Sunday, May 31, 2009

New blog.

If you're intersted in astronomy you might like to visit my new blog, Moon Base Omega, at http://moonbaseomega.blogspot.com/

Monday, May 25, 2009

A scary look at the future.

If this is true, and I suspect it is, then we are all in deep shit.



Given that the Christians have been fighting against Islam for hundreds of years, and losing I might add, I wonder if it is wise to "aid" the Muslims.

What I mean by aid is that by working to reduce and eventually eliminate religion from all aspects of our life, we may be helping the Muslims grow in strength.

If I had to chose between accepting either Christianity or Islam, I wouldn't even have to think about it, Christianity wins hands down.

The reality of the situation is that we don't have to chose one or the other. We just need to equally help our Christian and Muslim friends open their eyes to the real world.

If we don't, we may soon find ourselves under the rule of Islam.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Godless Religion day is moving

Not it's not going to be on another day.
Sunday is THE only day that it could ever be on.

Godless Religion day is moving to my new blog, The Canadian Freethinker.
The new blog can be found here, http://canadian-freethinker.blogspot.com/

Canadian Freethinker, in short, is about freethinking from a Canadian point of view.

I will also do most, if not all, posts related to religious and atheist issues on this blog as well.

So if you like Godless Religion day and are interested in atheism, then checkout Canadian Freethinker.

If not, then don't.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Darwinius Masillae

Here is an article on the recent discovery of a new fossil, http://scienceblogs.com/framing-science/2009/05/more_darwinius_masillae_buzz_i.php

Also a video.


More later.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

President Obama speaks at Notre Dame

This is a great moment in history.
Against all the cries of the "anti-abortionist camp" about how wrong it would be for president Obama, a "pro-death" president, to speak at a catholic university, he did it anyway.
Bravo.
I salute him for his conviction.
I salute Notre Dame for not knuckling under to the will of the religious fanatics.
And no, we are not all going to "hell".

I hope that president Obama will continue to stand up to the religious "wackaloons". Within his first 100 days he has reversed a dangerous trend, in which the previous administration promoted superstition over reason. By promoting an understanding of science and reason instead of fearing "supernatural" reprisals if god's will is not done, president Obama could bring the U.S. back into a role of leadership in the fields of science and medicine.

If only we could elect someone who promotes science and reason over superstitious beliefs.

President Obama Notre Dame Speech (Part 1)


President Obama Notre Dame Speech (Part 2)


President Obama Notre Dame Speech (Part 3)

Harper continues the war on climate science

This article from desmogblog.com outlines Stephen Harper's latest attack against Canadian climate scientists and science.

Full article here:http://www.desmogblog.com/stephen-harper-war-climate-science

If we ever hope to take action to protect the environment, we need to elect a new prime minister. As long as this climate neanderthal is running the country, the oil barons will continue to destroy the environment for profit.

Do we need a new world?

This interesting article from rabble.ca posits that "A new world is necessary".
The article IS NOT about the New World Order, NWO, so calm down.

Full article here: http://www.rabble.ca/columnists/2009/05/new-world-necessary

I agree that change is necessary.
Is this the change we need?
Perhaps.

The Story of Stuff

You may have seen this before, or you may not have.
Either way this is a great video that explains how we get our "stuff" and how it impacts the environment.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Godless Religion day.

Today we start off with some positive news.

A positive outcome in the trial of Daniel Hauser, whose parents were denying him the cancer treatment he needed because it conflicted with their religious beliefs.
The judge in this case found that his parents were neglecting his medical needs and has ordered that Daniel receive the medical treatment he needs.
Find the full story here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090515/ap_on_he_me/us_med_forced_chemo

Also, the story of Tyler Frost who has been suspended by the principal of his baptist high school for attending his girlfriends prom against the schools wishes.
Although this is not really positive news, it does show how ridiculous some religions can be.
The full story can be found here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30669405/?GT1=43001

This interesting interview of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor with Roger Bolton on BBC Radio, is somewhat "enlightening".




Casey Luskin is back. This quick little interview is short and full of crap.




I could go on an on about this but, P.Z. Myers has said it all, http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/05/casey_luskin_smirking_liar.php


Another quick interview. This time with Richard Dawkins.



I really like his answer to the question, are you absolutely certain there isn't a god?
He says, at the 4:00 minute mark, "There is no reason to believe in anything for which there is no evidence."


And finally a challenge.



Will the Discovery Institute even bother.
I doubt it, they know that there is no "proof" in the DNA to support their claim.
It will be interesting to see if they even bother to acknowledge this challenge.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Atlantis, STS-125 video.

On Monday, the space shuttle Atlantis began it's mission to repair the Hubble space telescope. This will be the Hubble space telescopes final repair/upgrade.

Atlantis launch.


External fuel tank ejection.


As of 2:15pm, today the Canada Arm brought the Hubble Space Telescope into the shuttle's cargo bay.

Read the full story here: http://www.universetoday.com/2009/05/13/hubble-captured-by-space-shuttle-crew/

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Must see videos.

Fundamental christian proof for creation?
There's people and there's monkeys.

Brilliant!

Why didn't I think of that?
Right, that's because it's a load of mindless shit!!





The sound sucks in this video.



That's enough for now.
I want to save some for this coming Godless religion day.

O.K.
Just one more.
I had to add this one because it was so crazy.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Godless Religion day.

I dropped the "bashing" part because we should be teaching, not beating, when it comes to pointing out the crazy things some people do when religion is involved.

First point, a story about a young man who just wants to take his girlfriend to her prom. Unfortunately for him, the baptist school he attends has forbidden it.
Read on, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090508/ap_on_re_us/us_school_dance_flap

Second point, a story about a mother who is refusing to allow her son the treatment he needs to stay alive. Her claim, it is against her religion. What religion is this? One of the many "fringe" religions, the Nemenhah religious group.
Read on, http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/44594367.html?elr=KArksUUUycaEacyU

And finally a video from the guys in Austin Texas, the Atheist Experience.



I know this is an old show but, it's a good one.

Even though I'm on vacation and I'm using my half-ass notebook keyboard, I wouldn't miss Godless Religion day for anything.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Teach the controversy, ya right!

This is one of those things that just makes no sense, the load of crap known as the "strengths and weaknesses" argument.

From one of the many ID foot soldiers, Casey Luskin:


It's not that we don't have time to discuss the strengths and weaknesses, its just that, it would be a waste of time teaching them.

A look at the recent attemp to teach the controversy by AronRa


Imagine you had just spent one class learning about the theory of gravity. For the next 24 hours you would confidently believe that you had learned something useful. Something you could verify through empirical means of testing.
Now when you return to class the following day your teacher has decided to teach you about the strengths and weaknesses of the theory of gravity. In effect you are now going to be taught that what you were taught yesterday may or may not be true.
So, on the first day you are taught that the theory of gravity is true.
On the second day you are taught that it may or may not be true.

If you where unsure about this theory before you where exposed to it, taught it was true, understood it, and saw it in action on the first day, you would probably be very confident about your understanding of this theory.
If the next day you were told that the previously taught theory may not be true, you might find your confidence a little weaker. You may become confused and in this state of confusing you would desperately began to search for a resolution to this problem.

This is the real reason why the ID proponents want the "controversy" taught in science classes.
They want to weaken the students understanding of evolutionary science in order to offer their solution, which of course is creationism, wrapped in the disguise of intelligent design.
This deception will do more harm than good for our society and humanity overall.

IT MUST BE STOPPED!

Teach science in science classes and religion in church !!!!

A mixed bag of news.

Lots to talk about today.

Environment:

The EU has banned the import of seal products.
This is great news. Unfortunately I have been unable to find any details.
-More to follow.

The May 4, 2009 David Suzuki Science Matters newsletter is an interesting story about how far a person will go to destroy the environment.

Speaking about how people view environmentalist, David Suzuki says,"People sometimes accuse me and other environmentalists of wanting to send us back to living in caves and scrounging for roots and berries. Nothing could be further from the truth."

The entire article is available here: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/about_us/Dr_David_Suzuki/Article_Archives/weekly05040901.asp

Then we have a story about the latest ramblings from Christopher Monckton and his continuing campaign of disinformation, http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/05/moncktons-deliberate-manipulation/

Politics:

George Monbiot has an article about the undermining of democracy in Britain, in favour of private interests by its own government.
To quote George, "unelected ministers appear to have formed their own lobby group within government, to prevent those upstart parliamentarians from interfering with the democratic rights of business."

The important point here is that the unelected ministers are representing the interests of business and not the interests of the public.

Although this story is about British politics, it is an indication of what is also happening here.

If you're unsure, just look at how the government is handling the "economic crisis".

When you compare what they have done for "big business" to what they have done for you, what does this indicate?

The entire article is available here:http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2009/05/04/mandelsons-fifth-column/

Religion:

Not to be outdone, or forgotten, the latest from the faithful.

It looks like the Anti-Christ has been found.

First the feed that led me to this remarkable discovery: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/05/antichrist_identified.php

Next the actual website that made the discovery: http://www.antichristidentity.com/

Of course I don't believe it. I have been reassured, by a friend I work with, that Obama is not the Anti-Christ.

We actually don't know who he is yet.

I don't believe there is one.
It would require believing in a god, which I don't.

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Godless religion bashing day.

Holy crap! I almost missed godless religion bashing day.

Well here is a video to start us off. It's not really a bashing video as much as a quick look at the craziness of creationism and "intelligent design".



Followed by a humorous look at the mythical god.



And finally a look at what happened to a high school teacher in California when he referred to "creationism as religious, superstitious nonsense", during a class lecture.

From Pharyngula:http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/05/high_school_teacher_guilty_of.php

Maybe it is this type of legal decision that the christians are worried about when it comes to the Hate Crimes Bill, H.R. 1913.

The passage of H.R. 1913 would give the LGBT community rights that they previosly did not have.

In effect the passage of H.R. 1913 would put the LGBT community on an equal footing with the christians when it comes to protection against bigotry.

I found this section of the story very interesting.

"In a December 2007 lawsuit, Farnan, then a sophomore, accused Corbett of repeatedly promoting hostility toward Christians in class and advocating "irreligion over religion" in violation of the First Amendment's establishment clause.

The establishment clause prohibits the government from making any law "respecting an establishment of religion" and has been interpreted by U.S. courts to also prohibit government employees from displaying religious hostility."

Emphasis is mine and is used to help point out facts that may not be obvious to some.

Full story from OC Register: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/corbett-religion-court-2387684-farnan-selna

This would seem to create a bit of a problem, as the fundamentalist christians are always claiming that the prohibition of religion from government is not a part of the first amendment.

All most seems as thought they want it both ways doesn't it.

Friday, May 01, 2009

H.R. 1913 and christian intolerance.

I "googled" the title of this post, "H.R. 1913 and christian intolerance", and received 43 000 hits.
Out of the first 10 hits, only 1 of them was not filled with hate.

Some of the reactions range from, "Congress Passes Bill Protecting Bizarre Sexual Orientations" to "Anti-Christian intolerance from homosexual activists in Germany. ... Bad News for Free Speech".

An earlier search on google resulted in a wide range of views, some in favour and some against.

Those in favour include: http://www.adl.org/PresRele/HatCr_51/5512_51.htm and
http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/speech/39387leg20090416.html.

And those opposed include: http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=3633,
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=96730,
http://rapturealert.blogspot.com/2009/04/hr-1913-on-fast-track.html and http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/10523 as well as many others.

And here are the first two " H.R. 1913" videos on YouTube.


In favour.


And against.

So what have we learned so far?

The first point that becomes evident is that the christian groups that oppose the "Hate Crimes Bill", really hate humans that are lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans gender.
Yes I used the word human in that sentence. In contrast to the christian position, we are all human, regardless of our sexual orientation.

Secondly, the christian groups that oppose the "Hate Crimes Bill" are paranoid about their "right" to continue to promote their brand of hatred. Section 8 of H.R. 1913 protects the freedom of speech as granted under the Constitution of the United States of America.
Unfortunately for them, they are incapable of understanding the difference between free speech and the promotion of bigotry.

If you don't believe me when I tell you about how hatefull these groups really are, then just post a comment, if they will allow it, on any of their web sites. Or better still attempt to have a rational conversation with any of their members.

The words rational, calm and intelligent just aren't in their vocabulary.

I've experienced this first hand. While trying to explain the benefits of equal rights for everyone as opposed to just certain groups, all I heard was a lot of yelling about the "gay agenda" and how this would "fuck me too."

For those who are interested in reading the actual text of the bill, I know there won't be any christians clicking on this link, it can be found here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1913: