The Radula

The problem is that it doesn't SAY THAT, and if yo...

2009-12-06T14:44:53.415-08:00

The problem is that it doesn't SAY THAT, and if you're big into Solo Scriptura, you're not necessarily going to interpret it that way.

And I would have to contend that there are plenty of American Capitalist Christians to whom the Christmas Tree IS an idol.

But the whole thing is just plain silly anyway. From the kitties right down to the whole tree argument.

That's not about Christmas trees. It's about makin...

2009-12-06T13:06:33.145-08:00

That's not about Christmas trees. It's about making idols. I had to look that up last year in regards to a blog post I was doing. A book by Joe Kovacs - "Shocked by the Bible" - featured that as one of the things Christians assumed was in there, and it's not.

hahahaha..... you rock.

2009-12-06T11:23:55.685-08:00

hahahaha.....

you rock.

Yeah, I've noticed. I feel that way a lot these da...

2009-12-06T08:55:32.522-08:00

Yeah, I've noticed. I feel that way a lot these days as well. Seems like Christian fundamentalism is being shoved down our throats here in the US. It's rather scary seeing this weird blend of religion and politics taking place in a supposedly "enlightened" nation. We get pretty indignant about Muslim fundamentalist fanatics taking political control in the middle east... but we go on to mirror that same behaviors.

Wow! Pat's got a lot angrier since the last time I...

2009-12-06T07:12:40.265-08:00

Wow! Pat's got a lot angrier since the last time I saw one of his videos - still telling it like it is of course but with fewer jokes...

I love the Muppet's Christmas Carol!

2009-11-23T19:11:06.064-08:00

I love the Muppet's Christmas Carol!

I make a point every year of sitting down with the...

2009-11-23T10:27:01.964-08:00

I make a point every year of sitting down with the original cartoon Grinch and The Muppets Christmas Carol. I'd like to see Pink Panther's Christmas again sometime. I have it on an old video taped off the TV ages ago. I liked the music in that one a lot.

There's no inherent power in words, whether they'r...

2009-11-22T16:29:00.638-08:00

There's no inherent power in words, whether they're religious or not. I'm an atheist, and to me christmas hymns are just the tradition of christmas. The idea that singing a christmas hymn automatically means you're supporting religion seems to be a fairly religious way of thinking in the first place. I can sing along with a death metal song without actually wanting to go and kill someone, and without supporting murder. Same for hymns.

I still don't sing them though, because I am a terrible singer.

I particularly like the first one. The R looks al...

2009-11-20T05:28:43.595-08:00

I particularly like the first one. The R looks almost like an S if one is not paying much attention.

Most likely it is legal...except for the sign. Sc...

2009-11-15T23:58:05.136-08:00

Most likely it is legal...except for the sign. Schools can usually rent their facilities out to groups. The fact that the church calls it the worship center is their own wording and . The only problem I immediately see is that the school is allowing a sign to be up during school hours to promote the church. If the church puts up any signs to point the way to their Worship Center (AKA gymnasium) before the church service, they must take them down and take them with them. There shouldn't be signs up promoting the church during school hours. If they left it, they need to come back and get it. If it's a poster up that the school approved, then the school is promoting religion.

There is another issue that we can't determine at this point. The school can rent out it's facilities...it should be charging a fair rate, i.e., compensation for the space, the custodians time, etc. If it's charging nothing, that could be an issue. If it's charging something, but if you go to the school and want to rent it out on Saturday for an atheist event and they charge twice as much, that is definitely an issue. If they don't have a clear policy on requesting use of the space, and somehow it keeps going to this church and others aren't allowed to put in a request for space, that's an issue. There could be a few other problems with it...but if the right conditions are met it's legal. The school needs to stop promoting the church though. Get come pictures. Contact the local ACLU or AU, maybe they can write a nice letter explaining the problem and requesting that they correct the situation.

I've said it before - I'll say it again: The aver...

2009-10-26T19:14:20.225-07:00

I've said it before - I'll say it again: The average American is a moron....

Hey. Why not? Fundies LOVE a bonfire....

2009-10-26T15:34:34.806-07:00

Hey. Why not?

Fundies LOVE a bonfire....

LOL Ed, I've been on and off Twitter. I really do...

2009-08-22T14:58:53.878-07:00

LOL Ed, I've been on and off Twitter. I really don't see the use of it most of the time, as you can probably tell by my picking up on the video about Twitter use. I must be a troglodyte as well, because I just don't get it most of the time.

I caught that town meeting on C-SPAN, and taped mo...

2009-08-22T08:21:22.856-07:00

I caught that town meeting on C-SPAN, and taped most of it. Barney Frank is brilliant, but it's rare when conservatives hand him such an opportunity to look sane, rational and decisive, on a silver platter.

I've seen commentary that the Obama-as-Hitler stuff comes from Larouche's syndicate. They really looked like idiots in the whole tape. Heck, they look like idiots in the pieces they edit.

I'm not on Twitter, sorry. I know -- I'm a troglo...

2009-08-22T08:18:29.702-07:00

I'm not on Twitter, sorry. I know -- I'm a troglodyte today. Early adopters remain early adopters only until this afternoon.

I too wanted to share a video of Frank's rebuttal,...

2009-08-20T18:34:54.016-07:00

I too wanted to share a video of Frank's rebuttal, but most of the ones I found came with rightwing commentary that protrayed Frank himself as out of control as if this lady had asked a legitimate question, prompting me to wonder, as Barney Frank so aptly put it, "What planet do they spend most of their time on?"

hmmm... I don't think I can find you on Twitter. ...

2009-08-15T09:49:10.128-07:00

hmmm... I don't think I can find you on Twitter. This guy occasionally comes up with some very interesting points, although he's a bit rough around the edges: AdamJTP

Ed, I'll twitter you the id of the party I'm follo...

2009-08-15T09:43:38.482-07:00

Ed, I'll twitter you the id of the party I'm following who is involved, but I rather think the discussion is over by now. I haven't seen anything posted on it recently.

Is it a discussion any of the rest of us might wan...

2009-08-15T07:02:21.638-07:00

Is it a discussion any of the rest of us might want to look at?

Thank you for this wealth of information on this s...

2009-08-12T19:13:34.820-07:00

Thank you for this wealth of information on this sad display of stupidity. I was disappointed that some atheists believed that is fundies came to the realisation that their 2000 year time-line was in no way feasable, that they would all suddenly "give up god". Truth is that god is harder to kill in their minds and that evolution would always be concidered a "tool" of creation.

If Penn Gillette revieled every magic trick known to man, step by step, it would only prove to the believers of magic that HE was very clever at slight of hand and not that "real magic" doesn't exist. Logic and reason cannot dispel something that is impossible to begin with.

"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my r...

2009-08-02T13:17:13.458-07:00

"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it." From a letter Einstein wrote in English, dated 24 March 1954.

"Science without religion is lame, religion withou...

2009-08-02T10:28:26.111-07:00

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind"
-Albert Einstein

The court decision was based on her mental conditi...

2009-07-28T16:54:48.361-07:00

The court decision was based on her mental condition, pre and postpartum... the concern was her irrational insistence on depriving the baby of postpartum care, and concerns based on her longstanding behaviors over whether or not she was capable of raising her child.

I don't see anywhere in the documents that would indicate that the parents are "mildly- to moerately-psychologically challenged". There was very little to indicate that they were severely challenged, except the behavior of the mother and the refusal to take anti-psychotic medication prescribed before she became pregnant.

The documents cited refer to the appeal, and I don't have the original judgment, nor the transcripts of the case.

Rather than to say that this woman was absolutely incapable, I do want to point out that this isn't a "woman's right over her body" issue, it's an issue of mental health and parental rights.

I think a key issue here is that the mother has lo...

2009-07-28T12:58:17.473-07:00

I think a key issue here is that the mother has lost custody of her child before even ever actually being a parent. The court documents make it very clear that child abuse cannot be determined based on prenatal care or decision-making. The way this case appears to be handled is a complete mess - if you take two mildly- to moerately-psychologically challenged people and yank their child from them, put them through months of court battle - of course it isn't going to go well! I didn't see any mention of the perceived risks - is there a risk of physical abuse? Failure to provide shelter/food?

I don't know if I told you or not, but my mother s...

2009-07-28T11:01:05.076-07:00

I don't know if I told you or not, but my mother suffered complete disconnetion with reality due to post-partum (the first episode leaving her in a State Facility for over a year undergoing electro-theropy and various strong anti-psychotic medications. yeah, then she had a couple more children). After my brothers suicide she was catatonic for a long while and now is very childlike (dunno if it is the meds or degredation from years of "theropy" and old age)and what ever her mind thinks up is very real to her.

Point is, she has gotten old, weak and I think recently she had a stroke (facility denies it, but I don't trust the care she is getting)and so she doesn't leave her bed or get around without a lot of help. The state saw fit to move her to a facility in the next county (50 miles away from family) because there was no facility that could handle someone on anti-psychotic medication (excuse me? She can't even feed herself or turn over in her own bed. Who is she going to hurt now?). The facility she is in now is not certified for tube feeding and so will not feed her this way, but feed her too quickly or too much the normal way and she ends up asperating her food, getting pnumonia and being on a resperator until her lungs are clear again. Since this is expencive, we are being pushed to sign a DNR (do not resusitate order)so they will be spared this expence in the future.

I can see both sides of this womans story and while there does need to be changes in both the way the ill are handled and public perceptions of illness, it does look like the right decisions were made in her case. I am not always a fan of the system (as you can see from my own expirience), but sometimes they do get it right and still have to endure knee-jerk outcry. Why? Because they do things like they do to my mother.