1. We Urgently Need Your Help Now!!

Comment #196699 by Stella on June 20, 2008 at 10:54 am

I doubt sending an email to an exorcist is going to cause him to suddenly realize the value of science.

2. Godless

Comment #192493 by Stella on June 13, 2008 at 7:35 am

So Obama is the new JFK. I hope not.

JFK "inspired" us with his youth, his energy, his grand plans for visiting the moon, his new programs that brought younger Americans into the stream of public service. But he was also elected with help from the mafia; sat on the fence about civil rights at a crucial moment that could've been the catalyst for earlier, broader change; tried to invade Cuba (a sovereign nation, despite what the stupid, imperialist Teller and Platt Amendments might have posited); undermined leftist governments in Latin America with the typical covert CIA operations; continued Eisenhower's interventionist policy in Vietnam, and approved the use of free-fire zones and napalm there; and (shock!) sent arms to the new Baathist regime in Iraq during their campaign to rid the country of suspected leftists while American oil companies (notably Mobil and Bechtel) were doing business in that country.

This has all happened before.

3. Couple charged in Norway over genital mutilation of daughters

Comment #190689 by Stella on June 9, 2008 at 11:43 am

Eight years if the mutilation leads to DEATH?

Are you kidding me? Eight years???

4. Top 6 Incestuous Relationships In The Bible

Comment #185196 by Stella on May 27, 2008 at 7:21 am

What about Noah?!?!?!?!

5. That's it. Texas really is doomed.

Comment #185161 by Stella on May 27, 2008 at 6:06 am

As a Texan, I am filled with rage. Mainly because not very many voters will give a shit about this travesty.

6. Five Things Humans No Longer Need

Comment #184016 by Stella on May 23, 2008 at 12:14 pm

Also, the female reproductive system is SOOOO inefficient. The realization of this, when its inefficiency first intruded on my otherwise blissfully happy childhood, was the first nail in god's coffin. "Intelligent designer"? - Ha! "Merciful"? - HA!

7. Five Things Humans No Longer Need

Comment #184012 by Stella on May 23, 2008 at 12:02 pm

Proof that I am highly evolved:

I have no wisdom teeth.

I just found this out when visiting a new dentist a few weeks ago. She asked me, "Did you have your wisdom teeth removed?" and I said, "No - I hope I don't need to." Apparently, I have none. She even did extra X-rays to make sure. The four back molars (one in each corner) I remember coming in late, like when I was 13 or so, and only halfway. So I figured those were wisdom teeth, but as they never bothered me, or moved, or caused pain, I just assumed they didn't need to be removed. Imagine my surprise and delight!

8. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #179162 by Stella on May 12, 2008 at 7:52 pm

I guess it would never occur to these numbskulls to ORGANIZE.

Or that, you know, U.S. foreign policy (which they have probably supported) and energy policy (which it appears they certainly support) are to blame for this problem.

9. British Airways takes beef off the menu to avoid offending Hindus

Comment #178199 by Stella on May 10, 2008 at 8:42 pm

As someone who does not consume beef based on a substantial amount of logical thought and ethical concern, and who generally cannot get an appropriate airplane meal, I find this incredibly stupid.

10. The detail in the Devil

Comment #175844 by Stella on May 6, 2008 at 6:34 am

Further evidence that "theology" is not a proper academic subject at all.

Edited to add: This is scary, to me, because it seems like a short step from this kind of rhetoric to Salem, 1692. Someone, give this guy a copy of The Crucible!

11. Open Letter to a victim of Ben Stein's lying propaganda

Comment #165329 by Stella on April 21, 2008 at 10:52 am

"By the way, do you hear an echo of those words in your own letter to Michael Shermer, "We Jews will fight to keep people like you out of the United States." Don't you feel just a twinge of shame at those truly horrible words of yours? Don't you feel that, as a Jew, you should feel especially regretful that you used those words?"

YES! Thank you for pointing out this obvious hypocrisy.

12. Expelled Overview

Comment #150738 by Stella on March 27, 2008 at 10:44 am

Eugenics & Planned Parenthood?!
Eugenics is mentioned as an "extension" of Darwinism, and they even tar Planned Parenthood as being founded by a woman who was somehow associated with Eugenics (I can't remember the name). It's another disgusting, underhanded swipe, which could only be accepted so quickly in an extremely uninformed and sympathetic audience.

13. In Defense of Witchcraft

Comment #52258 by Stella on June 26, 2007 at 3:24 pm

Brilliant.

I will be repeating this meme, stat.

14. Look Forward to Anger

Comment #52170 by Stella on June 26, 2007 at 12:00 pm

Yes.

15. The Future Forum Presents: Christopher Hitchens and Marvin Olasky

Comment #50050 by Stella on June 14, 2007 at 5:53 pm

I took a journalism class at the University of Texas from Marvin Olasky in 1999. He is a convert from Judaism, very anti-abortion, pro-evangelical, coiner of the term "compassionate conservatism", somewhat obsessed with his "World" magazine - which (as I recall) presents a very hardline ivory-tower-fundie Christian perspective, but a fair grader of papers. He encouraged debate in class, and in what I now see as the heigh of ironies, screened "Mr Smith Goes to Washington" in class. Personal beliefs = F / teaching ability = B+

16. Free Speech

Comment #26590 by Stella on March 20, 2007 at 4:33 pm

Bravo. I agree with every single thing he says (since he didn't say anyting in praise of the Iraq war in this particular clip! ha!).

Thanks for the heads-up.

17. A Brief History of Disbelief

Comment #26587 by Stella on March 20, 2007 at 4:21 pm

Thanks so much for posting this. I was actually living in Britain in 2004, and somehow missed it!

THANK YOU! Brilliant, brilliant.