1. Conservative Pastors to Break Law by Endorsing a Candidate

Comment #256180 by JDAM on September 28, 2008 at 10:38 pm

I have always thought that this religious exemption from taxes is ridiculous, the moreso when one sees just how much money some of these charlatans are raking in. They should be free to endorse anyone they want but if they want the protections and benefits of my United States they can help pay the freight just like the rest of us.

Many of them use the words "Render unto Ceasar the things that are Ceasar's and unto god the things that are god's' and interpret this to mean that "Ceasar" is any government and therefore has no claims on god's wealth and riches which these pastors are simply "keeping in trust" for the day the Big Guy stops by on his regular collection route. That any rational person still swallows this boggles the mind!

I hope these pastors really do piss off the IRS and it results in getting rid of this stupid and irresponsible regulation once and for all. Hell, they contribute to political candidates all the time!

2. The world according to Hitchens

Comment #255515 by JDAM on September 27, 2008 at 9:43 pm

JeremyH (#255503)

I'm confused. I was under the impression that Ossetia was politically part of Georgia much in the same manner as Maine is politically part of the US. By what right do Ossetians simply vote to leave one country and join another? Would this in any way be comparable to Maine DEMOCRATICALLY voting to leave the US and become a part of Canada?

3. The real difference between liberals and conservatives

Comment #250970 by JDAM on September 21, 2008 at 12:21 am

Jesus86,
Your essays are well-crafted but it appears to me that the upshot of them is the very foundation upon which the US was founded and which, in a mere 235 years or so took it from a bunch of backwater rebels to the most powerful country on the planet.

Lip-service to "Gawd" has been practiced since politics was invented and continues alive and all too well here today. I'm afraid that it will be the driving force in our becoming "the late, great, United States", but getting it separated from politics is sure suicide for any politician who advocates it, here in America.

I live in a small rural Oregon community where virtually everyone would describe themselves as "conservative" but almost no one has a clue about how they would define it. In my discussions with them, however, I have never heard even one of them say anything like "We've got to get this nation back to God" or even mention religion in our numerous discussions of the current political scene.

The loudmouths generally spouting that kind of bilge are multi-millionaire type preachers. Most everyone else is saying things like, "I just wish the damned government would leave me alone!"

People in general here go way out of their way to help others in need. Interestingly, many, if not most of them are California transplants (as am I).

4. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #243694 by JDAM on September 6, 2008 at 11:10 pm

Here Stateside, the story is told of two matrons walking to their car after lunch. One was a staunch Democrat, the other and equally staunch Republican. As the passed an alleyway, the Republican matron glanced down the way to see a man sitting in a chair tilted up against the wall in the throes of "hand to gland" combat. "There!" She exclaimed..."There is a perfect example of your average Democrat!" The Democratic matron took one look and without batting a eye said, "Why, you're absolutely right! That has to be a Democrat because if he was a Republican, he'd be screwing somebody!"

5. Cosmic crash unmasks dark matter

Comment #241147 by JDAM on September 1, 2008 at 9:42 pm

Thanks to Amalthea and the link she provided (see comment #7) I have this rap completely stuck in my head! I think I have watched it now about 15 times and it just cracks me up every time! I also have a much more clear understanding of just exactly what the LHC will be looking for. Just think of the success the powers that be could have teaching physics like this! You have got to watch this...it is just too much fun!! Profound thanks to Oystein also for his generous explanatory contributions.

6. Astronomers find batch of 'super-Earths'

Comment #194420 by JDAM on June 16, 2008 at 6:49 pm

Comment #194035 Thanks, Steve!
A simple point I have been trying to make for years with the global warming crowd, but with much more totally irrelevant verbosity. Your comments are always enlightening and a prime reason I lurk on this site so much. There are so many really remarkable intellects on this site and you (and your partner, whose comment on free will I framed and have hanging in my office) are at the zenith of them all. Please keep posting!

7. John McCain: America a Christian nation, needs Christian president

Comment #190268 by JDAM on June 8, 2008 at 4:35 pm

In every lauditory comment about either candidate lurks the belief that we can accept at face value what they say as profound personal belief which they will put into practice immediately upon election to office. It's difficult to believe that even on this website naivete of this depth abounds! Yeesh!!

McCain comes from a totally military background, his father was an admiral. Can you say, "rank hath its privileges" anyone? His temper tantrums are legend on Capital Hill when he does not get his way. This geriatric buffoon not only carries grudges, he nurses and nurtures them!

I am STILL waiting for Baram Obaka to utter an original thought! I thought John Kerry re-defined "empty suit" for all time until I saw and heard Obaka. No background, no experience, NOTHING...except the ability to read a teleprompter better than anybody. Catch this guy unscripted and he is a total dunce!

The "late, Great United States". I weep for you, America! I hope Obaka wins because when America goes down the tubes it will be under a House, Senate and WHITE HOUSE controlled by Liberal Democrats. That ought to ensure a more conservative reign for several decades.

8. Discussion between Richard Dawkins and Paula Kirby

Comment #157820 by JDAM on April 9, 2008 at 3:09 pm

Oh, Shit! The Sleaze Brothers (Mathis and Stein) have purchased advertising on Rush Limbaugh's talk show for EXPELLED. It cost them a ton of dough but they are now virtually guaranteed a fairly large audience of Fundies who are going to pay and probably end up turning Mathis into another Michael Moore. As is his habit with all advertisers, Limbaugh periodically discusses the movie on his show as though he is really impressed with it and has even darkly suggested that Darwinism "resulted' in the Nazis. Richard hit that one out of the ballpark at the discussion but I doubt that any of his listeners (except me) will avail themselves of the wisdom presented in Inverness.

We're going to need programs like the grand UHI display more than ever now!

9. Discussion between Richard Dawkins and Paula Kirby

Comment #157336 by JDAM on April 9, 2008 at 12:03 am

Just want to express my profound thanks to Richard and Paula, but particularly Richard who I hope does not endure prolonged suffering for the forcing of his voice during this absolutely wonderful and enlightening engagement. Paula, I got the definite impression that you must be some sort of professional TV or Communications person.
I'll be playing this over and over. Some really great questions, too. I also want to say to decius that your avatar is priceless!!

10. The Mind of the Market

Comment #111185 by JDAM on January 13, 2008 at 11:44 pm

Brian: Just checked out the "Atheistsucks" site and it...well...sucks! I wouldn't bother with it anymore. Closed minds are not changeable ones. A bunch of fundies running the usual scam, complete with all us nasty atheists spamming, sending obscenities and generally trying to wreck their site, but god will prevail, etc. etc. I'm sure somewhere in there is a request to send $10 for a prayer cloth recently returned from 40 days in the Arizona desert and blessed by the Big Guy himself! If any of us attempted to post or answer with a smidgen of the force and logic of this site we'd be totally ignored, if for no other reason than the intellectual "shock and awe" factor.

Al rwandi and D'Arcy: "Poor" people in the USA are living in relative opulence compared to "poor" people in other parts of the world. That standard is diminishing, however, because the US Government insists on continuing the wholesale importation of poverty from Mexico despite the overwhelming desire of US citizens to seal that border and stanch the flow. The usual suspects, "Money and Politics". Also, please remember Hillary Clinton is running for US President and is married to, and part of, an Olympic Class propaganda operation called Clinton, Inc.. Taking anything this woman says at face value is setting yourself up for a large toll bridge purchase in San Francisco.

The US has had its "War on Poverty" since 1964 with predictable results. The easier you make it for people to be poor, the more poor people you are going to have. There is no dignity in handouts because they become addictive. And this notion of yours regarding the select "few" owning all the jobs and means of production is bovine exhaust! In my time on this Planet, I have been privileged to personally know at least 20 people of all races who bootstrapped themselves from American "Poverty" to American "Wealth" by the sweat of their own brows. One of them, a business partner, started his business career as the son of a migrant farm worker who never finished high school but is now a multi-multi millionaire.

I was born and raised in this country and I know the amount of opportunity that exists here. Why in hell do you think so many people are trying to come here? Because we have pretty well paid poverty, or simply more opportunity to prosper through hard work than any other country in the world?

11. Changing my Mind

Comment #107648 by JDAM on January 4, 2008 at 10:52 pm

For all of you wondering how to engage JWs...

I have been married to one for over 17 years and I could not love anyone more. We generally avoid religious discussions but she cannot help but look over my shoulder when I am on this site (she LOVES Dinesh D'souza!)and will sometimes comment on the accuracy of Biblical quotes. JWs really know this stuff, but only so far.

They seem to like all the "happy talk" passages but pretty much eschew stuff like Leviticus or Revelations, although they claim they are "Bible-believing". If you want to have an interesting discussion, ask them when was the last time they stoned an adulterer, or killed a disobedient child? You'll get some really interesting shuck 'n jive ramblings.

JWs are mostly really nice, sincere folks and their halls are hotbeds of cooperative help. But if you prefer to be left alone, be friendly, ask them in for a few minutes and then hit them with some of the weirdness in the Bible. Be relentless until they are out of answers...it won't take long. I'll almost guarantee they will never knock on your door again.

12. A War On Science

Comment #105800 by JDAM on January 1, 2008 at 8:51 pm

Roger Stanyard is dead-on right about the quality of American scientific education as far as Darwin is concerned. I was listening to a conservative talk show host (not Rush) the other day and he was making a lot of sense until he announced that he believed the Earth was only 10,000 years old. I am still wondering if he did this because he was pandering to that portion of American Conservatism that is also blindly fundamentalist in their religious views.

For many of us Americans, "Gawd did it!" is of inestimable convenience because it allows most of us to get on with our otherwise busy lives without developing "brain strain" over severely complex concepts...such as Natural Selection, which to most people has about as much conscious relevance to their lives as the Laws of Thermodynamics. As a bumper sticker I once saw in Tennessee stated, "GOD SAID IT, I BELIEVE IT, THAT SETTLES IT!" People with that mindset are virtually impervious to any ideas that challenge their inculcated notions about life and will become visibly uncomfortable if the challenges persist.

Compound this with the astounding persuasivness of the TV Evangelists (and they ARE GOOD! I used to watch them regularly to hone my own sales presentation skills) whose presentations find ready acceptance in minds already predisposed to being told what to think because its just easier than trying to think on your own, and presenters of ideas like Darwinism are quickly considered gadflies in need of insecticide.

Conversion is possible (I've even had a little limited success) but it requires lots of patience and often a personal relationship that will allow the mostly closed mind to at least tolerate my views (which I try to present as gently and as bombast-free as I can), if only for a moment. Sometimes, however, a moment is all it takes.

13. Christmas with Christopher Hitchens

Comment #102153 by JDAM on December 21, 2007 at 7:40 pm

I cannot remember a time when I have laughed and choked with guffaws like I did reading this. Oh, to have just 1/10 of this man's brain synapses and his unparalleled command of the English language.

I do my best this time of year to be smily and happy-looking as I stare incredulously at the monumental pain and suffering believers are putting themselves through, like lemmings running off a cliff. Like Christopher, the tinhorn, corny music blaring over and over drives me nuts. I just subscribed to a satellite radio network to get away from television and it has been a miracle of relief, to listen to good music that has nothing to do with "christmas".

But I am truly grateful for the existence of Christopher Hitchens this holiday season and all year round. His words inspire me like no one elses.

THANKS CHRISTOPHER!

14. AAI 07

Comment #84621 by JDAM on November 2, 2007 at 11:26 pm

OK! I finally made it through 5 pages of this string and the posts (except for the Trollish ones) are fantastic, educational, witty, fun to read and wonderously well thought out (for the mostpart). I may be on a fool's quest to try to read every one of them but they read like some late-night pot-boiler. Despite my sleepiness my curiosity as to what will be offered next drives me on. Thanks to you all, even those of you with whom I vigorously disagree.

15. AAI 07

Comment #84356 by JDAM on November 1, 2007 at 10:28 pm

WOW! I'm only finished with page two of this string and I am appalled by the abysmal ignorance of America expressed by Brits such as Veronique (who shows really poor taste in wine as well!)

One regularly hears the Democrats whining about "47 million without health insurance" here in the States. Really? That would seem to imply that we should then have bodies of sick and dying people all over the place. 47 million people is more than the entire population of some countries.

I've been an American all my life and lived in many places here, north, south, east (ugh!) and west. I've seen a lot of things in my 72 years but piles of bodies here is not one of them.

For all you Brit Ameribashers out there. We have laws in America that REQUIRE hospitals to treat all comers, regardless of their financial status. Said laws have practically ruined many hospitals in southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas and caused the closings of many emergency rooms. Still, if you show up and you are hurting, you cannot be legally turned away. Try that in Mexico!

Please! We Americans have a lot we can improve on and we know it. Bash if you must, but at least get your facts straight!

16. AAI 07

Comment #84353 by JDAM on November 1, 2007 at 9:53 pm

re comment #82753 by Jack Rawlinson

Dear Jack: Careful...your abysmal ignorance about America is showing again. About 10 years ago I was hospitalized for 3 months for colon cancer and an attendent staph infection. My bill (Paid with Blue Cross which I had subscribed to for decades) was about $125,000 of which about $20,000 was my own money from savings. Four rooms down from me was an indigent Mexican farm worker who was severely stabbed in a bar fight. His bill after his surgeries was NOTHING!!! ZIP! ZERO! NADA!! I later found out from my treating physician that his bill would have amounted to around $76,000.

Scooternyc is absolutely correct. The welfare state you propose as Nirvana only reinforces the belief that we really don't have to take any responsibily for the consequences of our behavior.
Still, the indigent here somehow seem to make out quite well in hospital situations and the rest of us pay for it. You really ought to visit here once in a while instead of forming your opinions from articles in the NATIONAL INQUIRER.

17. AAI 07

Comment #84345 by JDAM on November 1, 2007 at 9:16 pm

To scooternyc:
I got into this thread way late and do not have the time to read every one of the some 500 comments posted so far. I enjoyed Chapman's talk for the mostpart but certainly disagree with his proposal that government programs that "help people" (whatever that means in both definition and degree) The idea is rather simplistic and definitely wrong as a substitute for religion that would somehow wean the fundie masses off the teat of religion. In actuality he is simply proposing the substitution of one teat for another and at everyone's expense on top of it.

I did not have to get too far into the string to see that I would have likely been greatly disappointed with the AAI meeting, replete as it was with all the liberal left "Hate Bush - Higher Taxes - More Welfare" hogwash.

At 72, I am a strong fiscal Conservative, socially somewhat liberal believer in small government and an Atheist who is very happy being an American and is all for the common defense against whatever groups decide America needs to be obliterated by any means necessary. In my lifetime I have been privileged to have known many people who were born and raised in humble surroundings but by dint of really hard work achieved the American dream in every sense of the word AND DID IT PRETTY MUCH WITHOUT GOVERNMENT HELP. I don't believe government-run universal health care would every work here and I could probably write a substantial pamphlet on why...not the least reason of which is that anything in this country that is offered "free" soon becomes so run into the ground it becomes worthless, not to mention astoundingly expensive.

Thanks for your posts. I am gaining a great deal of respect for your opinions.

18. In Depth: Christopher Hitchens

Comment #72369 by JDAM on September 20, 2007 at 9:23 pm

At 72 I thought I was through with Groupie-ism but I have been fascinated by CH since my days as a flaming Leftie when he wrote for The Nation and would deliver some of the greatest columns I have ever been privileged to read, especially in his repartee with Alex Cockburn. This 3 hours was a Hitchens tour de force and I was mesmerised by his astounding intellect as well as his virtuoso mastery of the English language...as usual. Truth be told, I am on this site primarily for links to every golden Hitchens word. Like many of us he says much of what we think on a daily basis...but he says it SO much better!

THANKS, HITCH!

19. I'm gonna be a MOVIE STAR

Comment #65100 by JDAM on August 22, 2007 at 10:39 pm

Prima facie evidence of the success we're having against the faith-heads. Quite similar to the "end-justifies-the-means" tactics of Muslim goons but at least much less deadly.

Mathis and his pals have done us a great favor by exposing themselves for what they really are...con artists to the very last preacher. This film will play, very likely for money, to the Rubes and Boobs across the country who will never know of the despicable actions used to obtain the interviews. Just as well...without minds they wouldn't last very long in this forum, anyway. It's nothing more than another of their ever more laughable attempts to keep the money rolling in from their cross-section of closed minds and open wallets.

20. Don't Know Much Biology

Comment #49087 by JDAM on June 10, 2007 at 8:54 am

re Comment #48927

I could be a model for the guy on the cover of "...FOR DUMMIES", but I have a T shirt that says "Will fix computers for nookie" and barely have time to sleep. You obviously don't know anything about Geeks with Skills...poor guy!

21. Don't Know Much Biology

Comment #49084 by JDAM on June 10, 2007 at 8:46 am

re: Comment #48918

An experiment in what?

22. I Don't Believe in Atheists

Comment #44461 by JDAM on May 24, 2007 at 9:38 pm

Poor Chris Hedges...he's so completely absorbed with his own self-agrandizment at his self-perceived command of the English language that he utterly fails to recognize his screed for what it is...an astoundingly beautiful field of literary flowers growing out of earth well-fertilized with pure, nebulous, etherial bullshit. Not one of his statements would stand even the most cursory logical examination.

What possible difference would any belief in the big guy upstairs make if it wasn't for "faith" in the High Cockalorum of the ages (all of which comes directly from said big guy, or so adherents claim) that has caused millions upon millions of humans to lose their lives over even minor arguments about what the big guy really meant?

I love the disingenuousness of religious apologists who, when their stupid creeds are finally nailed up to be exposed in the blinding light of reason for the insanity that they represent, suddenly wax nearly incoherently rhetorical trying to make excuses that what is being excoriated for what it purports to be...really isn't what it appears to be at all!

Epistemological "whack-a-mole" for the rest of us...no skill, just endurance!

Sorry, Chris...a Hitchens you're not!

23. Would the World Be Safer Without Religion?

Comment #43846 by JDAM on May 23, 2007 at 12:45 am

Is this guy kidding?

He constructs a compendium of the many varieties of religions that are at each other's throats and then goes on to blithly blow off the religious aspects by positing that the conflicts are really due to other causes and therefore faith is not to blame.

Say what?? Although each religion supposedly is a religion of peace and love, the evidence obviously shows that its perfectly ok to chuck these deeply and reverently held tenents whenever some material aspect of your life is being bothered.

What's the bloody use of such "faith" anyway?

24. Christopher Hitchens Is a Treasure

Comment #43841 by JDAM on May 23, 2007 at 12:28 am

"But suppose God is not like the Hitchens model..."
Well, folks, there you have it! What passes for devastating logic among the fundies. Start off with the assumption of the existence of that which you are trying to prove exists. It's all in the "Buy-Bull", including an extensive and utterly evil definition of what and who the Abrahamic God is. When such a definition is regularly and completely shot down in flames, no problem! One merely "supposes" another definition of God and then proceeds to create a Gerry-rigged intellectual structure to prop that one up. It is then torn down but phoenixes its way back with another set of suppositions which then get torn down again whence new suppositions are posited, and on and on ad nauseum. It's God as a Clockwork Orange, infinitely repairable no matter what damage is done to the concept. In his pathetic and convoluted attempt to make his piece sound "really logical" he ultimately makes a mockery of that which he is attempting to support.
For that effort I suppose we should be thankful.

What really bothers me is that people like Novak actually get paid for this drivel, made all the worse by the obvious fact that the man hasn't even critically read what he is criticizing...
Amazing how some people make a living...

25. Fighting Words: A wartime lexicon

Comment #35008 by JDAM on April 25, 2007 at 11:37 pm

re comment #7 by hightrekker:

I am trying to figure out your point. As best I can discern thusfar, you seem to be one of those flaming Lefties (my god...I've met SO many in my days as a denizen of KPFA) so immersed in the insufferable righteousness of your philosophical position, that to witness any change of heart and mind by one who was formerly of your stripe automatically brands that person as a traitor to the "cause" (whatever that is) and, at the least, unethical for making that change.

The self-righteously laughable jutzpah of such a position was only one of the many reasons that I made the same change as Hitchens, but about 1988.
So many real, dyed-in-the-wool lefties with the same attitudes ultimately became perfect boors, particularly when asked pointed questions about the basis of their philosophy and answering with real intelligence like, "Well! If you don't KNOW, its a waste of my time to try to explain it all to you!"

The tip-off to such an attitude is the fumbling around for the "reason" for the change. Never philosophical, the "change" is always attributable to something external like, "He was paid off by the Right" (David Horowitz) or, in Hitchens' case, "It must have been the booze..." The thought that there might be something profoundly and substantively defective in the original philosophy that the "defector" simply could no longer tolerate never comes to mind.

As Dr. Thomas Sewell said, "The most common argument used by the Left is that there is no argument!" I believe that is because there is no thinking, either.

I immensely enjoyed the exchanges between Hitchens and Alex Cockburn in THE NATION. Both men are past masters in the art of using the English language with devastating effectiveness. In Hitchens' case, "the booze" certainly hasn't taken any edge off of that. I'm thankful that he finally saw the error of his political ways. A pity that more Lefties simply aren't capable of at least a critical self-examination of their beliefs from time to time.

His book is on the way!

26. Atheists split on how to not believe

Comment #33985 by JDAM on April 23, 2007 at 1:02 am

You know, if someone has breakfast every day with fairies and leprechans it makes not a whit of difference to any of the rest of us. But when this person creates an organization that ultimately becomes powerful enough to have ordinances passed requiring everyone to walk backwards on the third Thursday of every month because not to do so blasphemes the Great High Leprechan, we have a problem!

That is exactly what organizing non-believers will end up to be. Membership in a group that dictates the proper way to not believe. They always use the same arguments. "Join us and we'll all get together to form a common methodology for converting believers into non-believers so we don't offend anyone". Next, we'll have baskets passed around to fund the effort. Ultimately someone will get really pissed off and begin a "Reformed" group of non-believers.

I don't think "Reverend" Epstein knows what he is letting himself in for!

27. In the beginning

Comment #33979 by JDAM on April 23, 2007 at 12:18 am

The pedantic indulgence in the ancient art of High Cockalorum is obviously alive and well at the Vatican. "Only a handful of the world's 2 Billion Christians will be able to make sense
of his intricate intellectual arguments". Those, of course will be the same people who understand perfectly the sentence, "I had one grunch but the eggplant over there." The main reason? This esoteric group can claim sense in that sentence but when pressed to expound on it will simply say, "Sorry...I'm afraid my explanation will be just too intricately intellectual for you, so any attempt would be a waste of time for both of us."
These will also be the same folks who claim perfect sense in the belief (as one poster on this site recently and hilariously put it) that ultimate salvation by a "magic flying Jew who saves the world by getting nailed to a tree" is as solid a belief as could ever be expounded, and worthy of complete, unquestioned acceptance.

Proponents of this trash have got to exist in a parallel universe. What other explanation could explain their dogged continuance of such abject silliness in the face of challenges mounted by Dawkins, Harris, Dennet and hundreds of thousands of REALLY intelligent and intellectual folks all over this planet? I mean, to have the jutzpah to say that their explanations are the penultimate ones but it's just too damned bad that all the rest of us stupid jerks can't comprehend what they are saying...

"I had one grunch, but the eggplant over there!"

Indeed!

Well, this Stupid Jerk is again forced to conclude that, as usual, such expounders of this brand of High Cockalorum are indulging in an ever more twisted and convoluted attempt to make bullshit reality so that the anachronistic superstitions their creaking institutions are founded on will hold for another millenium. I hope I have made myself clear...

28. Street Evangelist Saves 300 Souls From Enjoying Park

Comment #33871 by JDAM on April 22, 2007 at 10:50 am

Oh good heavens, people...
The ONION is a leading American satire magazine. They simply make this stuff up for each issue and much of it is an absolute Hoot...but it's not to be taken seriously or as the actual truth. This guy actually does not exist...(but people like him do and they are grist for the ONION's all-encompassing mill)

29. Einstein & Faith

Comment #31685 by JDAM on April 13, 2007 at 8:57 pm

re: Comment# 31457 by Bonzai;

Sounds like a play on the words of the great philosopher, Pogo..."We have met God, and he is us."

30. The God Debate

Comment #29434 by JDAM on April 2, 2007 at 11:30 pm

Oh, what a joyous thread...excellent commentary and reasoning by all, but no one mentioned that the entire Christian construct is a con job, purposely cobbled together at the Council of Nicea to try to bring some semblance of uniformity to a movement that was ultimately corrupted to arrogate power and wealth to its chief exponents and their progeny.

The bible (remember...the inerrant word of GAWD!!) started out as a disparate collection of some 55 books, many in contradiction to each other. The Bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius, cut that number from 55 to what? 27? Among the books given the heave-ho was the gospel according to Thomas, which basically quoted Jesus as saying "We are all children of the Light" (each of us can seek salvation on his own) vs John (retained) who quoted Jesus as saying "I am the truth and the light" and stuff to the effect that nobody comes unto the father except through me.

And who knows "Me" better than an established church? Ta-dahhh! Built-in mind slaves for eternity who will also pay handsomely to keep the channel to Heaven open for them. Who needs to support a church, priests, etc. if he can do it all on his own? Sooo, out with Thomas and in with John! There's more! Read the works of Elaine Pagels on how Thomas says that, as a child, Jesus delighted in using his son-of-god powers to change his playmates into other creatures just for fun.

Rick Warren never mentions that he has a vested interest in a very luxurious and wealth-requiring lifestyle nor that his followers need constant reinforcement to the end of their lives that, no matter what they did when they were alive, they will go to heavenly eternal bliss because they accepted JAYZUS as their personal magic butt-saver. When one wants to believe something bad enough there is no room whatsoever for reason or sanity. Warren, along with Robertson, Falwell, Billy Graham, Billy Sunday, et al knows this, so he doesn't need to be logical, consistent or reasonable because his money-donating supporters, wallowing in their self-righteousness will just grin and point, with the words, "Yeah, what he said!" whenever they are questioned. They can't afford to doubt because they have been completely inculcated with the notion that without "GAWD" they are completely bereft of humanity, selflessness, love and meaning to their lives and their is no way they will ever realize that they actually come face-to-face with "GAWD" every time they look in the mirror.

Despite SH eating Warren's lunch, I am in constant amazement over how charlatans like Warren can live with themselves but, then again, I guess a lot of wealth can pretty well cover a lot of sins.

31. Out There

Comment #25294 by JDAM on March 11, 2007 at 6:37 pm

ref: comment # 25265 by bruno_burned...

YES! YES!! Exactly like that except it was a calm midnight in 1974, laying naked on a sleeping bag on top of my motor home parked at the top of Mt. Hembre in the Tillamook Burn under a cloudless sky after 3 or 4 hits of some "Humboldt (County) Humbler" and thinking in totally childlike wonder and amazement, "Wow...This is all there is, Dude!!...too bad I just can't think right now of what it was I was looking for..."

At seventy-two the experience is still as fresh as if it occured last night.

Loved your comment!

32. Out There

Comment #25254 by JDAM on March 11, 2007 at 10:16 am

What a way to start the day!! I may have had to drop out of a Theoretical Physics curriculum decades ago for lack of talent, but there is nothing like a good mind-boggling to bring astounding joy to my heart, if only for a while until more mundane events, powerful only in their persistence, put my feet back on Earth until the next one.

Richard Pannek (or Panek...it's spelt different ways at the article's extremes) is a rare writing talent and I will certainly search out additional pieces by him based on this astounding effort. Meanwhile, the goddies of the planet will (if they can struggle through reading it) conclude that all of the Physicists cited are bending over backwards to avoid the obvious and simple answer to the whole mess..."Welcome to God!"

Absolutely wonderful post! THANK YOU!!

33. Science, Faith, and Evolution

Comment #25039 by JDAM on March 9, 2007 at 8:01 pm

Try this for your daily dose of cognitive dissonance; listen to "Blame Abraham" and then cut to Michael Dowd's presentation on KUOW.

Through all the (mostly) wonderful and well-reasoned posts on this site I seem to detect a common thread; there seems to be a confusion of a belief in god with a belief in religion, as though the two were completely intertwined and inseparable. Actually (in my view) they are completely separable and by separating them the belief in god becomes a much healthier and fairly trouble-free activity. It is not a belief in god per se that has got the human race in so much trouble as the seductive and soon inescapable entanglements of the high cockalorum bullshit that religion immerses its adherents in; with the ultimate (religious) admonition that god is really going to be pissed at the adherent for all eternity if said high cockalorum bullshit (HCB) is not swallowed hook, line and sinker.

I don't hear any substantial HCB in Michael Dowd's presentation. I don't agree with his POV but I consider it benign...more a poetic expression of his own need to resolve both a belief in god and the undeniable objective truths of Darwinism in his own mind. He is well-spoken, facile with English, pleasant-looking and pleasant sounding, and one day I envision him doing one of two things. Either he will become an atheist or he will become one of the highest-paid TV evangelists of all time.

34. Blame Abraham

Comment #25022 by JDAM on March 9, 2007 at 6:18 pm

This is REALLY good! Short, sweet and to-the-point in reducing the complete absurdity and asininity of the foundations of at least three major religions to a laughable prime non sequitur!
I wish I'd have composed this myself.

35. You can't trust science!

Comment #24947 by JDAM on March 9, 2007 at 12:47 pm

OK...Tom Tomorrow is a funny and satirical guy who makes a living lampooning Conservatives. I've laughed my head off at much of his stuff but why is this here? Do the Dawkins web site managers feel an overwhelming necessity to make sure that all who come here understand that they are flaming Libs first? Or is this as close as TT will ever get to lampooning stupid religious arguments? Yeesh!!

36. Atheists come in last

Comment #22869 by JDAM on February 23, 2007 at 5:37 pm

Frankly, I am so sick of the constant pandering to religion that goes on in government, strictly as a sop to the many deluded US citizens who nevertheless retain the power of the vote. I am a 72 year old political conservative who also happens to be pretty much a non-theist. The regular stream of hypocracy regarding a religious belief that these candidate wannabees spew is enough to make me want to barf!

It would be so wonderful to have some mainstream candidate, when queried by the media (who is primarily responsible for keeping this bullshit alive and thriving)simply refuse to answer such questions by stating that no religious test is required to hold public office and then smile and move on to the "next question", and just continue to do that no matter what. How much would you bet that the entire press conference would degenerate into one stupid question after another about the candidate's "religious" belief.

This crap SELLS newspapers, viewing time...whatever...not the belief, just the controversy it generates. America has one sick media establishment and it gets sicker every day.

37. Blasphemy Challenge on FOX

Comment #19764 by JDAM on January 29, 2007 at 8:28 pm

Here I ago again! Yeesh!! I can't believe that so many posters on such an intellectual and freethinking forum site actually believe that FOX interviews, or interviews on any other Network, such as ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, etc. ad nauseum are dispassionate, objective works? That news "analysts" such as Chris Matthews are engaging in anything deeper than public wishful thinking? Gag me with a spoon!!

John Kasich honed his "objective" skills in that Sanctus Sanctorum of High Cockalorum, the U.S. Congress. He, like O'Reilly, Hannity, Van Sustren, etc. are OPINIONATED and make no bones about being anything else. What they do is OPINION. O'Reilly freely admits this regularly.

FOX has a heavy following of Jesus Freaks, who BUY stuff! You think they are going to let Brian Flemming, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris or any other non-theist get off the hook or appear to be sane and actually have something substantial to say? Would any of these network peddlars of syphlitic nostrums simply cut their own economic throats in the pursuit of unbiased truth? I thought all of the pidgeons were in the park but it appears that a great many inhabit this site and actually believe that those who present "objective" and "balanced" crap like this interview are sincere and honest in their views.
What do you think would happen on FOX if several surveys next week indicated that 85% of the American people actually sympathized with or actually were atheists! Most of the on-air personalities would be decapitated by the violence of their turn-around!

It's going to be a "long, hard slog" but we cannot depend on "objective" Media to help us further our goals. No such media exists! We will have to continue to make non-theist conversions, one heathen at a time.

38. Young, British Muslims 'getting more radical'

Comment #19757 by JDAM on January 29, 2007 at 7:41 pm

It's difficult to believe some of the posts in this string. Here we have a group of people professing the overthrow of centuries of established law and practice, people who want to install their own primative and atavistic version of how the world should work and firmly believe that anyone who opposes their beliefs should be put to death, preferably a very miserable one. People who publically display their sacred documentation that they say backs them up and an examination of which CONFIRMS exactly what they are advocating.

Despite this, we have this idiotic cry for tolerance of these preposterous beliefs, despite the repeated demonstration that these people, given firearms and Semtex, think nothing of wiping out hundreds of innocent people, even their own in the furtherance of their "priciples" which, by any definition, equate to homicidal madness.

What ever happened to the idea that if you migrate to a foreign land, such as the U.S. or Great Britain and are accepted for admittance, you cleave unto the laws of the land you migrated to? After all, if things were so bloody good where you came from, what the hell are you doing here?? Simplistic? Perhaps! Nevertheless, one has to look at the history of GB or the U.S. to see that a great many feuding belief structures exist side-by-side every day in both countries but none of them are running around with Semtex girdles around their middles and fantasies of 72 virgins in just a nanosecond or two after detonation.

If tolerance of Islam is so goddamned worthy, why are the "peaceful" Muslim communities not taking a militant stand against Muslim militants? This is a question I have heard asked innumerable times and each time the question is met with a stony silence, except for more homicide bombings.

We all have an opportunity to nip this in the bud, but thanks to the "tolerant" Lefties, this opportunity is fast disappearing.

If one has solid evidence that the chickens are plotting to wipe out the barnyard and establish a henocracy against your best interests, you do not go after the ducks!

39. CNN Sylvia Browne Fraud

Comment #19604 by JDAM on January 28, 2007 at 9:29 pm

Ref: 19599... It must have taken me 15 minutes to regain my composure after laughing myself into convulsions over the prospect of State Licensed Psychics. I can just imagine the practical exam: "Please predict the outcome in the next two weeks of the following political situations currently extant..." or "Based on your claimed powers, the next winner of the California Lottery will be...?" or..."Please predict the outcome of this examination..." Oh what fun!!

40. Are politics in your DNA?

Comment #19601 by JDAM on January 28, 2007 at 8:49 pm

The discussion seems to be proceeding a bit afield from the original premise, i.e. are politics in the genes?

I rather doubt it, based on my own personal experience. I was born of a father who was a kind-of washed out conservative and a mother who started life in America (foreign-born and raised) as a flaming Leftie (Grandpa was a card-carrying Communist Union dude in the '20s and '30s) but ultimately became pretty much a Goldwater/Reagan conservative before she passed away. I myself started my political life as a flaming Leftie, a wage-slave who paid little in taxes and saw little wrong with ripping the well-to-do for all that could legally be drained from them.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Nirvana. I became "well-to-do" (relatively speaking) myself. My conversion from Flaming Leftie to Pretty Conservative was completed by the Clinton Tax Increase in 1994. I am a conservative to this day. As an old friend used to say, "You can't be a Conservative until you get something to conserve..."

In my own life exeperience, it is very difficult to accept a view that political outlook is even remotely genetically based. Genetically based freethinking perhaps, but not politics.

41. Former exec in Irvine says he was fired over religion

Comment #19437 by JDAM on January 27, 2007 at 7:46 am

Ref. Comment# 19291 by Linda. Universal Health Care = "Dignity"? Say Whaaat?? It's "dignified" to freeload on a program paid for by someone else?

One of the reasons health care is so damnably expensive today in America is because those with the means continue to pay extra on their bills to take care of those who just plop themselves at their local Emergency Room and demand treatment that the law says must be given. Further, I have been told by some of my Canadian friends that Canadian health care is pretty spare except for those needing emergency care. The Oregon Health plan, lauded by so many Liberals here, pays a health care giver $15 a visit, whether he/she spends 15 minutes with the patient or 2 hours.

If you ever spend any time here in the States I think you'll find that our "community-based values" are quite sound, thank you very much, and you will find, hundreds, if not thousands of fellow citizens extending great volumes of help to others in need. I'm sure that Canada does not have any freeloaders, however, and Canadians who go to the doctor are all really, really sick. Not so here. Some 50 years ago when I was studying abnormal psychology, it was then estimated that approximately 50% of elderly patients visiting doctors had absolutely nothing physically wrong with them but went to doctors with psychosomatic illnesses and did so because some health plan (or the government) was paying for the visit. I can only imagine what that percentage might be today.

Free anything on a regular basis is not "dignity" at all. Far from it! It is nothing more than an attempt to turn a large class of people into government dependents...and voters for the party in power.

42. Former exec in Irvine says he was fired over religion

Comment #19435 by JDAM on January 27, 2007 at 7:20 am

Ref. Comment 13 by Old Coppernose...I'm still puzzling over the overly effusive appologia for democracy and what it has to do with USA_Limey's remarks on the workings of a free market. It seems to me that freely deciding where one will spend his money for whatever reason is about as democratic as casting a vote. Only difference is one uses the coin of the realm in the first instance and a ballot in the second.

43. Sex and the Single-Minded

Comment #18391 by JDAM on January 20, 2007 at 11:43 am

I was once a FLAMING leftie. My name is still on a brick at KPFA in Berserkly for a large cash donation to the station. However, as an old friend and mentor taught, "You can't be a conservative until you have something to conserve..." which I ultimately achieved, only to have Clinton attempt to confiscate it with his 1994 tax increase.

I was once an ardent supporter of the President. Not perfect, but to achieve the bulk of those things that were important to me I felt he and his crew offered way, way more than the Dems could even think of.

The silly but continued stupid antics of the Republicans gave me pause in 2004, along with the former Attorney General's prayer meetings, but one look at Kerry was all I needed to continue on the path I took, despite increasing disillusionment. I knew that religious nuts were increasingly populating the current administration but I had NO idea how deeply and how religiously nutty these persons actually were.

This story has pushed me over the brink. I re-registered as an Independent, for all the good that will do and am now thoroughly convinced that the bulk of the Bushies need to be sent packing.

Unfortunately, all of the viable alternatives currently exist only in minor splinter parties, such as the Libertarians...

What's a Conservative Nontheist to do???

44. Lil' Markie live, part 2

Comment #17655 by JDAM on January 15, 2007 at 9:52 am

I struggled through 4 minutes. This is one of the most disgusting and frightening things I have ever witnessed. The reasons for the disgust are obvious. The fright results from the thought that grown human beings are willingly subjecting their offspring to his sick antics.

But then, there are plenty of parents in the Middle East encouraging their offspring to become martyrs for the Islamic faith and many of their kids appear (according to a poll done in Israel) quite enthusiastic about the idea. I wonder at what point does this brainwashing become so permanently entrenched that helping them achieve their goal is the only solution left?

45. 7 monks injured in clash over monastery

Comment #14644 by JDAM on December 23, 2006 at 10:33 pm

Re: #14482 Hatnzl, you failed to mention that we require the bugger-er to be able to prove either that the action was not harmful to the animal or that the animal actually enjoyed the encounter. (State of Washinton law invoked when a man was killed during an amourous encounter with a horse)

I believe that the legalization that New Scientist referred to is because many of our politicians came into being as a result of such encounters.