A Feeble Argument?

Atheism Explained: From Folly to Philosophy (Ideas Explained)

A popular theme of atheist propaganda is that the person being addressed (usually a Christian) doesn't believe in Zeus or Allah, so it is only taking it one step further to disbelieve in the Christian God. I grant that something similar to this may sometimes be useful as a rhetorical goad to get people to look at the fleeting nature of all ideologies, including theistic ones, and mentally to step outside of their own cultural milieu. But it doesn't cut very deep. Christians, of course, do believe in Allah, which is simply the Arabic word for 'God' (Arabic-speaking Christians call God 'Allah'-what else?). God, Allah, and Yahweh are just different labels for the same hypothetical entity.

Even Zeus could be defended as another label for God, by claiming that he is more powerful than the Greeks supposed. It was presumably this train of thought which led Kierkegaard to say that a man who worships an idol in the right spirit may be worshipping God. But can the Christian God really be the same as the Jewish and Muslim God, if he is 'three persons in one'? Yes, just as many people can agree on the existence of some historical personage, while only some of them adhere to the theory that this personage was a case of multiple personality disorder.

$2000 Gold and the Break up of the US

Lew Rockwell interviews Gerald Celente

Adam Carolla

Adam Carolla on Religion






Hanging up on Ann Coulter






Hell


The Adam Carolla Show

I Was An Eggnog Loving Fool

I was picking up a few things last night when I remembered Mushy's advice on holiday eating. Eggnog only once a year, eggnog only once a year, eggnog only once a year... went the mantra in my mind. I saw it there, in the refrigerated case, the full-bodied, extra rich, classic Xmas nog. I got it home last night and poured me a giant glass and sipped it while watching the Classic 39. When my glass was empty I poured me another, after all, Mushy couldn't be wrong! I woke up with terrible heartburn and something weighing me down around my waist. That's why I'm up now, heartburn barely in check, five more pounds in the middle.

On Xmas

Gas, Food, Toys

The car was nearly on empty, I don't usually let it get down that much, normally fill up at half a tank. Not this time, too much distraction from the back seat. Saw a gas station and a restaurant up ahead, pulled over. Jen and the kids were hungry, I joked about the restaurant name (Jen's it was called) saying I thought we'd get a little relief from your cooking on this trip, Hon.

The kids acted badly as soon as we were seated (well, even before we were seated, truth be told) , making their army men and plastic animals hop around their plates and driving their tiny cars through the mashed potatoes.

After we ate I found an old box behind the gas station and scrawled "Toy Drive" on it. I gathered the toys and put them in the box, left it outside the front of the station. There was loud screaming and much crying coming from the back seat all the way home, but it was worth it.

What's For Christmas Dinner?

Overheard at work:

"What do people fix for Christmas dinner?"

I wanted to shout TURKEY! Haven't you ever seen A Christmas Story? What's cooking on Christmas day? A turkey, that's what! Oh, some people have ham, yeah. Like the person who piped up with this: "We have ham, it's the traditional Christmas dinner". Well, to hell with you and your ham, I'd rather eat roast beast! Even if I had to go out in the snow and kill the beast myself. (All right, I like ham too, but why claim it's traditional but turkey somehow isn't?)




But I just wonder how someone could ask such a question in the first place. Wouldn't they at least know that it's either turkey or ham in most homes? Another idiot spoke up with an answer to our fool's inquiry. "We have Mexican food for Christmas." WTF???



At least with a turkey you can make sandwiches with the leftovers.



And if you want to get crazy, well, put turkducken on the holiday menu.



Eating Tips for the Holidays

I now agree with one of the tips from the link above:

Drink as much eggnog as you can and quickly. You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an "eggnog-aholic" or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it!!!! Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

OK, so I've always enjoyed eggnog and looked forward to it every year. But this year, after consuming a half-gallon in one sitting a couple weeks ago and then reading the nutrition info on the carton and realizing I'd consumed two days worth of calories in about an hour and a half, I vowed to stop buying eggnog for the remainder of the holiday season. But then I read the tip you see above and rushed to the local Food City last night to buy some more. I went to the dairy section, and to my dismay discovered the regular eggnog was sold out. All that was left was "low-fat" eggnog, and lots of it (looks as if no one else cares about the calories either).



As I stood before the refrigerator case, some disappointed children pleaded with their mom not to buy the fake stuff (how else would you describe low-fat "eggnog") but she pointed out to them it was the only option if they wanted any of the sweet stuff at all. They agreed but they were not looking happy. I opted to try the stuff myself, so added it to my shopping basket. By the way, don't ever but the Silk soy eggnog. It has the same relationship to actual eggnog as George W. Bush does to an actual President of the United States.

I didn't bother looking for fruitcake, though I actually like the stuff, at least in small doses.

You used to be able to buy it in large rectangles at nearly every supermarket during Christmas season. Not any more. I found some at Wal-mart, but it was in smaller chunks and made by Hostess. I'm not alone in my taste for the ridiculed baked good. Someone at work asked if anyone had seen fruitcake in the stores. "No, because nobody likes it" came the inevitable response. "I like it" said the asker timidly.

I like it too, you fruitcake loving fool, I like it too.

Merry Christmas Dinner!

Firefox Myths

Myths Regarding The Firefox Web Browser

Global Warming or Climate Change?

Why did they stop calling it "Global Warming" and switch to "Climate Change"? Could this be the reason:


Of course, the important thing to remember is that climate change has been going on for millions of years, and was taking place long before the human race came on the scene. Lest you think this view is somehow anti-science, there are many scientists skeptical of the fearmongers who scare the public and attempt to indoctrinate children with the GLOBAL WARMING CLIMATE CHANGE boogeyman.

Warming fears are the “worst scientific scandal in the history…When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science and scientists.” - UN IPCC Japanese Scientist Dr. Kiminori Itoh, an award-winning PhD environmental physical chemist.

“I am a skeptic…Global warming has become a new religion.” - Nobel Prize Winner for Physics, Ivar Giaever.

“Since I am no longer affiliated with any organization nor receiving any funding, I can speak quite frankly….As a scientist I remain skeptical.” - Atmospheric Scientist Dr. Joanne Simpson, the first woman in the world to receive a PhD in meteorology and formerly of NASA who has authored more than 190 studies and has been called “among the most preeminent scientists of the last 100 years.

Cracks in the global warming consensus

World Climate Report

Global Warming Hoax

And if you want to melt your snowman, don't rely on higher temperatures due to global warming, not with record lows being set each winter. Instead, you can always invite Frosty to join you in the hot tub.

Freedom Blog of the Moment

Freedomain: The Logic of Personal and Political Freedom

Think of the absurd cultural beliefs that people somehow think are really true...


The Military

"Hit men who murder for money are stone evil, unless they put on a green costume, and then they become moral heroes..."


The Government

"The government must use the threat of violence to steal half your income, in order to protect you from violence and theft."


Christianity

"The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree..."





"Gases expand when heated" – this is not a statement of culture, but of science.


Mathematics is not cultural, but rational.


Einstein's theory of relativity is not cultural, but factual.


Logic and science are not local cultural customs, but objective and rational methodologies.


My goal is to move philosophy from culture to truth, by reasoning from first principles, with reference to empirical evidence.


Culture is that which is not true, but is believed to be true. Religion, patriotism, militarism, political allegiance, all the supposed virtues of accidental geography.


Reasoning from first principles is dangerous to "culture," since culture is always revealed by philosophy as irrational prejudice, indoctrinated through propaganda and the threat of violence.


Culture is the opposite of philosophy, and truth, just as superstition is the opposite of science, and proof.


Culture is only the first syllable.


Cult.

"Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Saint Paul

Campaign For Liberty

Oh'Really Insulted

Flipping through the channels the other day I landed on FGPC, the Fox Government Propaganda Channel (uh, Fox "News" Channel) and there was Bill Oh'Really (uh, O'Reilly) pontificating on the Iraqi shoe throwing reporter (Flying Shoes, Bursting Bubbles). Oh'Really said that if he'd been there the reporter wouldn't have been standing for long because he insulted Oh'Really as an American. "You see that American flag back there (behind the Great Leader) -the shoe hit the flag" said Oh'Really/O'Reilly. Oh Jesus! The Holy Idol, The Flag, was touched by the unworthy shoe of a lowly subject of the Almighty American Empire!

But what Bill, no outrage over the desecration of the Constitution and the American Republic and the flag that is supposed to stand for the values of freedom and decency, by the crimes of Bush and Cheney? The only insult to a real American is to have Bush represent them as President.


Prostitution vs. war crimes: The real moral offense

An Iraqi citizen throws his shoes at an American President who -- all based on false pretenses -- invaded, occupied and obliterated his country; set up prisons where his fellow citizens were encaged without trials and subjected to brutal treatment; slaughtered hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and displaced millions more. And the outrage is predominantly directed at the disrespect, irreverence and the "ingratitude" displayed by the shoe-thrower, not the murderous and inhumane acts of the dignified American leader.

If You See A Blind Man...

Before the rain came, I saw the Christmas lights. It was a cold evening and D wanted to take a quick, short walk around the neighborhood (just a couple of the near-by streets). She mentioned that we should have walked around to look at the Christmas displays so many of these few blocks of houses have up in their yards. I mentioned that there was still time (it was only 8PM or so) so I hurriedly put on my shoes and walked with D, looking at the seasonal sights. A great many had those inflatable displays up, the ones that are flat during daylight hours, emerging into 3 dimensions only after dark, when air is blown into their holes.




Okay, so I enjoy simple little things like that. It was cold out, but I put a jacket on and we began. The walk took us past house after house decorated with colorful lights and fanciful Xmas scenes. Some were animated, with moving Santas and North Pole train wheels and walking, talking penguins (OK, so I made up the talking part, though you'd think that would be easier to accomplish than the walking) and even a grinning Grinch. Though not as spectacular as those "candy cane lanes" in many cities where nearly every house for blocks and blocks is decorated to the point of overkill (and huge electric bills) is was still something to see.



And speaking of things to see, I was watching Little House On The Prairie, the episode where the blind school burns down and Alice Garvey and Adam and Mary's baby are incinerated.



There is a scene just before the fire starts where Adam is helping put some of the children to bed and asks whose turn it is to pray. The kid, a little black boy, doesn't think to ask the simple question Why am I blind? Who'd want to bow and worship an all-powerful being that lets that tragedy slip under his radar?

One Christian website responds to the logic of this:

If you see a blind man, kick him; why should you be kinder than God-Arab proverb.

...with this nonsense:

John 9:2-4 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned. But that the works of God should be revealed in him, 4 "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.


The Work of God is Not to Blind & Blight


It is to Help & Heal!

John 9:7


Life Isn’t Always Fair


Job 21:6-16

Luke 16:19-31

James 1:3

Matthew 5:45


Qualities an Environment Would Need to be the Ideal Environment


1.Law-Abiding World -- Genesis 1:26

2. Challenging Environment

3. Certain Survival Mechanisms Awaken People to Fundamental Needs


Every Instance of Human Suffering Results From Some Quality of This World Which is Necessary For Making it a Proper Environment For Human Life

What Would YOU Change?


Well, first of all, I'd get rid of blindness for starters, which would make me, with all my faults, a much better god than your invisible one.

Anyway, after the child prays, God refuses to stop the blind school where he and his fellow blind children live and learn from burning to the ground. Then he makes sure that Adam, who brought up the praying thing to the kids, has the good fortune to have his baby die in the worst possible way, by fire. You can't say the Christian God doesn't enjoy that, cause he created a hell that burns forever and makes sure its victims can't even escape through death.

Mark Twain had this asshole Father's number:

I will tell you a pleasant tale which has in it a touch of pathos. A man got religion, and asked the priest what he must do to be worthy of his new estate. The priest said, "Imitate our Father in Heaven, learn to be like him." The man studied his Bible diligently and thoroughly and understandingly, and then with prayers for heavenly guidance instituted his imitations. He tricked his wife into falling downstairs, and she broke her back and became a paralytic for life; he betrayed his brother into the hands of a sharper, who robbed him of his all and landed him in the almshouse; he inoculated one son with hookworms, another with the sleeping sickness, another with gonorrhea; he furnished one daughter with scarlet fever and ushered her into her teens deaf, dumb, and blind for life; and after helping a rascal seduce the remaining one, he closed his doors against her and she died in a brothel cursing him. Then he reported to the priest, who said that that was no way to imitate his Father in Heaven. The convert asked wherein he had failed, but the priest changed the subject and inquired what kind of weather he was having, up his way.

Top 10 Atheist Billboards

The Astounding Leonardo da Vinci

Via The Commentator and e-Talian

From the video:

Leonardo da Vinci is one of the greatest geniuses of all time, and probably the most intelligent human that has ever lived.

He had an estimated IQ of 220

Albert Einstein - 160

Charles Darwin - 165

Galileo Galilei- 185

When he died in France in 1519 he left around 33,000 pages of unpublished notes to his student Francesco Melzi. Francesco looked after the notes as if they were his own. However, when Francesco died his son Orazio broke the notebooks up into individual pages and sold them to anyone that wanted them for next to nothing. The 600 pages of The Windsor Castle collection are worth approx 5 billion dollars.

His notes were subsequently scattered all over Europe and lost to the scientific community. The combination of Leonardo not publishing his notes & Orazio losing them has set science & humanity back at least 100 years. 6000 pages were found in the 20th century by which time his discoveries had been rediscovered, usually hundreds of years later.

e-Talian is also our Blog of the Moment

Have a Very Gay Christmas!

The video below is from the 1930's (note the NRA tattoo on the bum's chest; a bit of New Deal fascist propaganda designed to indoctrinate the public to conform to the Great Leader FDR's dictates?) a presumably more innocent time when it came to subjects such as homosexuality. Now we have people with minds in the gutter implying something is there that was not. Unless closet 30's homosexuals slipped in subliminal messages, their only outlet in a repressed time and place. I say homosexuals because the word gay was not used to describe that orientation until more recent times, a word that once meant something else, permanently destroyed by the politically correct. What would you do if you were the Gays? Hi, I'm John Gay, says little Johnny on his first day at school while the other children then ridicule him for his name. John is gay! go the shouts on the playground. Poor little Johnny. Let us recover the word gay, let us rescue it from the mindless conformists who have stolen it and defacto banned it from the vocabulary list of children's book writers. Join in this great project, won't you? Do it for the children!


WEIRD GAY CHRISTMAS CARTOON 1930's King Picks Up Bums For Party! - More free videos are here

But please hurry, because otherwise an icon of childhood, the beloved Santa Claus, could be the next target!

Interview With SE, By George

I never expected to interview the mind behind the greatest blog in the universe, but there I found myself, face to face with the one called SE.

George: You say Skeptical Eye is the greatest blog in the universe. On what do you base such an absurd statement.

SE: When did you stop beating your wife? Never mind, I didn't say it, I don't have to, you said it yourself, right there in italics above us.

George: Now wait a minute, I got that from you. I...

SE: Of course, I can't and won't deny the obvious. I do have the greatest blog.

George: What makes it so great?

SE: Read it for a month or two and you'll see. And I must add, it's only going to get greater. You ain't seen nothing yet.

George: You still haven't given an example of why you think your blog is so good.

SE: Not good, just great.

George: Why? Give us an example.

SE: There's nothing else like it and there never will be. It's that simple.

George: How and why did you start blogging?

SE: Is that two questions or one? It was by accident, really, but once I started I found I couldn't stop. Blogging became something to do, something to look forward to, and an outlet for my creativity. We are fast approaching the one year anniversary of Skeptical Eye.

George: What's the date?

SE: December 14.

George: But what kind of traffic do you get? How many visitors?

SE: That's not important to me. Never has been and never will be.

George: But surely you want as many visitors as possible? And don't you want regular readers, people who come back over and over?

SE: I don't care, really.

George: But if you did care, how would you go about it?

SE: If I build it they will come, in more ways than one.

George: Why do you sometimes go days without posting anything new?

SE: I'm always posting, in my head. The truth is life is hard and we are all dying inside.

George: What do you mean, "dying inside"?

SE: The other day, after a Christmas party I didn't go to, someone who did said he felt like he was dying. I thought he meant a hangover, as he'd had more than a few the night before. But he said he was serious, he had all kinds of pains and maybe he had cancer or something. I told him lots of people have pains and are dying for years and years. I've had pains since I was a kid. I remember having terrible chest pains while watching the first Benji sequel, For the Love of Benji, I think it was, and feeling awful throughout the entire movie. I mean the pain was continuous. I was still hurting when I walked out of the theater, and I was only 13 years old. Doctors never could find anything wrong.

George: I'm going to try one more time. Why do you think you've got the greatest blog in the universe?

SE: Because even space aliens with their huge, bulbous heads and mind reading abilities, can't top me.

Young Guitarist vs. The State

Bill O'Reilly's Brain and the Existence of God

I was listening to Blowhard Bill (O'Reilly) on the radio the other night (and thankfully his worthless radio show will be ending soon, sparing innocent radio dialers from hearing his moronic pronouncements accidentally, leaving only brain dead Fox "News" viewers subject to his egomania) as he discussed god. He stated that he was smarter than Bill Maher (an unbeliever) and that therefore, if you're going to base the question on intellect, God exists. Of course, if we really were to decide such a question based on what Bill O'Reilly thinks, we could safely conclude there is no god. Many highly intelligent people, by the way, believe foolish things. There are many high IQ Mormons, but that doesn't make that religion any less silly.

Hate Crimes?

"Hate crimes," as trumpeted by the likes of the Southern Poverty Law Center, are a questionable legal construct used almost exclusively against whites.

Hateful or not, interracial violent crime is overwhelmingly black on white or black on Asian. The Department of Justice's figures show that between 2001 and 2003, blacks were 39 times more likely to commit violent crimes against whites than the reverse. Of the nearly 770,000 violent interracial crimes committed every year involving blacks and whites, blacks commit 85 percent and whites commit 15 percent.

You won't hear about that from the Southern Poverty Law Center or see it on the evening newscasts, because the truth is one thing and the liberal agenda is another.

From here.