The Exorcism Of Edward Davies

Haven't come up with a damn thing to write about so far this year, but thought I'd share this video for those who haven't seen it yet. In it, Bill Maher ridicules the theist charge that "atheism is a religion" with humorous logic. He later rescues Edward Davies, the late father-in-law of poor people-hating creepy Mormon presidential candidate Mitt Romney, from Romney's cult's post-mortem baptism into the lunacy of Mormonism.



I can't believe that someone as apparently grounded in sanity and reality as Bill Maher is an anti-vaxxer. Oh well, I guess you can't have everything.

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2011: The Year Of Living Religiously

Well, another year is about to draw to a close. All in all, that's not such a bad thing. 2011 didn't give us much to cheer about, now, did it? Unfortunately, 2012 promises to be even worse, with the American presidential election season pending. From all indications, it's going to be one of the ugliest, most negative pissing contests in this country's history. That doesn't surprise me. The Republican candidates vying for the GOP nomination have nothing worthwhile to say on issues, so they have been spending most of their time holding meaningless debates where all they do (other than going all negative on each other) is try to convince us that (insert name here) is the one that Gawd loves the most. Wrapping yourself in an American flag soaked in the blood of Jesus is what passes for Republican politics these days.

But, I guess 2011 did give us at least one thing to smile about: Harold Camping. That shriveled old ghoul embarrassed himself not once, but twice on the global stage with his failed predictions about the end of the world and the Rapture. The fact that he deliberately conned millions of dollars out of his overly credulous flock didn't make me smile, but the negative attention to Christianity  that Harold's fraudulent antics generated sure did. Despite Harold's two colossal failures, however, he still has plenty of supporters. These are the worst of the worst Christians. The most hateful and the most uneducated. The ones who breathe with their mouth open while a string of drool swings back and forth from their bottom lip. Consider this gem from one "Dr. Shrink" on a discussion thread I occasionally visit, responding to a Christian who had said some unflattering things to say about Camping and Family Radio (Camping's media outlet that has largely abandoned him in the wake of his spectacular flameout):

go to hell breathless idiot
Camping 90 years old american brother of your same doctrinesis mor as 99.1/2% smarter from you demented idiot and slander
H,Camping contributed all his life to his goal familyradio 60 worldwide stations around the world,preaching 24 hourse a day

you mother f.....idiot contributed nothing, nowhere only spew against own american folks,
and believers at same fake doctrines,

you are breathles and without of brain idiot
,and sick demented antichrist spewing around foams of own breathless s.... against others which disagree with your stupid futule penaut 0,01oz brain

skom is more inteligent and more mature from you and your idiotic rants without of any value of yeasterday,today and tomorrow

just go to hell,slander and blasphemer of OUR BELOVED LORD OF LORDS

YOU ARE JUST SKUNK THAT IS ALL
skunk stinking around with your "peaces'and lies about others
just english simple word,you deserve from man to man
F.....YOU

And that, folks, is one of Dr. Shrink's more intelligible rants.Either this guy is just plain nuts, or English isn't his first language. Or second, or third, or fourth.

Well, Camping may have failed, but we have to give the Mayans a chance. Supposedly, the world will end on December 21, 2012. Why is that that we are so obsessed, religiously or otherwise, with the thought of doomsday? Why, in general, are we so bent on focusing on the negative? We need to be more like these guys:



On the homefront, 2011 was a busy year of work for me. Painted and helped patch up about 160 rental units. Mostly drama-free, but a couple of weeks ago someone broke into the complex maintenance shop and stole three snowblowers worth a combined $10,000. Just before Christmas, too - go figure.

My new-ish cat, Stimpy, is driving me crazy on a daily basis. She means well, but she is the feline equivalent of that Dr. Shrink guy I quoted above - all spazzy yowling and no brains. Remind me to get an older, mellower cat next time - I just purchased a 46-inch LED HDTV a couple of months ago and when I come home from work the first thing I do is check to see that it's not lying on the floor in pieces. Ceiling Cat help her if that happens.

 Feed me, pet me and play with me, or the TV gets it!

Like cats tend to do, however, she has squirmed her way into my heart, all according to her evil plan.

So, in conclusion, no real point to this post. I guess I just wanted to point out that just because the year changes, that does not mean that everything changes. There is no magical renewal, just a continuation of what has happened before. Good things happen, bad things happen, and I expect 2012 to be no different than 2011 in that respect. That said, I do wish you all a good 2012. Happy New Year!

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As It Was Yesterday, It Remains Today

Here's a walk down memory lane for some of you... a clip of Archie Bunker and Mike Stivic arguing Christianity versus atheism on the old All in the Family TV sitcom. It's not only a classic sitcom moment, but it also plainly shows that in many ways believers and nonbelievers are still arguing the exact same things we did decades ago. Listening to Archie in this clip reminded me so much of the fearful and abysmally ignorant fundie apologists I encounter on a daily basis in online discussion threads. This clip also reminds me just how awful television is anymore - they stopped makin' 'em like this a loooong time ago.

In any case, enjoy!

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Suspicion Confirmed

If you've ever watched Fox News and come away feeling like your IQ dropped a few points, well, it wasn't your imagination!

A poll recently conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University found that people who get their news from certain sources lead people to be even less informed than those who say they don’t watch any news at all. A quote from the article, summarizing the poll results:

But the real finding is that the results depend on what media sources people turn to for their news. For example, people who watch Fox News, the most popular of the 24-hour cable news networks, are 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew theirgovernment than those who watch no news at all (after controlling for other news sources, partisanship, education and other demographic factors). Fox News watchers are also 6-points less likely to know that Syrians have not yet overthrown their government than those who watch no news.

"Because of the controls for partisanship, we know these results are not just driven by Republicans or other groups being more likely to watch Fox News," said Dan Cassino, a professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson and an analyst for the PublicMind Poll. "Rather, the results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don’t watch any news at all."

I know the poll indicates that it is Fox News, not the viewers themselves, who are largely at fault. And Fox News is definitely guilty of shameful news "reporting". But from my experience in religious and political chat rooms, I have noticed that many people who only watch Fox News are some of the dumbest, least-informed partisan idiots on the planet. And yet, they tend to think of themselves as much more knowledgeable than everyone else. It's a great example of the Dunning-Kruger effect, which is a theory in psychology that basically asserts that the incompetence of stupid people denies them the ability to recognize their own stupidity - the very definition of  illusory superiority. Charles Darwin noticed the same thing long before Dunning and Kruger, and noted "ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge".

Ah, good old confirmation bias. It's what makes the world go 'round, and it also prevents us from electing a competent government.

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Eugene Delgaudio Is A Creepy Scumbag

One of the nastier Christians slithering through American society.

Over at A Life in Juxtaposition, my friend Eugene (NOT the Eugene referenced in the title of this post!) recently made a very good point - that those conservative Christian types who spend all their waking hours ranting and raving against the LGBT community actually come off much more perverted and creepy than they way they dishonestly portray homosexual and transgendered types as being. Now, I do realize that many people do not exactly embrace the idea of homosexuality, and actively dislike gays. I can understand this to a point. After all, the idea of two guys going at it is not exactly appealing to me. But must we confuse the orientation with the overall person? During the course of my life, I started realizing some things: That what goes on between two consenting adults is none of my business. That what homosexuals do in private has exactly as much effect on my life as what heterosexuals do in private affects my life - none at all. That the existence of gay people does not diminish my rights or freedoms one iota. That sexual orientation does not define who a person is. That bigotry against gays is a matter of hatred against a group of people over what is really just one small aspect of their lives. So why should I spend any time disliking a group because one aspect of their lives is something I do not share? It's called being a grownup. Not exactly rocket surgery, people.

However, there are many people, almost all of them rabid fundievangelical Christians, who obsess over gays day and night, bemoaning the imminent destruction of the imaginary America they have constructed in their squirmy little toad-brains. Their illusory America is straight out of The Andy Griffith Show: small towns with churches on every corner, apple pies cooling on windowsills while dalmatian-laden volunteer fire trucks race to pull frightened kittens out of trees, and (white) people living lives full of God-fearing virtue and embracing a Norman Rockwell version of Traditional Family Values. Gay people, while reluctantly allowed to exist, have the common decency to stay chained in their closets, never to offend the pearl-clutching Aunt Bees of society with knowledge of their presence. Of course, if Christians were the small minority in this country, they would get hysterical if their culture was swept under the rug like that. Persecution! they would cry. Of course, fundies are not exactly known for thinking their bigotries through to their logical conclusion. Shoe on the other foot? What's that?

Other than maybe Fred Phelps, head godmonster of the Westboro Baptist Church and its familial congregation of inbred stupid hatebags, the person I have encountered online who most typifies this stultified, ignorant mindset is a totally clownish asshat named Eugene Delgaudio.

I had never heard of this dimwitted slug before I recently helped "pharyngulate" a survey of his that was mentioned on PZ Myer's Pharyngula atheist blog. For those of you who don't know what pharyngulating a poll or survey is, it's quite simple, really. When some religious idiot or pseudoscientific quack puts up a poll on his website, PZ alerts us and we all go and cause mayhem with the results. For example, let's say Fox News, bastion of conservative Christians, puts up a poll with the question "Do you believe in God?" and the choices "Yes" and "No", we'll all go there and vote. Now, in this example, Fox News knows its audience. It knows full well what the results are going to be. The poll is therefore entirely useless, except as a means to give the brainless Fox News Gawd-and-country flag wavers a way to think they're standing up for something important and feel good about themselves before cracking another beer and watching NASCAR. So, we of the Pharyngula Horde go and participate in the poll. We participate truthfully - in other words, we give the answer that we would honestly give in any other situation. So, it's not cheating. Since Myers' blog has a huge following, the final poll results invariably end up reflecting the opposite of what the pollsters want to see. We've had a lot of fun messing with the simple minds of clods like Bill O'Reilly and Eric Hovind (lying scumbag son of currently-imprisoned tax-evading creationist liar Kent Hovind). It's fun, it's fair, and it's a great way to show that online polls are absolutely meaningless.

So anyway, in this case the poll was not a poll, it was a survey. Click and take a look-see, but DO NOT fill it out. It was designed to appeal to his fan base, as all online polls are. We showed up, and all answered the poll questions honestly - we support equal rights for gays. We had our fun, and promptly forgot about it. Until we all started getting emails from him. Endless emails. In order to take the survey, we had to supply a name and email address. Thankfully, I used a throwaway email address and posed as one Mr. Pat Robertson. If I had known what he was going to do with the results, I would have used the name Swishy McQueer. For you see, it didn't matter how anyone responded - every single person who took the survey ended up on a "petition" that Delgaudio is currently pushing on every member of Congress in order to push his rabid anti-gay obsession. He didn't care about the results of the survey - he just wanted to create a mailing list and a fake petition. It's pretty funny that Christians are always howling about how dishonest we Pharyngulites are when we crash an online poll (and supply honest answers), but think it's perfectly OK when they do things like reverse the poll results (which Eric Hovind did once by switching "Yes"/"No" captions on the results) or just using them to harvest email addresses and create fake petitions, as Delgaudio did with this survey.

Delgaudio (you can read about him here) is the man behind a "Christian family values" organization with the devious name of "Public Advocate of the United States". That name is (intentionally, of course) so reminiscent of an official government office that he has been warned more than once by the federal government to change the name. Does he listen? Of course not. Because he's an obsessed idiot, one with a scam to run.

So, I started getting emails from Mr. Delgaudio. Lots of emails. I was going to add him to my spam filter, but the shit he's emailing me is just too disturbing. Allow me to share some excerpts from his insane rambling drivel (my response to each is in bold):

The Homosexual Agenda will soon victimize the next generation of LA school children. Outrageous, but it's true. The Los Angeles Unified School District has decided to impose a curriculum of pro-homosexual indoctrination. (Dumbass, schools are not going to indoctrinate children into homosexuality. What they're planning is the teaching of respect for the rights and humanity of a group whose members are sometimes driven to suicide by religious thug bullies like yourself.)

The Homosexual Lobby is now pressuring Sesame Street -- the long-time beloved children’s show -- to portray Homosexual Muppet “marriage.” That’s right, the Homosexual Lobby is demanding that Bert and Ernie get married. They want Bert and Ernie to set a pro-homosexual example in order to teach your children that homophobia is wrong and homosexuality is beautiful. They claim that if only Bert and Ernie were allowed to marry it would help put an end to bullying and end the suicides of LGBT youth.The reality is the Homosexual Lobby wants access to your children and they want them while they're young. (Of course, that's all homosexuals do - plot how to steal your children and turn them gay when you're not looking. They're like Pied Pipers with fabulously coordinated outfits. Right? Moron, this is old news. It ain't gonna happen, and was never more than an internet petition joke for the most part. But honesty has never been one of your strong suits, has it?)

Despite passing Thought Control and the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the radical Homosexual Lobby is drooling for more in the new Congress. And with a new Congress, they have adopted new tactics. I see well-known agents of the radical Homosexual Lobby everywhere. They are huddled in dark corners scheming and plotting. They met secretly with newly elected members of Congress in hopes of tempting them to advance their perverse agenda with campaign cash and the promise of votes. (Paranoid much? Afraid of fluoridated water and jet plane vapor trails too?)

The Girl Scouts of America have gone dangerously far from their Christian, moral origins. In Colorado, they have announced a new official policy, one with horrifying ramifications. “If a child identifies as a girl and the child's family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout.” Basically, all it takes for a boy to be a Girl Scout is to wear feminine clothes and check the right box. What happens if a 40 year old man “believes” he is a 7 year old girl at heart? Will he be allowed to join the Girl Scouts too? Public Advocate will never rest as long as our children are in danger from the ideology of these radicals. (A 40 year old man? You apocalyptic imbecile.)

The radical Homosexual Lobby is finally ready to destroy the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) once and for all. You see, their supporters in the Senate are trying to sneak a bill through that would repeal DOMA and make homosexual “marriage” the law of the land -- as soon as Thursday! They’ve misnamed this bill the “Respect of Marriage Act (S.598)” but the truth is there’s nothing respectful about it. I call it the Offense of Marriage Act, and it has only one purpose: the total perversion of real marriage. If the Offense of Marriage Act passes, every state in the Union will be forced to recognize every last homosexual “marriage” legalized by any other state. Not only that, but it will declare with the full support of the Federal government that homosexual “marriage” is equal to and as moral as real marriage. Overnight, the Federal government will become an engine of radical pollution, pushing the homosexual agenda into every corner of our lives. Churches forced to recognize homosexual “marriages.” Businesses required by law to give benefits to their employees’ same-sex “spouses.” (Equal rights is such an evil thing, isn't it, assclown? God forbid gays should be given the same rights as say, decent people. Moron.)

Your children or grandchildren will be taught homosexuality is moral, natural and good. High school children will learn perverted sex acts as part of "safe sex" education. Businesses may have to adopt hiring quotas to protect themselves from lawsuits. Every homosexual fired or not hired becomes a potential federal civil rights lawsuit. (So gays would have... gasp... the same rights as them pesky Negroes? Shame!)

Radical homosexuals will terrorize day care centers, hospitals, churches and private schools. Wedding gown-clad men smooching before some left-wing clergyman or state official is just the beginning. You'll see men hand-in-hand skipping down to adoption centers to "pick out" a little boy for themselves. This must be opposed! (How often do you fantasize about men wearing dresses and skipping down the street holding hands? Methinks thou dost protest too much, Eugene...)

Shortly after passage of homosexual “marriage,” Illinois started forcing Christian foster care and adoption groups to send their vulnerable children into the clutches of homosexual “couples.” Knowing that marching their foster children into homes with sexual deviants was immoral and illegal, the Catholic Charities refused and filed legal suits to stop the state. (Because as we all know, the Catholic Church is only concerned with the well-being of young boys. *facepalm*)

I’ve faced the blinding hatred of the Radical Homosexuals. Radical Homosexuals have distributed hate flyers giving out my address and telephone number and urging sick and disgusting calls by homosexuals to harass my family. Newspapers even print this “Hate the Delgaudio Family” material. I’ve received “crank” phone calls... even death threats! Years ago, after a man in a black car was caught taking photographs of my children, I had to call in police protection for them. One time a dead dog was left in my yard. What kind of people would do this? I was once even forced to send Sheila and the children into hiding for a short time. (You're lying, Eugene. I want corroborating evidence of these alleged incidents, not just your angry paranoid claims, you mentally diseased fuck. As far as I'm concerned those are tactics YOU would use to harass gays, not the other way around. Gays are much more respectable and honest than you. Put up the evidence, or shut up.)

One stormy night I drove to a mailshop hidden deep in a nearly deserted stand of warehouses. I’d heard something was up and wanted to see for myself. As I rounded the final turn my eyes nearly popped. Tractor-trailers pulled up to loading docks, cars and vans everywhere and long-haired, earring-pierced men scurrying around running forklifts, inserters and huge printing presses. Trembling with worry I went inside. It was worse than I ever imagined. Row after row of boxes bulging with pro-homosexual petitions lined the walls, stacked to the ceiling. My mind reeled as I realized hundreds, maybe thousands, more boxes were already loaded on the tractor-trailers. And still more petitions were flying off the press. Suddenly a dark-haired man screeched, “Delgaudio what are you doing here?” Dozens of men began moving toward me. I’d been recognized. As I retreated to my car, the man chortled, “This time Delgaudio we can’t lose.” Driving away, my eyes filled with tears as I realized he might be right. This time the Radical Homosexuals could win. Yeah, sure, Eugene... do I really need to add anything to this lunatic drivel?

Had enough? LOL. Thought so.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, I do understand that not everyone is a fan of homosexuality. But this beady-eyed moron Delgaudio takes it to a whole new level. Note the care he takes to portray homosexuals as evil, deviant monsters who delight in preying on the innocent children of America, and how they just can't wait to get young boys in their lustful clutches. Note how he portrays them as disgusting befoulers of all that is good about this illusory Mayberry America that exists only in his mind. Note how he implies that tolerance of gays will destroy all that America stands for. I thought America stood for equal rights under the law for everyone, but apparently Jesus thinks otherwise.

I really do think my blogging buddy Eugene was right - gay-haters obsess about gay sex more than anyone else, including gays themselves. I can easily imagine this brainless pusbucket Delgaudio super-gluing duct tape over his anus before he goes to bed at night, after peering through his blinds to make sure that no militant radical homosexuals are hiding behind the trees in his yard, just waiting to fall asleep so they can sneak into his bedroom and have gay butt-sex with him while he's sleeping (while he will no doubt be constantly dreaming about how much he hates gay sex).

Frankly, this is all so ridiculous that it is hard to imagine anyone taking him seriously. But many people do. Delgaudio is an expert at capitalizing on the fears of ignorant Christians by constructing a horrible stereotype of gays that feed into every fundie bigot's fears. If the subject had been equal rights for blacks, Delgaudio no doubt would have portrayed all black people as thick-lipped thieves and crack addicts who are too lazy to work and therefore delight in leeching off the welfare system while having endless babies without being married. What Delgaudio is doing is wrong to an extent that should offend and horrify every decent person in this country - even people who, for example, are against gay marriage.

There's no doubt in my mind that Delgaudio believes most of this shameful poison he spreads. But I also believe that he deliberately ramps up the hateful rhetoric for another purpose. You see, at the end of every email, Delgaudio pleads for money, and has a helpful donation link on his execrable website. That's right folks, once again, Christianity all boils down to two things: hatred and money. Jesus would be so proud.

I don't know about you. But if I had a choice of next door neighbors, I would much rather live next to a flaming gay couple than an evil, paranoid and wretched skinful of ignorant, greedy hatred like Eugene Delgaudio.

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Images From Science: Cassini At Saturn

5.6k Saturn Cassini Photographic Animation from stephen v2 on Vimeo.

This is an HD-quality movie of the space probe Cassini's travels through the Saturn system made up entirely of still images. No special effects, it's just what the orbiter saw! Pretty cool stuff. Make sure to expand the video to full-screen!

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Blogging: Hopefully, It's Like Riding A Bicycle

If constellations had been named in the 20th century, I suppose we would see bicycles. - Carl Sagan

Sorry I haven't been around lately. Work's been an absolute bitch lately. Plus, I wanted to get away from the Internet and enjoy the last vestiges of summer before the inevitable nastiness of winter sets in. And frankly, I have been totally devoid of blogging inspiration lately (not that that's ever stopped me before). So, while I get back into the proper frame of mind for blogging again, here is an amazing video I discovered yesterday. Enjoy!

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