Crescent Earth from the Departing Rosetta Spacecraft

Credit & Copyright: ESA (MPS for OSIRIS Team), MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

Explanation: Goodbye Earth. Earlier this month, ESA's interplanetary Rosetta spacecraft zoomed past the Earth on its way back across the Solar System. Pictured above, Earth showed a bright crescent phase featuring the South Pole to the passing rocket ship. Launched from Earth in 2004, Rosetta used the gravity of the Earth to help propel it out past Mars and toward a 2014 rendezvous with Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Last year, the robot spacecraft passed asteroid 2867 Steins, and next year it is scheduled to pass enigmatic asteroid 21 Lutetia. If all goes well, Rosetta will release a probe that will land on the 15-km diameter comet in 2014.

Great Observatories Explore Galactic Center

Credit: NASA, ESA, SSC, CXC, and STScI

Explanation: Where can a telescope take you? Four hundred years ago, a telescope took Galileo to the Moon to discover craters, to Saturn to discover rings, to Jupiter to discover moons, to Venus to discover phases, and to the Sun to discover spots. Today, in celebration of Galileo's telescopic achievements and as part of the International Year of Astronomy, NASA has used its entire fleet of Great Observatories, and the Internet, to bring the center of our Galaxy to you. Pictured above, in greater detail and in more colors than ever seen before, are the combined images of the Hubble Space Telescope in near-infrared light, the Spitzer Space Telescope in infrared light, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory in X-ray light. A menagerie of vast star fields is visible, along with dense star clusters, long filaments of gas and dust, expanding supernova remnants, and the energetic surroundings of what likely is our Galaxy's central black hole. Many of these features are labeled on a complementary annotated image. Of course, a telescope's magnification and light-gathering ability create only an image of what a human could see if visiting these places. To actually go requires rockets.

Dangerous "fellow citizens"? YIKES???

(Chuck, I hope you don’t mind me using the title of your email for my blog post.)

Chuck A emailed this to me this morning. The links he provides are about “certain extreme wackos’ whose intentions are to work toward gaining enough power to rewrite the US Constitution.”

Chuck’s companion made the comment below at Austin Cline’s website in response to an article Cline has posted about this subject. And check out the link that she has provided in her comment.

Sojourner says: Here’s a group of fundies that have an opposite viewpoint. They think the constitution is a satanic document and want to rescind anything and everything in it that they have decided is not based in the commandments or the bible, period.

This group of nutcases is really frightening and truly deranged and delusional. They feel they are doing “God’s” work if they somehow manage to gain control.

Here’s an excerpt of one of my own comments that might be interesting to some here:

These people would stop at nothing if they could get away with it. They are seriously demented and frightening.

It’s very difficult to even read the page, but struggle through it, these people are the enemy within.

That is why we must prevail against those who want to destroy our country for their good and for their god.

These people are not some exotic citizens of a strange country. These are American Christians, whose very rights came from the same constitution they would destroy. I keep hoping this site is actually the rule of Poe’s law, but I don’t think it is. I think it’s all too real and disturbing. I suggest you read and make up your own mind.

This is the link:http://www.tencommandments.org/tysk.html

A quote taken from Society for the Practical Establishment and Perpetuation of the TEN COMMANDMENTS
(Robert T. Lee)

Better is a dictator who rules every aspect of the lives of the people with true justice and righteousness, than a democracy wherein the people indulge in the evil and idolatrous freedom they desire.

As Chuck’s friend suggests, struggle through this lunatic's page. I have experienced others like him on several other sites on the internet and wonder just how many there are like Robert T.Lee in our country. Are they a real threat?

Nobel winner slams Bible as ‘handbook of bad morals’

We already knew the Bible is definitely not a very good guidebook for morals. The god of the Old Testament behaves totally opposite of human moral standards. He is jealous, murders infants, commits genocide, tortures and tests his creatures in cruel ways. One of the best examples of how awful this god of the Christian mythology is is when he makes a bet with Satan that he could torture the hell out of Job and he will remain faithful no matter what happened to him. Christians believe that this god is omniscient, all-knowing and knows the past, present and future. So why the need to test his creations and put them through unnecessary pain and heartache? Christians will answer "well we don't know or understand God's ways" but then on the other hand they continually claim that this god loves us and is merciful, kind, loving, and whatever else they want to believe about this imaginary being. Parents prohibit children from reading books with violence, sex, incest, murder, etc. but they will buy their kids a Bible and even encourage them to read it! All packaged in pretty little covers with pictures of doe-eyed Precious Moments people on the front. More and more of us are no longer afraid to speak up and state what we really think about this cherished book that contains as gruesome and grotesque stories as any other mythology, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and most of the rest. Author Jose Saramago is the lastest critic of the Bible.

Nobel winner slams Bible as ‘handbook of bad morals’

LISBON (AFP) – A row broke out in Portugal on Monday after a Nobel Prize-winning author denounced the Bible as a “handbook of bad morals”.

Speaking at the launch of his new book “Cain”, Jose Saramago, who won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature, said society would probably be better off without the Bible.

Roman Catholic Church leaders accused the 86-year-old of a publicity stunt.

Anyone who is familiar with Jose Saramago’s works knows that this is not a publicity stunt on the part of this author. Saramago writes allegorical novels which present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. He is a proclaimed atheist as well as admitting himself to be a “pessimist”. You can read more about him at Wiki.

The news article goes on to say:

The book is an ironic retelling of the Biblical story of Cain, Adam and Eve’s son who killed his younger brother Abel.

At the launch event in the northern Portuguese town of Penafiel on Sunday, Saramago said he did not think the book would offend Catholics “because they do not read the Bible”.

“The Bible is a manual of bad morals (which) has a powerful influence on our culture and even our way of life. Without the Bible, we would be different, and probably better people,” he was quoted as saying by the news agency Lusa.

Saramago attacked “a cruel, jealous and unbearable God (who) exists only in our heads” and said he did not think his book would cause problems for the Catholic Church “because Catholics do not read the Bible.

Good burn — Catholics don’t read the Bible! And if Catholics and other Christians do read the Bible they read bits here and there and they all interpret those bits any way they want to.

“It might offend Jews, but that doesn’t really matter to me,” he added.

And we’ve heard this following comment many, many times from the believers who cling to this terrible book:

“Saramago does not know the Bible,” the rabbi said, “he has only superficial understanding of it.”

The god of the Bible is a not a good example of moral character.

Pleiades and Stardust

Credit & Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (Deep Sky Colors)

Explanation: Have you ever seen the Pleiades star cluster? Perhaps the most famous star cluster on the sky, the Pleiades can be seen without binoculars from even the depths of a light-polluted city. Also known as the Seven Sisters and M45, the Pleiades is one of the brightest and closest open clusters. Hurtling through a cosmic dust cloud a mere 400 light-years away, the Pleiades or Seven Sisters star cluster is well-known for its striking blue reflection nebulae. This remarkable wide-field (3 degree) image of the region shows the famous star cluster near the center, while highlighting lesser known dusty reflection nebulas nearby, across an area that would span over 20 light-years. In this case, the sister stars and cosmic dust clouds are not related, they just happen to be passing through the same region of space.

Fireball Meteor Over Groningen

Credit & Copyright: Robert Mikaelyan

Explanation: The brilliant fireball meteor captured in this snapshot was a startling visitor to Tuesday evening's twilight skies over the city of Groningen. In fact, sightings of the meteor, as bright as the Full Moon, were widely reported throughout the Netherlands and Germany at approximately 17:00 UT. Accompanied by sonic booms and rumbling sounds, the meteor was seen to break up into bright fragments, eventually leaving a persistent smoke-like trail. Even though there are bright fireball meteors in planet Earth's atmosphere every day, sightings of them are relatively rare because they more often occur over oceans and uninhabited areas.

Keep religious superstition out of health care reform bills

I just read this article which was posted at American Atheists on October 7th.

Atheists Oppose Christian Science “Faith Healing” Provisions in Health Care Reform Bills

“Faith-healing provisions in health care reform bills”? I knew the anti-abortionists were in a tizzy about provisions for abortion coverage, however I had no idea there were provisions to allow reimbursements for magical “medicine”!

An Atheist public policy organization today called for elimination of requirements in Senate legislation which would reimburse faith-based “healers” for their services.

Reimburse for what? If their imaginary friend is doing their healing, shouldn’t their imaginary friend receive imaginary “reimbursement”?

“Any adult in the legislative or executive branch of the federal government, or of any state government, who wants to use unproven, unscientific ‘remedies’ should be free to do so,” said Buckner. “But support for such irrational nonsense violates the separation of religion and government and the canons of good sense. Including faith-healing or other non-medical ‘treatment’ in health care legislation must be rejected.”

Dave Silverman, Communications Director for American Atheists, said that Christian Science and other faith-based healers already receive public money, and that the policy is not based on good science.

“We need to spend that money on providing solid, fact-based medicine. Reimbursing the faith-healing industry wastes precious resources, and violates the separation of church and state.”

It’s a damn good thing there are people paying close attention to these sneaky superstitious folks.

Good response by Illini Pundit.com — Voodoo Healthanomics?

Giving any sort of legitimacy to quackery, religious or otherwise, seems inherently dangerous to me. Especially dangerous and indeed often fatal to children of folks who take this stuff too far. While this particular amendment doesn’t seem to change the fact that killing a child with faith based denial of care is still generally illegal, it could encourage more of it and even reward those who attempt it and propagate irrational fears, distrust, or dismissal of proven medical treatments to those who might otherwise not know better. Of course empowering the government to decide what treatments should be covered is bound to cause even more issues along these lines. Will insurance companies or government programs be forced to pay for scientology thetan tests too? How about subluxation tests/treatment in the quackier side of chiropractic care which has roughly the same scientific grounding… i.e. none. Will we end up with a public option for prayer circle coverage too?

This religious nuttery in government and elsewhere is out of control. No wonder this health care reform bill is taking so long to pass! Too much bullshit to weed out!

Crazy Preacher Teacher!

Fundamentalist Christians whatever their denomination do not fail to keep us supplied with a steady stream of material to post about. Here is a story about a crazy fundie teacher at a public school in Arizona who is telling kids things creepy things that the devil tries to do. He also uses his platform for proseltyzing and encouraging the kids to pray, etc.

Teacher accused of telling devil tales could be fired

“Could be fired”? How about should be fired!

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.15.2009

A teacher accused of telling his second-grade students frightening tales about the devil is facing dismissal from Miller Elementary School.

Michael P. Corkery came under scrutiny last month when a parent sent a letter to the south-side school saying her child was being taught about Jesus, God and the devil.

The child said Corkery taught the students that the devil rapes little boys and “touches them where they don’t want to be touched,” according to the parent’s letter.

The student went on to say that the class was told not to tell the principal what they were learning because he could get fired and then he would miss them.

That is a tactic an abusive teacher used when I was in the fifth grade, but he didn’t play on our sympathies. He told us if we told the principal or our parents that he would “get us.” Unfortunately, despite complaints from the students and a few parents, this same monster went on to become co-principal of the school! Good thing times have changed and most parents listen to what their children are telling them.

The article goes on to tell more about this lunatic:

Miller Principal Mary Anderson placed Corkery on administrative leave and conducted individual interviews with 22 of the 25 students in the class.

Ten of the students interviewed made statements that were consistent with the allegations in the letter, said a complaint filed with the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board.

One student told Anderson that Corkery discussed the crucifixion of Jesus. Another said Corkery told the students to pray to God before they went to bed for protection of their families, the report said.

One student reported that Corkery told the children that if they lied, the devil would pull their feet while they slept, causing their feet to turn red.

Another said Corkery taught them to “never go on the devil’s side, never be the devil.”
Several students mentioned a devil doll that was kept in the classroom and utilized by Corkery, according to the report.

I hope that this insane man will never be allowed near children again.

Freeflyer

Credit: STS-41B, NASA

Explanation: At about 100 meters from the cargo bay of the space shuttle Challenger, Bruce McCandless II was farther out than anyone had ever been before. Guided by a Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), astronaut McCandless, pictured above, was floating free in space. McCandless and fellow NASA astronaut Robert Stewart were the first to experience such an "untethered space walk" during Space Shuttle mission 41-B in 1984. The MMU works by shooting jets of nitrogen and has since been used to help deploy and retrieve satellites. With a mass over 140 kilograms, an MMU is heavy on Earth, but, like everything, is weightless when drifting in orbit. The MMU was replaced with the SAFER backpack propulsion unit.

And I thought Sears Tower glass balcony was scary!

Saturn at Equinox

Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, ISS, JPL, ESA, NASA

Explanation: How would Saturn look if its ring plane pointed right at the Sun? Before last month, nobody knew. Every 15 years, as seen from Earth, Saturn's rings point toward the Earth and appear to disappear. The disappearing rings are no longer a mystery -- Saturn's rings are known to be so thin and the Earth is so near the Sun that when the rings point toward the Sun, they also point nearly edge-on at the Earth. Fortunately, in this third millennium, humanity is advanced enough to have a spacecraft that can see the rings during equinox from the side. Last month, that Saturn-orbiting spacecraft, Cassini, was able to snap a series of unprecedented pictures of Saturn's rings during equinox. A digital composite of 75 such images is shown above. The rings appear unusually dark, and a very thin ring shadow line can be made out on Saturn's cloud-tops. Objects sticking out of the ring plane are brightly illuminated and cast long shadows. Inspection of these images may help humanity understand the specific sizes of Saturn's ring particles and the general dynamics of orbital motion.

Trespassing Reason

H/T to our friend Christopher

Christopher sent me an email with a link to yet another crazy pastor in our area who, like Pastor Mondo I have written about a few times here, is allowed to write in a special section of the local paper called “The Pastor’s Corner.” (We have not yet heard back from this paper about a Secular Humanist section of the paper and probably never will.)

Christopher writes:

I think Mokena Messenger Meyer beat New Lenox Mondo this month. I read this article and felt I had to respond. This preacher tries to argue against space exploration; very badly. He should have just stuck with the claim that it is a bad return on investment.

Here is the link to Rev. Meyer’s protest against invading what he says is his God’s space:

Man in the trespassing of space

Meyer writes:

“Men who are ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” No matter how much man may explore the heavens above he will not learn to know God. Even the Russian Cosmonauts returned from a space flight some years ago and laughingly declared: “We didn’t see God up there.”

Mr. Meyer, space exploration is not meant to search for any gods. Space exploration is to take a further look into the cosmos to see what’s out there just as humans have explored the parts of planet Earth which were once uninhabited, wild and unknown. Scientists and astronauts don’t go out into the unknown to “know god”.

Interesting that Meyer brings up the quote of the Russian Cosmonauts. No, they did not see God up there. It was a humorous observation, not a conclusion of some hypothesis they were trying to verify. And we can conclude here on Earth from what we have observed, that no god comes, no god exists to take care of his creations here on this planet that too many believe was made specially for humankind.

Meyer asks a question then takes it upon himself to make up an answer for all of us:

So why do men continue to explore the heavens above? Because man is not satisfied with what God has given him. We are always searching, always looking, always seeking, and yet God has stated plainly, “the heavens are mine and I have given you the earth.”

Why do men and women continue to explore the heavens above? Because it is there and we want to know what is out there. Much of the technological advances we have today is because of the Space Program. Microwaves, cell phones, complex and constantly improving ways of communication are all because of scientific exploration into the cosmos.

As for the heavens belonging to a god and the Earth to humans, well you Bible Mr. Meyer was written by ancient humans who were ignorant of the world outside of their own…and even ignorant of the world in which they lived, for that matter. They might have imagined reaching to the heavens and that imagining eventually became reality. Much of what humans have achieved was only once imagined.

Also, if the world was made especially for humankind, it was not made rather crappily with the turbulent weather, unstable ground faults, volcanoes that erupt and spew molten lava down into villages and burying large numbers of homes and even people. Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, wild fires, pestilence, disease, drought, tornadoes, microbursts, blizzards, don’t make for a very safe home that a loving creator would make for his creations.

I really like Christopher’s response to Meyer, and I am sure he won’t mind me posting it here:

Christopher writes:

Mr. Meyer

I would like to see the human race continue to discover, understand, and advance the world we live in. It saddens me to know that you cannot take pleasure in the idea of human potential, that you feel our best is following the words of ancient men and their story of a master creator that demands obedience in the name of love. Even worse, you influence people in our community, preaching a faith built on fear, teaching that a quest for learning and understanding is forbidden and punishable.

Of course you are free to believe what you choose and preaching is your job, but you cause significant harm to your friends and family, your community, your country and all of humanity when you attempt to shut people out of the human experience.

We need to encourage thoughtful, meaningful and advancing ideas for the sake of improving our day to day lives, for creating good jobs that stand up to foreign competition and most of all, driving to satisfy our human need to discover.

Mr. Meyer, I’m a weekly reader of this paper and I don’t make it a point to comment on your opinion column. I think your past articles speak to those that share your beliefs and I’m not writing to argue that your should reconsider those beliefs. This article of yours is different. It suggests a position dangerous to our ability to thrive. This article stands in opposition to what most would consider good for our understanding of the world. This article stands to diminish the pioneering of a more diverse community than which you recognize.

In regards to this topic, your god has no title, nor a deed to space, any space except by the claims written in your book. Our world is for all of us to explore and enjoy. Stand aside if you wish. Make a call that government money not be used to fund exploration and discovery. You can suggest leaving it up to the private sector but please do not think all of us want to live in the dark ages.

Well said, Christopher…an excellent and reasonable response. Too bad that Rev. Meyer and most of his followers won’t understand it.

I guess this is better than praying for the demise of liberals…

Adopt-a-Liberal
Liberty Council Prayer-In-Action Program

Since the landmark 2008 general election, there can be no doubt that a very large percentage of our Nation’s leaders have a liberal mindset. The undeniable fact is that the 111th Pelosi-Reid Congress and the Obama Administration demonstrate a far left political philosophy. And since the President nominates federal judges and Justices of the United States Supreme Court, the judicial branch of government could take on a decidedly more liberal bent as the Obama Administration wears on.

Liberty Counsel has therefore named this special new prayer-in-action program Adopt a Liberal. And that’s exactly what we invite you to do — adopt a liberal who is in authority for regular, intense prayer in accord with St. Paul’s admonition to his disciple, Timothy. In fact, we expect that many of our friends and supporters will choose to adopt many liberals as subjects of regular prayer!

What if their god loves liberals, since they are into helping the poor and sick, feeding the masses, saving the environment, and all that “evil” stuff like that?

And if you don’t have high blood pressure…check this out:

Religious idiocy abounds

Pastor Manning: Obama is the Antichrist

Pastor Manning calls those whites that voted for Obama are racist. He also refers to Obama as the Antichrist of the Bible.

jeba8888 sums it up: “Pastor Manning….You are an idiot…..You’re just another dumbass with no credentials mouthing off… I am sure you will find your share of cattle who will follow your insane messages”

Unfortunately, what jeba8888 says is true…the world is full of unthinking, human cattle.

Here is Frank Shaeffer speaking out against this sort of thinking on the Rachel Maddow Show. Surprisingly, Frank Shaeffer is a god believing Baptist who condemns the extremism of many of this fellow believers. Listening to him in this video, you might get the impression that he really is an atheist in disguise. I am sure he is being accused of this by the Christian fundamentalist extremists he is condemning.

Here’s the video

"Engaging with Iran is like having sex with someone who hates you" ~ Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens in his recent article in Slate online.

“Living in the Islamic Republic,” wrote Azar Nafisi in her book Reading Lolita in Tehran in 2003, “is like having sex with a man you loathe.” This verdict has gathered extra force and pungency as the succeeding years have elapsed and as more women have been stoned, hanged, beaten, raped, and silenced. Lately has come the news that Iranian men in prison are being raped, too, for trying to exercise their right to vote. And now the U.S. government has come to a point where it must ask itself: What is it like to enter negotiations with a man who loathes you and who every Friday holds public prayers that call for your death?

Last Friday brought the news that the Obama administration had accepted an offer from Tehran, delivered the preceding Wednesday, for the holding of what the New York Times called “unconditional talks.” It was further reported that the administration had spent “less than 48 hours” deliberating whether to respond to the invitation, which yields the interesting if minor detail that this must have been the most significant decision taken by Obama’s people on or about the eighth anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11.

Hitchens goes on to state his concerns about Iran and its uranium-enrichment program and its theocracy’s hatred of the West.

First, it has become ever clearer that Iran’s uranium-enrichment and centrifuge program has put it within measurable distance of the ability to weaponize its nuclear capacity. Second, it has become obscenely obvious that the theocracy is prepared to govern by force alone and to employ the most appalling measures to remain in power without a mandate.

While Hitchens says he is all for talks without preconditions, he presents these two questions:

Do we seriously expect the Islamic Republic to be negotiating in good faith about its nuclear program?

What do we know about the effect of these proposed talks on the morale and the leadership of the Iranian opposition?

Read on and then share what you think about what Hitchens has to say.

"Culture of Silence" starting to talk

Usually shit rolls downhill, and took awhile to come out but finally cases of sexual abuse by priests in the Pope’s own backyard are now emerging “in a country where reports of clerical sex abuse were virtually unknown a decade ago.”

Italy grapples with priest sex abuse accusations

A yearlong Associated Press tally has documented 73 cases with allegations of sexual abuse by priests against minors over the past decade in Italy, with more than 235 victims. The tally was compiled from local media reports, linked to by Web sites of victims groups and blogs. Almost all the cases have come out in the seven years since the scandal about Roman Catholic priest abuse broke in the United States.

One man’s disturbing personal account:

VERONA, Italy – It happened night after night, the deaf man said, sometimes in the priest’s bedroom, sometimes in the bathroom, even in the confessional.

When he was a young boy at a Catholic-run institute for the deaf, Alessandro Vantini said, priests sodomized him so relentlessly he came to feel “as if I were dead.” This year, he and dozens of other former students did something highly unusual for Italy: They went public with claims they were forced to perform sex acts with priests.

For decades, a culture of silence has surrounded priest abuse in Italy, where surveys show the church is considered one of the country’s most respected institutions. Now, in the Vatican’s backyard, a movement to air and root out abusive priests is slowly and fitfully taking hold.

It’s about time. The Catholic church must be held accountable (any other organization would be shut down for this sort of organized crime). The “culture of silence” must end.

Full sickening story here

H/T to ChuckA once again…

Another mailbag...

Here is a new one…I will let you read this:

Regarding the idea that there are all kinds of religions out there making all kinds of claims and each thinks they are right: This is true. And it is true that it is “all a matter of what people choose to believe”. The important question is, is one’s faith (that is, what they choose to believe) a blind, unreasonable faith, (like atheism, or Muhhamedism, for example) or is it a faith backed up by the evidence? The bible is backed by evidence. It is filled with perfectly fulfilled prophecies. No other book or belief system on the face of the earth is even remotely like the bible. Here’s a prophecy written down 2000 years ago. In 2009, take a look around as this is preparing to be implemented.

Yes, it is a matter of what people choose to believe. And atheism is not a “faith”, and it’s Islam or Muslim, not “Muhhamedism”. And no, the Bible is not backed with “evidence”. It’s fiction backed up with more and more fiction. “Prophecy? What prophecy? There have been many “prophecies” from many religions. And in 2009 it is appalling that there are folks who live by the writings in an ancient mythology book of gruesome fairy tales.

[ed. note: Just to clarify what I mean by "it's a matter of what people choose to believe"...The god believers have a choice about whatever type of god they choose to believe in, according to whatever prejudices, bigotry, desires, and needs they might want to support. Atheism is not a "faith" but a lack of belief in gods and goddesses. Hope that clears that up.]

Rise of Atheism

This was posted at the site of The Council for Secular Humanism, a FOX News story on the rise of Atheism, with quotes from Michael De Dora from CFI-NYC. Is this an attempt to reach out or is it simply as one critic states a " a puff piece, something for the neo-cons to view from afar without getting too close for comfort." What bothered me is they had to put in the atheist who values religion baloney at the end. Judge for yourself:

Right Wing Art Museums

Tensions of mealtime prayers

Richard Wade at The Friendly Atheist site wrote a post on a subject that affects all of us atheists who have relatives and friends who are god believers and must pray at mealtime. I am respectful when visiting family and friends who must say prayers before eating. I do not participate by bowing my head and folding my hands, I do sit quietly and let them do their thing. I even am respectful and quiet when we go to restaurants with god believers and do not eat till they have said their magical incantations to their imaginary friend. I do not roll my eyes, do not tell them they are really talking to themselves, and I would never interfere with what they feel they need to do. I especially would never interfere with the raising of their children no matter how I feel about them indoctrinating their little ones to believe in and talk to an imaginary being. It is not my place as long as the child is not being abused and is loved and cared for. Everything else is none of my business and I keep my opinions to myself unless they try to convert me or ridicule my non-belief or tell me I am going to go to hell, etc.

Richard's post tells of a family problem where the religious folks will not reciprocate when it comes to respect of non-believing family members, going so far as to force the child of the non-believers to fold their hands while others are praying. I would have a big problem if one of my friends or family members actually reached over and clasped my child's hands together and insisted they talk to an imaginary being they cannot even fathom.

Respect goes both ways. While god believers are in my home I will do things my way and expect them to just utter their prayers to themselves and not make a deal of it the same way as when I am in homes of god believers and sit respectfully while they say their mealtime grace and not make a big deal of it.

But the thing is, sometimes they DO make a big deal of me not having my head bowed, my eyes closed and hands folded. They say it is insulting to them and to their imaginary friend. I have been through this a few times. If we just stay in another room until grace is said, then we are also the bad guys, we are told we are disrespecting them. But when they come to our house they still bow their heads and pray and utter to themselves in my presence and I am to say nothing or else I am disrespecting them. No thought at all about them disrespecting me and what I believe.

They want everything their way. They think that my opinions and beliefs are irrelevant, and in order to keep the peace, it is usually me, the atheist, who must give in and be tolerant and cater to the ways of the religious folks. And they wonder why we get angry.

Another funny fundie comment

Here is a quote pulled from a comment thread at another site from Joe B about Noah's flood...this is one of the funniest ones I have heard in awhile.

The reason for the bottleneck was because of the local flood of Noah that wiped everybody out exept for the humans on the ark. This wiped out so many that the human race had to start over again. This is powerful evidence for the local flood of Noah.

Is this a pull quote from “Fundies Say the Darndest Things” ? Or is this a satirical comment? Or an eight-year-old trying to regurgitate some of his religious brainwashing?

A “local” flood would wipe out ALL humans??????? Powerful evidence for the “local flood of Noah”…

OMFGROTFLMAO!

The Gum Nebula

If you look closely at the center of this image you might just see the Flying Spaghetti Monster! He exists! (click on image to enlarge)

Credit & Copyright: Axel Mellinger

Explanation: Named for Australian astronomer Colin Stanley Gum (1924-1960), The Gum Nebula is so large and close it is actually hard to see. In fact, we are only about 450 light-years from the front edge and 1,500 light-years from the back edge of this cosmic cloud of glowing hydrogen gas. Covered in this 41 degree-wide mosaic of H-alpha images, the faint emission region is otherwise easy to lose against the background of Milky Way stars. The complex nebula is thought to be a supernova remnant over a million years old, sprawling across the southern constellations Vela and Puppis. Sliding your cursor over this spectacular wide field view will reveal the location of objects embedded in The Gum Nebula, including the Vela supernova remnant.

Another Duggar about to climb out of the clown car!

Arkansas family prepares for baby No. 19

Yes, I know this is getting old…and we knew it was going to happen since this woman obviously has a serious mental problem that makes her keep getting preggers and collecting children as if they were Cabbage Patch dolls! Seems this family is trying to create their own little town of Duggarville where everyone is related and everyone can inbreed, keeping out those evil-utionists and pro-choicers and they can all praise Jeebus together for blessing them with strong sperm, uteruses and vaginas.

What is really happening is this woman thrives on the attention she gets from being pregnant. And they can keep the sideshow going in order to keep interest in their spectacle via a television program where the entire family gets attention.

And what gets me is that these folks get tax exempt status for having their own self-created congregation that you and I pay for. And what does this do to health care costs? How many dependents does their private health care insurance allow? If not all kids are covered, how do they afford medical care for all these extra kids? And what if everyone did this? What about the impact on an already stressed natural environment?

The Duggars should have their heads examined, literally. This is not normal behavior. A normal wife, even a Christian one will say whoa hunny, I am not a baby making machine! And normal husbands will understand that they cannot put their wives through such physical stress which can be dangerous even under the best of care.

Obama's plan to talk to school kids met with fear and paranoia

No matter what your political affiliation, having your child be able to see and hear any president speak should be a great opportunity and something they will always remember.

On September 8, President Obama will be talking directly to students across the U.S. live on the White House website. Instead of looking at this as a positive thing for their children to hear a message from their President himself, Yahoo blogger Lili Ladaga tells us that “parents and conservatives are blasting the president, calling the speech an excuse to brainwash American children.” This idea is ludicrous. How will the country ever be a united country when ever attempt at bringing us together is treated with paranoia and distrust.

Presidents speaking directly to school children is nothing new as Ladaga points out:

Both Presidents George Bush and Ronald Reagan gave nationally televised speeches aimed specifically at students. In 1989, Bush delivered a televised anti-drug speech, and Reagan’s 1986 commencement speech and Q&A session was “beamed over public television into 171 school districts,” according to the L.A. Times

Was this brainwashing to have Bush warn of the dangers of drug use? Was it wrong for Reagan to tell young people to work hard in school in order to be good citizens? Republicans will say “well, that was different.” I think it could be considered brainwashing to have “I’m proud to be an American” piped in through my kids’ school sound system day after day after day while they were in elementary school. Now that IS brainwashing. Conservatives don’t think it’s brainwashing or indoctrination to keep “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance that kids have to say every day, but it is. The ones whining about Obama’s upcoming talk are the same ones who keep pushing for prayer in public school and for religion to be taught side-by-side with science, and don’t think there is anything wrong with that. But gasp, a liberal Democratic president telling their kids to stay in school and work hard and teachers asking for them to offer their ideas of how they can help the President is going to brainwash them?

All children whether they come from Democratic households or Republican should be able to think of something to offer as a suggestion to help the president, even if the Bible believing ones say “I will pray for him” (which is what they most likely will do.) This is not a brainwashing session. Some people and the media circus have been using fearmongering to make Obama look as if he is about to do something terrible to their children.

Now it would be wrong if teachers are forcing kids to draw posters supporting Obama’s issues, or making speeches promoting Obama’s stances, but is that really what is going to happen? Some conservatives I have talked to say that is exactly what they are worried about.

Here are some of the opinions about the whole thing:

“I sent my children to school to be educated NOT indoctrinated.” — justamom

[but it's okay to indoctrinate their kids in their churches] (my emphasis)

“The fact that people want to keep their kids from hearing the President of the United States encourage them to do well in school shows a true level of ignorance.” — Firefey

[Yes, indeed it does. They are afraid their child will be presented with another idea other than what they hear from home indoctrination.]

“As an [sic] 9th grade student, I’d like to say that 1. I’m not sure why everyone is so scared that we’ll all be brainwashed by the President … 2. My school is one that is not allowing us to watch the speech, and quite frankly, I’m pissed.” — Willbw

[High school students and older elementary school students are offended at not being allowed to hear what the president has to say and form their own opinions.]

Obama stated the intention of his talk last month:

“I’m going to be making a big speech to young people all across the country about the importance of education; about the importance of staying in school; how we want to improve our education system and why it’s so important for the country. So I hope everybody tunes in.”

How is asking for ideas from the students themselves indoctrinating them? Why aren’t parents taking advantage of this opportunity to discuss with their children the pros and cons of the current educational system and what can be done to make it better instead of “indoctrinating” them with their own prejudices and fears.

Pope says atheists to blame for global warming

This is the biggest bunch of crap I have heard in awhile. The Pope has stated in a recent speech that atheists are responsible for the destruction of the environment.

Excerpt from the Pope’s speech:

“Is it not true that inconsiderate use of creation begins where God is marginalized or also where his existence is denied? If the human creature’s relationship with the Creator weakens, matter is reduced to egoistic possession, man becomes the ‘final authority,’ and the objective of existence is reduced to a feverish race to possess the most possible.”

Micha J Stone of the Portland Humanist Examiner responds:

The irony is that any historical evaluation places the blame for global warming and the degradation of the planet firmly in the lap of Christians and the Catholic church. The Holy Bible, a book atheists firmly reject for good reason, claims that God gave man dominion over the earth. Christians, including Catholics, took these words to heart. They used those words as carte blanche, a justification for all manners of planetary abuse.

Thank you Micha for putting the blame back where it belongs.

Micha goes on to say:

Christianity, and Catholicism, are historically anti-environmental. In fact, if blame is to be placed for the current global environmental crisis, it is to be placed squarely upon the Judeo-Christian tradition. The fact that Christianity is anti-environmental is no secret. Indeed, many Christians have taken a perverse pride in claiming their dominion. For example, James Watt, who became U.S. Secretary of the Interior under Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s, wrote an influential and damning article entitled “Ours Is the Earth”. Watt, speaking for countless Christians, made it abundantly clear that for believers the earth is “merely a temporary way station on the road to eternal life…The earth was put here by the Lord for His people to subdue and to use for profitable purposes on their way to the hereafter.”

Exactly. Why should they care about the planet while the ultimate cosmic paradise is out there waiting for them in some other dimension?

So Pope Ratzi, I call bullshit on this one.

Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, commented:

“This is rich coming from the leader of an organisation that has plundered the world to enrich itself. As he sits in his golden palaces, surrounded by unimaginable luxury and material wealth, he lectures the rest of us about restraint and greed. We have nothing to learn about environmentalism from this hypocrite.”

Terry invites us to Read the whole, inflated, self-serving speech

Then if you care to, you can read though some of the comments in this thread.

It is health INSURANCE reform, not health care reform

Click through each frame, it's not automatic. . .
Healthcare Napkins All

View more documents from Dan Roam.

Fundie quote of the week . . .

This is a new feature I am going to be posting. "Fundie quote of the week".

Mike says:

“Contrary to popular misconception, biblical Christian faith is not blind. It is reasonable, evidence-based, and testable”

Then Mike goes on to quote his “evidence” from the Babble:

“(2 Thes. 3:2, Heb 11:1, Isa 1:18, etc.)”

2 Thes. 3:2 — And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.

Heb 11:1 — Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Isa 1:18 — Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

These passages were so obviously written by superstitious (yet very creative and imaginative) delusional humans. The “reasoning” provided in the last passage you provided is simply a bunch of pretty adjectives and analogies of basically, nothing.

Sorry Mike, but Bible passages are NOT “reasonable, evidence-based, and testable”. Your beliefs are based on faith and your contradictory and inconsistent mythology book that was written by many human beings in ancient times. Nothing “evidence-based” and nothing “testable” concerning the existence of your god and resurrected zombie Jesus has been found to date. Your Bible provides no more evidence for the existence of your god any more than the Book of the Dead proves Ra exists, or the Hindu ancient texts prove that their multiple gods exist. It's all mythology that people choose to believe is real.

Americans United warns Illinois state officials

Illinois May Not Fund Religion

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois should move carefully when awarding $40 million or more in state funds to religious organizations, two national activist groups warned Wednesday.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Anti-Defamation League told state officials that they’ve identified at least 97 religious organizations [my emphasis] that would get the money from the capital construction bill signed into law last month.

They pointed out in a letter to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity that the constitutional separation of church and state forbids using tax dollars for religious purposes and that the grants carry no restrictions.

“When grants are made to religious groups with no safeguards whatsoever, the rights of taxpayers are clearly being infringed,” said Barry Lynn, executive director of the Washington-based Americans United. “No American should ever be forced to contribute money in support of religion.”

Without watchdog groups like Americans United for Separation of Church and State, this news would never come to light and most of us would not know about it.

Gov. Pat Quinn signed a $31 billion infrastructure improvement plan last month aimed at improving roads and bridges, but also included millions in grants to local organizations. There could be more groups with religious affiliations than the 97 that the Americans United and the Chicago-based Anti-Defamation League counted because their names don’t immediately identify them as such.

Among grants that the groups want reviewed are $75,000 for capital improvements to the library at the Chicago Baptist Institute; $100,000 each for renovations at Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, St. Ann Catholic School and St. Paul Parish; and $50,000 for a housing project by the Lawndale Christian Development Project.

Citing numerous court cases, the two groups asked the department to review all the grants it releases to ensure that none support religious activities. They want the state to require recipients to sign statements that they won’t use the money for religious purposes.

The groups want the agency to ban grants to sectarian organizations or those that, according to court rulings, cannot separate their religious missions from secular ones.

According to Americans United,

The Chicago-Tribune reported that the bill earmarks $250,000 for renovations to the Friendship House of Christian Service in Peoria, awards $150,000 for “facility improvements” at the Salaam Conference Center of Muhammad’s Holy Temple of Islam in Chicago and assigns $700,000 for capital improvements at St. Malachy School, a Catholic elementary on Chicago’s West Side, among many others.

Sneaky religious bastards!

Atheist cartoons.com

Today's religion is tomorrow's mythology . . .

The difference between religion and mythology according to Lewis Black:

"If you believe it, it's religion. If you don't, it's mythology. "

I am God, I listen to myself, figure things out and do.

"How do you know you're God?"
"When I pray to him I find that I am talking to myself."

From The Ruling Class by Peter Barnes