Archive for February, 2007

According to Red State Rabble, the Kansas State Board of Education has adopted a new set of standards that undoes the damage done by creationists, and assures that science classes will actually be teaching science. It was only a 6-4 victory, though, indicating the forces of politicized ignorance still have a strong presence there in the heartland. But for now, students from that state won’t find schools actually making them stupid, however much they may not appreciate it. In commemoration of this event, one day after Darwin Day, allow me to post the following inspirational message, shamelessly ganked from somebody’s MySpace page.

Here are a few things we can say with confidence about fundies. 1) They really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really don’t like homosexuals. 2) They really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really don’t like evil librul Hollywood. 3) They really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really like feeling persecuted. 4) And (I’ll spare you the “reallys” this time) they like complaining, especially when there’s the possibility of putting facts #1-3 together, and the media happens to be paying attention. Consistency is never a fundamentalist’s greatest skill, which is why they love to complain about all the vile sinful filth coming out of Tinseltown’s studios, and yet when one of those very studios puts out a movie about the baby Jesus during the Christmas season, none of them goes. No, they’re much more empowered by all the stuff they can point to to prove they’re the victims of an endless war against their precious values, stuff like The Last Temptation of Christ, Saved!, or Life of Brian. This time the ire is being directed towards a little Canadian independent comedy, Breakfast with Scot. It’s about a gay couple, one of whom is a former hockey player for the Mapleleafs, who are raising an adopted 11-year-old boy who apparently enjoys dragging up himself. If you think fundies have been quick with the picket lines in the past, this time they’ve set a new land speed record for “reactionary.” Scot hasn’t even wrapped principal photography! And already, a fundie onslaught, led by San Diego-based lunatic and “former homosexual” (what, another one?) James Hartline, is underway. It’s not enough that Hartline has the creepiest looking neck I’ve ever seen on a hominid. (Scroll down.) Just to give you an idea of the extent of his asshattery, he’s the kind of guy who...
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As Ed Brayton points out, February 12, 1809 was the day the world got both Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln. A great day for humanity indeed! The Center for Inquiry Community of Austin hosted a wonderfully successful Darwin Day celebration at Book People on Saturday. I’ve posted 20 photos from the event, thanks to Marla Shane, at the CFI-Austin MySpace page (I think you have to be a MySpace member to view the pics), and the Daily Texan Online has a nice article as well, even if they make a bit too much hay over the “controversial” nature of evolution. (It isn’t controversial at all among actual scientists — duh.) So have some cake today to commemorate one of the most important scientists who ever lived! (Mmmmm…cake.)

Turns out I do have a picture, courtesy of Hollye. RIP, ol’ girl. A few folks have asked me about helping out Purrfect Hearts, Hollye’s shelter. Right now, she could use — as all shelters could — donations, particularly for litter, which you tend to go through stupefying quantities of when you’re taking care of fifty cats. You cat fanciers can make Paypal donations here. (Yes, I’m the webmaster for the shelter, so you can e-mail me with queries.)

Apropos of nothing, a believer named Beth showed up in the previous post’s comments, and offered up a series of banal arguments of the type that no informed Christian apologist would even waste time with. They’re Jack Chick dumb, which means their persuasive content is zero and that they’ve been on the “Refuted and Inactive” list for decades, if not longer. My guess is that Beth heard these inanities at church, Bible study, or Sunday school, or read them on one of the more feeble Christian apologetics sites (or heck, even a Chick tract), and thought she’d drop by here to stump us with them, not realizing they’re DOA. She is now, for her pains, about to be schooled. Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle; I’m all for people who want to stand up and defend their faith to us doing so. But good grief, at least make sure you know what arguments not to make in the interests of not making a complete chimp of yourself. Consider this a public service. Beth’s first paragraph: Have you ever stopped to think that there is really no such thing as an atheist? To be adamant that there is no God, you must know everything that there is to know. You must have 100 percent of all the knowledge of everything in the universe. Let’s assume you have 1 percent (which would be high for the average person) of all knowledge. That means that you do not know 99 percent of all the things there are to know, so you are really agnostic, because you dont know if there is a God because you cannot know everything. Problem #1: Beth is ignorant of the distinction between atheist and agnostic. But so are a lot of people, including many unbelievers, so I’ll cut her some slack here. Agnosticism/gnosticism has to do with epistemic claims, ie., what one claims to know, while atheism/theism has to do with what one chooses to believe or not believe. Belief and knowledge are two different things. One can admit one has no firm knowledge...
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