I’ve tuned into KKMS, although to be honest, I lost all respect for these evangelical radio cretins when they had that Simmons “debate” and left me out. We’ll have to see if their guest’s attempts to criticize atheists in their absence will be as effective.

I’m trying to grade exams while simultaneously listening — it’s like listening with half my brain tied behind my back.

The host claims that it is important to understand the perspective of the “New” Atheists…so why are they inviting this Aikman clown on, instead of an actual atheist?

Aikman claims the atheists are bringing “pestilence”, and claims that we only pick on Christians (what? What about Hitchens?) because Christians are so good and kind and generous and won’t blow them up. We’re already in stupid territory: the atheists criticize Christians because they are the dominant element in our culture.

We get some whining about how Christianity is portrayed in the media (ubiquitously?), and an uncontested claim that the religion is a benefit to society.

So far, I’m still waiting to hear a real criticism of atheism and atheists.

Oh, yeah…”I used to be an atheist”. I knew he’d say that eventually. It’s amazing how 99% of the evangelical world seems to have been godless, once.

Now we get another predictable claim: atheists have done all the evil of the 20th century, and communists and Pol Pot get dragged out.

Another predictable point: there is no basis for atheist morality. To which I always wonder, if there is no god, then there must be no basis for Christian morality either.

These guys are completely clueless. This isn’t an exercise in learning more about the New Atheists, it’s 3 ignoramuses making up stuff with one another.

Good — August Berkshire called in to criticize, and hit them with a good question: if god is a source of morality, what is the Christian position on the death penalty? On contraception? Would you believe the Aikman clown tried to claim that the death penalty is not a moral issue? The DJs tried to run away and claim that their belief in the crucifixion is the core of their belief…which is not a moral issue, either. Aikman tries to dig up Hitler, and claims everything is about the basis of morality, while avoiding the simple fact that Christianity does not provide simple moral guidance.

Berkshire throws their own claim that the ten commandments are the basis of morality by pointing out that the punishments for violating most of those rules was death. When they try to duck and weave by saying they don’t follow the Old Testament rules anymore, Berkshire hammers on the obvious fact that there has been a rather substantial change in the treatment of moral issues.

Another caller: Jeff from Maple Grove, who babbles a bunch of apologetics for the Old Testament. God Hates Sin. He didn’t change his mind! Dear dog, I’m feeling my brain leaking away as I listen to these idiots.

Now Damon in Las Vegas calls in. Points out that atheists can’t disprove the Christian god, but Christians can’t disprove the other gods, but dismiss them — how do they do that? Aikman answers (?) that Christians believe they can have a relationship with god mediated through Jesus, and that the historical evidence for Jesus is strong, and then makes up a bunch of bullshit about evidence for the resurrection (making it up all the way). Then he claims again that he used to be an atheist.

He doesn’t answer the question!

Bob calls in to address August, and again, he claims god didn’t change, the people did. August clearly hit a nerve with that one.

Tony (Toni?) calls in to explain that she lost her Catholic faith and is an atheist, and her old associates all think she’s going to burn in hell. She asks how a loving and just god could do that. Aikman chickens out and refuses to answer. The DJs try to dig into her Catholic background, and then basically tells her to accept it, and that you have to be perfect to live forever, and that’s Jesus’s gift…they’re essentially telling her that she gets to burn in Hell. Aikman butts in and tells her to read Strobel. Strobel! That guy is awful.

I must apologize for mentioning this radio show to everyone. It’s pathetic. It’s three buffoons babbling on the air. I didn’t learn a thing about atheism (how could I? They had no knowledge between them), but I was reminded once again how foolish theology is.

Omnipotent, omnipresent supernatural being (left) deigns to be arrested for raping children.

It’s a rough era for deities. This one seems to be subject to ordinary mortal ills, like wrinkles and graying hair, ordinary mortal temptations, like having sex with young girls, and also, surprisingly, is powerless before minor material obstacles, like handcuffs. Odd, isn’t it? He should stamp his foot, and the earth cracks wide and his foes tumble into the depths. He ought to wave his hands raise a whirlwind that sweeps away his enemies, scatters their guns, and hurls their squad cars into the sky. But no, they always turn out to be fragile meat with no special abilities, and the most tawdry, revolting tastes.

Wayne Bent, AKA Michael Travesser, AKA minister of the Lord Our Righteousness Church, AKA the Messiah as revealed by God, has been arrested. How do you arrest a supernatural being, I wonder?

I hope they’ve built a special prison cell for him out of an adamantium/eternium alloy, with a special guard detail of angels and demons. Nothing else could possibly hold messiah.

A little psychiatric help might also be in order.

OK, Florida, this has gone far enough. You’ve been dallying with creationism, and I’ve read enough Hiaasen novels (who knew those were non-fiction?) to see that there are many screws loose down there, but this is getting ridiculous. Look at this reason for firing a teacher.

Substitute teacher Jim Piculas does a 30-second magic trick where a toothpick disappears then reappears.

But after performing it in front of a classroom at Rushe Middle School in Land ‘O Lakes, Piculas said his job did a disappearing act of its own.

“I get a call the middle of the day from head of supervisor of substitute teachers. He says, ‘Jim, we have a huge issue, you can’t take any more assignments you need to come in right away,'” he said.

When Piculas went in,he learned his little magic trick cast a spell and went much farther than he’d hoped.

“I said, ‘Well Pat, can you explain this to me?’ ‘You’ve been accused of wizardry,’ [he said]. Wizardry?” he asked.

I’m calling Poe’s Law on the whole state of Florida. That place is entirely made up, isn’t it? I’ve been to Miami several times, but now I’m beginning to suspect that it’s actually a giant theme park set up on one of the Caribbean islands. It’s not really there.

I should have been clued in by the amusingly penile shape of the state drooping off our southern shores. That’s made-up, isn’t it? Right from the geography, it’s got to be one big joke a bunch of 16th century Spaniards were pulling on the whole rest of the world.

Well, the joke is over. It’s finally gone too far. No one could possibly be as loony as these fictitious (I’m sure) school administrators. Can we get around to correcting the maps and pulling those phony senators and representatives out of the federal government now?

I see you’ve all met our little troll, David Mabus. “Mabus” (his real name is Dennis Markuze, and he used to sell used computers in Montreal, Canada) has been flooding my mailbox for about the last month — he has a list of about 70 skeptics and atheists, and just about every day he fires off his little angry rant about how James Randi owes him a million dollars right now, based on prophecies from Nostradamus or some such nonsense. You can get a feel for his insanity from this series of posts he made to the Center for Inquiry forum. It’s hard to avoid coming to the conclusion that he really is mentally ill; if any of you know this fellow personally, you might want to get him some help, fast.

I do have his phone number and address. He has been escalating his attacks lately, and if they get any worse, I’ll be contacting the authorities myself. This is one of those cases where I’ve been targeted by someone with a severe mental disorder, and I think he can be a real risk — but of course I’m only one among many targets, and I think the person who ought to be most concerned is James Randi.

Mabus is still dumping lots of spam in my mailbox—and one claims, ” I will send the CFI link with this video to every faculty member at your university….”.

Great. My colleagues, I hope, are getting used to all the kooks who think they can get at me by proxy by sending crap to them.

That crazy mayor of Birmingham who dressed up in sackcloth and ashes is in a little trouble right now.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday said it has charged the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, and two of his friends in connection with an undisclosed payment scheme in municipal bond deals.

The SEC said the chairman of Alabama investment bank Blount Parrish & Co made more than $156,000 in undisclosed payments to Mayor Larry Langford related to municipal bond offerings and swap agreements Langford directed on behalf of Jefferson County, Alabama.

It seems to be a general rule: the more outwardly pious you are in public, the more likely you are to be privately unscrupulous and dishonest.

Let us do the Christian thing, though, and give Langford all the help he deserves: pray. Pray real hard.

I thought Jebons were supposed to be a joke … so what is this lunatic ranting about?

Warning: this is from GodTube, so unless you’ve got a fair amount of tolerance for crazy, deluded talk, you might not want to click on it.

Just in case you didn’t want to puke up your dinner by actually watching this kook, it’s an evangelical apologist teaching his version of molecular biology to his audience — he is immensely and undeservedly impressed by the fact that the cell adhesion molecule laminin is cruciform in diagrams. Forget the fact that it is a floppy glycoprotein, and the arms can fold around into many configurations; never mind that the Christian symbol is trivial, a mere two slashes, one across the other, and apparently anything with four arms will fit it (nobody tell them about tRNA!); it probably doesn’t even matter that there are many adhesion molecules, such as NCAMs, cadherins, and integrins that are not cross-shaped. Laminin is a secreted adhesion molecule that gets enmeshed in the extracellular matrix; it has 3 similar, short arms that adhere to other laminin molecules, which promotes their assembly into a feltwork.

From this feeble, pathetic, coincidental shape, the preacher spins out an incredible interpretation — Jesus holds us together! The audience of dumb yokels oohs and aahs over this nonsense. This is depressing, since this seems to be the level of comprehension we can expect from the public.

Also depressing: google for laminin, and aside from the Wikipedia entry, the top references right now are all to Christian kooks babbling about this trivial shape story. What a sad fate for a developmentally and evolutionarily significant molecule that has roots right down at the base of the metazoan family tree. I cringe to see these loons abusing molecular biology to cheerlead for superstition.

I was asked if there were any swastika shaped molecules in the cell. Sure.

That’s a potassium channel. Your brains are full of them.