301. Yes, the universe looks like a fix. But that doesn't mean that a god fixed it

Comment #54277 by pewkatchoo on July 6, 2007 at 8:31 am

More dishonesty. The Yeccies (or should that be yuckies) keep harping on about missing links without addressing the fact that all the fossils found are links in and of themselves. As Professor Dawkins states, we are lucky to have the fossils that we do have. It is very likely that there were many more dinosaurs around than have actually been found. Exactly how many complete fossils of T-Rex have been found for example? Not a lot I hazard. Or what about the smaller dynasaurs, probably even less of them.

All this nonsense about Archaeopteryx is a red-herring (or should that be a red-parrot).

302. Yes, the universe looks like a fix. But that doesn't mean that a god fixed it

Comment #54276 by pewkatchoo on July 6, 2007 at 8:24 am

OK, I have had enough of the bible pushers. If every word of the bible is true, why did god allow the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans and the Norse and all the other peoples of the earth to develop their own gods for so long before intervening with a sudden decision to 'set the record straight'? Now, presumably all the above cited civilisations were all decended from Adam and Eve and yet narry a one of them carried the story of a single god who was responsible for all creation. Not one of these polytheistic religions comes up with a story even close to the creationist story of the bible! Nothing handed down from Caine and his children!? Are you willing to accept that? Even The Lord of the Rings has the Silmarilion to back it up.

303. Sadly, an Honest Creationist

Comment #54273 by pewkatchoo on July 6, 2007 at 8:11 am

There is actually only one solution. You will have to build a time-machine and take all these idiots back to the dawn of creation and show them what really happened! Then fast forward and show them what a charlatan moses was and that jesus was born normally, etc. No angels or wise men or anything else. Then do a medical on John to show he suffered from epilepsy or whatever and then maybe, just maybe, they will get it.

304. Sadly, an Honest Creationist

Comment #54271 by pewkatchoo on July 6, 2007 at 8:06 am

I disagree professor. I think he is incredibly dishonest. He says that he went through an exercise where he chopped up the bible, leaving aside that he has been instrumental in wreacking destruction on 'the word of god', and turned his back on all his training is total intellectual dishonesty.

And all this on the premise of a book that was written by people he has never met, has no record of who they were nor what motivated them. If that is honesty then I think I will start a career in shoplifting.

305. Don't Mince Words: The London Car-Bomb Plot Was Designed to Kill Women

Comment #54250 by pewkatchoo on July 6, 2007 at 6:15 am

Fanusi, lighten up for crying out loud! If this is your response to people who are trying to debate calmly then I would hate to see you when you are really angry.

Xeno, I am warming to your side of the discussion, but, as GoatBoy said it is a little off-topic. Still, I think that you have the more impressive arguments. I have only ever read one of Chomskis' books (can't remember which one) though I have read a few of his intellectual proteges efforts too. I agree that you should always question your government and what it is doing in your name. I just don't quite feel as deeply about it as do you.

Xeno and Fanusi, you really need to find some common ground here and debate a bit more openly instead of resorting to name calling. I think you both have good points and could seriously learn from each other if you could learn to be a bit more sympatico.

306. Inferior Design: Richard Dawkins reviews Behe's lastest book

Comment #54238 by pewkatchoo on July 6, 2007 at 5:23 am

Bonzai and chihuahuas
Never underestimate the cuteness factor as a survival trate.

307. Don't Mince Words: The London Car-Bomb Plot Was Designed to Kill Women

Comment #54112 by pewkatchoo on July 5, 2007 at 12:04 pm

Bonzai
I misread what you said. I had interpreted it as stating that only the left could be honest about the debate on Islam. I am being infected with the nonsense going on between falufi and xenocratic.

308. Don't Mince Words: The London Car-Bomb Plot Was Designed to Kill Women

Comment #54110 by pewkatchoo on July 5, 2007 at 11:58 am

Xenocratic
Perhaps you should sit down and have a nice cup of tea before you have yourself a heart attack. I just don't see the point of getting so worked up about this matter. It is one thing to be outraged, it is quite another to allow it to inform your whole attitude to life. I don't know how you and falufi or whatever his name is got started on your mutual hateathon, but it is getting very old now. I think you should both calm down and talk politely to each other. All I see is ad-hominem attacks flying thick and fast. Get a grip guys, it is only a forum.

309. At a Theater Near You ...

Comment #54109 by pewkatchoo on July 5, 2007 at 11:48 am

Actually there are many cultural muslims who don't really care a whole lot about religion. They are the true moderates. As with the case with all religions, the true moderates are those don't really care and they are the majority.

310. Don't Mince Words: The London Car-Bomb Plot Was Designed to Kill Women

Comment #54094 by pewkatchoo on July 5, 2007 at 10:17 am

Bonzai
Why does one have to be to the political left of the spectrum to have the good of humanity as ones aim? I am mostly to the right of the political spectrum but I probably share virtually all of your wishes for humanity. I just don't necessarily agree with your ideas of how to achieve those aims. I really get pissed off with the lefties ideas that they are the gatekeepers of morality, it is the same sort of arrogance as the religites have.

311. Don't Mince Words: The London Car-Bomb Plot Was Designed to Kill Women

Comment #54091 by pewkatchoo on July 5, 2007 at 9:54 am

Xenocratic
Do you not think perhaps that you are being a bit of an insufferable prick here? Your holier than thou attitude is really rather boring. You assume that you know things that others don't and that you have some sort of monopoly on morality. Try advising yourself a bit before thinking you can advise others.

312. Don't Mince Words: The London Car-Bomb Plot Was Designed to Kill Women

Comment #54044 by pewkatchoo on July 5, 2007 at 4:40 am

Incidentally Xenocratic
I read Murder in Sammarkand on my summer hols! My outrage levels went sky high then! If Jack Straw ever finds himself in the same room as me then he should watch his step, he might find my foot conveniently placed.

313. Don't Mince Words: The London Car-Bomb Plot Was Designed to Kill Women

Comment #54041 by pewkatchoo on July 5, 2007 at 4:19 am

Xenocratic
It seems to me that you are hopelessly obsessed with the evils of the past, but without any clear ideas of how to prevent them happening again. Do you have any suggestions? Lay them out here!

I have read several books on the evil actions of the US government, the CIA and big business and how they have interfered in other countries. Shocking all, but no surprises there. The UK was similarly involved during the days of empire. But neither the US nor the UK could not have carried out those actions if they had not found willing supporters within the local populations.

The US seems to be unique in its lack of ability to learn from its mistakes, but other than that it is following the same policies adopted by all empires before them.

Even given all this I would still rather support the US over the likes of Iran.

314. Don't Mince Words: The London Car-Bomb Plot Was Designed to Kill Women

Comment #54037 by pewkatchoo on July 5, 2007 at 4:11 am

Gordon
I am sorry but your equating Harold Shipman with the 8 Islamic medics is not a valid argument and I think that you must realise that. Shipman was mad, of that there is no doubt, but he was an individual and did not carry out his acts on the basis of any orthodox ideology. That paints him quite clearly as a deluded nutter. The 8 medics are the diametric opposite. They follow an ideology that is shared with a huge number of fellow muslims. They tried to kill based on their shared personal beliefs. Everyone accepts that Harold Shipman was a crazed lunatic, not everyone shares that view of the 8 medics.

I am pleased that you are able to sniff out an al-quaeda operative after 3 minutes conversation, that must be an invaluable skill to have. However, I am not sure that a skilled al-quaeda operative would be that open in their feelings about the west. The 8 medics were hiding in plain sight and I am sure that they too would not have been wandering around muttering about how decadent the west is, etc. They would surely have attracted attention in Scotland if they had done that. The weegies would pretty quickly have disabused them of such notions. I doubt if the 8 medics were actually al-quaeda operatives, given the competence level of their attempts to immolate the public and to martyr themselves. Incidentally, what happens to failed martyrs when they die? Do they get shown the 72 virgins before being told that they are not for them? That must be an interesting topic for theological discussion!

I can empathise with your summation of the problems with Islam and even with the 2 cancers that you highlight. I feel quite the same way.

I also agree with your points about the running of the war in Iraq. It was a shambles. But then what do you expect? Tony Blair and co cannot even fix the NHS or public transport in the UK, so the idea that he could be instrumental in rebuilding a whole country is patently absurd.

The problem with removing Mugabe is, who do you replace him with. It seems to me that Africa has to solve its own problems now! Every time we or the UNK interfere it just seems to make matters worse. Unfortunately I see no hope for Africa, ever.

315. Inferior Design: Richard Dawkins reviews Behe's lastest book

Comment #54017 by pewkatchoo on July 5, 2007 at 1:04 am

Actually, in a Godless world ethics have no meaning or relevance in that morality implies choice. If I murder a toddler, you would all deem it "bad" and say that I ought not kill innocent children. However, "ought" implies "can", and "can" implies free will, i.e., the ability to choose. However, if we are naught but chemical masses, then I fail to see how any such choice isn't anything less than a logical absurdity. My "choices" are merely complex chemical reactions that were inevitable since the beginning of the Universe. In light of the scientific challenge to free will, the concept of "choice" becomes silly, and with it, the idea of morality and ethics.

316. At a Theater Near You ...

Comment #54015 by pewkatchoo on July 5, 2007 at 12:48 am

Shuggy
The problem is all the schisms within Islam. The Shiite and Sunni are just the most well known of these, but there are also the Suffi and Bahai and other sub-groups. Even within Shia there are several distinct groups of which the Wahabbi sect is perhaps the most virulent and anti-western.

There are, of course, schisms within Christianity too, but those schisms came about relatively peacefully (I said relatively) whereas the schisms in Islam have almost always been bloody.

317. Richard Dawkins: Atheist

Comment #54010 by pewkatchoo on July 5, 2007 at 12:34 am

ZIT (ZuesInventedTeapots)
We have to be honest here. Scientists also have a tendency to arrogance and, in a collective, can be equally as resistant to change as any other group of humans. It is only when evidence becomes totally unrefutable that they are forced to change. And that is the real difference between science and religion. Religion never needs to change whereas science is forced to. But we can never say that it is not suffused with arrogance.

318. Don't Mince Words: The London Car-Bomb Plot Was Designed to Kill Women

Comment #53983 by pewkatchoo on July 4, 2007 at 3:52 pm

Gordon
I like the sound of what you say, it is all very nice and all that. But, the nutters who are responsible for the latest bit of mayhem, almost harmless though it turned out to be, were supposed to be doctors and medical people. I suggest that you will never know the true minds of these people, however close you think you are.

I know loads of japanese people and can count on several of them as friends, but I do not flatter myself that I understand their thought processes.

319. At a Theater Near You ...

Comment #53955 by pewkatchoo on July 4, 2007 at 11:11 am

Dunk uk, I don't think that we can demand that Colin Montgomerie win the Open! Tiger Woods and Ernie Els might have something to say about that.

320. At a Theater Near You ...

Comment #53953 by pewkatchoo on July 4, 2007 at 11:06 am

Abdul Bari is not someone whose words I would treat with any seriousness, unless of course he is inciting people to stone homosexuals, as is his usual mode.

As to the final point of the article. I would suggest that it is already to late. I think that relations between muslims and everyone else have already been poisoned beyond easy repair. It is going to be very difficult for people to trust Islam any more.

321. Don't Mince Words: The London Car-Bomb Plot Was Designed to Kill Women

Comment #53951 by pewkatchoo on July 4, 2007 at 10:51 am

Hey Xeno, if the cap fits...

322. Don't Mince Words: The London Car-Bomb Plot Was Designed to Kill Women

Comment #53907 by pewkatchoo on July 4, 2007 at 4:02 am

Xenocratic sounds just like some Aussie bawheid I used to know. He will be rubbing his hands together at the problems in the UK at the moment, even though he lives there. If you want to know where all the ex-commies went, you have not got far to look. They have found common cause with the islamic nutjobs.

323. Don't Mince Words: The London Car-Bomb Plot Was Designed to Kill Women

Comment #53820 by pewkatchoo on July 3, 2007 at 11:41 am

I agree with the sentiment of the article. However, I am not entirely sure how a few canisters of petrol and some gas bottles with some nails attached to it are going to 'shred people to bits'. Particularly as said bottles were stuck inside the boot of a mercedes. Even if the whole lot had exploded, the nails would not have flown more than a few feet and the gas bottles would have more than likely just vented and not shredded. It takes several minutes of extreme heat to blow a gas bottle. The actual threat was always less than the perceived threat. The British people are becoming extremely wimpy these days. Even when we had real terrorists back in the 70s and 80s people didn't panic in this way.

324. Christopher Hitchens and Al Sharpton

Comment #53635 by pewkatchoo on July 2, 2007 at 11:07 am

Al Sharpton is a loudmouthed twat!

325. Science of the Soul? 'I Think, Therefore I Am' Is Losing Force

Comment #53059 by pewkatchoo on June 29, 2007 at 6:54 am

Veronique, great story.
I don't have cats, sorry but I cannot stand the little monsters as I am a bird enthusiast and will never forgive their destructive habits, but I can appreciate your own affection for them. I have a cockatiel and have an incredible relationship with him. I work away a lot and am gone for several weeks at a time. When I come home he climbs to the top of his cage when I come in the room and I hold out my hand for him he immediately turns his back on me and lifts his wings slightly. This is just a show though and I guess it is just his way of showing me that he is annoyed with me for going away again. If I start to walk away he immediately turns back and jumps on to my shoulder. He has had his wings clipped because we allow him to go out in the garden to sing with the other birds.

He will sit on my shoulder and peck at my ear until I stop ignoring him and give him scritches. He will put his whole head in my hand and would be willing to stay like this all day if I allowed. He will sit on my shoulder for hours, unfortunately his toilet habits are a bit of a letdown, but does not mind too much if I put him back on his cage.

The odd thing is that I am the only one he will allow this familiarity with. Even my wife, who feeds him and is there all the time with him is only allowed to give him scritches on his cage. He will not come to her and is sometimes positively hostile with her if I am around. Definite jealousy there. As for my son, if he walks near the cage he starts scolding and chases him off.

I had a similar relationship with a Budgie that I used to own several years ago. I seem to get on very well with birds and dogs.

I am pretty sure that there is such a thing as animal consciousness and that the religites have got yet another thing completely wrong. It bothers me that there is such a total lack of observation, thought and reasoning involved with belief.

326. Rudy Park Comic Strips

Comment #53014 by pewkatchoo on June 29, 2007 at 2:24 am

MaxWeiss
3 awesomes in one post. Awesome!

327. Scientists Link Housecats to Wildcat Subspecies

Comment #52953 by pewkatchoo on June 28, 2007 at 5:20 pm

But but, how can this be possible? I thought the earth was only 6000 years old!

328. Science of the Soul? 'I Think, Therefore I Am' Is Losing Force

Comment #52905 by pewkatchoo on June 28, 2007 at 1:02 pm

Comment #52800 by Russell Blackford
I agree. I much prefer the term Faithheads, said, preferably, with a vaguely irritating sneer in one's voice.

329. Rival to evolution may enter schools

Comment #52878 by pewkatchoo on June 28, 2007 at 10:58 am

scottishgeologist et al
Careful guys, we will have the wrath of the wee flea down on our heads shortly for such heresy. Fucking twat.

Incidentally, did you see that Ruth Kelly has now been made minister of transport. That's the rail service fucked then.

Got a new pukiemon story on Gibbo's accession here: www.pukiemon.com. Two things to look for, the last pic where gobem(brown) is falling and the 'story behind the story' where he talks about his moral compass (praise the lord). Feedback is appreciated.

330. I believe that there is no God.

Comment #52852 by pewkatchoo on June 28, 2007 at 8:28 am

Good article, but really Jell-o. Hmmm.

Philip1977.99 are you a seventh son of a seventh son?

331. Darwin Still Rules, but Some Biologists Dream of a Paradigm Shift

Comment #52654 by pewkatchoo on June 27, 2007 at 4:20 pm

A paradigm shift is simply a big jump in understanding surely.

332. In Defense of Witchcraft

Comment #52409 by pewkatchoo on June 27, 2007 at 1:43 am

I agree with Yorker and Philip. I found myself having to stand up for the Rebel the other day against an unjustified attack. As I pointed out, he is young and speaks with a younger persons viewpoint. But he makes me smile and I am sure that he does that for others too. His points are often valid too. And this is from someone who has had a dig at him once in the past, but came to see the error of his ways. I am a born again Rebeller, lord be praised.

Keep rocking Rebel and stuff the self-righteous.

333. In Defense of Witchcraft

Comment #52252 by pewkatchoo on June 26, 2007 at 3:20 pm

Sorry, but I just did not see the point of this article. It seemed so childish to me that I stopped reading it after the intro.

334. UK Gov boots intelligent design back into 'religious' margins

Comment #52248 by pewkatchoo on June 26, 2007 at 3:13 pm

Ranjani
I am one of Gordon Brown's critics, so to answer your question. Yes, he is a 'son of the manse'. This means that his father was a minister in the church in Scotland and he was brought up with religious principles. He keeps talking about his religious upbringing being his moral compass (not to mention his ethical sextant and his principle lodestone) and yet he still cannot find his way to telling the truth. He is, not to put to fine a point on it, a totally untrustworthy lying scumbag. So just like Tony Blair then. Here is a piece that I wrote about him that, to my surprise, actually got published on the opinions page of the Daily Telegraph today.

Why do people think that Brown is an intellectual giant? Has he suddenly discovered a cure for cancer? Has he written any mind expanding pieces of literature? Has he produced any enlightened philosophical treatises? Has he composed any towering pieces of classical music? I have been searching for evidence of Browns' supreme intellectual achievements and what have I found! Tax credits fiascos, pensions disasters, gold underselling, mind-numbing pieces of fiscal prestidigitation in the shape of unintelligible budget reports, the most complex and stultifying tax regime in the western world. In short, he has massively miscalculated the disastrous effects of nearly every piece of nonsense that you can put his name on. The only success he can claim, the very qualified (ie still under political control) independence for the Bank of England, is proving to be equally ineffective because of the targets he has set for maintaining low inflation and yet still keeping the economy on high burn.

335. Trio to rock against religion

Comment #52232 by pewkatchoo on June 26, 2007 at 2:33 pm

Spinoza
That is not really fair. Rebel is very young and knows very little of the world. He is trying however, and you must give him that. All he needs to do is consider his words a bit more, but then he would not be Rebel. He makes me smile sometimes.

336. The Stupidity of Fox News is Truly Beyond Belief

Comment #52223 by pewkatchoo on June 26, 2007 at 2:07 pm

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I cannot believe that there are so many stupid people out there in a position of such authority and control over media. This just should not be possible in the modern world. Every time I see something like this I think that we are regressing even further and I think that maybe the argument for evolution also works in reverse. I am glad that someday I will die and will not have to put up with human stupidity any more. All it needs now is for the fucking wee flea to put in an appearance and say how much he loved this piece.

337. God Hates the World

Comment #52044 by pewkatchoo on June 26, 2007 at 2:45 am

Jonecc
Wee Flea belongs to the wee free church in Scotland, which is the ultra-right wing branch of the presbyterian church. He is not that far away from Phelps and co. Which, incidentally, qualifies my abuse towards him. He and his lot have been abusing the Scottish people for centuries. My abuse is only words, theirs' has meant life and death in many cases.

338. God Hates the World

Comment #51911 by pewkatchoo on June 25, 2007 at 2:30 pm

Fuck off wee flea and take your shite opinions with you. You are a pathetic piece of trash.

339. Doctors' beliefs can hinder patient care

Comment #51833 by pewkatchoo on June 25, 2007 at 7:56 am

Robert Maynard
But wee flea is an expert in the science of tossology don't you know. Can someone please recommend him to a good proctologist so that he can have his head removed from his fundament.

340. His word: Attacking religion can seem like breaking a butterfly on a wheel

Comment #51689 by pewkatchoo on June 24, 2007 at 5:33 am

I am in the Netherlands at the moment and my company appartment looks out over the town square. They are having some sort of colourful religious ceremony in the centre now but you can count the number of people watching in a quick scan. Maybe 50 people involved in the procession and about 20-30 people watching. And some of them are probably there by accident.

341. 'Purity' ring case in High Court

Comment #51534 by pewkatchoo on June 23, 2007 at 9:53 am

nancy excellent. You should be a poet.

342. In the name of the Father

Comment #51533 by pewkatchoo on June 23, 2007 at 9:49 am

Why are there two versions of this thread and the 'His Word' thread? This is most confusing!

Can the mods sort this out please?

343. Hitchens vs. Hitchens

Comment #51476 by pewkatchoo on June 23, 2007 at 3:42 am

Bonzai
I have read Atlas Shrugged and, though I found it very difficult to get through, I cannot really find fault with its central premise. I may not like everything it says, but it is not garbage and neither, IMNSHO, was Ayn Rand a hack.

344. 'Purity' ring case in High Court

Comment #51475 by pewkatchoo on June 23, 2007 at 3:32 am

Does wearing a chastity ring make a child a possible target for rapists? There are those that would take such a thing as a challenge surely.

So she could even be putting herself in danger.

345. 'Purity' ring case in High Court

Comment #51473 by pewkatchoo on June 23, 2007 at 3:19 am

Scottishgeologist
I think you should maybe see a shrink about your obvious fettishes. Either that or write a book so we can all read about them!

346. In the name of the Father

Comment #51465 by pewkatchoo on June 23, 2007 at 2:31 am

Ho hum. Philosophers would be philosophers, artists would be artists, binmen would be binmen. None of these positions need god. The only people that would be out of a job if we all agreed there is no god would be....

I think you guys really missed the whole point of the article. It was written as a prelude for the ex-Bish to tout his own rather more pathetic offering which you can see at the end of this laborious drivel.

347. His word

Comment #51460 by pewkatchoo on June 23, 2007 at 2:19 am

The problem for ultra-Darwinians is that they have to assume that all things – including ideas, or memes as Dawkins calls them – progress via the animal narrative of natural selection (so religion, or rather the need for it, must serve some basic "positive" survival-enhancing purpose) but surely the key thing about religion is that we have it and animals don't. That is because we have consciousness of death and they don't.

348. An Inquisition in science's name

Comment #51452 by pewkatchoo on June 23, 2007 at 1:59 am

Vaal
Unfortunately, this is actually as GOOD as it gets. If you analyse the blatherings of any GoBo you will find that facetious and fallacious argument is actually the best they have got.

349. 'Purity' ring case in High Court

Comment #51339 by pewkatchoo on June 22, 2007 at 11:56 am

Hey Stuart
I thought it was brilliant. Best laugh of the day. Did you read the comments? Wonderful. You couldn't make it up.

epeeist
I agree. As a parent with 2 kids, there is absolutely no way that I want them showing their individualism in their dress. Have you any idea what these kids like to wear? Expensive designer clobber only please. It becomes a fashion war if you let them wear what they want. All we parents would be subjected to MAD. Mutually Assured Destitution.

350. 'Purity' ring case in High Court

Comment #51323 by pewkatchoo on June 22, 2007 at 10:57 am

Excellent stuff here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39XD1ImxGWw&mode=related&search=

and look at some of the comments.