National Day of Prayer Task Force News Proclamation: "National Day of Prayer, 2008
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of
America
America trusts in the abiding power of prayer and asks for the wisdom to discern God's will in times of joy and of trial. As we observe this National Day of Prayer, we recognize our dependence on the Almighty, we thank Him for the many blessings He has bestowed upon us, and we put our country's future in His hands."
Another reason to impeach Bush, he puts our country's future in the hands of someone else? He is allowing someone else to guide the country?
And who is he speaking for? I don't trust the power of prayer! I don't care what will any god has! I do not recognize any dependence on any diety. What blessing has he given me or our country? Iraq is a blessing? $4 gas is a blessing? G. W. Bush is a blessing?
07 May, 2008
Evolution: what's the real controversy?
Evolution: what's the real controversy?: "Evolution clearly has no shortage of controversies. But none of those controversies involve the basic principles of evolution, and all of them operate within a framework where random mutation and selection play a key role in creating diverse species that are related by common descent. It's clear that the Discovery Institute is trying to introduce controversies that don't exist, while ignoring those that do. That's why the academic freedom bills it's promoting are such dangerous things; while supposedly promoting intellectual analysis, they're actually an attempt to pave the way for misinformation to enter the scientific classroom."
06 May, 2008
Expelled Comment
From what I have read about Expelled, it sounds like a despicable movie to me... more like propaganda than a documentary.
http://www.expelledexposed.com/
I won't give them my $10 but I will have to see it for myself when it comes out on DVD. If it does.
There is NO controversy about evolution. Period. It is fact. Sorry. There are people who cling to the hope that it isn't. It is a theory that has been proven time after time, tested time after time, predicts findings time after time. That makes it fact. What is studied is the many different ways evolution works. That is where scientists argue and question and debate. Science is not a place where you will find polite conversation when it comes to taking apart a hypothesis or paper. That is how the truth is teased out of nature, with severe questioning of any data, results, conclusions until all questions are answered. Finally it is accepted. "Stay out of the kitchen if you can't stand the heat" fits science precisely. More and more of those questions get answered every day. Evolution has withstood this process and evolved for 150 years. Some new (or old) theory has to put up as much defense and evidence as evolution has over the years.
"Darwinism" is not a good label for evolution because the theory has evolved over the 150 years since he published and implies religious belief. Darwin didn't know anything about DNA and microbes and such, he was just observing the most obvious. It isn't a religion. It is not believed in without evidence, testing, and prediction. The theory has changed over the years as the mechanisms have been discovered which religions tend not to do.
Intelligent design has not stood up to the tests thrown at it. It doesn't answer questions that evolution does, ignores data that evolution covers. That is why the science community so vigorously opposes any teaching of it as "science". It would be like teaching in an economics class that pyramid schemes are a valid way to finance a retirement plan. It doesn't work, it isnt' sustainable.
Assertions from Stein that evolution hasn't been proven or proven anything is just ignorance on his part... http://www.expelledexposed.com/index.php/contest/on-the-evidence-for-evolution
http://www.expelledexposed.com/
I won't give them my $10 but I will have to see it for myself when it comes out on DVD. If it does.
There is NO controversy about evolution. Period. It is fact. Sorry. There are people who cling to the hope that it isn't. It is a theory that has been proven time after time, tested time after time, predicts findings time after time. That makes it fact. What is studied is the many different ways evolution works. That is where scientists argue and question and debate. Science is not a place where you will find polite conversation when it comes to taking apart a hypothesis or paper. That is how the truth is teased out of nature, with severe questioning of any data, results, conclusions until all questions are answered. Finally it is accepted. "Stay out of the kitchen if you can't stand the heat" fits science precisely. More and more of those questions get answered every day. Evolution has withstood this process and evolved for 150 years. Some new (or old) theory has to put up as much defense and evidence as evolution has over the years.
"Darwinism" is not a good label for evolution because the theory has evolved over the 150 years since he published and implies religious belief. Darwin didn't know anything about DNA and microbes and such, he was just observing the most obvious. It isn't a religion. It is not believed in without evidence, testing, and prediction. The theory has changed over the years as the mechanisms have been discovered which religions tend not to do.
Intelligent design has not stood up to the tests thrown at it. It doesn't answer questions that evolution does, ignores data that evolution covers. That is why the science community so vigorously opposes any teaching of it as "science". It would be like teaching in an economics class that pyramid schemes are a valid way to finance a retirement plan. It doesn't work, it isnt' sustainable.
Assertions from Stein that evolution hasn't been proven or proven anything is just ignorance on his part... http://www.expelledexposed.com/index.php/contest/on-the-evidence-for-evolution
05 May, 2008
Sam Harris: Losing Our Spines to Save Our Necks - Politics on The Huffington Post
Sam Harris: Losing Our Spines to Save Our Necks - Politics on The Huffington Post: "It is time we recognized that those who claim the 'right not to be offended' have also announced their hatred of civil society."
Absolutely! Free speech is not negotiable.
Absolutely! Free speech is not negotiable.
01 May, 2008
Pharyngula: Happy National Day of Prayer!
Pharyngula: Happy National Day of Prayer!:
"Fuck the National Day of Prayer.
I can scarcely believe my country is officially pandering to such willful stupidity — elevating evangelical kooks to positions of prestige, trumpeting the virtues of sectarian religion, and actually crediting the successes of America to the fact that a subset of deluded, demented fools sit on their asses and beg an invisible man to protect us and help us kill people in foreign countries. What a waste, and what an encouragement of further waste."
I agree. What a waste of effort, resource, time, and national prestige. Get off the knees, work to fix problems, make this world the only heaven we can have.
"Fuck the National Day of Prayer.
I can scarcely believe my country is officially pandering to such willful stupidity — elevating evangelical kooks to positions of prestige, trumpeting the virtues of sectarian religion, and actually crediting the successes of America to the fact that a subset of deluded, demented fools sit on their asses and beg an invisible man to protect us and help us kill people in foreign countries. What a waste, and what an encouragement of further waste."
I agree. What a waste of effort, resource, time, and national prestige. Get off the knees, work to fix problems, make this world the only heaven we can have.
23 April, 2008
Expelled:Leader's Guide - RationalWiki
Expelled:Leader's Guide - RationalWiki:
"Expelled:Leader's Guide
From RationalWiki
The producers of the 'documentary' feature film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed[1] (featuring Ben Stein), have created a 'Leader's Guide', intended to structure debate on the topics raised by the movie - you can read the document here. The following is a point-by-point discussion of the arguments presented in the document."
"Expelled:Leader's Guide
From RationalWiki
The producers of the 'documentary' feature film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed[1] (featuring Ben Stein), have created a 'Leader's Guide', intended to structure debate on the topics raised by the movie - you can read the document here. The following is a point-by-point discussion of the arguments presented in the document."
12 April, 2008
TED | Talks | David Bolinsky: Fantastic voyage inside a cell (video)
TED Talks David Bolinsky: Fantastic voyage inside a cell (video): "Medical animator David Bolinsky presents 9 minutes of stunning animation that show the bustling life inside a cell. Built by his company, XVIVO, to teach Harvard medical students, the clip features sweeping cinematic values and even a little drama. It communicates not only the facts of life, but life's truth and beauty."
Bolinsky has so eloquently described what I tried to do with my Aunt last year.
Bolinsky has so eloquently described what I tried to do with my Aunt last year.
30 March, 2008
Pharyngula: The hopeless inanity of Egnor
Pharyngula: The hopeless inanity of Egnor:
"I told him that I never criticize his religion in the classroom, nor do I push atheism. Instead, it's like this: what he does with his religion is the equivalent of telling his kids that the sky is green, and worse, assuring them that this is a fundamental tenet of their religion and that the whole structure comes crashing down if they question it. They get in my classroom, and I don't tell them their religion is wrong — I tell them to open their eyes and look up.*"
"I told him that I never criticize his religion in the classroom, nor do I push atheism. Instead, it's like this: what he does with his religion is the equivalent of telling his kids that the sky is green, and worse, assuring them that this is a fundamental tenet of their religion and that the whole structure comes crashing down if they question it. They get in my classroom, and I don't tell them their religion is wrong — I tell them to open their eyes and look up.*"
29 March, 2008
I generally favor the idea of teaching comparative religion…
Category: Religion
Posted on: March 29, 2008 10:41 PM, by PZ Myers
but there is a good argument against it: many religions are sickening.
28 March, 2008
Pharyngula: The simple falsehood at the heart of Expelled
Pharyngula: The simple falsehood at the heart of Expelled:
"Darwin realized that the environment has consequences and can shape the generation-by-generation passage of hereditary traits in populations, and that examination of the natural world reveals that it has been doing exactly that. He realized that ubiquitous forces that are so simple we take them for granted have been quietly and slowly sculpting our heredity since the beginning of life on earth."
"Darwin realized that the environment has consequences and can shape the generation-by-generation passage of hereditary traits in populations, and that examination of the natural world reveals that it has been doing exactly that. He realized that ubiquitous forces that are so simple we take them for granted have been quietly and slowly sculpting our heredity since the beginning of life on earth."
24 March, 2008
Seed: Clarke's Magic
Seed: Clarke's Magic: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
21 March, 2008
'Biology prof expelled from screening of 'Expelled'' by Chris Hewitt, TwinCities.com - RichardDawkins.net
'Biology prof expelled from screening of 'Expelled'' by Chris Hewitt, TwinCities.com - RichardDawkins.net: "It's almost too perfect: P.Z. Myers tried to see the movie, 'Expelled,' at the Mall of America Thursday.
But he was expelled."
It just gets funnier and funnier...
But he was expelled."
It just gets funnier and funnier...
20 March, 2008
Pharyngula: EXPELLED!
Pharyngula: EXPELLED!: "a rich, deep kind of irony that must be shared"
Oh Thor this is funny! The producers of Expelled are such losers. So stupid. Amazing. And pathetic.
Oh Thor this is funny! The producers of Expelled are such losers. So stupid. Amazing. And pathetic.
10 March, 2008
NPR: In a Jerusalem Suburb, Jewish Cultures Clash
NPR: In a Jerusalem Suburb, Jewish Cultures Clash
I can't wait until the Christians and Muslim here in the US start telling people how to dress and think... It is happening in Europe with immigrant Muslims and there is too much accomodation going on.
The big misunderstanding about respect... that I should respect anyone's religion or beliefs. I should respect the people around me, at least until they prove otherwise. But I do not have to respect anyone's religion. There are not any religious rights other than your right to practice a religion. The religion itself has no rights. It cannot say to a community that women have to cover up in order to keep from distracting men from their religious thoughts. How stupid. Their religion is too feeble to keep men's attention focused? Very feeble excuse for mind control.
I can't wait until the Christians and Muslim here in the US start telling people how to dress and think... It is happening in Europe with immigrant Muslims and there is too much accomodation going on.
The big misunderstanding about respect... that I should respect anyone's religion or beliefs. I should respect the people around me, at least until they prove otherwise. But I do not have to respect anyone's religion. There are not any religious rights other than your right to practice a religion. The religion itself has no rights. It cannot say to a community that women have to cover up in order to keep from distracting men from their religious thoughts. How stupid. Their religion is too feeble to keep men's attention focused? Very feeble excuse for mind control.
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