Fish Wars on Cars

Humanists Congregate in the West

2008-08-04T16:00:00.000-07:00

Americans who live in the western section of the U.S. are less likely to believe in God than those living elsewhere.

86% of southerners believe in God
83% of midwesterners believe in God
80% of easterners believe in God
59% of westerners believe in God

Source: Gallup Poll reported in The Week magazine, August 8, 2008

Idiot Knocked Down by a Spirit

2008-08-04T15:56:00.000-07:00

A Tennessee man sued his church for $2.5 million, claiming someone should have been there to catch him when he collapsed in religious ecstasy.

Matthew Lincoln, 58, says that after his minister, Robert Lavala of Lakewind Church, annointed his forehead, Lincoln "received the spirit and fell backward," hitting his head on the "carpet-covered cement floor."

The fall allegedly exacerbated a pre-existing spinal condition.

"Tyson Homosexual" in the news

2008-08-04T15:52:00.000-07:00

The American Family Association got an unintended result when it used an auto-replace filter to change "inappropriate" words such as "gay" in news stories on its web site. A story about American athlete, Tyson Gay, was headlined, "Homosexual eases into 100 meter final at Olympic trials," and repeatedly referred to him as "Tyson Homosexual".

Should Tyson Gay change his name, or sue the American Family Association?

The Separation of Church and State or Not

2008-06-05T14:42:00.000-07:00

A study of 2,000 teacher found that about 16% of high school biology teachers in the U.S. are creationists. In spite of a court ordered ban on teaching creationism and intelligent design in science class, more than half of these teachers say they do teach their students that Christian ideas of a creator are a valid alternative to Darwin's theory of evolution.

To quote "still-president" Bush, "Is our children learning?"
Get your Darwin fish at ROF.Inc.

Einstein's View of Religion as a Childish Superstitution

2008-05-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

In a letter Albert Einstein wrote to philosopher, Eric Gutkind, in 1954, he called religion a "childish superstition".

"The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses," he wrote, describing the Bible as a collection of honorable but still primitive legends."

Einstein also noted that he had a "deep affinity" for his Jewish heritage, but didn't believe that Jews are the "chosen people".

The letter was in a private collection for the past 50 years and was auctioned last week in London.

Unfortunately Einstein hadn't heard about the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, so we can understand his lack of faith in religion.

Reformation Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

2008-04-28T14:54:00.000-07:00

Breaking news: Pastafarians are undergoing dissension in the ranks. A Reformation Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has broken with the evangelical branch.

Read the details here.

Creation Museum Selling Dinosaur Skull

2008-04-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

That creation museum in Texas isn't doing well (apparently people are smarter than they thought) and they're trying to sell a mastodon skull so they can continue to spread their anti-science nonsense.

The funny thing about this is that they had to use scientists to appraise the skull which is estimated to be 40,000 years old.

The creation museum claims that Noah had dinosaurs aboard the ark. So what I want to know is did the ark sail 40,000 years ago or did God create the earth 6,000 years ago? How big was that ark anyway? Did it have a T-Rex on board?

Here's a really cool T-Rex.

Condolezza Rice Should be Indicted

2008-04-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

A New Smear of Obama

2008-03-03T17:35:00.000-08:00

I get a lot of crazy email messages, usually they have been forwarded from and to many other people and I usually can debunk them by going to Snopes but I got one today that Snopes didn't have in their database.

I sent a copy of the email to Snopes and I quickly received a reply. I was so impressed.

First, here's the email I received and following that will be the response from Snopes:

Date: Sun, 02 Mar 2008 23:47:45 -0600
From: "rdicks" <2uising@centurytel.net>
Subject: 00ooOOOPS..HERE IT COMES... KEEP WATCHING 3-2-08
X-Originating-IP: [209.235.148.37]
To:
X-Priority: 3
X-Authenticated-User: 2uising.centurytel.net

Just one week ago , I sent out this first piece for your information... to check the site and then I coined the phrase: Messiahship Status... speaking Messiahshipeze ... now with this latest article, and adding up the "Signs in the Heavens, and the Signs on the earth... that reeks with lawlessness and evil in every form, with the church joining in with agnostics, etc, etc, and on the slippery side of life ... YIKES and DOUBLE YIKES...................................

SOooooooo, read on reader, and would you not agree that: time is rushing quickly ahead??? Better not be lagging behind, and thinking there is yet TIME before Revelation is fulfilled.....HHhhmmmm... best you get head off of that cloud, and run like crazy towards GOD... in three persons... Blessed Trinity... Amen & Amen!

Feb.25, 08 Ck This site

Note the language.. Messiahship status....This language is Messiahshipeze...) Louis Farakhan said at his latest annual Saviours' Day celebration....."This young man is the hope of the entire world.... America will change and be made better...A black man with a white mother became a savior to US"

Wow !!!! I believe it is time to re-read Isaiah 9.. and refresh our minds as to what qualifications are necessary for "Messiahship"... then keep those key words in your mind when you hear an illustrious speech that instills HOPE , etc... Messiahshipeze is easy speak, and comes from the opposite side of the truth....

.... Now read what has just come out in Texas, and let me know what you think!! Are we not getting close to something spoken of centuries ago?? P.U.S.H. and spread the WORD... The Messiah is coming... ARE READY??? Remember: not all who say "LORD LORD", will enter into the gates of heaven and spend Eternity with Our Elohim.... Ramona... PUSH PUSH PUSH

_PUSH = Pray Until Something Happens _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Obama heals hundreds!
AUSTIN — Ginny McCallum, 43, who has been confined to a wheelchair for much of her adult life, came to hear presidential candidate Barack Obama speak at the University of Texas. Afterward she found herself in a wheelchair access breezeway as Obama and his entourage exited the arena. The candidate spotted her, came over, grabbed her hand and pulled her up. She found herself standing for the first time in eleven years.
"He smiled at me and said, ‘Yes, you can,’" she says. "I was so stunned I didn’t know what to do."
McCallum is among hundreds of people who say they have been healed by the Democratic candidate, in one of the most surprising and little-acknowledged aspects of his campaign. Reporters have shied away from the story, chalking it up to "Obama-mania" and people’s feelings of elation.
"We don’t talk about it a lot, but yeah, it does happen," says one staffer who says he has seen multiple people healed on a rope line. "We don’t know exactly how or why it’s happening, and the Senator won’t talk about it. He usually insists that people keep it quiet and just report it to their pastor or priest."
Greeting supporters after a rousing speech in Houston, Obama stepped into the dense crowd and spontaneously began touching people: a legally blind woman, a man deaf in one ear, a cancer sufferer and a lame man.
"Yes, you can," Obama said as he laid hands on afflicted bodies.
The people’s reactions were so joyous as to be almost frightening. They jumped and shouted and wept. Before they could thank or embrace the candidate he was well down the rope line healing others. Their excitement was lost in the general din of the crowd.
Aides acknowledge that the phenomenon is occurring with greater frequency.
"His power goes beyond simple inspiration," says one aide. "There is something developing here that I’m not sure any of us fully understands."
They say Obama has told them privately that his time has not yet come, so it would be inappropriate to talk about the healings right now. He says he will wait until the convention to speak publicly about the "special calling" he believes he has to lead the country. They do expect him to start alluding to "the providential nature of what is happening on the campaign trail" in an upcoming address, mostly because word is getting around.
People have begun bringing relatives by the score to campaign events in hopes of a healing touch.
"It’s not the speeches that are drawing people anymore, as good as they are," says a senior staff member. "It’s people wanting to get better, and wanting their friends and relatives to get better. It’s the belief that there’s something more here." •

Here's the response I received from Snopes:

See Lark News, a satire site. It publishes humor pieces, not news stories.

- Barbara

Urban Legends Reference Pages

So these gullible people are now circulating a satire piece as actual news! That's probably why they voted for Bush (gullible). You gotta love it.

Hillary Clinton's Scary Ad

2008-03-03T16:21:00.000-08:00

Clinton's scary ad was intended to frighten us into voting for her, but had an unintentional effect on me because that photo of Clinton at the end of the ad looks eerily like that psycho talent agent in Nip Tuck played by Sharon Gless

Here's a video from Nip Tuck

And here's Hillary Clinton's ad

Making Cigarettes Save for Pregnant Women

2008-02-29T15:55:00.000-08:00

"Among the most horrifying things I witnessed were the times when baby monkeys were stolen away from their mothers. This was a chaotic, ugly, heart-wrenching scene. A worker wearing thick leather gloves would reach into the cage where the baby clung to her mother's breast, and snatch the baby by one shoulder and arm and rip her from her mother who was screaming and desperately fighting to keep her baby safe. Once the baby was removed, the entire room of monkeys would erupt into total pandemonium -- screaming, thrashing and crashing into the sides of their cages -- some reaching out through the bars in vain to get their babies back."

Eliot Spindel, a researcher at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU).... implants nicotine pumps into pregnant monkeys, delivering daily doses of the addictive substance to the mothers so he can cut their babies out at various stages of development and dissect their lungs. Some of the babies are allowed to go full term, only to be ripped away from their mothers, causing severe depression in the adults and terror in the infants.

The hazards of smoking are common knowledge, yet Spindel continues to confine, cut up, and kill these helpless monkeys in a ludicrous quest to find a way for pregnant women to smoke without causing harm to their fetuses.

NIH has funded Spindel since 1992 to the tune of $7.6 million dollars, and this travesty is scheduled to continue though 2012. Money that would be better spent on human studies, smoking cessation education, and prevention programs.

More here

Colony Collapse Disorder & Ice Cream

2008-02-28T13:55:00.000-08:00

Supposedly Einstein said that if something happened to the bees, people would die. Snopes hasn't verified if it's an accurate quote, but we might soon suffer. CNN reports that Haagen Dazs has warned that it might have to cut back on the flavors it offers due to the the decline in the population of bees needed to fertilize crops.

Haagen-Dazs, which is owned by General Mills, said bees are actually responsible for 40% of its 60 flavors - such as strawberry, toasted pecan and banana split.

Human Animals and Friendship

2008-02-26T13:58:00.000-08:00

Our subscription to CSA (community supported agriculture) is suspended until April because of winter, so we are buying produce at our local natural food store, Last weekend, I was selecting an onion when someone said, "Excuse me. Can you tell me how long a chicken casserole will last in the refrigerator?"

I couldn't answer the question because, I haven't cooked or eaten chickens for many years. I am the caretaker for two Rhode Island Red hens, each of whom has a distinctive personality, and each of whom trusts me. I wouldn't consider killing or eating them or other members of their species, just as I wouldn't consider eating human meat. (I don't eat cows or pigs or sheep or goats either.)

"Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them. " - Samuel Butler quoted in NYTimes.com

The Dangers of Sugar Substitutes

2008-02-26T13:24:00.000-08:00

Rats fed a diet of sugar substitutes gained more weight than rats that ate food sweetened with sugar according to a new study. This might explain why people who drink a lot of diet soda have higher rates of obesity, diabetes and other metabolic problems.

Perdue University fed sugar-filled and sugar-free yogurt to groups of rats and found that rats that ate artificially sweetened meals were still hungry afterward and continued to eat more food than did rats whose food was naturally sweetened.

It appears that artificial sweeteners confuse the body which associates sweet tastes with calories. When you eat sweet foods without the calories, you continue to feel hungry.

The rats who ate sugar substitutes didn't have the metabolic increase that typically follows a meal, so they burned fewer calories. The combination of a larger appetite with a slower metabolism results if severe weight gain.

McCain Loves Telecom Lobbyist too

2008-02-20T17:01:00.000-08:00

I have come to realize that McCain loves Bushie, Bushie's war and has been converted to Bushie's love of waterboarding, and now we learn that McCain has a secret crush on a telecom lobbyist which might have resulted in that legislation that would immunize telecoms who participated in Bushie's illegal spying on us.

The Straight-Talk Express off the rails

Anyone notice that McCain's telecom lobbyist looks like a younger version of his trophy wife?

McCain's lobbying friend

Cindy McCain

Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T15:01:00.000-08:00

John McCain loves his Republicans: Gee Dubya Bush, Joe Leiberman, etc.

Get your free News Corpse Widget here

Life in the "Best Country in the World"

2008-02-12T01:14:00.001-08:00

Mitt Romney suggested that if we elect a Democratic president, we'll become the France of the 21st century.

An international survey found that the U.S. ranks dead last in a measure of how well the health-care systems of 19 countries deliver timely, effective care and prevent deaths.

France ranked first.

Uber right-wing-nuts will continue to claim that we're superior to France and everyone else. They have no evidence to support their claims, but hordes of slack-jawed mimics will continue the claims.

McCain - Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran

2008-02-12T01:10:00.000-08:00

Here are some of McCain's speeches put to song. Not quite as uplifting as Obama's. Well, okay, far from inspiring - downright scary.

A Pastafarian’s Delight

2008-02-10T22:58:00.000-08:00

A visit to a Pastafarian’s delight in SV is the actual headline in a local newspaper, so if you love the Flying Spaghetti Monster come on down to the Pasta Factory in Scotts Valley, California (Santa Cruz County).

Darwin Day Festivities

2008-02-10T22:45:00.000-08:00

Darwin Day (Charles Darwin's birthday) is a global celebration of science

Hundreds of groups across the United States and the globe will celebrate the date as "Darwin Day" in honor of the discoveries and life of the man who famously described biological evolution via natural selection.

"Darwin Day promotes understanding of evolution and the scientific method," said Matt Cherry, executive director of the Institute for Humanist Studies. "This celebration expresses gratitude for the enormous benefit that scientific knowledge has contributed to the advancement of humanity."

The Darwin Day Celebration is a project of the Albany, N.Y.-based Institute for Humanist Studies, an international educational nonprofit that promotes reason and humanity.

Next year will mark both the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the 1859 publication of Darwin's "The Origin of Species", which presented the scientific theory that populations evolve over generations through natural selection.

The theory of evolution was controversial in Darwin's time and remains controversial in the United States today.

Recent Gallup polls show that 43 percent of Americans reject the theory of evolution and instead believe that "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so." And at least four 2008 presidential candidates have said they do not believe the theory of evolution.

"There is a continuous threat to evolutionary biology and to science in general that has been posed by fundamentalists who reject entirely a Darwinian worldview because they feel it threatens their religious beliefs," said Massimo Pigliucci, Ph.D., a professor of evolutionary biology at the State University of New York-Stony Brook.

Pigliucci uses Darwin Day to teach the public about how science works "so people aren't just hearing about science from their local preacher." His online course "Evolution, Creationism and the Nature of Science" is available for free through the Institute for Humanist Studies.

The Darwin Day Celebration started with one event in 1995. Last year there were more than 850 Darwin Day events world-wide. Darwin Day festivities can include debates, lectures, essay contests, film festivals, museum exhibits, art shows and even an "Evolution Banquet" with "Primordial Soup" followed by a "Darwin Fish Fry."

This year, hundreds of church congregations will celebrate Darwin Day by hosting an "Evolution Weekend" to explore the compatibility of science and religion.

For information, visit: www.DarwinDay.org

The Audacity of Hope

2008-02-03T12:17:00.000-08:00

Who Are You Voting For?

2008-01-18T13:33:00.000-08:00

I'm having some difficulty figuring out who to vote for. As much as I'd like to see a woman become president, Hillary Clinton is too hawkish for me. I'm also turned off by her campaign's attacks on Barack Obama.

I was enthusiastic about Obama until, in a recent debate, he expressed his approval of nuclear power and soon after he cited Reagan as an agent of change. Give me a break!

I then decided to vote for John Edwards because of his populist message, but then I looked as his voting record when he was in the senate and his words don't match his deeds.

I'm down to Dennis Kucinich now - who has no hope of winning.

Any advice? Anybody?

Lynx

2008-01-18T12:21:00.001-08:00

These lynx were spotted in Maine near the Canadian border. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

I thought lynx were solitary animals, but here they are travelling together.

Taking the Cheetahs Out to Run at Safari West

2008-01-03T01:43:00.000-08:00

Our cabin

Us on the safari truck - cheetahs, Gijimi and Thula and their handlers in the back.

Gijimi

Shortly after taking this photo, we had an unexpected event. Gijimi was watching the scenery on the right and began to growl as we passed a lake. Thula became frightened and jumped over the left side of the truck, taking the handlers with her. The driver stopped the truck while the handlers struggled to control the cheetah sisters and calm them down. Cheetahs can see for a distance of 2 ½ miles, so Gijimi probably saw something invisible to us. Thula had been facing forward and, apparently, didn’t see what spooked her sister, but instinctively wanted to run in the opposite direction.

Video here or here if that one doesn't work.

Candlelight Memorial Vigil For Zoo Victims

2008-01-02T14:04:00.000-08:00

In Defense of Animals (IDA) and the San Francisco Unitarian Universalists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals will join together this Thursday for a candlelight memorial vigil to remember the two young victims who died Christmas Day at the San Francisco Zoo. The vigil, including remarks by IDA Founder and President Elliot Katz DVM, Dolores Perez Priem and Rev. Fred Rabidoux of the Unitarian Universalists, will take place in front of the main entrance to the San Francisco Zoo. Please join us.

What: Candlelight Memorial Vigil for Carlos Sousa and Tatiana the tiger
Where: San Francisco Zoo Main Entrance, At the western end of Sloat Blvd.
When: Thursday, January 3, 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.

Contact: Melissa Gonzalez at Melissa@idausa.org or (415) 388-9641, ext. 228 for more information.

San Francisco, the city named for St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals, who taught love and respect for all life, is now shrouded in a terrible light. IDA and Unitarian Universalists are calling for the City of St. Francis to live up to his benevolent teachings by recognizing that its zoo cannot humanely house tigers and other big cats. Both organizations request that the city transfer the cats to a sanctuary, close the big cat exhibits, and reassess whether the San Francisco Zoo should continue to hold captive large species who require considerably more space than the zoo can provide