Mike's Blog

Mulims just want to kill a few infidels - Christians are trying to hasten the end of human life

Why is no one in government looking into this? Whoops, Tom DeLay and Joe Lieberman support it and are part of it. This rabid group of mainstream christian loons wants to hasten the end of human life on this planet. I think I'm A LOT more worried about wacko fundamentalists wanting to end all human life than a few wacko Muslims wanted to kill some infidels.

PZ has the links that summarize this.  Watch the video. It's scary. This is nothing new Hagee and other like him have been preaching the "end times" for a long time. They actively are looking forward to human life being extinguished on the earth since they will be "raptured away".

Looking forward to Armageddon and the cleansing of the earth

Category: Evil

Last summer, a lot of people hated this post where I advocated calling the apocalyptic cultists on their evil delusions. Then we had some prominent Christian leaders calling for war with Iran, and John Hagee gave a demented interview with Terry Gross, in which his rapture rubbish was used as an excuse to advocate hate and war and destruction, all because his "prophecies" said that's what we need to do.

Want some more fun?

Watch this video from a Christians United For Israel conference. There's Hagee promising unconditional support for Israel until the Messiah comes, and then standing up in a press conference to claim that their support has nothing to do with end times theology. Watch people cheer at the urging to have a preemptive military strike against Iran. Listen to the interviews with creepy "just folks." See Tom DeLay and Rick Santorum as honored guests … and the hero of the whole show? Joe Lieberman. Our "moderate" religious former Democrat. A perfect example of a religious moderate happily and enthusiastically supporting unabashed evil and ignorance. (link Pharyngula)

"...pediatric proctology..."

I was scanning through some blog posts when a text string happened to catch my eye.

How about waterproof, buoyant pizza?

Category: Religion • Weirdness
Posted on: July 24, 2007 10:05 AM, by PZ Myers

Having read Mooney's Storm World last week, I can't be too disturbed by this bit of news: the pizza man who is fanatically devoted to the pope, Tom Monaghan, is opening his new planned town dedicated to Catholic values next Saturday. There will be no porn or contraceptives available in town, but I hear there will be a whole clinic dedicated to pediatric proctology on Main Street. ... (link Pharyngula)

Fart jokes are so juvenile

But about half way through this I could not stop laughing...I'll have to remember the appropriate times for the phrase "thank you Jeeesuss" in the future.

The Infamous Tilton Video

Category:
Posted on: July 23, 2007  9:16 AM, by Ed Brayton

I came across this again last night and I just had to post it. Yes, it's juvenile. Yes, it's low brow humor. But I dare you to watch it without laughing. Video is below the fold.

Blogs have been around for 10 years now

Amazing how something as integrated with our lives as blogs are can go from nothing to what they are today in 10 years. It's certainly an integrated part of mine. Information I need, articles I find interesting, links to good sites, I keep all of it on my blog so that I can access it no matter where I am. If I want to be amused again by something I came across or forget why I'm pissed off all I need to access to the web.

Happy Blogiversary

It's been 10 years since the blog was born. Love them or hate them, they've roiled presidential campaigns and given everyman a global soapbox. Twelve commentators -- including Tom Wolfe, Newt Gingrich, the SEC's Christopher Cox and actress-turned-blogger Mia Farrow -- on what blogs mean to them.

By TUNKU VARADARAJAN
July 14, 2007; Page P1

Notwithstanding the words of Tom Wolfe, who puts an elegant boot, below, into the corpus of bloggers, there are many more people today who would read blogs than disparage them.

...

The other change in the blog has, of course, been its mainstreaming. Blogging was once the province of the Nerd Without a Life (NWAL -- which, when pronounced aloud, sounds remarkably and appropriately like know-all). Today, while members of that tribe still abound, there are others who blog not because it is their only window on the world, but because blogging offers the opportunity of direct and immediate communion with those who would respond to their ideas. Call it intellectual "skin contact."

...

(link WSJ via Elkit in Wonderland)

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The US is still the leader in this category but there's stiff competition for batshit crazy wingnut of the world - from Sweden

I don't read or understand a single word of Swedish or Finnish but someone sent me an e-mail with this link to a video they had made for their site It's an interview with a very weird Finnish christian. It's subtitled.  He believes in the power of prayer to resurrect decomposing bodies and he proudly points to his pacemaker while saying the it's his and his wife's prayers that keep him alive. I thought the US was the only place where the likes of Benny Hinn, Pat Roberson or John Hagee ranted such silliness, but there's some stiff competition out there for the country with the most batshit crazy unhinged wingnuts.

RAS första film!!

         

Först nu publicerar vi vår första film! Komplikationer har medförst att vi icke kunnat färdigställa produktionen av de filmer, vilka ursprungligen var tänkta att funktionera som den primära kommunikationskällan för bloggen. Lyckligtvis besitter båda medlemmarna av RAS ett särdeles envist sinnelag, och de kommer båda fortsätta kämpa med de tekniska innovationerna för att leverera intressanta resonemang och ofattbart skarpsinninga intervjuer via videoklipp.

I detta första klipp diskuterar Tomi kristendomens fundament och uppenbara motsägelser med den missionär som åtagit sig uppgiften att konvertera hårdrockare vid den finska festivalen Tuska Open Air, vilken gick av stapeln under Juni månad 2007. Hör hur han förespråkar nekromantiska ritualer, kategoriskt avvikande från sakfrågan och att till och med barn har plats i Guds förlovade paradis. Fler klipp kommer inom kort...

                                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Skrivet av RAS                                                 20 juli 2007 klockan 00:47           
(link)                                 

"why basic science education is important"

I saw this a few days ago on BoingBoing and thought, jeeesh. But then what really made me think about it was a comment on onegoodmove.com "why is teaching basic science important". When I travel I have 20-40 pounds of camera gear with lots of wires, cables, batteries etc. plus my laptop, spare battery, assortment of usb devices. I have NEVER been stopped and asked to have my bag inspected. Laptop batteries DO blow up. They can be made to blow up if they are intentionally shorted. Wires, cables, batteries, flash units, high voltage capacitors.

Come on guys, I'm pretty sure that MacGyver could make the stuff I usually carry on into an effective bomb. But if he had 5 minutes (or a year) to think about it and plan on using 50 pounds or so of electronics as a bomb, I'm pretty sure it could do more than cause the oxygen masks to drop down. Of course if you were really going to try to carry on a bomb you wouldn't make it look so obvious; but then again, I've never been searched so maybe cameras will now need to have a volume of less than 3oz and be safely sealed inside of a plastic 1 quart Ziplock bag.

An empty plastic battery holder with a USB port glued onto it looks like an IED? How stupid are these people?! Silly question.

Several years ago I was stopped because I had a screwdriver for my eyeglasses and couldn't bring it on the airplane because it was a "tool". At least the TSA management said to themselves, yes, we'll make this rule and require them enforce it. It's often going to be applied in a silly manner but no telling what could happen if we let the individual security people think. Now I understand the wisdom of the rule that a screwdriver is a "tool" even if the blade is 1/16" across.

TSA and electronics

A tale about homemade electronics, specifically an iPod charger and TSA, Damon writes -

I tell him it is a battery charger for my iPod. He asks if I made it myself, to which I reply that I purchased a kit over the internet. He says that he can't let me on the plane with it. I explain to him that I have flown with it 4-6 times a month for a year now and nobody has questioned it. He says, "Not on my watch and not with my people."

He swabs the device and runs it through the calorimeter. Again, no residue.

I ask why it can't be taken on the plane and he said, "Because it looks like an IED." Now, I agree it looks suspicious, but the machine found no traces of explosives, and the device wasn't big enough to do any damage.

...He tells me to sit down and he checks my feet. I was about to make a joke about him giving me more attention than my wife when Donna comes over and sits down next to me. She asks what the thing is, I tell her it's a battery charger. She asks why I have it, and I begin to explain that the iPod only has about 2 hours of video time, but with the MintyBoost! I can get about 20 hours of video time. I explain that the airport commute and the airplane flight take a few hours...

She interrupts me and says she doesn't like the look of it. She starts in with the typical, "In these times..." excuse for the concern.

My Encounter with the TSA - Link.

I fly with a lot of electronics and so far nothing like this has happened, but I think it's worth reading the entire story (he eventually did get on the plane with his gear). (link)

Most Republicans and 40% of Democrats incapable of rational thinking according to a Gallup poll

Once I start thinking about this my opinions of people start going way way way down.  I'm constantly amazed at the people who for all intents and purposes seem quite reasonable and sane but who believe things with zero evidence and with no thought. Evolution is not a matter of "believing" anything. It's about considering the very slightest shred of evidence for evolution and comparing it to ZERO evidence for their preferred alternative.

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Republicans Most Likely to Reject Evolution

As noted previously, belief in evolution has been injected into the political debate already this year, with much attention given to the fact three Republican presidential candidates answered a debate question by saying that they did not believe in evolution.

It appears that these candidates are, in some ways, "preaching to the choir" in terms of addressing their own party's constituents -- the group that matters when it comes to the GOP primaries. Republicans are much more likely to be religious and attend church than independents or Democrats in general. Therefore, it comes as no great surprise to find that Republicans are also significantly more likely not to believe in evolution than are independents and Democrats. 

(link The Gallup Poll via onegoodmove)

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DEA classifies California pot growers as terrorists

Yes, it's not a good idea to go tramping around the backwoods of many places in Northern California, and yes, there is a chance of being shot at and it is a danger, but "terrorists"?  Is everyone that the administration doesn't "like" going to be classified a terrorist?

Drug czar gives warning

 

Federal official calls marijuana growers dangerous terrorists

By Dylan Darling (Contact)
Friday, July 13, 2007

...

The nation's top anti-drug official said people need to overcome their "reefer blindness" and see that illicit marijuana gardens are a terrorist threat to the public's health and safety, as well as to the environment.

... (link via BoingBoing)

Cloud monkeys prove "god"!

The evidence continues to mount, bananas, tree bark, chandeliers, peanut butter, the Ford Pinto and now cloud monkeys! (via Bad Astronomy Blog)

Another day, another angel sighting (with video goodness).

s

A couple saw this face in the clouds while vacationing in Florida.

“While we were in the elevator, I began to look at my pictures, and I told my wife, I said, ‘Look at these pictures and tell me what you see,’” Glenn Fulton said. “She said, ‘Oh my God, I see a face.”

[…]

“They are proof God exists,” Fulton said.

Yes, I suppose it is proof God exists, if God is an evil cloud monkey with disfigured hands ready to wrap around your head and chew off your face.

The holy wars heat up :-)

Now it's christian against christian. I know it's silly to hope that all of them will just eat each other for breakfast, but one can always dream. Herr Ratzinger clarifies;

...
It (his clarification) restates key sections of a 2000 document the pope wrote when he was prefect of the congregation, “Dominus Iesus,” which set off a firestorm of criticism among Protestant and other Christian denominations because it said they were not true churches but merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the “means of salvation.”

In the new document and an accompanying commentary, which were released as the pope vacations here in Italy’s Dolomite mountains, the Vatican repeated that position.

“Christ ‘established here on earth’ only one church,” the document said. The other communities “cannot be called ‘churches’ in the proper sense” because they do not have apostolic succession — the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ’s original apostles.

... (link via Amused Muse)