The New Road

Expelled: Exposed

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Immune To Christianity

I found this funny evangelical video this morning while perusing my usual atheist and evolution blogs. Just a few minutes into it I realized that I'm probably immune to preaching. Let me give you a little backstory on me so that you can understand why.

When I was twelve my mother took me to the University Of Pennsylvania Children's Hospital for an extended set of IQ tests. You see, my teachers were perplexed, I was a bright kid, but I was always getting F grades. Turns out, I was, indeed, very bright kid, but I had dyslexia starting at a very young age. So all of the framework that's built in preschool, kindergarten and the early grades I didn't have. That framework gives people a structure where they can keep and hold facts and information in a rote manner. I don't have that (I have a fairly shoddy one I built myself) so rote memorization is just not possible for me. Which is why I hate tests and I fail. I'm very good at practical things because I can use reference materials and such on the fly and get things done.

So how does this apply to Christianity? When I listen to this preacher I realized, for the millionth time, that Christianity is all about rote memorization. You sit, you listen, statements are repeated over and over, you repeat the statements, then you recall the statements later. I completely fail at that type of teaching and testing. So those words and phrases just pass right through me like a sieve, and I retain nothing. While other people can hear a sermon and repeat it word for word right after. This is why religion just doesn't work on me.

Now to this video. How is this at all an answer to critics? The Bible is infallible, therefor anything that proves it's wrong must be wrong, because the Bible is infallible. Huh? The only 'critics' that answers are Christians who believe in the Bible but have small qualms with it. What about those of us who don't believe in the Bible at all?

I suppose the deeper question is, why has God chosen only one mechanism, a book, to transfer his design for humanity? We know that people learn in different ways, shouldn't there be more ways (that are originated by God) to learn about grace? And shouldn't there be something more fundamental than a book? Some universal stepping stone to understanding? And if you say that's Jesus, then isn't every generation owed a Jesus?

By the way, if you want to comment and say; "All you need to know is that Jesus is your saviour." Please just don't. I'm owed a complete understanding of God just like anyone else, I don't need need a "dumbed down version". And if all that defines a complete understanding is a retention of a cloud of miscellaneous factoids, then it's all the more reason for me to doubt the inerrancy of the message.

10,000 BC

Mel's nephew James suggested we go to 10,000 BC. Oh, Christ, what a horrible idea that was. I usually like Roland Emmerich movies, like Stargate and Independence Day, but this movie straight up sucked. There was only one plot line and it was completely predictable, pointless and unmoving. I couldn't care less about the main characters, which was compounded by editing that left the action scenes almost completely incomprehensible. The Entertainment Weekly stationed handily in our bathroom rates this movie as a D+. That's being kind. Ugh, what a joke.

Gott Mit Uns

This is the best graphic I've seen in weeks. It's a play on Ben Stein's upcoming 'Expelled" movie. Expelled presents the case that creationism is being cruelly 'expelled' from the science curriculum (because it's not science) and uses extensive nazi imagery to make it's case. Why? Because nazis were into eugenics and that's linked to wrongly interpreted Darwinian theory.

This image shows a nazi belt-buckle which reads "Gott Mit Uns" (God Is With Us). Hey! Wait a second! I thought the nazis were atheists! What the... Anyway, awesome graphic that truly shows the insanity of Stein's argument.

The early reviews on Expelled are in and they are polarized. The hard core evangelical press loves it, everyone else thinks it's shlock. What's getting it any attention at the moment is the fact that the scientists were interviewed under false pretenses. The producers of the movie lied about the title and the intent of the film to get their cooperation. Ah well, lying in the name of a good cause is ok, right?

I'll go see it anyway just to check it out for myself. The question I have is; Can Ben provide any evidence that legitimate science based theories have been rejected because they conflict with evolution? That is the premise of the movie, right? I already know the answer, which is no. He knows the answer too, which is why the movie is all about nazism, racism, and any other tangential target to smear evolution.

On a related note I heard a fantastic retort to the old Creationist trope; "A man died on the cross two thousand years ago, won't someone speak for him?" To which an evolutionist can reply, "A man died of a viral infection two days ago, won't someone speak for him?" Indeed. And that's what we are really talking about here. Nobody is trying to destroy religion. We are trying to do better science which will result in better medicines. Are these two mutually exclusive? I think not. Do we need to hamstring science just to please a few Bible bashers? Please.

"Darwin Mitt Uns!" EPIC FAIL.

Someday...

There will come a day when I will have seen everything on the Internet. But today is not that day...

Movie here not exactly safe for work or kids. But not horribly terrible either. Just very funny.

More Projected Racist Fears

Thus far the attacks against Obama have all been about things he hasn't done or said. The latest on is that Obama supporters may/will riot if Obama isn't elected. It's as naive as it is racist. I'm an Obama supporter and I don't intend to riot if he isn't elected. Nobody I know is going to riot. What group are we generalizing about here? Does this man have any facts, or anyone who actually says they will riot to base this on? Of course not. It's just bald faced racism. And, of course, it's on Fox.

Chris Wallace Taking Fox To Task

Finally someone at Fox Noise cries foul and points out that spending 24/7 bashing Obama is just a little excessive. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the end of the line for Chris. Fox does not countenance dissenters.

I did find it interesting when one of the Fox & Friends fools talked about how they ran long on Obama and 'missed two other talking points'. You mean you have 'talking points'? That seems odd when all I ever hear about Fox news anchors is how they don't have talking points. I wonder where those talking points could be coming from? Could it be Karl Rove? I do note that it's only been a couple of weeks since he joined the network. And now they have turned into the "all Reverend Wright all the time" channel.

Well, good on yah Chris Wallace. I'll be sad to see you go since you are clearly one of the few people of moderate sanity on Fox Noise.

One has to wonder why Republicans running for President should even bother campaigning when all they have to do is sit back and watch as the number one cable news network spends all day every day destroying their opponents. Oh, and of course, all of AM radio which is 95% conservative talk.

For my part I think Fox News might be attacking Barack as a cost saving maneuver. They have reams of material to attack Hillary that they have been building for three years. If Barack gets the nod then they have to turf all that and start from scratch with all new attack graphics, video, talking points, push polling and the rest.

Update: Even one of the Fox And Friends anchors couldn't take it and walked off the set. Fox Noise is such a joke.

Hannity's Opinion Worth 13 Million Regular Votes

We have come to the point with media consolidation where the dreaded 527c3's of yesteryear are no longer necessary. Now pundits like Sean Hannity can fabricate issues with candidates, like the supposed association between Barack Obama and Louis Farrakhan, and blanket them across America four hours a day every day. What can a candidate, or a campaign, do to fight such a media monopoly? Barack was given 39 minutes of national coverage to present his argument. Since then Sean Hannity has had sixteen hours (and counting) to provide his rebuttal.

Thirteen million American's have voted for Barack Obama. And now through no other sin that going to the 'wrong Church', according to Sean Hannity, he is losing in the polls and possibly losing the campaign. Is this Democracy when one man's opinion is worth more than the votes of 13 million Americans?

We need to break the consolidated media strangehold on this country. We cannot afford to have a media voice so centralized that the opinions of a choice few can swing the entire political process. That is not what the founders intended. Hannity uses public airwaves owned by the people to rob the people of their vote. We need to take our airwaves back and give the real public a voice once again.

I heard a woman call into his radio show yesterday and almost beg him to let Obama off the hook by appealing to his Christian forgiveness. Of course he refused. It made me wretch. How is this man, alone, in a position of king maker? A man who isn't even in our party. A man who has strong connections to white supremacists. It reminded me of my feelings during the Clinton impeachment.

And what sin has Obama committed? He went to the wrong Church? That is now grounds for denying someone the Presidency? I don't remember reading that in the Constitution. In fact I clearly recall the Constitution saying there should be no religious test. Where does this end? Do we need to vet every Democratic candidate with the GOP to make sure they didn't drink the wrong brand of milk, or smoke the wrong packs of cigarettes?

Faux News Is Going Beyond Ridiculous

How can anyone take Fox News seriously anymore? Here they whip up a story about some alleged "New Black Panther" endorsement, that was really just a posting on a user generated blog. Something that was in no way shape or form endorsed by the campaign. Then when the Obama campaign removes the blog entry and completely disavows any association, World Net Daily spins it in the most negative possible way.

When will people realize that Fox News is not a legitimate news organization, and exists only to act as a smear machine to slime any candidate they choose.

I don't believe a word of any of this ginned-up crap about Obama, there is nothing to it, and I fully support Obama and the campaign. If anything this simply reinforces my belief that he is doing exactly the right thing. I will not allow Fox News and the right wing hate machine to pick my candidate. No swift boating. Not this time.

Well Spoken

One of the things I found refreshing last night was that even right wingers gave Obama credit for being "well spoken" in his speech. One even remarked that it was refreshing to be "spoken to as an adult". You don't say. It's something that thrills me. I am so tired of Bush with his "war good" or "tax bad" speeches, where you aren't supposed to question, you are merely told; here are five words that explain my position and the position of any patriotic ™ American ™.

Of course, the usual suspects all hated the speech. Perhaps Hannity simply lacks the IQ to understand the words. I remember him having a problem with Kerry using the construction "would that it were". Apparently even that level of speachifying is too tough for him to grasp.

Since we have had eight years of the 2nd grade level presidency, wouldn't it be refreshing to have someone in the White House who doesn't pander to the lowest common demoninator? Just once.

5th Anniversary Of Iraq

Well, It's come to this, the fifth anniversary of our misadventure in Iraq. Here is a short clip I chose from before we went in where Bush talks about how this won't be another Vietnam because "our mission is clear". What a joke.

This has been the second most costly war in our history. At this point it's about half of the price of World War II, our most expensive war. Half the price! And it's taken longer than World War II. And what have we gotten? This war costs us $13 million an hour. Just think about that when you go to lunch today. In the time it takes you to eat your sandwich we will have flushed $13 million bought on a Chinese/Saudi credit card down the toilet in Iraq.

The Iraq war isn't making us safer. The security gains made in Iraq are not because of more troops, they were the by product of the Sunnis and Shiites finishing the cleansing of their communities in Baghdad, combined with our now paying all of the insurgents not to shoot at us. The Iraqis themselves in a recent poll say that the enlarged number of troops actually made the situation worse.

No honest observer believes that Iraq will become an al Qaeda state if we leave. There will be chaos. There will be death and ethnic cleansing. But the result will not be an al Qaeda state. Neither Sunni nor Shiite are sympathetic to the al Qaeda cause en masse.

We need to get out. We can't afford the war and it's not helping us economically or politically.

Unlimited Hate

I was so impressed with Obama's speech, and many conservatives appeared to agree with me. But then there is Fox News, who seem to have an unlimited potential for hate. How can we ever have compromise and peace in the polity of this country when the conservative side has a completely unbounded potential to hate anything the liberal/communist/social whatever side (which is really anyone who doesn't agree with them) does.

Old Crazy Relatives

What Obama does in his 39 minute speech is say this; "I have a old crazy relative named Wright, who says stuff that in his generation sounded ok, but in our generation is completely unjustifiable. We all pretend to listen to him and we ignore the insano stuff. Just like everyone who has old crazy relatives."

I can completely sympathize with this. The last time I was in Savannah with my Dad he went off on racial slurs that went against every fiber of my being. I tried to call him on it, but it was no use. He believes this stuff. He's stuck in the 50s and in the 50s you could say this crazy "n" word crap. And believe me, it didn't stop there. Some of the stuff he said I simply cannot even conscience.

Does the fact that my father is an extremely vocal racist reflect negatively on me? I certainly hope not. I think it helps that I don't live close to him. Does it mean that I share his views? Hell no! Does it mean that I have tried to change his mind? Yes. Was I successful? Not in the slightest. Why? Because he is a crazy old man!

Am I racist? Sure. But not to anywhere near the same degree as my father is. And I'm self reflective and try to stamp it out when I feel it. But that doesn't mean it's not there. Like anyone I have preconceived notions of a person based on their appearance or affect. Our brains are wired, for good evolutionary reasons, to quickly categorize 'threats'. Grouping, categorizing, judging, it's what our brains do 24/7.

I'm sure that when I'm in my sixties and seventies I'll be saying stuff that Megan finds offensive. I hope that I'll be lucid enough at that time to take her negative opinion of my comments to heart. I know my Mom was successful in moving her tone and views over time, as is Carlos, as are Lori's father Bill and his wife. Not all old people do this 'old people crazy talk' thing, but some do.

Now, can we move on to the next reason to hate Obama?

Best Speech Of My Lifetime

This is the best speech that I have heard in my lifetime:

It absolutely moved me and completely transcended any of the simple attacks presented by the haters on the right.

Christianity Set Apart

Kirk Cameron must have had a show recently on how Christianity is the only religion that was 'created by God' and is therefor especially blessed because I've been hearing the argument everywhere for the last couple of weeks. Take this example:

For if Christianity was a religion, then judaism, islam, hinduism, buddhism, confucionism, daowism, heathenism, agnositcism, atheism*, catholicism, paganism, eastern mysticism and protestantism, etc, etc, etc, can NOT be a religion.

In otherwords, ALL of these EXCEPT Christianity were created BY man. ONLY Christianity was created by Jesus Christ, who is God. Therefore, since Jesus created Christianity (and thus why the first 6 letters of it spells Christ), it alone is set apart (holy) from ALL other beliefs that have EVER existed.

I see. So if the criteria is the naming convention of the religion, then why don't Buddhism, which is named after the Buddha, and, Confucianism, which is named after Confucious, count? And how do Protestantism and Catholicism fit into that list? My Mom was Protestant, I can vouch for the fact that it's Christianity.

The original post was about raising your kids as atheists. I'm not sure what the author of the op-ed piece had against her own beliefs. If she is an atheist and doesn't believe in religion, then why would she want her kids exposed to it?

Super Smash Brothers Brawl

Megan and I spent a few hours this weekend with Super Smash Brothers Brawl. It instantly became Megan's favorite game. So we went out and bought the Prima guide, which instantly became her new favorite book. All but supplanting Super Mario Galaxy.

For my own part I find the game fun, but extremely frenetic. It's certainly good for the ADD/ADHD set.

It's the first Wii game that can go online. So we went online and watched a few matchups. Which you can bet on, which was fun. At one point Lori, Megan and I bet on three out of four characters. At which point Lori said that the "Duck will win", given that we hadn't bet on the duck. The duck then proceeded to thrash them all mercilessly.

I tried a hand at on-line play myself and did pretty poorly. I'm not sure if it was my character, the fact that I don't know all the moves, or just the fact that I'm not a thirteen year old with the reflexes of a hamster on crack.

One nice thing about the game is that it's 2D, which means Lori will have no problem with it. Much appreciated.

Americans in tent cities

I saw this incredibly disturbing report on the BBC world news this evening. Don't even get me started about why I had to learn about this from the BBC.

This is a tent city outside of Los Angeles populated by people who lost their homes in the mortgage crisis:

It's like something out of the great depression. I'm beyond angry about this. This should never ever happen.

Hell yes I'm going to blame this on Bush. Your damn right I am. Did we have tent cities seven years ago when Clinton was in office? I don't think so. Why? Because we had government oversight of industries, like the mortgage industry. Bush gets into office, tears down the oversight, and look what results, predatory loans, financial meltdown, people in tent cities cooking chicken (?) on an open fire pit like this is some third world shanty town.

To those conservatives who say that Katrina just "exposed the welfare state", what do you say to this? What is your excuse this time?

You should definitely watch this report. If this doesn't piss you off nothing will.

Seven years of Bush and where are we? Gas prices at an all time high. Americans living in tent cities because they have been rendered homeless. Seven trillion dollar national debt. The dollar at an all time low. We are in quagmire war that's costing us three trillion dollars. The economy is falling into recession. And states are having to cut billions from their budgets, hamstringing education funding, while we pump endless money into Iraq.

This is madness.

Who ordered the stake?

Nothing is more totally awesome than a Lost Boys sequel. "Who ordered the stake?" That's the best line ever. This movies is going to rock!

$4 gas

In the bay area we pay ~$0.50 more per gallon than in other areas of the country. Right around the corner from my office the lowest price is $3.65. The top end is already over $4.00 per gallon. Every day the price per barrel goes up and the price at the pump goes up too.

Gas is $110 a barrel. When Bush took office it was $35 a barrel. It's tripled during his time in office. And when you look at it on a graph it's amazing, it pretty flat during the Clinton years then during Bush it just goes up immediately and never stops. Not surprisingly Exxon Mobil's profits have have tripled over the last quarter. Exxon is making so much money they don't know what to do with it all.

This is crazy. Just how much of the American economy is Bush willing to crush just to make his oil croney friends richer? How much are groceries going to cost when gas is $5 a gallon at the end of the Bush administration? How many jobs will we have lost? It was 63,000 last month alone.

Evilution

This movie is wrong in so many ways:

I won't even bother to debunk them all. The idea that Evolution is the one of the move 'disproved theories in the world' is completely unsubstantiated. The sentence itself is nonsensical; "One of the most disproved theories in the world that stands as the only remaining hiding place from God". Huh?

Then there is the 'rock is your daddy'? Huh? Rocks don't have DNA. Rocks are made up of minerals.

I love how the list of transitional fossils includes "Time Magazine". I didn't know we claimed Time Magazine as a fossil.

Then there is the whole 'works based' thing as opposed to saving through grace. I realize that this is a religious argument. But is the point that Christianity is the only valid religion because it's saving through grace? Huh? That's a new one on me. That being said, it's the first time I've ever heard anyone take on the question of why Christianity is the one right religion.

For a reasonable Christian approach to evolution check Francis Collins in the second part of this Fresh air show. I don't agree to him that morality only comes from religion. But I do agree with his approval of evolution in the context of his faith.

The War: An Economic Nightmare

Even according to the government's own "up front" costs the Iraq War costs us $5 billion a month. And this economic bail-out is going to cost us $12 billion. So for two and a half months worth of Iraq we are supposedly fixing our economy. So how does borrowing $5 billion from the Chinese and throwing it down the Iraqi rat hole not hurt our economy? Of course it does! The question is no longer about 'winning' or 'losing', not that it ever was. The question is now about whether we can afford to continue the war without tanking our economy.

Wyoming

One of the few benefits of this insanely protracted Democratic primary is that we are really getting a tour of the states. This time around it's Wyoming. This is probably the brightest media sunshine that's been on Wyoming in years. There are only a half a million people in that whole state. Apparently the Wyoming governor, who is a Democrat, said he doesn't like any of the candidates. That's probably the most press that statement has ever gotten.

Welcome to your 15 minutes of fame Wyoming.

Jesse James

I tried to get through "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford". At about the two hour mark I just gave up. I wondered how a movie where the conclusion was in the insanely long title could get to two hours. The director laughed in my face and gave me three interminably long hours.

Let me say that the movie is of astoundingly good production quality. The cinematography and lighting are absolutely brilliant. The action is gritty and realistic. And the acting is downright superb. The use of silence is amazing. But the plot and the story are just all at once to confusing and too boring.

I suppose I should have sat through the entire thing, but after a while I just drifted off and that's not my fault. It's just not an engaging movie. What it needs is an editor with a really sharp pair of kitchen sheers.

Ron Paul survey

I'm really interested in this 'Ron Paul generation' of conservatives. They don't seem to buy into the Hannity/Coulter/Limbaugh model at all. In fact some Ron Paul supporters physically chased Hannity down the street. Anyway, I'm kind of interested in where these kids are taking the conservative movement. So I put together a Ron Paul survey. If you swing that way, take the survey and let me know how you like it. I really want to get inside the head of this movement. It will be fascinating to see what conservatism will be like in twenty years.

Update: One hundred responses in just the first few hours. You have to love this Interweb thingee. And some pretty interesting metrics so far. I think the next generation of conservatives is going to be very interesting.

The Brave One

I'll watch almost anything with Jodie Foster in it. Last night Lori rented "The Brave One", which is Jodie Foster doing "Death Wish". I really liked it. It's like a chic flick meets serial killer. Jodie actually sold me on her whole 'NPR intellectual' turns into hard core vigilante. What she didn't sell me on, surprisingly, was her radio show. It was just her rambling on about walking around New York. That's great, but how do you make 60 minutes of that per day? Seemingly without commercials. And believe me, her radio presentation style, 'awful' would be kind. I know it's not the most important part of the movie, but come on, she has to at least try to get that right.

BTW, best found quote of the day so far: "Evolution isn't graded on a curve."

Baby Bible Bashers

After the light bulb blew out on my projection TV last night I tuned into the web to try and find something neat. What I found was a BBC series called "Baby Bible Bashers" which looks at three very young kids who are driven by their family into hard core preaching.

Now I know this is a touchy subject, so I want to be clear here. I don't have a problem with people raising their kids almost whatever way they please. But when it's taken to the extremes, like this, I have some issues with it.

Have a look at Samuel Botwell in this first installment:

Here he is clearly in his element in Mississippi. He is preaching to the converted and everyone looks at this as reasonably normal within the constructs of their ultra-religious society. And it probably is, who am I to say. But then the parents decide to go on a road trip to New York to preach to the sinners there.

In the last video in the series they make it to New York and start to preach. About 3:30 into the movie Samuel is just in complete shock and crying about being in the middle of a group of angry strangers who are yelling at his father. What kind of a parent puts their child in this situation?

While Samuel is crying the father is still trying to get peoples attention and he seems to care less about his son.

It's extremists like this that worry me. Extreme religious zealots who want to see everyone converted. Or extreme atheists who view religion as a mental disease to be eradicated. We need to find some common ground and we certainly don't need to put kids, especially very young kids like Samuel, in the mix.

I honestly believe they think their heart is in the right place. Samuel's parents clearly aren't living high on the hog and they appear to be genuinely concerned for what they would consider people's eternal souls. But, even so, there has to be limits on what you should expose your children to and what situations they should be in.

The whole movie is fascinating (and scary) viewing.

Lee Rodgers

I decided to tun into a little KSFO this morning to see what it sounds like sans Melanie Morgan. Clearly "Officer Vic" (the traffic guy) is running the show. At one point Lee Rodgers piped up and it sounded like he was shaking off a coma. They then went on to commiserate about how a rock festival should feature some acts from like the 50s or something. Couldn't freaking believe that one. Are these guys in any way relevant? They are fossils.

I took the opportunity to email Lee and express my concerns. He called me an 'old sour-puss'. Does anyone even use those words anymore?

Honestly, I couldn't care less if KSFO dropped off the radio dial. I'd be more than happy to listen to Raiders play by play on another station. But if they are going to remain on the air they might make some attempt to appeal to a non-geriatric demo.

Melanie Off Of KSFO

In a decision that I'm not sure I completely understand KSFO fired batshit crazy morning harpy Melanie Morgan. Leaving just ancient drooling fossil Lee Rodgers to helm the morning show and leaving open the position of gator mouth screechy lunatic chic. What a loss! I'm honestly going to miss her. I was so fond of tuning in to hear her regurgitate talking points with such sincerity.

I just wonder how the morning show is going to keep up it's rating in the crucial barber shop demographic without Melanie's nonsensical insanity. Lee is just a shambling rambling mess of a man with no particular want to drive the morning show. He has been on the edge of retirement for years. I've always wondered if the board op would come in on Monday morning and find fossilized Lee glued into his chair like the starship captain in 'Alien'. But then, that probably wouldn't impact the show.

Ah, well, Michelle Malkin and the other vicious shrews are sad and that's something. I'm sure the right will find some position for her somewhere on a Fox affiliate. She could do the weather and tell us why it's all the damnable liberals fault.

Hang in there Melanie! The world needs all the mumbling crazy folks who can fit their own fists in their mouths that we can find.

Hal Turner

I'm a huge Obama supporter, but one of the things that does lurk in the back of my mind is this 'Obama as a target' issue. Take Hal Turner, extreme racist radio show host, as an example. Here is a snippet from one of his blog entries:

"I'm starting to come to the realization that it may be up to a sole person, acting alone, to make certain (Obama) is never allowed to hold the most powerful office in the world. Sorry it may have to be that way, but it may."

it makes me ill just to see it.

And then there is this posting I just screenshotted from his site. Take my word for it that I haven't changed it in any way:

The text on this one is so bad that I refuse to have it textually presented on my site.

is this who we are? If you don't think so then you need to speak out. This cannot be tolerated.

This man needs to have his FCC license revoked.