Time to lighten things up a touch around here. This is just fun to watch.
(Direct link.)
As is this, although slightly underlit.
(Direct link.)
Author: Stephanie Zvan
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When a Camera Isn’t Enough
People who haven’t spent much time talking about rape often point to lack of physical or other corroborating evidence as the reason for low conviction rates. People who do talk about this frequently aren’t impressed. Here’s why.
Understanding Occupy Wall Street
The Occupy Wall Street protests started on September 17, 2011. It is only relatively recently that the media has paid them any attention whatsoever. Even then, despite these protests being large and ongoing and having spread nationally, those who comment or report on them act as bemused and puzzled by the protests as a friend of mine just was when she reported that her young daughter had just walked by wearing sandwich baggies on her feet. The treatment is so blatant it can’t be missed.
On her new CNN show on Monday night, host Erin Burnett was joined by Rudy Giuliani’s former speechwriter John Avlon and together they heaped condescending scorn on the Wall Street protests while defending the banking industry, offering — as FAIR documented — several misleading statements along the way. Burnett “reported” that while she “saw dancing, bongo drums, even a clown” at the protest, the participants “did not know what they want,” except that “it seems like people want a messiah leader, just like they did when they anointed Barack Obama.” She featured a video clip of herself explaining to one of the protesters that the U.S. Government made money from TARP, and then demanded to know if that changed his negative views of Wall Street.
Nor was it isolated:
Help Make Foxholes Safe for Atheists
One of the best things about blogging on FtB is being surrounded by energetic, dynamic writers, thinkers, and activists. That includes many of the commenters as well as my fellow bloggers. This place keeps me on my toes.
You may have already seen this interview with Justin Griffith posted a few places, including his blog, where he comments a bit more. If you haven’t taken the time to watch it yet, I strongly recommend that you do so (though, as Justin notes, perhaps not at work). He talks about the various challenges atheist soldiers face, their common cause with many religious soldiers, the original purpose of the chaplaincy and what it has become, and his own activism, both with Rock Beyond Belief and in regard to an atheist chaplaincy. He also explains why my title for this post is a bit misleading.
Even if the folks running the show don’t rock your boat, don’t miss Justin.
Putting It All Together
Ophelia has a couple of posts up that really deserve to be seen next to one another.
First, “We demonstrate a noble submission to authority“:
Men and women are both created in the image of God and are equal in value and dignity, but they have distinct roles and functions in the home and in the church.
We are called as women to affirm and encourage men as they seek to express godly masculinity, and to honor and support God-ordained male leadership in the home and in the church.
…
When we respond humbly to male leadership in our homes and churches, we demonstrate a noble submission to authority that reflects Christ’s submission to God His Father.
Then “An inspiration“:
Further investigation revealed that Hana had a number of injuries on the night she died, including a large lump on the head, bloody marks and injuries “consistent with disciplinary impacts with a switch,” according to court documents released Friday.
Those same documents describe the hellish life that Hana endured in the months before her death – which included systematic withholding of food, forced times outdoors in the cold or locked in a dark closet, interspersed with regular spankings or beatings with a plumbing tool.
In interviews with the parents and other children in the household, investigators determined that the Williams withheld food from Hana as a punishment for being “rebellious,” court documents say.
Because, really, anyone who is submissive is ever “equal in value and dignity” in practice. No, we are to be submissive, end of story. And if we don’t have the dignity to do it on our own, they have all the authority they need to make us submit, even if it kills us.
Honoring Constitution Is Now a Terrorist Attack
Via Dakota O’Leary, a lovely little Wall of Separation story:
The mayor of Whiteville, Tenn. said his community is under attack from a national atheist organization that is threatening to sue unless they remove a cross atop the town’s water tower.
“They are terrorists as far as I’m concerned,” said Mayor James Bellar about the Freedom From Religion Foundation. “They are alleging that some Whiteville resident feels very, very intimidated by this cross.”
The mayor told Fox News Radio that the cross was erected on the town’s water tower about eight years ago by a private group of citizens. They collected private donations to cover the costs.
It’s just a cross on the water tower,” he said. “All we’re doing is exercising our right to practice our beliefs down here but this organization is now going to stymie that. We’re not out here knocking on doors trying to convert people.”
No, it’s just a cross on government property with no purpose but religious observance. For comparison, even the Mojave Cross was a memorial on land being transferred out of government hands so it could remain in its original form.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is on the case here, though. (Donated to them lately?) The city, which has known about this request for about a year, has until Halloween to remove the cross or be sued.
Which do you think it will be? Will the mayor cost his town a bunch of money that no one can afford right now? Or is he just whipping up sentiment against atheists so he doesn’t lose votes when he does what was his patriotic duty in the first place?
Saturday Storytime: Here Be Monsters
Usually, Saturday Storytime is a way of making sure I stop to read some fiction every now and again, no matter how busy I get. Today is a little bit different. This one, I wrote. In fact, this is my first published story.
“You good, Doc?”
“Oh, yes.” Andrews gave a little wriggle of anticipation.
Karee swallowed. No getting used to that. “Good night, then.”
With the last of the inmates ‘shelved and synched’, she signed out using her passkey. Her ward was quiet, with the exception of the occasional low moan. Time to leave her charges to the night staff and rejoin society.
There was no good reason to wash her hands at the end of her shift, but she always did. Her face too. The cool evening breeze found the spots around her ears she hadn’t quite dried. She shivered but felt much lighter than she had inside.
Then she saw the sign through the fence. Poster paper on a broom handle, it said simply: Here be monsters. It must be Thursday.
Nanny Goat Gruff and the Internet Trolls
There has been some confusion about what I mean when I talk about a troll. This might help clear up any confusion…or maybe just entertain a bit. It was originally posted here.
Once upon a time, there was a nanny goat who lived to wander from field to field, tasting the grass and bushes as she went. It was a simple life: wander, taste, chew, wander again. Sunshine and air and a million flavors were her world.
The only problem was that the most complex, interesting flavors were to be found in isolated meadows, only accessible by bridge. And where there were bridges, there were trolls.
Atheists Talk: Donald Prothero (with Bonus Talk)
Donald Prothero is a palaeontologist who is very much disliked by the Discovery Institute and loved by skeptics, science aficionados, and students. He has written several books and over 200 papers for peer reviewed journals, popular magazines, and anthologies. He wrote “Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters,” “Catastrophes!: Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Tornadoes, and Other Earth-Shattering Disasters,” “Greenhouse of the Dinosaurs: Evolution, Extinction, and the Future of Our Planet,” as well as numerous text books and scientific monographs.
Don is in town for the Geological Society of America meetings, and has agreed to come by the studio and chat with Greg Laden about dinosaurs, climate change, science denialism and, of course, the psychology of cryptozoology, which is the subject of one of his current writing projects.
Professor Prothero is Professor of Geology at Occidental College and Lecturer in Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and the Paleontological Society.
Links of interest:
Donald Prothero – The Psychology of Cryptozoologists on Point of Inquiry
Skeptics Guide to the Universe Interview with Don Prothero
American Museum of Natural History Podcast
Don Prothero on the East Coast Earthquake
A short list of some of Donald Prothero’s books:
Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters
Catastrophes!: Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Tornadoes, and Other Earth-Shattering Disasters
Greenhouse of the Dinosaurs: Evolution, Extinction, and the Future of Our Planet
After the Dinosaurs: The Age of Mammals (Life of the Past)
The Evolution of Artiodactyls
Listen to AM 950 KTNF on Sunday at 9 a.m. Central to hear Atheists Talk, produced by Minnesota Atheists. Stream live online. Call in to the studio at 952-946-6205, or send an e-mail to [email protected] during the live show. If you miss the live show, listen to the podcast later.
If you’re in the area, you can also catch Don that afternoon:
Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011, 1:30 p.m.
Party Room of Larpenteur Estates
1276 Larpenteur Ave. W.
St. Paul, MN 55113(Park in the back of the apartment complex and go to the gap between buildings near the east end. Signs will point to the Party Room.)
Minnesota Atheists is pleased to host Prof. Donald R. Prothero, who will give a presentation on “Science Denialism: The Holocaust, Evolution, Climate Change, etc.”
The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 612-588-7031.
“Elevatorgate” Challenge #2
It looks like “Elevatorgate” Challenge #1 is petering out. There were a few takers, a few trolls, a bunch of denialism (including some claims that made me literally LOL), and numerous abject failures, including three guys who decided they’d rather not post on my blog than abide by the terms of the challenge. No one has managed to state in a clear, straightforward manner that the situation as described in all its details by Rebecca was “zero bad,” much less explain why.
Now it’s time for a new challenge.