Comments

  1. says

    Why don’t you engage the substance of Ben’s statements, instead of mocking him?

    You know, like how because of Darwinism there’s no allowance for questioning why planets orbit as they do, something that has no explanation…

    Oh, uh, never mind.

    Glen D
    http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7

  2. Jsn says

    Y’know -like- uh, it’s like that Buffy Episode, y’know where -like- everybody was singing ‘cuz Zander called on that Broadyway Demon-guy and-uh- like i forgot what i was saying…
    Oh yeah, -like- spoofing IDiots in song ROCKS!!!

  3. Matt says

    “You may say Ben Stein’s a schemer
    But he’s not the only one
    Many a fool would destroy us
    A new Dark Age will have begun

    Imagine no progression
    Evolution canned
    No need for artful discussions
    A devaluing of man
    Imagine all the children
    Burning all the books…

    You may say I’m a boomer
    And my time will fade away
    I hope someday you’ll stand up
    And keep ignorance at bay.”

    Those lyrics are excellent. Someone should mail them to Stein. You hear that, Ben? You fucking lunatic?

  4. caerbannog says

    A Rottentomato.com comparison:

    Howard the Duck: 19%
    Ishtar: 19%
    Showgirls: 14%
    The Robot Monster (directed by Ed Wood): 27%

    ..and… drum-roll……

    Expelled: 9%!

    Congratulations are in order all around!!

  5. HP says

    Cheer up, selfish gene,
    Oh what can it mean,
    To an ID believer
    And an old drama queen?

  6. says

    One of the more religious types I work with (and there are many) just came in all excited about the commercial he saw on Comedy Central for Expelled. All I could do was laugh. He caught me after reading the lyrics linked to above.

    Oh well.

  7. Chris Petroni says

    “Cheer up, selfish gene,
    Oh what can it mean,
    To an ID believer
    And an old drama queen?”

    Awesome! More please!

  8. AlanWCan says

    You know, I actually heard a xtian mangling of Imagine on some fundie radio channel (the guys remodelling our house listen to some xtian radio station Oy!), where they replaced the lyrics with “Imagine one religion” and I think something like “hell below us/above us only god
    It was more nauseating than most of the self-congratulatory pablum they play on there. I’ll be glad when they’re done (and yes I’m well aware of the whole xtian carpenters thing, isn’t that funny. Maybe I should get a few crucifixes installed for good measure?)

  9. says

    #6: “Robot Monster” is certainly a horrible excuse for a movie, but it isn’t an Ed Wood – it was directed by Phil Tucker, and written by Wyott Ordung. If anything, it’s ever so slightly *worse* than the stuff Ed Wood wrote and directed.

  10. Forrest Prince says

    Somewhere

    Out in the movies

    Stein’s a boob

    He’s being exposed and expelled

    Maybe this time for good.

    (Sincerest apologies to Judy Garland)

  11. tintin says

    OT, and apologies if I’ve missed the post, but where oh where has the God of Biscuits’ Gospel gone?

  12. says

    Oh, great. YECs versus the MAFIAA. One group of greedy, hard-right cretins against another.

    I have a bad feeling about this.

  13. Ativan says

    Got a charge out of this, on the “Expelled” website: “It’s (EXPELLED) going to appeal strongly to the religious, the paranoid, the conspiracy theorists, and the ignorant — which means they’re going to draw in about 90% of the American market.”
    -Atheist blogger and fabulist PZ Myers, on a film he has not yet seen.

    Definition of chutzpah: blocking a person from seeing a movie, then criticizing him for not seeing it.

  14. Rich says

    Look at me, I’m Billy D
    Expert on complexity
    But you all laugh
    ’cause I can’t do the math…
    I can’t, I’m Billy D!

    PS KRISTINE IS A WITCH.

  15. says

    Glen Davidson writes,

    Why don’t you engage the substance of Ben’s statements, instead of mocking him?

    Glen, engaging Ben Stein’s “arguments” requires mocking him. If these were the arguments of a child or mentally incapable person, they would demand serious response. But they’re not. And as such, they require our laughter.

  16. MikeM says

    Well, they’re better than mine were. OTOH, mine took 10 seconds to “compose.”

    Yup, and I’m such a trendsetter, too.

    As a public service, I’ll let you try to find the one I wrote. No URL. Like telling people, “You won’t believe what I read on Town Hall. Nope, I’m not giving you the URL. In fact, I have to go wash my eyes out with soap now.”

  17. says

    Um, you know I was joking (at least by now), don’t you Mavaddat?

    Moving on, this seems to meet the ethical specifications of the Expelled sleazeballs:

    Ticket stubs benefit school

    MOSINEE — Wisconsin Valley Lutheran High School is collecting ticket stubs from “Expelled,” and will receive a donation for each stub turned in by May 2.

    The movie “Expelled” opens in theaters Friday. It addresses the subject of evolution in schools through the eyes of a character who is studying intelligent design.
    Mail movie ticket stubs to WVLHS, 601 Maple Ridge Road, Mosinee WI 54455.

    http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080417/WDH04/80417110/1619

    It’s in the Bible, you reap what you sow, Ruloff, Stein, Mathis, and Miller.

    Glen D
    http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7

  18. karen says

    Both sets of revised lyrics ROCK! Love the homage to Peezee, peeeeeeeZEEEEEEEEEEE!

  19. Elyse says

    Peeeeeee Zeeeeeeeee
    Peeeeeeeeeeeeeee Zeeeeeeeeeeeeee
    PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    <3 my PZ.

  20. says

    For you, Martin@#27–

    I am the very model of a devious creationist
    I’ve made a film that’s best described as stolen-animationist
    I know the use of rhetoric when facts are unavailable
    To render the impossible into the unassailable

    I’m very well acquainted, too, with data manufacturing
    I’ll claim I stand on solid granite even as it’s fracturing
    I document complexity, like when it’s irreducible…
    And think my movie’s in the league of Arthur Miller’s Crucible

    And think my movie’s in the league of Arthur Miller’s Crucible
    And think my movie’s in the league of Arthur Miller’s Crucible
    And think my movie’s in the league of Arthur Miller’s Crucible

    I’m very good at lying, both the verbal and statistical–
    Like Darwin in his later years, I’m openly theistical
    In short, you might describe me as a mental masturbationist
    I am the very model of a devious creationist

    (that will have to do for now… if I take the time to finish it, we’ll be on comment 600… Perhaps I will complete it and put it up on my own site…)

  21. says

    -Atheist blogger and fabulist PZ Myers, on a film he has not yet seen.

    But they didn’t forget to thank you in the credits.

    (And they forgot to mention that in addition to being an Atheist blogger and “fabulist” that you are a very reputable biologist! Assholes. why-i-oughta!)

  22. Damien Trotter aka missus_gumby says

    Here’s one I recently tossed-off in the Caribbean:

    The Atheist Stonecutters Song.

    Who puts the thorns in Jesus’ Crown?
    Who keeps the fundy system down?
    We do! We do!

    Who leaves Naz’reth off the map?
    Who thinks religion’s a bunch of crap?
    We do! We do!

    Who with creationists like to spar?
    Who makes Dawkins a global star?
    We do! We do!

    Who points out the biblical shite?
    Who proves that evolution’s right?
    We do! Weeeee dooooo!

  23. rpenner says

    Does anyone have a URL to that tickets for dollars promotion? I seem to remember it had weasel words that they will exchanges tickets for money as funds allow. So if they didn’t allocate funds past the promised $10,000 top-prize then most of the dupes will receive only a no-prize. Indeed, if Yoko Ono, Harvard, XVIVO, etc. sue them into chapter 7, then even the $10,000 may not have to be paid.

    We need a recognition signal if we see each other at the movies this weekend. I would proposed carrying a package of shredded squid jerky in honor of PZ, but most theaters crackdown on outside food, and only in Morris and Ipswitch do the movie vendors cater to the squid-friendly.

  24. Bill says

    #37 rpenner –
    If you are going to the movies this weekend, I’d recommend carrying flyers that say: “Ben Stein Lies http://www.expelledexposed.com“.
    That should make it easy to recognize each other.

    Cuttlefish – You! Are! AWESOME!

  25. Eric says

    My google adwords campaign recently ran out of money and I’ve decided against adding any more funds. Hopefully at least one person googling for ‘expelled’ (or any of the other terms listed below [see image]) saw the teaser for the ExpelledExposed.com site, clicked on it and got the full story.

    http://img508.imageshack.us/my.php?image=expelledexposedgoogleadwk4.jpg

    * I’m not affiliated with NCSE.org or the ExpelledExposed.com site, I just thought I’d donate some free advertising their way.

  26. MikeM says

    Cuttlefish, I recognize that tune.

    Tom Lehrer’s “Elements”.

    Right?

    You… you… Plagiarist!

    (Someone had to do it.)

  27. Eric says

    ps. For a while, the ad for ExpelledExposed.com was sitting up there at the number one sponsored position (listed before the search results and highlighted in yellow) when you searched for ‘expelled’ at google.com. It was even listed before the ExpelledTheMovie.com website. I thought that was pretty funny. :)

    * I have no idea how google adwords chooses the positioning for it’s ads. It seemed to choose random CPC (cost per click) values and ad positions. It’s sort of like playing the slot machines…

  28. says

    Actually, that’s the “Modern Major-General” from Gilbert & Sullivan’s “HMS Pinafore”.

    Cuttlefish–I was so inspired I had to go out and write one too, to the tune of “Hotel California” Here’s part of it:

    Ben Stein was explaining
    Why prof Gene took a dive
    What he took 90 minutes to say
    He could have told us in five

    And still teh crazy it burns all across the land
    Doesn’t bother the DI folks though
    Sure they’re feeling grand

    Welcome to Expelled (from Acadamia)
    Yeah it’s got Ben Stein
    And his monowhine

    Yes we’re oh-so-fair in Expelled (from Acadamia)
    Why just look at who’s
    In our interviews

    The whole thing’s at my place, but don’t waste your time–visit Da Cuttlefish.

  29. Hairy Doctor Professor says

    Cuttlefish: (that will have to do for now… if I take the time to finish it, we’ll be on comment 600… Perhaps I will complete it and put it up on my own site…)

    Oh, yes, please (pathetic whine).

  30. says

    Please – no more! I’m in serious danger of contracting Pharyngulitis – or becoming a Pharyngulaholic, or something. I’ve heard there are some other web pages on the Internet somewhere, but I just can’t seem to drag myself away from here…

    MikeM – go and stand in the corner! Cuttlefish (and Tom Lehrer’s Elements) are both parodies of “I am the very model of a modern Major General” from Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance (No, not Pinafore either). Cuttlefish – you HAVE to finish that, it’s brilliant.

    I might even have a go at doing a Jabberwocky version!

  31. Carlie says

    OT, and apologies if I’ve missed the post, but where oh where has the God of Biscuits’ Gospel gone?

    Oh no! Hopefully it’s that he’s focusing on his dissertation for awhile. :(

  32. MikeM says

    D’oh, you’re right.

    Corner. Standing. Can I come out now?

    (But can’t you picture Stein? “Hah! And they call us plagiarists? He didn’t even try to disguise it!”)

    He’d say it without the “Hah!” though. That spoils the monotonous flow.

  33. Katrina says

    Has anyone checked to see if EMI and George Thorogood have given their permission for “Bad to the Bone”? I’m starting to wonder.

  34. says

    When I copy and they tell me “desist”,
    Gonna go to the place that’s the best
    When I get caught in a lie,
    Goin’ up to designers in the sky
    Goin’ up to designers in the sky
    That’s where I’m gonna go when I lie
    When I lie and they tell me desist
    Gonna go to the place that’s the best

    DJ actions might come a bust
    Gotta have a friend in Jesus
    So you know that when you lie
    He’s gonna recommend you
    To designers in the sky
    Gonna recommend you
    To designers in the sky
    That’s where you’re gonna go when you lie
    Steal in God’s name but they tell you desist
    You’re gonna go to the place that’s the best

    I sorta copied and I maybe infringed
    I got a friend in Jesus
    So you know that when I lie
    He’s gonna set me up with
    Designers in the sky
    Oh set me up with designers in the sky
    They’ll protect me when I lie
    Texas judges might not let me rest
    But Designers will protect me the best
    Gonna go to the place that’s the best.

  35. Hairy Doctor Professor says

    Cuttlefish: your tip-jar is what will induce me to finally set up a PayPal account, and I will visit it before too much longer. I encourage other readers herein to do likewise. You’ve earned it many times over. (A bow of deep respect.)

    Take care of that headache, for you know all too well that you will be called upon again for your insights in times of need, as we once needed Gary Larson (and still do).