Imbecile…

From the March 25, 2009 hearing of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment. Gather round one and all… Watch Rep. John Shimkus turn into an imbecile right before your eyes ladies and gentlemen!

That just makes me sad… The bible as the infallible word of god? Has he ever really read the fucking thing? I wonder his thoughts on revelation… but I digress; he misses the verse right before he starts quoting, which gives the reasoning for god’s decision… (closest translation I could find was NIV…)

Genesis 8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though [a] every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”

He’s using Noah’s animal sacrifice to the lord to get the lord to not kill every living thing again, and god agrees. His selective quotation from the passage (cutting out “The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart”) makes me think he doesn’t actually believe the story, and therefore just likes the phrases involved with this pointless fable. Also, the statement “every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood” is one of my main problems with religions, and he reads that without removing it… Why is it, do you suppose, that that is quoted in the context of arguing against global warming… I’ll let you all figure that one out for yourselves… Back to my point about religion though, the blanket comment “you are evil in your heart” comment which comes from religions and cults is an easy way to (once convinced) get a large group of people to follow those few who claim to know how to get back into the “good” territory.

Anyway, just to pass along something that really made me laugh hard. These are quotes read from text taken directly from online christian fundamentalist forums. Enjoy…

Some of this is Poe’s Law in action I think…

Beat Poetry

This was a piece performed by Tim Minchin on December 21st at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. Enjoy.

There is a sweary mary every now and then, so NSFW, but I fucking loved it…

(Edit) Fixed (/Edit)

A Christmas Song I’ve Enjoyed This Season…

This is Tim Minchin’s White Wine In The Sun (Christmas Song).

LYRICS:

I’m looking forward to Christmas
It’s sentimental I know, but I just really like it
I’m, I’m hardly religious
I’d rather break bread with Dawkins than Desmond Tutu to be honest
And yes I have all of the usual objections to consumerism
The commercialisation of an ancient religion
And the western-isation of a dead Palestinian
Press-ganged into selling PlayStations and beer
But I still really like it.

I, I really like Christmas
Though I’m not expecting a visit from Jesus
I’ll be seeing my dad
My brother and sisters, my gran and my mum
They’ll be drinking white wine in the sun
I’ll be seeing my dad
My sisters and brother, my gran and my mum
We’ll be drinking white wine in the sun.

I don’t go for ancient wisdom
I don’t believe just ’cause ideas are tenacious it means that they’re worthy
I get freaked out by churches
Some of the hymns that they sing have nice chords
But the lyrics are dodgy
And yes I have all of the usual objections to the mis-education of children forced into a cult institution
And taughted to externalise blame
And to feel ashamed
And to judge things as plain right and wrong
But I quite like the songs.

I’m not expecting big presents
The old combination of socks, jocks and chocolate is just fine by me.

‘Cause I’ll be seeing my dad
My brother and sisters, my gran and my mum
They’ll be drinking white wine in the sun
I’ll be seeing my dad
My sisters and brothers, my gran and my mum
They’ll be drinking white wine in the sun.

And you my baby girl
My jetlagged infant daughter
You’ll be handed round the room
Like a puppy at a primary school
And you’re too young to know
But you will learn yourself one day
That wherever you are and whatever you face
These are the people who’ll make you feel safe in this world
My sweet blue-eyed girl

And if my baby girl
When you’re twenty-one or thirty-one
And Christmas comes around
And you find yourself nine thousand miles from home
You’ll know whatever comes
Your brother and sister, and me and your mum
Will be waiting for you in the sun
Girl, when Christmas comes
Your brothers and sisters, your aunts and your uncles
Your grandparents, cousins, and me and your mum
Will be drinking white wine in the sun
We’ll be waiting for you in the sun
Baby, whenever you come
We’ll be drinking white wine in the sun
Waiting.

I, I really like Christmas
It’s sentimental I know.

Have some more Hitchens… it’s good for ya…

This is the opening statement that Christopher Hitchens gave in a religion vs. Atheism debate with Alister McGrath on October 11, 2007 in two parts. It is illustrated with still images for emphasis…

The Atheist Experience

My favorite podcasts involve a gentleman named Matt Dillahunty… He hosts both The Atheist Experience and The Non-Prophets in which he and outspoken atheists from the Atheist Community of Austin discuss the subject of religion. I’ve posted a video of a previous exchange that I thought was particularly well argued.

This is from last weekends Atheist Experience where he and a gentleman named Don Baker ended up talking about morals, then a fellow Austin resident named John called in to question them on whether or not God is moral. I would ask you to watch this even if you think you’ve heard these topics any number of times. Enjoy…

This is why some Christians terrify me…

That smile is absolutely evil… I mean, how can you sing the lyrics he is singing and be so smiley and happy?…

Lyrics:

Please excuse me sir do you belong here
Cause if not, we’re gonna make you leave
This place is only for the holy
This place is only for the free

We’ll rule the land with love and fury
We’ll baptize everything we see
So if you pledge allegiance to the holy
You can play a role in victory

But if you don’t you’re sure to be defeated
Just like every other enemy
So either give your heart to the cause before you
Or spend a thousand years down on your knees

I pledge allegiance to the Bible
I pledge allegiance to the church
I pledge my life to the cause of justice
And with a gun I’ll show you what I’m worth

All I have is what the Lord has given me
So this hate inside must be divine
Besides we have a moral obligation
To purge the world of all whom he denies

So let the war to end all wars begin now
Let the kingdom come on earth today
And when the streets run red and the dust has settled
With what’s left we’ll start again and again and again

I will one day march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery. I will one day fly o’er the enemy, cuz I’m in the Lord’s army.
(Repeat)

I’m in the Lord’s army (3x)

I know these guys are just some douche-bag Christian alt-rock band, but those lyrics are appalling… I’ve been trying to let this go for the past hour or so, and I just can’t… It’s the whole “You can’t have Jesus without the apocalypse”…

So let the war to end all wars begin now
Let the kingdom come on earth today
And when the streets run red and the dust has settled
With what’s left we’ll start again and again and again

You want the world to come to an end? Then rebuild a theocracy? Wow, that sounds like a great idea… Where do I sign up?

And with a gun I’ll show you what I’m worth

Now that just sounds like a psychopath… In fact, that sounds like something the Columbine shooters would have said… Fucking asshats…

Lama Yo Mama!

This weekend, His Holiness the Dalai Lama spoke in Seattle, and I was lucky enough to have Megan drag me along. I use the verb ‘drag’ because I was not initially inspired to attend this appearance when I first heard about it. Like any healthy skeptic, I regard most authority figures with extreme suspicion, especially when they derive their authority from a religious source. But, at the end I felt very differently about this particular devil. He had a lot of really thoughtful things to say, and I appreciated the opportunity to hear them.

The line outside the stadium snaked all the way around the block, which offered great opportunities for people watching. The evangelicals were out in full force with megaphones, signs, and t-shirts, warning all the attendees that Buddhism leads directly to eternal damnation.

How’s your Operating Thetan Level Today?

The feature story within this month’s Radar Magazine is about the Church of Scientology and the underground internet group that is taking them down. It’s interesting to see Scientologist opponents taking this tactical course, since the cult religion has been so clever about diverting criticism and using its massive resources to silence critics.

Here’s how the attacks on Scientology began (from the article):

On January 21, a video titled “Message to Scientology” appeared on YouTube. A brilliant work of agitprop, the video (embedded below) features a monotone, computer-generated voice speaking in staccato against a mesmerizing backdrop of gathering clouds. The message, which bears quoting at length, is ominous:

“Hello, Scientology. We are Anonymous. Over the years, we have been watching you. Your campaigns of misinformation, suppression of dissent, your litigious nature: All of these things have caught our eye. With the leakage of your latest propaganda video into mainstream circulation, the extent of your malign influence over those who have come to trust you has been made clear to us. Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed. … We are Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”

Within hours of the video’s posting, all hell broke loose. Almost immediately, the Church’s main website, scientology.org, went down under a distributed denial of service attack, a classic hacker technique that overwhelms a target’s website with phantom user traffic until it crashes. Scientology offices worldwide were flooded with prank phone calls and so-called black faxes—pages upon pages of blank black pages—tying up their phone lines and emptying ink cartridges. Dozens of proprietary Church documents—videos, lectures, and course materials worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in Scientology’s pay-to-pray scheme—beganshowing up on YouTube, BitTorrent, and countless websites.

Here is the video in its entirety:

You can also read the full article here.

Bible + Natural History Museum = Awesome

Now, I know there are plenty of religious people who would never allow their children to be put through shit like this… but this is what you get when dogma and superstition overtake reason and evidence… Oh, and evolution is definitely a religion; I pray to Darwin and PZ Myers nightly…