infantry dropped off their morning chow. With it came a holiday special—a video of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and a chaplain to sing the film’s praises, a gory cinematic sermon for an Easter at war. Humphrey ducked into the chow room to check it out. “It was the part where they’re killing Jesus, which is, I guess, pretty much the whole movie. Kind of turned my stomach.” He decided he’d rather burn trash."

Are they really jeopardizing the mission? This excellent article by Chris Rodda makes a good case. How could placing "Jesus killed Mohammed" in Arabic on the side of military equipment not be seen as an incitement to extremism? Could there be any better recruiting tool?

What can be done? I suggest finding a activist group that you can support. An excellent one is the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. You can lend your support here.

Poor Poor Neglected Blog

2010-01-17T10:26:00.003-06:00

Here's a little something. I'll get back to you, I promise.

Not Forgotten

2009-10-01T16:33:00.001-05:00

I have not forgotten about my Blog again. What I have been doing is searching for a tool that would help me write better posts. I believe I have found that tool in Notebook 3 from Circus Ponies Software. Stay tuned for a post written with the help of Notebook, as well as a mini review of this software.

May I disturb you?

2009-08-17T15:40:00.004-05:00

Back in my home state of Iowa the Iowa Atheists and Free Thinkers have caused quite a stir. They put up a bus add that was such a sight, that Governor Chet Culver felt he had to weigh in on the subject. He said:

"I was disturbed, personally, by the advertisement and I can understand why other Iowans were also disturbed by the message that it sent."

Wow, that's quite a statement. The governor was "disturbed." What could those crazy atheists have come up with to disturb the governor so? They obviously said something nasty about Jesus's mother! Let's take a look at what the ad said:

Pretty "disturbing" right? It's completely outrageous that they would imply that there are others who might not believe in God.

This highlights an unspoken truth behind the beliefs of the typical Iowa Christian. They are "disturbed" by mere existence of atheists. The mere idea that someone doesn't agree with them about their god is enough to make them unhappy. The atheist doesn't have to do or say anything. They don't have to criticize Christianity or be "disrespectful" to their beliefs. The simple act of standing up and saying "I don't believe" is all that it takes. How does one go about co-existing with theists when your mere existence they find repugnant?

Governor Culver's asinine statement was particularly annoying to me because, before moving to Illinois, I voted for the guy.

The Courage to Doubt

2009-07-27T17:33:00.005-05:00

Once in a while you come across a blog post that makes you stand up and take notice. That happened to me recently while reading the excellent blog Unreasonable Faith. The post titled 10 Ways to Embrace Doubt and Find Truth by Daniel Florien is so good, that my only criticism is that it wasn't around when I started my journey into doubt. I would have found it greatly comforting back then. Check it out for yourself. I would like to highlight a couple of the points and weigh in:

3) Learn to love truth, not being right.

Truth is beautiful. Unfortunately, none of us possess the entirety of truth. That’s why we see arrogance as a vice — nobody likes a person who think they are always right. We all know people like this. Don’t love being right and telling others they are wrong — love seeking the truth. This requires humility and skepticism.

I was once asked by a friend "Why rain on everyone's parade, if religion works for them, who cares?" I didn't have a great answer at the time. I know now that it's because the search for the pure truth is beautiful. It's a search that I find compelling and I see no need to apologize for it.

10) Always ask yourself, “How do I know that?”

The more extraordinary a claim is, the more extraordinary evidence there must be in order to believe it.

This is a powerful question because it gets at the root of belief. On matters of religion, you will probably find there is nothing to stand on but “faith.”

This is good advice for everyday life. There are many things that we "know" but we never stop to think how we could know them. We all "know" Jesus was a real man right? Or was he? How do we know this? How is Jesus automatically real but Hercules is a myth? It pays to ask yourself this question often, to not rely on things you've always "known."

I can't say enough what a great post this is for those who are just starting down the road to doubt. If you are unsure, and are having trouble just getting past the idea that you should question your beliefs, I think that this list of advice can be a great comfort to you on your journey.

Global Struggle

2009-07-12T20:29:00.002-05:00

I've been meaning to comment on this article discussing the difficulty that Sweden is having with Muslims and their so called "liberal" sex education policies. (Their policies are "liberal" in the sense the that they have sex education as far as I can tell.) Here's a summary of the controversy:

"Proper condom use, sex positions and same-sex relationships are all part of the curriculum for 14-year-old students in Swedish high schools.

But many Muslim immigrants, who require their daughters and wives to wear head scarves to ensure modesty, have prevented their children from attending the classes.

A new law proposes to change that by abolishing a provision that was initially created for Catholic and Jewish students looking to get out of religious education classes. All students were allowed to opt out of subjects if they wanted.

Without that provision, Muslim parents would no longer be able to stop their teenage children from participating in the mandatory sex education, or in sports lessons."

I think this is a perfect example of a basic practical problem with religion in society. We all have to live together. With the diversity of beliefs in the world, how do we accommodate them all? Who's beliefs do we accommodate and who's do we ignore? I don't think that I really have to go out of my way to bend over backwards to make sure that every single groups superstitious beliefs are taken into account. In a rational world, we would be able to demonstrate the value in sex education for young people, and not have to defend our decision against those who would appeal to ancient manuscripts for an objection. Irrational beliefs are fine if we all believe them.

The other interesting part of the above quote is the law that was created that allowed students to opt out of religious education classes. I find the fact that believers would be so afraid of students learning about religion in an academic setting. Of course they understand that there really is a danger. Without all the carefully crafted theatrics of the Church or Synagogue, the story that they are trying to tell tends to lose it's luster.

My Favorite Fallacy

2009-07-10T13:53:00.004-05:00

Recently, I was sucked into a debate of sorts about belief in God through a post a friend made on Facebook. I'd post a link but being on Facebook, I don't think it would work anyway. During the course of the debate, I took someone to task for using a logical fallacy. Logical fallacies are a favorite playground of believers in my experience. I took someone to task over their fallacy. I have to now confess that I think I cited the wrong fallacy in my responses. They were making a error of logic to be sure, but not exactly the one that I brought up.

The logical fallacy that I accused them of was called Special Pleading. Special Pleading is the fallacy of applying special rules, principals, etc. to others while taking themselves to be exempt without providing adequate justification for the exemption. I applied this principal to the very familiar "You can't prove there's no God" statement. While it can be made to fit, it assumes too much. I assumed that the claimant has agreed to the rules of evidence and discovery that we commonly use. The implications of a world where everyone doesn't accept those rules is staggering, nevertheless, I was wrong to assume that the claimant was agreeing to that.

What I really should have pointed out was a different fallacy: Shifting the Burden of Proof. Make no mistake, when claiming that something, anything exists, the Burden of Proof is on you. No one is required to "Prove God doesn't exist." If this was a requirement, what a crazy world we would find ourselves in. All claims would be on the table unless proven wrong. Given that the number of possible claims is infinite, this creates quite a quandary. Of course, what they are really saying is "You can't prove God doesn't exist, so he does." If we applied that kind of thinking to everything else, it's easy to see how it just doesn't hold up. Every claim is true until proven not true? That way lies madness.

Zicam Sham

2009-06-25T20:12:00.002-05:00

I'm a little late to the party on this one. Things have been crazy lately.

As you may or may not have heard, cold "remedy" Zicam has been recalled because of reported cases of anosmia. Anosmia is a loss of the sense of smell. While I applaud the FDA for pulling a potentially dangerous product, there remains another point that seems to be ignored here.

There's no evidence that Zicam works!

At this point I was going to call for the FTC to do it's job and shut down Zicam like they did with Airborne. But I'm not going to. They've already done enough. Right on all of these products there is a warning. They have to tell you that their product hasn't been found to do anything. Here we have products on the shelves that say right on them that they do nothing. Yet people continue to buy them. At this point, who's fault is it? Is it the FTC's fault for not doing more prosecution for false advertising?

It's time for people to wake up. Skepticism and critical thinking need to be a way of life for everyone. Only by taking responsibility for ourselves can we really be assured of not getting taken. Don't wait for the government to do your critical thinking for you.

I feel that there is a connection to religion here that often goes unsaid. Religion is the enemy of critical thinking. We teach people to take things on faith. Once you accept without evidence that a man got out of his grave and walked around, sticking some homeopathic concoction up your nose to relieve your cold doesn't seem like such a stretch. I'm not saying that everyone who believes in a god is gullible, I've of course met theists with critical thinking skills. However, the basis of most religion seems to be an emphasis on not having evidence. I'm not going to claim here that I can make a definite causal claim about religion and gullibility, I think there's something to be said in how we introduce people to evaluating claims.

The Language of Life and Death

2009-06-15T19:53:00.004-05:00

I learned last week that an old dear friend of mine (who lived far away) took his own life. I won't go into details as I do not want to trivialize this tragedy with a blog post. It did bring up an interesting situation for this atheist.

Over the weekend, a wake of sorts was held in his honor. I spent a long time talking, reminiscing, and grieving with old friends. I have to say that this crowd is generally one of the most secular crowds that you'll ever encounter. I'm not saying that they are all atheists, but they have a very secular way of going about things. I heard no one talk about Jesus or God really. A few times people spoke of the generic "better place" but that was about it. I'm sure there were at least some religious people there, and it's possible my reputation precedes me, thus any religious talk was done out of my earshot. It's also true that the person we were gathering to remember was not religious either, so maybe people adapted. Anyway, the point it that this was not a typical Christian crowd in the midwest.

What I did notice is that most of our vocabulary related to life and death, especially when coupled with the grieving process, seems to be tied up in religion. It was difficult for me, and I'm assuming others, to talk about the situation without the trappings of theism to wrap them in. Theists have many stock phrases that just work because we know what they are supposed to mean. "I'll be praying for him." It's a shorthand that seems to tap into some psychological need. For an atheist, it seems that we just haven't developed the language that gets at the same mental zone just yet. Or maybe we have and I'm just ignorant of it?

In the end, we told stories, laughed and cried. I think that everyone made it through without having the "right" words all of the time. As mankind evolves out of superstition, our language may have to keep up with our growth.

Celebrity Woo

2009-06-04T19:33:00.003-05:00

I've watched in horror as celebrities, most notably Jenny McCarthy (who's celebrity status is debatable) and Jim Carrey have begun to undermine the general public's confidence in childhood immunizations. At first, I was willing to give Ms. McCarthy a pass since I can sympathize the pain and frustration that watching a child manifest autism must cause. When tragedy happens, it's many people's instinct to find a "reason." To accept that a something like autism just happens can make us feel all the more helpless in the face of adversity.

Unfortunately, the stakes are too high. One of the most amazing medical success stories is in danger of being unraveled by celebrity glitz and a few incompetent scientists. Not only has this celebrity couple caused the deaths of children, they are possibly going to bring back childhood disease that someone of my generation never had to face. Enough is enough.

Get the facts, and see how this whole mess got started here.

Jephthah: God is Love

2009-05-28T09:37:00.000-05:00

Get on with the Podcast

2009-05-26T13:53:00.003-05:00

I've been in Vegas for a week, and did not feel the urge to post amid the drinking, gambling, and general cavorting. Rest assured that I have not fallen completely off the Blog-train.

Just like to take a minute to highlight two great podcasts that I'm listening too. Do people still listening to podcasts? Am I the only one?

The first one come all the was from Texas in the form of The Non-Prophets. Sponsored by the Atheist Community of Austin, this is just a fun listen. It's probably better suited to the solid non-believer, they don't spend a lot of time trying to convert the believer and they are irreverent to say the least. They are just fun bunch of atheists and there's some good general nerd content as well.

I just started listening to Reasonable Doubts. Now these guys are smart. Like way out of my league. Go to the page and check out the credentials. Their counter-apologetic skills are razor sharp. They would recommend them to the open-minded believer or even just the undecided. They are not just talking off the cuff, they know their stuff.

The Journey Part 2

2009-05-07T11:48:00.004-05:00

When last we left our bold adventurer, he was asking annoying theological questions and getting no answers.

I quickly learned to just do what they told me. It paid off. See, my parents where what I all "partially lapsed Catholics." It's a strange state of being that I'll describe but I won't attempt to explain. It was important to them for me to get through all of the childhood sacraments: Baptism, Confession and especially Confirmation. Confirmation cements your official status as a Catholic. Why was this important to my parents? I'm not really sure. My parents rarely went to church. They went for the required funerals and weddings of course, and they sometimes went on major holidays, especially Christmas. I'm pretty sure they were not the only ones, considering the Church was much more crowded on Christmas. I leave the speculation about what's going on with people who attend church only on Christmas for another time.

Once I achieved my Confirmation, I was free to drift for a few years. I didn't really think too much about God issues, the complications of my adolescence were enough to keep my hormone addled brain busy enough. I went to Church when I had to and mostly found it boring and pointless. Rarely did they say anything that I found particularly useful to my life. Little did I know an unlikely force would require me to face matters of faith much sooner than I thought.

That force would be dating. Yes dating. Growing up in Iowa, it's not too surprising that my first couple of girlfriends were farm girls. If there's anyone who's more into God than the average Iowan it's Iowa Farmers. Being no fool, I always thought it was a good policy to try and get your girlfriend's parents to like you if you could. Going to Church with the family was a good idea. More importantly, it was not a good I idea to decline if invited to go to Church. As High School went on I attended Church more often than I intended. Did this cause me to examine my beliefs any closer? Not really, until a certain sermon during my Senior Year caught my attention.

As I said, up until this time I had not given much thought to matters of faith. I was pretty sure I didn't like Church, but that seemed mostly because they were outdated and didn't speak to me. I guess I always had the thought in the back of my head that there was something to God and Jesus, I just wasn't finding it in Church. I felt like the Priest up there at least knew what he was talking about, even if he didn't know how to talk to me very well. I thought of the Priests generally wise men, although I was starting to have my doubts. Then came a film called "The Last Temptation of Christ."

I was at church with my girlfriend and family. During the sermon, the Priest talked about a movie called "The Last Temptation of Christ." I'd heard of the movie but I never really paid much attention to it. The Priest was not too impressed with the movie. I only half listened when he discussed it. Then I caught this statement: "I for one, have no desire to see a movie where Jesus has a roll in the hay with Mary Magdalene." This caught my attention, because obviously (to me) he had never even seen the film. This wasn't a review, it was a preemptive strike, based on erroneous information (I would later learn.) It probably sounds strange now, but this was somewhat shocking to me at the time. I've since learned of course, that Priests are just as full of crap as the rest of us, probably more so. I didn't run out and become and Atheist on the spot, but I did decide that any decision about God wasn't going to come from some old fossil who's too lazy to do actual research before constructing his sermon.

To be continued.

Resurrecting the Resurrection

2009-05-04T20:30:00.004-05:00

Not to long ago I submitted an entry to Honest Uncertainty's website concerning the "truth" of the resurrection. I tried to do a passable job given the limits of my time and resources. Honest Uncertainly recently pointed me to a very well done article penned by Dan Barker entitled "Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead." It covers the territory I was trying to cover much more thoroughly and is well documented. I have to give credit to Honest Uncertainty, he does not ignore the any point of view, and, despite my reservations concerning his methods, he lives up to his screen name.

Follow Up

2009-04-30T12:36:00.004-05:00

Those wacky Chiros! Check out this link to the Swine Flu Chiropractors Handout.

Here's the money shot:

"How can I protect myself from swine flu? Build your immune system! Get adjusted! Studies show that being adjusted twice a week can increase your immune system function by up to 400%."

Wow, only twice a week to boost your immune system by 400%? What a bargain. I wonder if they can increase my IQ also? It's just as plausible.

A funny thing happened

2009-04-23T13:32:00.003-05:00

...on the way to this post. I was researching a post about Chiropractors when I came across a really great post from Unreasonable Faith.com. After reading it, I realized I could not possible top this well crafted post. So I'll summarize it, share my thoughts, and encourage you to read it.

Here are the major findings in the post (click on the link above to see the full discussion)

1. It was founded by quack.
2. It was spread by a quack's son, a fraud.
3. There are two kinds of chiropractors: straight and mixers.
4. Chiropractic neck manipulations can cause strokes.
5. Chiropractic therapy is no more effective than therapeutic exercise, and is more expensive and risky.
6. A doctor of Chiropractic does not not mean they are a medical doctor.
7. Chiropractors have a high fraud and sexual transgression rate.

I never had much contact with Chiropractors until I got into social work. I had many clients who visited the Chiropractor. I looked into it a bit, discovered it's origins (mildly surprised when I found out it originated in Davenport IA) and was at first appalled. Nearly all of my client were financially challenged to say the least. I was upset that my clients were being financially fleeced. But then I found out the truth: It's the rest of us who are getting fleeced because all the visits are covered by Medicaid. That's right, quackery is covered. Every time I took a client (sometimes as often as once a week) I seethed. The visits often lasted 15 minutes or less. I don't know how much they cost, but I'm sure Medicaid paid way more than they are worth.

Several years back I was in a fairly serious car accident. I recovered well but my shoulder was still stiff and achy. I was losing range of motion. My doctor referred me to physical therapy. Now physical therapy sucks. It just does. It isn't any fun at all. I had someone say to me: "go to a chiropractor, they'll fix you up." I did all the exercises and my arm recovered fully. No one "adjusted" my spine. It's a wonder how a Chiropractor would explain my recovery, considering my spine is still "misaligned." I did discover why they are so attractive though. It takes no work. Physical therapy is hard and takes a lot of time. Going to a quack weekly forever is simple. Sure, it doesn't cure you, but it makes you feel better for a while.

The Complete Gospels

2009-04-22T20:14:00.004-05:00

The Complete Gospels is an important book for those who are still on their journey, as well as an important resource for the an unbeliever. What is it? I'll let the authors speak for themselves:

"The Complete Gospels offers its readers several unique features. This volume is the premiere publication of the Scholars Version Translation of the gospels. SV, as it will be known, is a fresh translation of the original languages into idiomatic American English and is entirely free of ecclesiastical control." (emphasis mine)

The Complete Gospels contains both the canonical gospels and their extra-canonical counterparts. The are two main advantages for this book for me. First, it's important that it's free of ecclesiastical control. It's a translation is not trying to score dogmatic points, nor does it spare the delicate sensibilities of the faithful. It tries to go as close to the original meaning as the NT scholars can get. Also, the translation makes reading the gospels a truly enjoyable experience. Gone are the needless "thee and thous." It's now a story you can read with ease. It's also wonderfully annotated and cross referenced throughout.

Why is this important? I'm an Atheist, so it's a good question. I intend to tackle my study of Christianity more fully in a future post that I'm currently churning in my brain. But the short version is this: for most of us, God was presented by the New Testament. It's the framework for the idea of God, the idea of a supernatural force. In order to make the journey to where I am now, I had to understand it better. The Complete Gospels is a valuable tool for understanding that message. It also is a great window into the world of early Christian thought, which was much more diverse than the orthodoxy would have us believe.

If a look at the NT with fresh eyes appeals to you, than The Complete Gospels is a great start. I found a used copy through Amazon for a little over five dollars. Money well spent.

What would Jesus not do?

2009-04-18T11:40:00.000-05:00

Dominance and Submission

2009-04-17T08:05:00.002-05:00

I've entered a submission in fellow blogger HonestUncertainty's website. I've gotten to know him a bit through interactions on Twitter, and he seems like a stand up guy. He's trying to explore his beliefs through his blog. He issued a call for submissions on the "truth" of Jesus' resurrection. For him, if the resurrection did indeed happen then it would go a long way to solidifying his belief in Jesus as a divine being. Honestly, I normally wouldn't be interested in such a topic, since I have several fundamental differences with the basic premise. However, I've gotten to know HonestUncertainty a bit, and I thought it would at least be a good exercise for me to stretch my writing a bit. I stretched it I think, but I'm still a total hack. :)

Here's his call for submissions.

Here's my entry.

Two battles

2009-04-14T20:28:00.002-05:00

In my journey through being an "out" Atheist, I've had to consider where and how I would assert my feelings and beliefs. Religion is a touchy subject to be sure, and I really don't with to go around making people angry for amusement, despite what some folks might think. I'm not the kind of person to bust my way into a bible study group and tell everyone they are wasting their time. I think there are two separate (but certainly related) battles to fight, and they are fought in completely different ways for different purposes.

The first fight is for the Separation of Church and State. The Wall of Separation is vitally important to believers and non-believers alike. When the state is involved in religion only bad things can result. This fight is public, and I would use all political and rhetorical tools to fight it. Those who would trample the rights of others and use the government to do it are fair game. They deserve no inherent "respect" for their beliefs. They have decided to bring their beliefs into the public sphere, and furthermore they are trying to impose those beliefs on others. They invite response upon themselves and have no right to complain if they don't like what they hear. The preservation of the Wall of Separation is of importance to non-believers of course, but many believers understand it's importance to religious liberty.

I feel the second "fight" has to do with my personal feelings about religion and superstition. I do feel that mankind would be better off if the the bonds of superstition and irrational belief were tossed aside and rationality were embraced. The difference being that I would never advocate the use of the government or any other form of coercion to force these beliefs on anyone. I'm content to battle it out in the arena with all the other ideas in the world. I have to make my case like all the other ideas. I also don't go around thrusting my beliefs in other peoples faces. Sure, if you ask me directly I'll tell you where I stand. Furthermore, if you come up to me and try to jam your beliefs about Jesus down my throat I'll let you know what I think. But otherwise I feel that it should be your choice if you wish to debate such things. If you go to a blog, or some other internet site dedicated to such things, then yes, it's time to have a debate. I'm not just going to go around and call random people stupid for believing in god, as some Atheists seem delight to do. On the other hand, no one will force you to read my Blog.

I just felt these things needed clarifying, because they are so interrelated, even I sometimes forget to remember the difference.

The Thing that Made the Thing...

2009-04-09T16:23:00.002-05:00

The Journey (Part 1)

2009-04-08T19:34:00.004-05:00

Many times I've been asked just how or when I became and Atheist and a Skeptic. For me it was more of a journey than an epiphany. I can trace the seeds of my doubt all the way back as far as I can remember. To be honest, sometimes I don't remember when exactly I came to what conclusions, for me these posts will be a kind of self examination as I go along. I also hope to shed some light on my fascination with studying Christianity, and why it's important to my overall identity as a Skeptic.

I was raised as a Roman Catholic. I come from a very Catholic part of Iowa. To illustrate: I had no idea until High School that almost everyone else was not a Catholic. Seriously. I distinctly remember being confused to find out that John F. Kennedy was the only Catholic president. I mean, what were the odds! My parents were not especially devout. They didn't attend church regularly, and did not send me to Catholic school. (Probably because my Dad attended Catholic school and hated it.) They did send me to classes to learn about being a Catholic. So once a week I was sent off to learn about a Church I rarely attended.

My earliest memories of church and good Catholic classes were just that something was wrong. I could have never articulated it at that age (I'm guessing 7 or 8). I just didn't get it. It was mostly boring, with a little scary thrown in for good measure. First there's a guy bleeding on a cross. Now I (sorta) understand why that image is everywhere, but when I was a kid I could not understand it at all. It was just frightening.

I got a little older and here's where the trouble started. I asked questions. Awkward questions. For example, I questioned the trinity. It just didn't make any sense to my child mind. But leaving aside any debate over the doctrine of the trinity, it was the reaction to my questions that really left and impression. The reaction was to not answer them. I don't mean, say something like "it's complicated and we'll get to that when you are older." I mean no answer. I quickly realized that these Catholic "classes" were not like my classes at school. They didn't want you to ask questions, or discuss anything. They wanted to tell you stuff and for you to be able to regurgitate it. They didn't care if you understood anything. This state of affairs just did not sit well with me. I quickly learned to just memorize the prayers that they wanted me to memorize and get through the class. This was the first step in my rejecting Christianity and Roman Catholicism. As we'll see later, there was still a bit of journey after that to Atheism.

To be continued...

Iowa Rules

2009-04-03T16:34:00.004-05:00

There is much deserved rejoicing about the Iowa Supreme Court's Unanimous ruling on same-sex marriage. As a native Iowan, I too am feeling proud today.

The ruling is even great for Atheists and those who value the Wall of Separation. The Iowa Supreme Court takes on the religious aspect of Same-sex marriage bans in a way that I've never seen before. Quoting from the Des Moines Register Article:

The ruling, however, also addressed what it called the “religious undercurrent propelling the same-sex marriage debate,” and said judges must remain outside the fray.

Some Iowa religions are strongly opposed to same-sex marriages, the justices noted, while some support the notion.

“Our constitution does not permit any branch of government to resolve these types of religious debates and entrusts to courts the task of ensuring that government avoids them,” the opinion says.

The ruling explicitly does not affect “the freedom of a religious organization to define marriage it solemnizes as unions between a man and a woman,” the justices stressed.

It's pretty amazing to see the Iowa Supreme Court acknowledge that there really isn't any justification for Same-sex marriage bans that doesn't boil down to a religious preference. Essentially, the government takes sides in a religious debate when it upholds a ban, and that is wrong. Plain and simple.

Enough of making political points. There's a very human side to this. I have an old classmate and a cousin who are gay, and I'm so happy for them! It's a great day for them and a great day for this nation.

Definitions

2009-03-31T13:05:00.005-05:00

I recently made contact with an old friend via Facebook. She asked me "So when did you become a full blown Atheist?" It's a logical question for her because I used to describe myself as Agnostic. The answer to the question is that my beliefs didn't change, I just learned more about what the terms actually mean. There is often a lot of confusion about terms like Agnostic and Atheist. I will attempt to clear up the confusion here.

First let's tackle Atheism. Atheism means generally "believing in any god or gods." Compared with someone who is a Theist or "one who believes in a god or gods."

There are two main "flavors" of Atheism. The first is Strong Atheism which is the assertion that "there is no god." In my experience this is the more rare form of Atheism. Ironically, it's also the version of Atheism most Theists seem to be speaking of when they talk about Atheism.

The more common type of Atheism (and the type that I describe myself as) is Weak Atheism. Simply stated a Weak Atheist lacks a belief in god. I state my own beliefs as this: I've seen no evidence that there is a god or gods. I am open to changing that belief based on new evidence, just as I am open to changing every other belief I hold. This is also sometimes called "Agnostic Atheism" but more on that later.

It is important to note here that Atheism has no moral codes, no other belief systems, no blueprint for living your life. It has no churches, preachers or other official spokesmen.

Next we'll tackle the subject of Agnosticism. Agnostic comes from the word gnostic ("one who has knowledge,") therefore would roughly mean "one who lacks knowledge." The terms Atheist and Agnostic are not mutually exclusive. One deals with the belief in god, the other, whether they know that belief to be true. A lot of people think that Atheists believe that god can be proved not to exist. This is even a stronger claim than most people described as Strong Atheist would make. Proving that god doesn't exist is problematic for many reasons that I will discuss in a later post.

The Iron Chariots Wiki has a (better written) discussion of Agnostics and Atheism. They have a wonderful chart that I will summarize here because it helps to organize all of these terms beautifully. I encourage you to check out their site.

1. Agnostic Atheist: does not believe god exists, does not claim to know whether god exists
2. Gnostic Atheist: does not believe god exists, claims to know that god does not exist
3. Agnostic Theist: believes god exists, does not claim to know if this is true
4. Gnostic Theist: believes god exists, claims to know that this is true

In my experience, most Atheists are Agnostic Atheists, but most believers tend to assume that I am a Gnostic Atheist. This sets up the easy appeal of "but you can't prove god doesn't exist!" I tend to assume that most Theists are Agnostic Theists, but I could be wrong.

Disclaimer: not everyone, even other Atheists, agree on the above definitions. Some assert that strong Atheism is the true definition. I respectfully disagree and I will use the above definitions.

Assumptions

2009-03-26T19:47:00.002-05:00

I work in a smaller office with around 20 people. Occasionally we have group meals in the form of potlucks, or possibly ordering pizza from a local joint. Before we eat there is always someone who leads the group in a prayer. Not your neutral non-denominational appeal to a generic "God" but a full on appeal to Jesus in what I assume in a Protestant style. (I grew up Catholic and it did not seem like a Catholic type prayer.) Leaving aside my thoughts on this type prayer in the work place for a while I think it's more interesting is an exchange that happened between a co-worker and I concerning one of these prayers.

My usual reaction when I sense the prayer is about to happen is to try to subtly leave the room. The reason I do this is not because the prayer offends me. (I find insensitive but I'll cover that later.) The reason I leave actually not to offend the believers in the room. To explain a bit further, while I feel it's their right to pray, I however am not going to participate in any way. I'm not going to bow my head, close my eyes, or anything else of the sort. I'm fully aware that believers might find this sort of non-participation disrespectful. I made the determination that it would be better for everyone if I just wasn't around.

Of course, someone noticed. After the most recent prayer, a coworker came up to me and said "I noticed you always leave the room during the prayer." She did not do this with any hint of accusation but seemingly genuine curiosity. I responded "I'm and Atheist." She said "Are you serious." I replied "I wouldn't joke about that." At this point she became obviously nervous and we let the conversation drop.

It occurred to me later that both she and I are making a lot of assumptions. First, I assumed that people would be less concerned if I left the room as opposed to not participate in the prayer. Of course, it's entirely likely that my co-worker thinks I left because the prayer offends me. (Of course that too is an assumption.) My co-worker assumed that saying that you were an Atheist had to be a joke. It's a big steaming pile of assumptions from everyone.

On to the prayer itself. I honestly don't really care if people at work want to pray. I'm not being forced to pray, so it's no big deal. In fact, I always maintain that pseudo-endorsed prayer in situations such as this are probably not that problematic for an Atheist. Although, as I indicated above, I'm not going to participate even in a token way. I just don't bow my head to imaginary sky people. But here's the real question: Why has no one at work stop to consider, even for a moment, that someone in the office might not be Christian? I would assume (Ha! Call back) that it would be a lot more uncomfortable for a Jewish person to work in my office under these conditions. As far as I can tell everyone just takes it for granted that we are all on board for Jesus.

Assumptions all around.

To Blog or not to Blog?

2009-03-26T10:29:00.002-05:00

Today I randomly looked at this poor neglected Blog, and I was tempted just to nuke the site from orbit (just to be sure.) I just don't think I'm enough of a writer to be blogging. That's basically why I stopped. (That and Facebook has taken over many of the duties formally performed by this blog.) I'm passionate about being a skeptic, but not talented in the writing department. I looked back on my past posts. A lot of pure crap to be sure. But there were a few nuggets that seemed....OK. I'm on the fence. I dream of having one of those nice skeptic blogs that has some relevance in the blogosphere. However, when I look at some really good ones (and even some mediocre ones) I despair that I just don't have the talent to measure up.

The question is: Man up or Give up?

(The other question is: does anyone even have me in their feed reader anymore?)

Opinions greatly appreciated.

A Fond Farewell

2008-05-19T14:10:00.002-05:00

Just writing to say goodbye to the gaming group. Let me stress, I'm only saying goodbye to my participation in the weekly group. I'm only going to be a couple of hours away and I expect that I'll being seeing and gaming with you all in the future, just not every week.

It's been a privilege to be involved in this group. It's by far the most satisfying and fun role playing experience I've ever had. I been able to play and run so many different games, and it's been a blast the whole time. I doubt I'll ever be able find another group like this again.

Thanks Guys.

Tim

Trying out

2008-03-16T13:26:00.002-05:00

Trying out tumblr. I may retire this blog if I find it to my liking. Check it out.

locnar.tumblr.com

The Keene-o-meter

2008-03-11T09:05:00.002-05:00

I'd like to give some space to author Brian Keene, and give my rankings of his books. Why? Because Brian is a great guy and a great writer. If your a horror fan at all, you should check him out. I met Brian at a World Horror Con in Chicago. I was there with my friend John, and we went also to visit his friend Mike Oliveri (who is also a up and coming writer.) Brian was very friendly to fans and a fun guy to hang out with. So without further ass-kissing, here is my ranking of Brian's books. I'm sticking to the mass market paperbacks, since the others can be hard to find, but he does have several small press releases.

1. The Rising: I don't know if Brian will cringe or not for a lot of his fans ranking his first mass market book his best. I have reasons for ranking it first. This is a book that I feel a certain connection to. Consequently, It will always have a special feeling for me. When I met Brian and World Horror, The Rising was not yet a book. I did however attend a reading by Brian of a short story which became part of The Rising (at least in part.) This reading was also put out as CD called Talking Smack. I've never had an experience where I've been "on the ground floor" of something like this before. (I expect to have this same feeling again someday, should Mike be able to grab some of the same kind of success.) All that being said, it's a great book. It dragged the tired zombie genre out and gave it a beating. There is one condition, I rank it first if you read it with it's "original" ending. I'll talk more about that later in the list.

2. Ghoul: This is another book that I like because of selfish reasons. I'll skip that for now and just say that its a fresh idea, very scary and has great characters. Keene gets us to care so much about the characters that the horror really hits home when it comes. On a personal level, Keene freaked me out a little with the characters. The book takes place in the early eighties, and the characters were way too much like me for comfort. It was a little like watching yourself being stalked by evil.

3. Dark Hollow: I just finished this one, and it rocketed right up to number 3 on this list, and if I take out the personal connections, might go all the way to number 1. It's such a fresh idea for a horror novel. I was a little worried about the main character being a writer, as that vehicle can often turn into a "writer's bitchfest" but Keene avoided that thankfully. This book might resonate more with men than women, because much of the horror stems from modern men's twisted and contentious relationship with sexuality and women. Keene digs into the average guys sexual hangups and uses them against you. I'm not sure if women would feel that same gut reactions along with the characters in the book that I did. Not being properly equipped, I cannot comment on the female reading experience.

4. Terminal: Brian is not a one trick pony as Terminal is not really a horror novel. I tightly plotted thriller, it's one of those books that flies by you before you can take a breath. Here's the set up: A guy finds out he's got a terminal disease. He and his buddies decide that he has nothing to lose, so they try to rob a bank to get money for his family. He's going to die anyway right? I've had dumber ideas. :)

5. The Conquerer Worms: Keene taps into an entirely different "ick" in this novel. The rains keep coming, and coming and coming. Things deep in the ground come up to escape the deluge. The gross factor is turned up to ten here, especially if you've ever been grossed out stepping on huge night-crawler after a rain storm. I rated it a little lower because the "end of the world" plot line ends up being somewhat similar to a zombie-apocalypse.

6. Dead Sea: Another "stab" at the zombie genre, this time Romero style. Keene ditches his mythology from The Rising and does a more traditional zombie tale. Enjoyable characters, fun action and the setting of a boat makes for an interesting tale. Only loses out to other Keene books because of the traditional premise. Keene does not pull back on the dark ending, which I love.

7. City of the Dead: Well, this is as close as I will come to panning one of Keene's books. It's not that I don't like the book as it is, but it's what it does to The Rising that bothers me. Let's back up. The Rising has had several incarnations. One of these has a dark, dark, dark, (I mean this ending is fucking twisted) conclusion. The mass trade paperback has a ambiguous ending, but you can still infer the dark ending when you reading. Unfortunately, in order to have a sequel, Keene gives us a decidedly happier ending to The Rising in the beginning of City of the Dead. In order to enjoy The Rising fully, i have to pretend City of the Dead doesn't exist. City has a pretty messed up ending too, but it just can't kick you in the balls like the darker Rising ending.

Well, there you go. I'm looking forward to Keene's sequel to to Dark Hollow entitled Ghost Walk. If you like horror, go out and buy some Keene books, you couldn't be supporting a nicer (twisted fuck) guy.

Let's take a moment

2008-03-02T09:03:00.002-06:00

to ponder this: The British Royal family sends their sons to fight literally on the front-line on the "War on Terror." (well, before being outed by a douchbag posing as a journalist) War loving leaders such as George W. Bush and Mitt Romney send other people's children off to die, while letting their own "serve" in other ways.

Mitt "Double Guantanamo" Romney: Now that your campaign is over, will you put your son's lives in danger on the front lines? Or is this fight against terrorism, the fight that threatens America's freedom, only important enough for other's loved ones to die for?

I would have some questions for George "I haven't heard that" Bush, but I don't speak fluent moron.

Dickipedia

2008-02-04T07:41:00.000-06:00

Main Page - Dickipedia - A Wiki of Dicks

Do's and don'ts with babies :: Hilarious pics

2008-01-25T09:35:00.000-06:00

Do's and don'ts with babies :: Hilarious pics

A Man of God

2008-01-20T12:23:00.000-06:00

Max Blumenthal: Mike Huckabee's White Supremacist Links - Politics on The Huffington Post

OMFG

2008-01-14T23:55:00.000-06:00

I Got What America Needs Right Here | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

That Lindsey Chick did it

2008-01-11T18:39:00.000-06:00

Abu Ghraib Officer: Probe Was Incomplete | World Latest | Guardian Unlimited: "Barring any startling new information, the decision by Maj. Gen. Richard J. Rowe, commander of the Military District of Washington, to throw out Jordan's conviction brings an end to the four-year Abu Ghraib investigation. And it means no officers or civilian leaders will be held criminally responsible for the prisoner abuse that embarrassed the U.S. military and inflamed the Muslim world."

Duh

2008-01-07T11:01:00.000-06:00

Clarkson loses cash after publishing bank account details: "Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has admitted he was wrong to publish his account number and sort code in a national newspaper after a sum of money was removed from his bank account.

Clarkson published his bank details in an effort to prove that no money could be removed from a bank account using the numbers as a response to what he saw as an overreaction to the missing government data discs scandal."

Lessons

2008-01-05T07:44:00.000-06:00

John Bruhns: The Lessons Of 2007 - Politics on The Huffington Post: "As an Iraq veteran I feel that I have earned the right to have that opinion without being called a traitor or a radical by the pro-war element in our society who for the most part commit no sacrifice of their own. (Chickenhawk is a nice word for a coward, but if the shoe fits wear it.)

There is only a certain number of times that I can be called these names before my heart turns to stone in regard to those people who advocate for the war in Iraq, but lack the courage to go anywhere near it.

Furthermore, I have pure and utter disdain for those who call the war in Iraq 'America's war' only to fight it from their office, cubical, classroom, or couch."

Oooops!

2008-01-02T08:12:00.000-06:00

2007 Rapture - The Official Website For The Book

Just missed that Rapture prediction again.

Follow up: Looks like someone decided to remove the page. Bummer.

Dubious Data

2008-01-01T05:51:00.000-06:00

'Toxic' Water Bottles Take Top Spot in Dubious Data Awards

Drinking is wonderful

2007-12-31T22:02:00.000-06:00

Ok, first of all, it's New Years Eve and I've been drinking since about 3:30 pm. It's now 10 pm. That's not all that impressive unless you consider that I'm 37 and have two kids. I'm not ashamed to say that I'm drunk.

Skipping all the bullshit. The big news is that my friend Shawn Ervin is moving to Dallas, Texas. He is not just my friend. He is easily the kindest person I've ever met. Kind. That's the best word I can think of for Shawn. You can say he's nice, smart, and a bunch of other stuff, but Kind is the word that really sticks out. As I type this my heart is breaking just thinking about Shawn leaving Iowa to go away. There has been so many times that Shawn has been there for me. I'm trying to keep it all together but I just want to break down and cry like a little kid who lost his yo-yo or something.

Good Luck Shawn and Thanks. Thanks for everything.

Cectic - The Comic

2007-12-31T11:45:00.000-06:00

Cectic - The Comic

Thanks to Shannon for this skeptic comic.

FCC Approves New Media Ownership Rule - Politics on The Huffington Post

2007-12-18T19:52:00.000-06:00

FCC Approves New Media Ownership Rule - Politics on The Huffington Post: "WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission, overturning a 32-year-old ban, voted Tuesday to allow broadcasters in the nation's 20 largest media markets to also own a newspaper.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was joined by his two Republican colleagues in favor of the proposal, while the commission's two Democrats voted against it."

Pay attention to your FCC. They have been destroying these important media ownership rules. If you think the media is declining in quality, here is one of the big reasons. The chairman also wants to regulate cable TV like broadcast TV, so I hope you don't like those HBO shows for adults too much.

Cryptic Comet: Armageddon Empires

2007-12-16T09:18:00.000-06:00

Cryptic Comet: Armageddon Empires
For the Gamer geek only: nice indy turn based strategy game. Try out the free demo.

I'm Begging

2007-12-11T18:04:00.000-06:00

Daily Kos: Huckabee: women's role in marriage is to "graciously submit": "In August of 1998, Huckabee was one of 131 signatories to a full page USA Today Ad which declared: 'I affirm the statement on the family issued by the 1998 Southern Baptist Convention.' What was in the family statement from the SBC? 'A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.'"

Please nominate this man!

A request.

2007-12-09T12:04:00.000-06:00

Huckabee called homosexuality 'sinful' - Mike Allen - Politico.com: "'I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk,' Huckabee wrote in the questionnaire for The Associated Press, which reported the answer on Saturday."

Dear GOP:

Please please please nominate Mike Huckabee. I feel he would be a fine candidate and definately would do well outside of his core nutbag constituency.

Best Wishes,

DUTE

Honesty

2007-12-07T17:12:00.000-06:00

Election Central | Talking Points Memo | Romney Spokesman Won't Say If Atheists Have Place In America: "A spokesman for the Mitt Romney campaign is thus far refusing to say whether Romney sees any positive role in America for atheists and other non-believers, after Election Central inquired about the topic yesterday"

At least they didn't just lie and say that Atheists are welcome at the table when they really don't think so. I guess that's something. We just can't compete with Mitt and his magic underwear.

New Feature

2007-12-07T16:58:00.000-06:00

Today's new feature is the Netflix Moron Movie Review of the Day. Here's a great review of "2001: A Space Odyssey."

Netflix: "If you like ape sounds, slow motion stick throwing, searching for a plot, long durations of heavy breathing, and minimal dialog then this movie might be for you! If your the average movie goer/sci-fi fan like me you'll find this movie to be on par with watching paint dry. The one star is for the visual effects which are amazing for the year this film was made."

Now here's a person I want to watch movies with.

Give Them a Voice

2007-12-06T12:10:00.000-06:00

Sherri Shepherd Doesn't Get That Whole BC Thing, Insists "Jesus Came First" - Entertainment on The Huffington Post: "For whatever reason, the ladies on 'The View' were discussing ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus this morning. Naturally, talk soon migrated to the topic of religion, and Sherri 'I don't know if the world is flat' Shepherd came out to play. More specifically, to spew ignorance and a complete lack of understanding of basic world history! Discussing whether Christians were around during Epicurus' time (Epicurus lived from 341-270 B.C.), Sherri chimed in, '[The Greeks] had Christians 'cause they threw them to the lions.'"

I'm all if favor of this woman staying on the View. In fact, give her a show of her own on network television. It never ceases to amaze me how much Christians I meet don't seem to know even their OWN history, much less general history. Here's a request Christians: know your own religion before you jump into the debate. I don't mean just what you see at church. Churches are involved in selling you the fairy tale, not the truth. This time of year is a great example. The Nativity Plays are a great place to start. Everyone "knows" the story of Jesus' birth right? Except the Nativity Play is not supported by the Gospels at all. Go read the accounts. There is nothing in the gospel about stable, animals and such. Only one gospel mentions "wise men" and doesn't mention how many there were, and explicitly has them visiting a house. The Nativity Story is a cultural creation, not even found in the books that are supposed to be sacred.

Am I surprised this bimbo on the view thinks Christians predate everyone? No. I say keep her talking. I want religion to compete with other ideas on an equal footing.

Lobby Money

2007-12-03T15:52:00.000-06:00

Americans United: Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Public Funding Of Evangelical Prison Program In Iowa: "The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that government support for the InnerChange Freedom Initiative at Newton Correctional Facility -- a program operated by Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship Ministries -- advances religious indoctrination at state expense. Americans United brought the litigation against InnerChange on behalf of inmates, their families and taxpayers."

Just a follow up to the Evangelical Prison program. It's a tiny rush when my first lobby group accomplishes something close to home for me.

Memories

2007-12-01T19:43:00.000-06:00

Rove's Version of 2002 War Vote Is Disputed - washingtonpost.com: "Rove said that the administration did not want lawmakers to vote on a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq that soon because it would 'make things move too fast,' before Bush could line up international allies, and politicize the issue ahead of midterm elections."

Ah yes, lets remember back to 2002. President Bush's earnest appeals to the nation not to move to quickly in Iraq, not to follow a blood-thirsty congress on the march to war. Karl Rove calling in political favors in order to slow down the congressional war machine fueled by the military-industrial complex. Dick Cheney's urgent back-door meetings with congressional leaders, urging them to show restraint and wait for all the facts to come in. Those brave men, those defenders of peace, President Bush, Karl Rove, and Dick Cheney. Desperadoes Under the Eaves salutes you! If only congress had listened to your wisdom.

Ahh Texas

2007-12-01T12:44:00.000-06:00

Land of the clueless.
Americans United: Americans United Blasts Ouster Of Texas Educator For Supporting Sound Science

Your Creation Museum Report

2007-11-22T23:15:00.000-06:00

Your Creation Museum Report: "Imagine, if you will, a load of horseshit. And we’re not talking just your average load of horseshit; no, we’re talking colossal load of horsehit. An epic load of horseshit. The kind of load of horseshit that has accreted over decades and has developed its own sort of ecosystem, from the flyblown chunks at the perimeter, down into the heated and decomposing center, generating explosive levels of methane as bacteria feast merrily on vintage, liquified crap. This is a Herculean load of horseshit, friends, the likes of which has not been seen since the days of Augeas."

This is a test Jott.

2007-11-12T09:26:00.001-06:00

This is a test Jott. listen

Powered by Jott

Joost

2007-11-12T08:54:00.000-06:00

Joost - Free online TV - Comedy, cartoons, sports, music and more - Download today

If you haven't checked out Joost yet, it's now an open Beta. A huge amount of cool content is available. So far I've not been disappointed in Joost.

The Lying Liars

2007-10-23T09:54:00.000-05:00

PolitiFact | 1 out of 56 equals 'most'? No, it doesn't

Mike Huckabee: If reality doesn't support your views, just make something up. As we all know, Reality has a well known liberal bias.

Just read it

2007-10-13T11:46:00.000-05:00

Former Top General in Iraq Faults Bush Administration - New York Times

Real Smart

2007-10-01T16:39:00.000-05:00

SI.com - Writers - Monday Morning QB (cont.) - Monday October 1, 2007 10:30AM: "'The pizza man knows when he comes to my address, he's coming for free. But I am real polite and I say, 'Thank you, sir.''' -- Detroit receiver Roy Williams, a millionaire many times over, on WDFN radio in Detroit."

Dear Mr. Williams: I'm guessing you've never worked in food service. I have and there's something you should know: NEVER piss off people handle your food. I'm pretty certain your pizza's contain extra "toppings" that you didn't order, Fuckface.

If you are a Republican, it's OK

2007-09-28T16:22:00.000-05:00

Audio: Limbaugh Calls Iraq Vet "Staff Puke," Claims He Volunteered For War "To Pad [His] Resume" - Politics on The Huffington Post: "The Huffington Post obtained audio of Limbaugh smearing Hackett on his radio show in 2005. Limbaugh calls Hackett a 'staff puke,' claims he went to Iraq 'to pad [his] resume,' and attacks him as 'a liberal hiding behind a military uniform"

Given the fact the Senator Cornyn has introduced an amendment to criticize MoveOn.org for their statements about an Army General, will we see a similar measure for Rush? Or is it ok if you are a Republican?

2007-09-27T10:21:00.000-05:00

Help this Person Find a Job

This individual seeks an executive position. He will be available in January 2009, and is willing to relocate.

RESUME - GEORGE W. BUSH
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20520

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

Law Enforcement:
I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver's license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been "lost" and is not available.

Military:
I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.

College:
I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.

PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:

I ran for U.S. Congress and lost. I began my career in the oil business in Midland, Texas, in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock. I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money. With the help of my father and our friends in the oil industry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected Governor of Texas.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS:

I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union.

During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.

I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money.

I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history.

With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President after losing by over 500,000 votes.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT:

I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.

I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.

I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.

I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.

I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.

I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.

I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market. In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues every month.

I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My "poorest millionaire," Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.

I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President.

I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.

My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. History, Enron.

My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.

I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip-offs in history. I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed.

Three times more money was spent on my second inauguration parties than was spent to investigate the disaster of 9/11.

I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.

I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.

I appointed more convicted criminals to administration than any President in U.S. history.

I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States government.

I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history.

I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.

I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.

I refused to allow inspector's access to U.S. "prisoners of war" detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.

I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. election).

I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any President since the advent of television.

I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one- year period. After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.

I garnered the most sympathy ever for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.

I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind.

I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. citizens, and the world community.

I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families in wartime.

In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends.

I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.

I am supporting development of a nuclear "Tactical Bunker Buster," a WMD.

I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice. [he is probably dead, anyway...]

RECORDS AND REFERENCES:

All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father's library, sealed and unavailable for public view.

All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.

All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review

Be Very Afraid

2007-09-25T20:26:00.000-05:00

village voice > news > Rick Perlstein looks at the White House's connection to apocalyptic Christians by Rick Perlstein

The headline here doesn't look like much, but read it. I turned white.

"Most of all, apparently, we're not supposed to know the National Security Council's top Middle East aide consults with apocalyptic Christians eager to ensure American policy on Israel conforms with their sectarian doomsday scenarios."

Asshat of the Day

2007-09-24T11:33:00.000-05:00

Vitter earmarks funds for religious group- NOLA.com: "Sen. David Vitter, R-La., earmarked $100,000 in a spending bill for a Louisiana Christian group that has challenged the teaching of Darwinian evolution in the public school system and to which he has political ties."

Ahh Senator Vitter. Hookers and public funding of religion. Fine public service, sir, fine public service.

One to watch

2007-09-22T21:24:00.000-05:00

DesMoinesRegister.com: "A community college instructor in Red Oak claims he was fired after he told his students that the biblical story of Adam and Eve should not be literally interpreted."

Not a lot of facts in this story to go on just yet, but one to keep an eye on.

The Gaps, they are a closin'

2007-09-22T08:04:00.000-05:00

Is ‘Do Unto Others’ Written Into Our Genes? - New York Times: "Where do moral rules come from? From reason, some philosophers say. From God, say believers. Seldom considered is a source now being advocated by some biologists, that of evolution."

When talking to people about God, I often hear them resort to the "God of the gaps" argument. They usually don't recognize that they are doing so, however. In relation to this article it goes something like this:

"How do you know good from evil? How do you know right from wrong? Only God could be responsible for that."

Well, It looks like that argument might go the same way as all the other gaps have gone, the areas that we couldn't explain so they "must" be from God. Throughout history, as science has progressed, more and more of the gaps have been closed. The "God of the gaps" continues to get smaller.

Geek Laughs

2007-09-19T20:03:00.000-05:00

Warning: this is only funny if you are a) a big geek and b) enjoy overzealous Media companies getting a verbal smack-down.

If you qualify, this might make you squirt milk out your nose.

P2P sites ridicule MediaDefender takedown notices in wake of e-mail leak

Fark Love

2007-09-19T19:58:00.000-05:00

More reason's to love Fark Snark:

Drew Curtis' FARK.com: "Mythical global warming is thawing Siberian permafrost, exposing the bones of extinct lions, mammoths and wooly rhinos buried by Noah's Flood almost 3000 years ago"

Tired of CNN.com?

2007-09-18T19:00:00.000-05:00

Times to Stop Charging for Parts of Its Web Site - New York Times

New York Times online is now all free. If you've been annoyed at CNN's alleged "news" site, give them a try.

Ok I'm convinced

2007-09-17T18:03:00.000-05:00

ESPN - Kitna: I returned from concussion due to 'miracle' - NFL: "'I've never felt anything like that, and for it to clear up and go right back to as normal as I can be, is nothing short of a miracle,' Kitna said. 'I just definitely feel the hand of God. That's all it was. You can't explain it."

John Kitna you are right. I just can't explain it. You got hit in the head, it hurt, and then it stopped. There is no explanation except that the creator of the universe wanted you to get back in that game and win it! Everyone knows God is a big Lions fan. I'm convinced. I'm no longer an atheist. If headaches can go away, what cannot be possible?

Abstinence only

2007-09-17T08:54:00.000-05:00

Sexual diseases flourish in Mobile County- al.com:

"in Alabama public schools, students are taught abstinence-based sex education as part of a half credit of health education in high school. Students learn that 'abstinence is the only protection against pregnancy, HIV/AIDs and STDs,' said state Department of Education spokeswoman Edith Parten."

It's important to note that this is only a correlation, but casts enough doubt on Abstinence only anyway.

The 37

2007-09-16T08:22:00.000-05:00

Marty Kaplan: The Magnificent 37 - Politics on The Huffington Post:

The Money Shot:

"Moldova is in (12 troops), but Tonga is out. Bosnia & Herzegovina contributed as many as 37 soldiers in theater, but Slovakia and Hungary have pulled out. El Salvador has stayed, but Nicaragua has gone. Australia, yes; New Zealand, not so much. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, you betcha; Denmark and Norway, gone. Mongolia is in, but Ukraine is out. It appears that Kazahkstan's 29 troops, and Armenia's 46, are hanging in there, but Thailand has left the building. For more stats, there's always the Google."

Organic

2007-09-14T20:15:00.000-05:00

Organic food exposed | COSMOS magazine

An interesting article taking a look at the claims of the organic food movement.

Fresh Face

2007-09-09T07:52:00.000-05:00

New Rules

2007-09-05T10:46:00.000-05:00

from Bill Maher of course.

New Rule: If you were surprised that the Chinese don't care about toy safety, then the child who needs protecting is you. Over the last couple of months, American consumers have been learning a shocking lesson about supply and demand: if you demand products that don't cost anything, people will make them out of poison, mud and shit. ... They don't care if your precious little Britney sucks a little lead. Because in China, their kids aren't playing with the toys, they're the ones in the factory all day making them. ...

In America, there is nothing more sacred than a bargain. And that even includes the war. Yeah, there's too much lead in the kids' toys, but not nearly enough on the Humvees in Iraq. "Let's have a war and cut taxes; what could go wrong?" "Let's give mortgages to the homeless. Sounds like a plan." "Let's buy toys from a Communist police state. You just know they'll put in a little extra love."

Speaking of which, you know why today's modern Chinese capitalist puts lead in the paint that goes on toys? Because it makes colors brighter. You've got to love America, a country that's literally being killed by the stuff that makes objects shiny.

Common Sense?

2007-09-01T10:11:00.001-05:00

I was checking out the website of the organization that provides "family" ratings for netflix: Common Sense Media. Looking around the site, I like what I see so far. I've always thought that the MPAA's ratings were a joke. You need to know whats actually in a movie to decide if it's right for you or your family. I also like that their mission statement says "we believe in media sanity, not censorship."

Here's my question: Is this group really just looking to give out information? Do they have a hidden agenda? Anyone have any good information on them?

Follow up: I thought "Brokeback Mountain" might be a good way to check for right wing religious attitudes. I was pleasantly surprised. They warn against the sexual content, but don't really make any big deal about it being GAY sex. In fact, they warn against the HOMOPHOBIC content of the film.

Mozy backup

2007-09-01T08:57:00.000-05:00

I've been using Mozy Online backup for a while now, and I think it works quite well for automatic backups. Nice configuration, runs in the background. I'd recommend it if you are like me and never remember to backup files. (I know many people have issues with online backup, but I like it in preference NO backups that I was doing before.) If you want to try it out, click the referral link below, because both you and I will get and extra 256MB of storage. You get 2 gigs for free to begin with.

Click here to try it out.

Baby Nora is here

2007-08-26T08:08:00.000-05:00

Baby Nora is here! Mom and baby are doing fine.

Traitor

2007-08-07T10:21:00.000-05:00

Newt Gingrich said that Bush's "war on terror" is "phoney." Without getting into the merits of this statement, I do have to wonder: Will pundits like say...Bill O'Rielly start to question Newt's patriotism? Will Ann Coulter call him a "traitor?" Will all the other conservative talking buttholes stick to their statements that talk like this aids the enemy?

I suspect that who's doing the talking has much more to do with it than what was said. No, I'm sure conservative darling Gingrich will get a pass, and Bill-O will go on calling others in this country "UnAmerican." (You might want to stop reading now, because, as a member of the ACLU, I have joined an "UnAmerican" group according to Bill.)

Wild Zodiac

2007-07-27T11:18:00.000-05:00

I'm home sick today, so I watched David Fincher's "Zodiac." It's a fine film with great performances. Not a lot of action, but great drama. It grossed 33 million dollars.

I just checked the gross for "Wild Hogs," I film so shitty I could tell by the previews it was a big turd. It grossed 167 million.

American movie-going public, you suck. "But Tim" you say, "Zodiac was over 2 hours long!" Yeah it was. I guess it's too much to ask of movie goers to have an attention span longer than the average cocker spaniel.

Go get the bone boy, go get it. Ride your Wild Hogs. Feh.

Today's award

2007-07-20T16:23:00.000-05:00

for moron fundamentalist goes to Laura Lopez! Congratulations, give her a big hand.

School board rejects call to ban books on gays, atheism

The money shot:

"They're teaching kids the Big Bang. They're teaching kids lies," she told the board. "The world was created 6,000 years ago. In my son's elementary school book, it says the world was created several million years ago."

Really, what can I say to that?

Sidek 1 Track 1

2007-07-19T12:43:00.000-05:00

My friend John has tagged me. The question is to list your top 5 Track one Side one songs. Suddenly I'm in the movie High Fidelity.

In no particular order:

"Sympathy for the Devil"-Rolling Stones from Beggar's Banquet. This was a close one with "Gimme Shelter." I was tempted to do both, but John made a point of not listing two from the Eagles, so I gave the nod to Devil mostly for it's haunting imagery of tanks, assassinations, and atrocities. Not the stuff of the typical pop rock song.
"Highway to Hell"-AC/DC. Not trying to do a theme, I swear. Great riffs, great vocal, a classic track from an album that is gold all the way through.
"Beyond Belief"-Elvis Costello from Imperial Bedroom. I just love this track it gets better with age.
"Cry Love"-John Hiatt from Walk On. My favorite Hiatt track from an overlooked and underrated album, even among Hiatt fans. The song gets to you whether you've been the girl he's talking too, or the guy she's fretting about. In some cases, you may see yourself in both.
"Running with the Devil"-Van Halen. Ok, maybe I have a Satan fetish I don't know. I once heard a DJ say that this track was so hot that you could walk naked in the winter time if you had this cranked in your headphones. Dave delivers one of the best rock vocals ever.

Victory in Iowa

2007-07-12T12:25:00.000-05:00

The only lobbying group I currently give money to, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has scored a major victory here in my home state of Iowa.

Iowa established Innerchange a Prison Fellowship Ministry program that basically inoculates inmates with evangelical Christianity. Hundreds of thousands of tax payer money went each year to preach evangelical Christianity to prisoners in Newton, Ia. The Iowa legislature has pulled the plug on funding in May, a court last year ruled it in violation of the First Amendment.

I just want to note that this is a victory not just for Atheists, but for people of faith who may not be getting government money to spread their religion.

It feels good to be (in a small way) responsible for setting things right.

Quote

2007-07-12T12:18:00.000-05:00

"The number, industry, and the morality of the Priesthood, and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of Church from the State."

James Madison "The Father of the Constitution"

I've provided links above for Bush supporters who might not know a lot about James Madison or that Constitution thingy.

The Tap at Live Earth

2007-07-11T10:19:00.000-05:00

With the Army of Bassists!!!
"how can I leave this behind?"

The cowardly sounds of silence

2007-07-05T11:19:00.000-05:00

Chuck Grassely where are you? You voted guilty on the articles of impeachment for President Clinton. You know, the one where Clinton lied under oath about a BJ in a civil trial?

Scooter Libby lied to the FBI in a national security investigation. President Bush pardoned (yes it was a pardon) him.

Do you have anything to say about upholding the law of these United States of America?
Lying in a civil trial is more important than leaking CIA covert operatives identities?

I don't suppose I'll be hearing much from your office about the matter. Coward.

Impeach him

2007-07-05T10:57:00.000-05:00

Yippee-ka-ya you doodie head

2007-06-29T15:50:00.000-05:00

Let me get this straight: The new Die Hard movie is PG-13?! Really? McClaine can't even say his catchphrase in the movie. What the hell were they thinking?

My head asplode.

Remain Vigilant

2007-06-26T20:25:00.000-05:00

In case you were thinking that some of us who are concerned about the Goverment trampling our rights are just "chicken little". Take a look at what they already have done:
CIA releases 'family jewels' on misconduct - CNN.com

Give me Jury duty

2007-06-20T12:08:00.000-05:00

Boy bands' creator will face trial in U.S. :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: People
If I were on the Jury, I'd vote to give him the chair, no matter what he's charged with. The Backstreet Boys and N'synch require the death penalty in my book.