451. Beggars belief: Robin McKie on The God Delusion

Comment #47364 by pewkatchoo on June 4, 2007 at 8:46 am

Thank you mr McCardle. You make sure you do that here.

452. Man to die over insult

Comment #47120 by pewkatchoo on June 3, 2007 at 3:57 am

If I hear one more exclamation about Islam being a peaceful religion I will be tempted to kick the shit out of the asshole saying it. How's that for peace!

453. Beggars belief: Robin McKie on The God Delusion

Comment #47118 by pewkatchoo on June 3, 2007 at 3:53 am

I think we are in danger of splitting hairs here folks. If we are going to cross-examine every review and every article to this degree, we are going to get bogged down in our own self-righteousness.

I think that maybe we need to become more involved in some sort of affirmative action, otherwise we risk just becoming a talking shope and easily ignored. A passing fad if you like.

454. I Believe In Evolution, Except For The Whole Triassic Period

Comment #46702 by pewkatchoo on June 1, 2007 at 7:50 am

The wife and I were walking in town today and we passed 2 guys. One of them wittered something about Jesus Christ dying for my sins but I ignored him. My wife pointed out that I had just walked straight past him without any acknowledgement. I replied that he could be thankful for small mercies.

They crawl out from under stones.

455. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #46438 by pewkatchoo on May 31, 2007 at 8:15 am

Wee Flea again said:

But perhaps you could allow me to ask one simple question?

Do you think polygamy is wrong? And why? Do you think having s&x with a 14-year-old is wrong? And why?

456. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #46408 by pewkatchoo on May 31, 2007 at 6:17 am

NMmC said:

David, you're a grown man with a modicum of intelligence. Why on earth do you waste what you have, as well as your time, trying to defend the indefensible and bolster that which should be left to fall into oblivion?

457. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #46399 by pewkatchoo on May 31, 2007 at 5:59 am

David, why do you say you asked several physicists about the existence of the multiverse and they said that there was no empirical evidence, blah blah? You didn't ask anybody did you?

I subjected your precise phraseologies to a google search and guess what I came up with? Exactly the same sort of phraseology used in several internet sites. For example:

www.libertypages.com/clark/10984.html

http://www.asa3.org/ASA/education/origins/anthropic2-cr.htm

As I said before, Presbyterians = liars (not even very good ones).

458. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #46396 by pewkatchoo on May 31, 2007 at 5:41 am

Wee Flea again:

119. Comment #46061 by NMcC on May 30, 2007 at 5:26 am

"Just one example: in your haste to knock up your Powerpoint visuals of lovely sunsets, baby lambs (ahh!) and rolling hills, did you forget your slides on earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, landslides and the like? I'm curious. Well, actually, I'm not. I've no doubt whatever why your presentation was so one-sided - it was pure propaganda. Sergei Eisenstein, eat your heart out!"

Given that you are writing for people with half a brain cell I can try and appreciate your point! They were not PowerPoint visuals and yes I would have been extremely happy to include the likes of hurricanes landslides and so on. If I go on to do one on the nature of evil and the effects it has on the world then doubtless you will see them.

459. I Believe In Evolution, Except For The Whole Triassic Period

Comment #46393 by pewkatchoo on May 31, 2007 at 5:29 am

BillySands, reply sent.

460. I Believe In Evolution, Except For The Whole Triassic Period

Comment #46368 by pewkatchoo on May 31, 2007 at 3:40 am

Actually, I have more problems with the Late Cretaceous myself. Particularly the Maastrichtian period when John Major signed that stupid treaty and signed up for the ERM.

461. Another Christian Science Fair embarrasses itself

Comment #46204 by pewkatchoo on May 30, 2007 at 2:41 pm

epeeist: I am the stick poker around here. You keep your inferior European swordplay to yourself. (^8

462. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #46194 by pewkatchoo on May 30, 2007 at 2:08 pm

The reason that David is a fundamentalist is that he belongs to the presbyterian church. They are the most humourless bastards that you could possibly imagine. They and their creed have been fucking up my country for hundreds of years. Bunch of consciounsless thieves and liars all of them.

463. The Dawkins delusion

Comment #46140 by pewkatchoo on May 30, 2007 at 10:58 am

Glad I have some uses poppythink. (^8

You said 'where was the pope...' I think the proper questions are: Where was god? and Where were her parents? If there is a god then don't you think he might have whispered in their ears, 'Go and look in on your daughter, she is in danger.' Just like they do in all the bad hollywood movies.

I have to admit, when I heard they were visiting the pope I immediately thought: Yeah, that'll help!

So they have left the twins at home, something that I would not think was wise so soon after their daughter's disappearance, to go and talk to an old man that wears frocks.

It is all crap.

464. Another Christian Science Fair embarrasses itself

Comment #46109 by pewkatchoo on May 30, 2007 at 8:48 am

epeeist: So I guess that we are all dooooomed, doooomed I tell you.

Hey, what is wrong with my record collection? That was stuff from my formative years. Nowadays I am much more eclectic: Rock, Metal, Punk, Jazz, Classical, Opera, Latin, Brazilian, Indy, Funk, Blues, R&B, Rap, even one or two selective countryish music (Johnny Cash, Emmy Lou Harris (mmmmm)). I have over 500 albums on my iPod now.

465. The Dawkins delusion

Comment #46066 by pewkatchoo on May 30, 2007 at 5:46 am

This is sheer dead in the head nonsense. I visited the Guardian site and read some of the comments from the religites and they are the same old same old. Do they really think their arguments are new? I decided to respond with my own comment, with thanks to Maton100 for a useful intro comment:

'What makes people tick, Martin, is a sort of delusional insanity that is ingrained into them from birth. By their parents, teachers and other misanthropic adults.

When we replace religious education in our schools with the 4th R - Reason, then we will be well on our way to relegating religion to where it belongs, a cultural anomaly.'

466. Another Christian Science Fair embarrasses itself

Comment #46064 by pewkatchoo on May 30, 2007 at 5:29 am

Re 126 by Epeeist.

What I don't understand is why the creationists never seem to ask themselves the most obvious question of all. If god has already told us that he created the universe 6000 years ago, why did he go to all the trouble of making it seem as if he didn't?

I can see the point of the starlight, though I could think of several much more efficient ways achieving the same ends, to help us find our way around in the dark. But what exactly would be the point of going to the trouble of falsifying the age of the planet if he had already revealed the 'truth' to us.

I have a logic bypass here. It is just not the sort of silly mistake that I would expect a 5 year old kid to make, never mind an omnipotent being.

467. Another Christian Science Fair embarrasses itself

Comment #46060 by pewkatchoo on May 30, 2007 at 5:24 am

Epeeist, you can buy a record player that attaches to your computer so that you can digitise your albums too. A great thing. I got all my old ELP, Yes, Uriah Heep, Black Sabbath albums digitised this way. Not sure if it will work on your Abba and Middle of the Road collection though.

468. Another Christian Science Fair embarrasses itself

Comment #46056 by pewkatchoo on May 30, 2007 at 5:12 am

Hey BillySands, are you responsible for turning on bold and then leaving it on? I have tried to turn it off for you. Let's see if it works.

It didn't. Hmmmm!

469. Another Christian Science Fair embarrasses itself

Comment #46055 by pewkatchoo on May 30, 2007 at 5:07 am

epeeist: re 2000 books. Scan the rest man. Go digital, you know it makes sense.

470. Scientists divided over alliance with religion

Comment #46027 by pewkatchoo on May 30, 2007 at 3:26 am

I cannot help remarking on one of the Professor's comments.

Bishops themselves never killed anybody, but possibly made the world safer for "people who do kill people by extolling the virtues of faith as opposed to reason and evidence".

471. Scientists divided over alliance with religion

Comment #46025 by pewkatchoo on May 30, 2007 at 3:21 am

This is nonsense. In any case it is the job of the authorities to combat the actions of extremists when they show their faces.

Science, and in this I take it he also means atheists and other non-believers in general, need to take on mainstream religion. It is their job to tackle the violent lunatics in their ranks and to condemn them forthrightly when they indulge in violent and subversive activities.

The main area that we need to lobby strongly on is to remove religion completely from education. This will place us in direct conflict with mainstream religion as we will be challenging their ages old authority and influence. I am going to be lobbying my MP and suggest that everyone else does exactly that. I want to see an end to Faith schools, I don't care if they are better than the state ones it is up to the state to raise their game. I want to see an end to religious educaton at primary and secondary school level. XXChin I think it was who suggested adding a new R (Reason) to the 3 Rs traditional in UK schools. I would agree with this entirely. There is no reason that this could not be introduced at an early stage in the curriculum.

I have been trying to impress on my son (14) the importance of free thinking and logical argument. I will be teaching him more about logic and reasoning over the next few months to prepare him better. He is in a very expensive private school, yet there is no space in the curriculum for this type of course. Plenty of space for religious education though.

To suggest that we should ally ourselves with the moderates is total nonsense. The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend.

472. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #46000 by pewkatchoo on May 30, 2007 at 2:00 am

Ah D'Arcy, you have re-introduced the 'vital spark' of understated humour.

473. Dawkins' Christmas card list

Comment #45829 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 11:07 am

savrod: Perhaps we should develop cows that can talk and want to be eaten! Perhaps I should patent that idea.

474. Dawkins' Christmas card list

Comment #45828 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 11:05 am

I have to agree with you Jimbob. But we should not make to many enemies to early. We are still a seeming minority, even in secular Britain. One battle at a time. The extreme left, even more so than the extreme right, don't like their dogma being held up to questioning in any way.

A bit of care needs to be taken with this tack.

475. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #45820 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 10:53 am

I would like to ask David Robertson (aka wee flea) one question. What are you doing on here? You obviously don't like us. You will not engage us in honest debate. Your understanding of logical argument is nebulous to say the least. Surely you have plenty of work with your parishioners to keep you busy. You surely don't imagine for 1 brief deluded second that you are actually going to convert any of us!

So what are you doing here?

476. Would the World Be Safer Without Religion?

Comment #45789 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 9:29 am

Billy, I suggest you invite him out for a square go! Does yer mammy sew, well get her tae stitch that then!

477. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #45788 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 9:23 am

Ssshhh, I am in hiding poppythinks

478. Aiming for knockout blow in god wars

Comment #45778 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 8:05 am

Erik

I would not doubt that Ms. Somerville is a good ethicist. But I would wager that the basis of her ethics can be found in facts and experience, and not in doctrine. It is unfortunate indeed that believers mix these two freely.

479. Teachers rebel over atheism promotion

Comment #45770 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 7:08 am

Incidentally, lest we think that the US is slipping backwards. We should remember that Tony Blair appointed Ruth Kelly to be Education Minister in the UK. Ms Kelly is a fully signed up member of Opus Dei! She has since lost her job, though not for her affiliations, but it should never have been offered in the first place.

480. Teachers rebel over atheism promotion

Comment #45769 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 7:04 am

XXX an excellent suggestion. We should take that as a mantra into schools today. Teach the 4 rs.

481. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #45762 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 6:31 am

Steve, you were expecting something different? Wee Free and Devolved are both so poorly equipped intellectually that I think they are the same person. Perhaps he/she/it is schizophrenic.

482. Another Christian Science Fair embarrasses itself

Comment #45760 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 6:27 am

BillySands: Remember you got you fanny kicked (and I mean that in the British sense) on this thread?

Is devolved female then? And here was me thinking that all the worst nutters were male.

483. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #45757 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 6:04 am

PaulJ

On the other hand, saying "Sometimes I think this, and other times I think the opposite," is legitimate.

484. Secular Thought for the Day

Comment #45748 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 5:37 am

It's odd. I was thinking about Thought for the Day just yesterday and I wondered if they had ever invited an atheist to present on it. I thought that it was unlikely and now here you are! That is just to much of a coincidence! Maybe god put the thought in my head.

485. Aiming for knockout blow in god wars

Comment #45743 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 5:31 am

OK Tukka, I will qualify it slightly and say 'not something I would expect a true atheist to do.' Anyone who has had the common sense to reject a mind-numbing belief in the supernatural is unlikely to be this stupid.

486. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #45710 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 3:37 am

Steve, I quite understood what you were getting at, which is why I said that I agreed with you in part.

However, it is very clear that Lord Winston (does he really deserve that peerage?) is now losing credibility over his stance (whatever that stance actually is). Maybe you thought that I was over the top when I accused him of simplemindedness. But on this issue his arguments are clearly simpleminded. If he was not a scientist we would not have any compunction in labelling him thus. His ambiguity does not help his credibility. He should have answered the Prof's question properly, like any good scientist would.

Apart from anything else, a proper open debate between two such people might be a bit more intellectually satisfying than the usual fodder that the prof has to contend with.

If a respected scientist and intellectual religite cannot come up with anything useful to add to the debate then it indicates the total barrenness of all religious argument.

487. Another Christian Science Fair embarrasses itself

Comment #45702 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 2:46 am

Devolved. I don't even know why epeeist even bothers to debate with you. It is impossible even to establish a premise with you. How can you debate with somebody who won't even establish grounds for a debate.

488. Aiming for knockout blow in god wars

Comment #45700 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 2:41 am

Chamber, if this story is indeed true, though I doubt it, then the kid's father is simply thick. He is trying to score non-existent points at the expense of his sons education, not something a true atheist would do.

489. Importing a slave class

Comment #45695 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 2:03 am

Mikado, Coulter is talking about 'illegal' immigration. Strictly controlled immigration and asylum are good things. Unfettered immigration just leads to social breakdown and undue pressures on the indigenous population. Sorry but there is a lot of evidence to show that is the case.

490. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #45692 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 1:47 am

Wrought comment25. There are always numpties. However, the answer to give such a person is that Dawkins 100 percent does not believe in god. He only retains the miniscule .1 percent position in favour of its non-existence due to his inability to prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that it does not exist. But, because of the overwhelming evidence against god, he himself has no belief at all!

If he then says something like, 'yeah but he still has that small doubt', then write them off.

491. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #45688 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 1:32 am

Marketing tip for wee flea. If you are trying to sell your ideas, it helps not to insult and make disparaging statements about your target market.

492. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #45686 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 1:30 am

Steve99, I agree with you for the most part. However, do we really want wishy washiness in our scientists? At the moment, it is unclear if Lord Winston agrees with Prof Dawkins or if he is a secret religite. If he cannot come right out and say it and then stand or fall by it, or refute it entirely, then he has lost his authority. He can disagree with prof Dawkins on his methods, but if he is unable even to state that he agrees or disagrees with his premises, what are we left with? With his simpleminded arguments and wishy washy approach, he has lost credibility. I, for one, won't be able to watch him on tv any more.

493. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #45682 by pewkatchoo on May 29, 2007 at 1:10 am

bitbutter, no I don't think he has. In fact he has done several scientific programs on tv and has given many interviews, etc. in the past. But, from all of those that I have seen and read not once did the supernatural come into it. It is only since the publishing of TGD that he seems to have become vocal about it. Possibly he would have been concerned about his credibility as a scientist being called into question if he showed his views. But he is now making up for lost time. I never particularly liked his style, but at least he always seemed authoritative. Now he just seems like a simpleminded berk. Strange, this has the potential to destroy his career! The UK viewing public is notoriously fickle.

494. Heliocentrism is an Atheist Doctrine

Comment #45560 by pewkatchoo on May 28, 2007 at 7:24 am

If this Brownarse fellow gets the presidential nomination, I think I will book the next flight out to the moon. What a fucking loon!

495. Observer Diary 27th May 2007

Comment #45559 by pewkatchoo on May 28, 2007 at 7:17 am

Oi Luthien. What have you got against primary school teachers. My first wife was a primary school teacher. Oooer, I see your point.

496. Al Gore on Reason

Comment #45546 by pewkatchoo on May 28, 2007 at 5:26 am

Sorry one further.

How do we know that the rate of change is too fast? What is that measured against? Historical data? Could that be wrong? After all, climate records don't go back that far do they?

Sorry if these are simplistic questions that may have been answered before. But then repitition does not damage an argument.

497. Al Gore on Reason

Comment #45542 by pewkatchoo on May 28, 2007 at 5:20 am

Steve. Good answers. It helps.

One follow up. Why is Mars also going through a global warming process? Is it connected with Earths?

Or have GM and Ford been selling all their crappy 4 x 4s to the Martians (^8!

498. Observer Diary 27th May 2007

Comment #45534 by pewkatchoo on May 28, 2007 at 4:54 am

actually leo you are accusing NMcC of something he didn't say. It was me that made the 'fair point, clumsily made' statement. In my defence I was agreeing with you, just having a wee dig at your grammar. Sorry, but thought I should straighten that out.

499. Observer Diary 27th May 2007

Comment #45526 by pewkatchoo on May 28, 2007 at 4:21 am

leodavinci. Fairynuff! It just seemed like a contradiction the way you said it. No arguments then.

500. Al Gore on Reason

Comment #45525 by pewkatchoo on May 28, 2007 at 4:16 am

no, by all means read the PM. It was not a heated response.