Gender: Male
Status: Single
Age: 38
Sign: Sagittarius
City: Sanibel
State: Florida
Country: US
Signup Date: 9/7/2006
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Sunday, November 08, 2009
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Current mood:  satisfied
Category: Religion and Philosophy
Recommendation Prologue:
As had been mentioned previously, this site took some heat for saying that atheists and agnostics should avoid voting for now Democratic Senator Kay Hagan after she threw all of us under the bus to protect her political career:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=107741751&blogID=445658897
So what were the great accomplishments that the junior senator from North Carolina has accomplished in return for atheists and agnostics compromising their principles? 1. Hagan was the only Democratic senator to vote against a bill that would allow the FDA to regulate tobacco production, a key North Carolina Crop. Lorillard Tobacco Company is based in her hometown of Greensboro (http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2008/nov/10/burr-hagan-promise-to-work-for-nc/news/) 2. At first, Hagan refused to take a position on the Wall Street bailout, but then after the vote, decided she was against it. (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/100/story/53485.html) 3. She may oppose health care reform. (http://www.news-record.com/content/2009/06/20/article/sen_hagan_hedges_on_health_care_reforms) 4. She co-sponsored a resolution honoring the Highpoint furniture market. (http://hagan.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=309) Let us be very clear that AASHOM takes no stand on these issues (except maybe the value of quality living room décor). We are just amazed at what unbelievers have been willing to compromise their principles for. Obstacles to change: After the previous blogs, the problems in seeking a new direction for non-believers have become clear: 1. “Are you making atheism a religion?” This little quip is in reality intended to get atheists and agnostics to back down much the same way failed accusations of “anger” or “intolerance” have. For liberals, and some conservatives, the problems will be deprogramming themselves from so-called religious liberal and moderate propaganda. Such political pitchman are entirely impotent to find a single definition of religion that would include atheists and agnostics simply because they choose to culturally take on some issues or activities that are in their best interest. Seeing as how so-called liberal churches are closing their doors all over the world, why anyone would take any advice from a dying movement is beyond us. 2. For libertarian non-believers, the problem is: will they be willing to tolerate some government advancement for the long-term goal of government drawback? This should not be as much of a problem as they might claim, seeing as how they are willing to compromise actual libertarianism in order to give state and local governments greater power and influence. 3. When Richard Dawkins and others compare organizing atheists to “herding cats”, that is NOT a compliment. I cannot improve upon the response one of us gave in our last blog:
“Why the hell should we boast in our incompetence and impotency to organize! The atheist and agnostic community, by making statements like this is collectively saying:
‘I can’t get it up. That will teach those stuck up bitches!’
It is the height of denial to take pride in a characteristic that in nature makes us prey while the opposite trait in religion makes them predator. Who should know this better than us?
Everyday, we here at AASHOM can count on posting at least one story (if not several) describing clear religious abuse. Yet we atheists and agnostics, who are more equipped than any to combat it, would rather bask in the arrogance of our genius and independence. Never have members of a species formulated a greater Darwinian mix for their own selection out than this.
The cat is a predator and a survivor. We are lunch.
We needn’t be.” Submitted for your approval: What we need is not for people hear atheists and agnostics less, they need to H.E.A.R. M.O.R.E.: The “What”… Human Rights In the wake of deliberately misleading connection of atheists and agnostics (by both liberals and conservatives) with the injustices committed under Communist regimes, it is vital that we show nonbelievers to be a force for the basic rights of all people. For example, The Wall Street Journal (a well known leftist rag to be sure) recently pointed out the Obama Administration had denied a grant request for Connecticut based Iran Human Rights Documentation Center who maintains the arguably most extensive record Iraninan Human Rights abuses. It also ended funding for the Freedom House's Gozaar project, an online Farsi and English forum for discussing political issues. There seems to be an on going pattern of tabling of Human Rights issues going on in Administration makes it name in hope and change (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704500604574481341183751038.html). It is vital that we petition our government and forcefully remind it of the history of supporting regimes that blatantly disregard human rights is a history that haunts us later. Particularly, we must focus on religious oppression and abuse, whether they be institutional (Catholic abuses, polygamous groups) or state-sponsored. We can see this in no clearer example than in our own culture with the overt subjugation of gays. When we see religious gays like Andrew Sullivan, still defending a system that despises them, it is reminiscent of the gay boy or girl who still struggles for the love of a parent that has rejected them. As atheists and agnostics, we need to say to our gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender friends “You’re good. We love you. If Daddy can’t see it, he can go @#$% himself.” Gay causes need to start becoming non-believers' causes. Education As has been shown time and time again, there is an inverse relationship between religiosity and education. It is no small coincidence that our children are behind much of the world in math and science as well as acceptance of evolution. http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=107741751&blogId=275219912 http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=107741751&blogID=423286323 Ignorance is the fuel of the Religious Right in America. We need to tell our leaders it is unacceptable that the .United States schools be behind the rest developed world’s children. If government cannot perform this basic function, then we need a new one. This may be very difficult for many liberals as well as atheists and agnostics who want no public funding of private schools for fear of violating the separation of church and state. Nonetheless, it can be shown that poor education is a greater influence on religiosity than even private Christian schools where many of the students wind up leaving the faith shortly afterward. Perhaps strict secular regulations maybe necessary on the receipt of public funds, but if competition is good for healthcare, then why not for education? Alternative Energy If ignorance is the fuel of Christian fundamentalism, then it should be no surprise that oil is the fuel of its Islamic counterpart. We are actively funding our very possible demise at the pump. ....Iran.... will soon have nuclear weapons and an arms race will more than likely result throughout the ..Middle East.. where Islamic extremists maintain a stranglehold. We need to stop giving billions to those whose clear objective is to use these funds to subjugate all to the will of Allah or watch the world burn as they marinate themselves in 72 virgins. Even now, the Saudi’s demand compensation as we use less oil as alternative energies develop in the West (http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091017/BUSINESS/710179891/1005). That takes some cojones to say the least. The purchase of Islamic oil is the international equivalent of “Thank you, Sir. May I have another?” Rational Restriction - The recent shake up in the leadership at American Atheists… - Michael Newdow’s galvanizing the nation against nonbelievers… - The rise of the “new atheists”… These are all signs that the American public has said “We don’t care what the Constitution says! We’re the majority and we want God on our money, in our pledge, and in our historical institutions. We’ll get judges who’ll agree to make sure of this and there’s no a damn thing you can do about it.” Some of the most secular nations on earth allow for religious involvement on a symbolic level that would make many of us wince, but the reduces it to near-punch-line worthy contributions. Meanwhile, some mullahs wince at some of policies as we boast in our First Amendment separation. We are simply going to need to pick our fights better and decide if it’s better to be a decreasing minority that is increasingly unsuccessful at forcing the majority through the courts or a potential majority who needn’t muscle anyone.
The “How”… Marketing Atheists, in particular, are amongst the most incompetent persuaders in existence. We actually take pride in that. Such is reminiscent of how the Christian Fundamentalist movement took pride in “standing up for the truth”. Then the Evangelical movement came along and started marketing themselves to the point that their churches were the only growing non–Catholic ones in ....America..... People need to start hearing us instead of what they are told about us. A few books, billboards, YouTube vids are a definite improvement, but there is so much more: Movies Music Television (advertisement and entertainment) Social Networking, etc. For those of you feeling queezy right now as to where this will lead, answer this question before you post your accusations – will you leave these avenues to our adversaries so that they can slowly take away our freedom and subjugate us? We have a message of freedom and knowledge to share and people deserve to hear it by whatever means they see fit and not merely our own. Organization No one in power listens to the powerless. They listen to those who can take power from them. There is NO future for atheists and agnostics, whatsoever, without our organization. To say otherwise, is to condemn us (ironically) by means of natural selection. We need to meet (in public, in particularly) and let people know that it is perfectly OK to admit who they are or at least entertain the suspicions they’ve always had. We’ve entertained one idea on the matter here: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=107741751&blogID=343104129 Rational Resources It is the height of irrationality to expect these efforts to achieve themselves, without time, effort and, yes, money. When the religious are donating billions upon billions towards their efforts, the self-serving position of many atheists and agnostics when it comes to their money, is the stupidest position imaginable. No one is expecting people to go beyond their means, but more often that most, it those with more than adequate means that holler the loudest. Get over yourselves. Above, and on our space, is a wealth of worthwhile organizations for whom to give and when you do, hold them to account for what they do with your time, talent and treasure. If they are not able, find those who will appreciate it more. Engagement Our organization as a community is essential so that in every locality imaginable, decision makers know that there are bi-partisan atheists and agnostics who they must respect and, yes, fear. They have to say to themselves on policies that affect atheists and agnostics “How the hell am I gonna get this around Cindy, Matt, Anna and rest those Freethought bastards and bitches?” Our voice and our vote must no longer be taken for granted by one party. Democrats must vote Republican, Republicans must vote Democrat and everyone must vote for freedom from both dogma and disaster. In conclusion... It has been an honor to debate these matters with all of you, and we will continue to do so. Rewrite what we have made, fight about it, struggle with and make it better. We dare you.
HOW ABOUT THOSE KUDOS?!
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Wednesday, October 21, 2009
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Current mood:  accomplished
Category: Religion and Philosophy
Skeptics
Another thing that became readily apparent was that we needed to live up to the “SKEPTICS” in our name. We all agreed that we would be treading dangerously close to partisan territory, but were confident that both sides had enough crazies to do the trick. More importantly, we needed to maintain our credibility and demonstrate rational thought and science were our first and foremost priorities. As Sam Harris had stated, “Reason is bigger than atheism.” We will not entertain more arguments on these matters here as we are sure they will come up in the comments.
What we wish to do here is establish the facinating similarities between the most common irrational culprits and other discredited ‘theorists’ like creationists or holocaust deniers. These traits include:
a. Any “official” or “government” science is bad science. Here "science" does not involve peer review or the scientific method. It involves fear, suspicion and prejudice.
b. Government conspiracy. Without any proof of an actual coverup or operation, the presence of “government” is cause enough to deny.
c. Unchecked stories. "I know this happened to" so and so in the absence of any documentation.
d. Get any “expert” you can. Since peer-reviewed journals have rejected their claims, it is vital that they get anyone they can to give an aire of scientific authenticity regardless of the validity of their claims, qualifications or familiarity with the material.
e. A past error = an eternal falsehood. Piltdown and Nebraska Man did not negate evolution. By the same token, the tragic error of the 1975 vaccination does not negate the millions upon millions saved by preventing infection before it happens.
Here are but a few examples of what we've taken on over the past year:
1. 9/11 ‘truthers’ – According to them, the attacks were either staged by or complicit with the Bush Admistration. The destruction of the World Trade Center was a “controlled demolition”. Most ‘truthers’ tend to be leftists, although it has been found among the extreme right. For example, Holocaust museum killer James von Brunn was a 9/11 truther.
2. Anti-vaccinationists – According to them, vaccination is unecessary and/or can lead to conditions like autism. Due to it’s anti-government prejudice, it’s welcome among both leftists and right-wingers and is even found among the new movement mentioned earlier in Part III. These are the most distasteful of all conspiracy theorists in that blood is on their hands.
3. ‘Birthers’ - Barack Obama was not born on American soil and is, somehow consequentially, not qualified to be President of the United States. This is an obviously new movement and is extremely popular among the other "new movement" mentioned in Part III because its focus on the President’s illegitimacy. They are also unique because of their affinity towards forgeries and their current superstar, Orly Taitz (http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=107741751&blogID=502237933).
Other ‘Bothered’ Groups and Issues
Police - Christopher Hitchens in his book god is not Great, recounts instances of how police have often been hostile to atheists and agnostics and side openly with theists. As we also began reading more and more about the history of totalitarian regimes (paticularly theocracies), the collaboration of police was a central theme throughout. With the advent of a video age, and knowing their actions will be captured, dozens of police still choose to defy the law they swore to uphold hoping their status will protect them as it always has.
Please understand that we support honest, hardworking police everywhere they serve. It was no easy task to convince one of our group (raised in a police officer's family) to concur, but as he put it “I’ve heard way to many bad cop stories to just let it go, I guess.” Watching videos of both these abuses married with increased activity of this new movement described in Part III, the idea of a future government where these abuses had a historical tolerance and mandate from a sympathetic government was intollerable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7Li_CoNazI
A few good friends didn’t like the idea, but people started to see where we were coming from with the video footage of the crackdown in Iran.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-p_CV4fHRw
One incident of police abuse sealed the deal for us in Vancouver where a policeman who killed an irate passenger in the airport with a tazer later killed another motorist while drunk driving and then fled the scene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTig7iEsqQE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vVuoMmvsVI
We came to understand that we were performing a public service and, as one of us put it, “when theocracy comes, police are their stormtroppers”.
Anti-Zionists - Whenever we post news on Muslims, we're either racist, pro-Christian or pro-Zionist. When we post news on Christians we're ignoring the Muslim threat (we lost one friend claiming we're actually closet Muslims). Nonetheless, this year we had a group give us some trouble every time a story presented Muslims in anything but a positive light. The characteritics of this movement were Nazi symbols on stars of David. What was equally disturbing was their posts often included material taken from neo-Nazi sites.
“Old” atheists – The “new atheists” breathed life and acceptance into a dying movement sucessfully portrayed by its opposition (and in large part, in conjuction with it) as the people who want to take their God out of their schools, their pledge and their money. With such aspirations, we quite frankly look petty, and with such consitent failure, even pathetic. It is matters like this which contributed to the recent shake up in the leadership of American Atheists.
It became clearer after the fiasco with Senator Kay Hagan and the ingeniously named “Godless PAC” - a name the general public associates with immorality, disorder and evil. I personally wrote a letter to American Atheists asking them if they would consider, as a benefit of membership, the ability to repeatedly kick their P.R. people in the groin. They have since changed the name.
Some of the most secular nations in the world have meaningless historical trappings of religion around them and are still able to maintain separation of church and state without look like "thought police". As such, AASHOM will no longer participate, promote, mention and will thoroughly oppose many of the shortsighted and stagnant efforts of people like Michael Newdow who, single-handedly, managed to galvanize the entire nation against atheists. A penny to Micheal Newdow is a thousand dollars to the Family Research Council.
However, AASHOM has also taken a stand against the actions of PZ Myers and others against the desecration of devotional objects like communion wafers. In the video The Four Horseman, all four "new atheist" pioneers (Harris, Hitchens, Dennett and Dawkins) stood firmly against religious dececration.
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=107741751&blogID=338426287
This has caused the atheist community national embarassment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QOs2k8jbaE
Entertaining the ADHD of young non-believers is not worth revisting the spector of Communist repression. The silly forms religious devotion can take is not a licence for douchebaggery.
Atheists and Charity
The success of the “new atheists” has been its ability to take the fight to theists by (in part) removing their moral authority. Look at following statement from Sam Harris' An Atheist Manifesto (a).
Countries like Norway, Iceland, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdom are among the least religious societies on Earth. According to the United Nations' Human Development Report (2005) (b) they are also the healthiest, as indicated by measures of life expectancy, adult literacy, per capita income, educational attainment, gender equality, homicide rate and infant mortality. Conversely, the 50 nations now ranked lowest in terms of human development are unwaveringly religious. Other analyses paint the same picture: The United States is unique among wealthy democracies in its level of religious literalism and opposition to evolutionary theory; it is also uniquely beleaguered by high rates of homicide, abortion, teen pregnancy, STD infection and infant mortality (c). The same comparison holds true within the United States itself : Southern and Midwestern states, characterized by the highest levels of religious superstition and hostility to evolutionary theory, are especially plagued by the above indicators of societal dysfunction, while the comparatively secular states of the Northeast conform to European norms (d). Countries with high levels of atheism also are the most charitable in terms of giving foreign aid to the developing world (e). The dubious link between Christian literalism and Christian values is also belied by other indices of charity (f). Consider the ratio in salaries between top-tier CEOs and their average employee: in Britain it is 24 to 1; France 15 to 1; Sweden 13 to 1; in the United States, where 83% of the population believes that Jesus literally rose from the dead, it is 475 to 1(g).
Despite this, American atheists and agnostics are (once again) their own worst enemy as both the major media and scientific community reported statistical research demonstrating higher charitability among believers verses non-believers (http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Story?id=2682730&page=2, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3647/is_200310/ai_n9340592/).
Fundamentalists especially wasted no time in promoting this research (http://www.conservapedia.com/Atheism_and_Uncharitableness
http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/12-faithspirituality/102-atheists-and-agnostics-take-aim-at-christians).
Obviously, we do not expect anyone without the means to donate to charity, but even with fellow atheists and agnostics testifying to the extreme difficulty of fund-raising from among their peers, some non-believers were aggravated we even brought the matter up. As such, we drew a line in the sand: if you are a cheap, useless atheist or agnostic, please quit sucking the life out of the rest of us and leave (http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=107741751&blogID=485435817). The Result…
As you can imagine, bold stands like this did not sit well with a number of our friends, and we did lose some of them. We also went from just under 7,000 to over 10,000 friends with over 70,000 profile views and over 432,000 blog visits. Why? Because atheists and agnostic are looking for a direction.
Stay tuned for...
A NEW VISION FOR ATHEISTS & AGNOSTICS PART V: SUBMITTED FOR YOUR APPROVAL
KUDOS ARE NICE, AREN'T THEY?
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Sunday, October 11, 2009
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Category: Religion and Philosophy
Introduction: For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the one Republican of four avatars for ATHEISTS AGNOSTICS SKEPTICS & HUMANISTS ON MYSPACE. It was felt that I should write this blog dealing with Atheists and Agnostics and their proper relationship to Conservatives and Republicans. I admit a certain lack of inspiration until President Obama’s recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize. Immediately, I saw the award as the most ridiculous thing a new U.S. President could possibly be granted, that is, until a fleeting thought filled me with a horrifying sense of Déjà vu. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated not longer after receiving the same “prize”. Conservatism and Republicans Ironically, much of what calls itself conservatism today owes much of it’s ideology to an atheist, Ayn Rand. While I disagree with her on quite a number of things, in fairness, she did reject the libertarianism so often attributed to her as well as the anti-communists of her day (http://www.playboy.com/articles/ayn-rand-playboy-interview/index.html, http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/13/weekinreview/where-atlas-shrugged-is-still-read-forthrightly.html?pagewanted=all ). She is still often invoked by a growing movement of conservatives as well as Ronald Reagan. Interestingly, many former ‘Reaganites’ like Peggy Noonan, George Will (an unbeliever) and David Frum, have been marginalized by this new movement. These conservative idealists were not only notoriously ill-at-ease with the Religious Right (a trait they shared with conservative icons like Barry Goldwater), but they also represented the intelligencia of the conservative movement. This new movement prefers representatives like Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly and even the non-conservative Lou Dobbs. As stated earlier, the Christian right recognizes its unpopularity: http://www.albertmohler.com/?cat=Blog&cid=3563, http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/27/dobson.steps.down/index.html Still, they are notoriously good soldiers and masters of ‘quid pro quo’ as demonstrated before with their cooperation with neo-conservatives on the Iraq War. To them, a new enemy has arisen and the need for a change in tactic has occurred. Conservative Christians have a bad, bad history with opposing black Christians like Martin Luther King. However, this movement is far more difficult to pigeon-hole. Still, it carries a darkness with it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlf_rUVGRNw). This came to public view in February of 2008 when Jim David Attkinson entered a liberal Christian church to kill its members because “This was a symbolic killing. Who I wanted to kill was every Democrat in the Senate and House, the one hundred people in Bernard Goldberg’s Book” entitled “100 people who are screwing up America.” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ3ap-BK0e0). Later, in May of 2009, abortion Dr. George Tiller was killed by anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder at the church he served also during service.
Dr. Tiller’s assasination was part of much longer pattern. In August 1993, Tiller was shot in both arms by Shelley Shannon, herself a supporter of Paul Hill, who murdered another medical doctor 1994. Six months later, John Salvi, killed another doctor and in 1998 Eric Rudolph had planted bombs in abortion clinics. In 1998, James Kopp, from the Lambs of Christ, killed another doctor. It is worth noting that since February of 2005, Dr. Tiller was discussed by Bill O’Reilly on at least 28 occasions, making public the phrase “Tiller the baby killer” and stating that he didn’t wish he wouldn't want to be Tiller and other Kansas politicians like Kathleen Sebelius "if there is a judgement day.” On one show in 2006, he stated, “[I]f I could get my hands on Tiller - well, you know. Can't be vigilantes. Can't do that. It's just a figure of speech.” It is also worth noting that Tiller’s killer had contributed to the website of Operation Rescue and was a member of the "Freemen" anti-government militia group in the 1990s and was once arrested for having bomb-making materials in his car.
We reported when Operation Rescue started showing up at town hall meetings and elsewhere, stating that the proposed health care program would fund abortions (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jS60Vp4Ym0). At these town halls, people began showing up openly with guns and with signs like those stating Jefferson famous quote “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”. Then, in August of ..2009, a man toting an AR-15 showed up at a healthcare event where the President was to attend. He was interviewed by supposed “libertarian” radio talk show host Ernest Hancock, who said he was packing a 9-millimeter Beretta. This we simply had to post on. We were immediately accused everything from being “anti-gun (a funny one considering that two of us are prior service and one is from a family of cops) to taking a position in the healthcare debate. It was later revealed that Hancock had staged the event and had legally defended the ‘Viper Militia’ convicted of being weaponizers to domestic terrorists including those involved in the Oklahoma City bombing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b46ZCMx-RGQ, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaOhVneGONU). The man with the rifle had attended the Faithful Word Baptist Church under Pastor Steven Anderson, who the Sunday before had preached “Why I Hate Barrack Obama” defending that position from the Bible (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIW27p4BI_g). He has stated that: - He wanted to people to pray that the President die and go to Hell (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxauw-XYAmI). - He hoped that President would die of brain cancer like the late Senator Ted Kennedy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GD89JJZlWI). - He hoped that gays die in the same fashion and are inherently child molesters and that killing the President would not make one a murderer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYkmIl2ujzA). Prior to these events, Ernest Hancock and his organization had provided legal services and a forum for Pastor Anderson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z_tDivKVcQ). Attendants to his church often come armed. Other areas of concern include the movement’s connection with Texas Secessionists who have been openly flirted with by the current governor, Rick Perry (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzbdugWJbNo). Secessionists are running two candidates for governor and have publicly stated they “hate the United States of America” and are willing to wage a “bloody” civil war to secede (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbOoHqC2UxI). These are the two running for governor: with some interesting information from their respective websites:
Larry Kilgore http://www.larrykilgore.com/
"My parents and granny taught me the importance of reading the Bible and prayer."
"Abortion - Washington usurped Texas sovereignty in the Roe v. Wade decision. Texas GOP Platform page 8: "Life begins at the moment of fertilization and ends at the point of natural death."
"Sodomy - Washington usurped Texas sovereignty in the Lawrence_v._Texas decision. Texas GOP Platform page 12: "We oppose the legalization of sodomy. We demand that Congress exercise its authority granted by the U.S. Constitution to withhold jurisdiction from the federal courts from cases involving sodomy."
Debra Medina http://www.medinafortexas.com/
"She graduated from San Antonios Baptist Memorial Hospital System School of Nursing in 1984, and later earned a bachelors degree in Business Management from the evangelical Christian Le Tourneau University."
"Like any party to a contract, Texas must stand up and push back against any attempts to abuse the Constitution or abuse the inalienable rights granted by our Creator." Glenn Beck has openly and vehemently supported ....Texas....’ right to secede (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEPxR2Y-lT0). While there is no direct connection with Holocaust museum shooter James Wenneker von Brunn and this new movement, it is clear that there is a rise in the violence that such groups are willing to entertain. This is meant in no way to disparage the thoughtful conservatives and Republicans out there who find some of their friends moving away from them, but it is clear that a totalitarian movement is on the rise in America and is not as disassociated from its religious ties as it wants to appear. We don’t care what your view is on healthcare or the President. What we do care about is that, historically, such movements attack those who base their judgments on reason, science and education as a whole. Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly have made their opinions of atheists and agnostics quite clear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijA5QGF7e6c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVOSC82tMsQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECE77Imki9M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJJlgNf06ek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5mdqs1VqEU It is disturbing to see some atheist and agnostic libertarians, again put politics before principle, and defend such drivel. To them we have some questions: - Where was your outrage when the Republican President prior said “'I am driven with a mission from God'. God would tell me, 'George go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan'. And I did. And then God would tell me 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq'. And I did. And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, 'Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.'. And, by God, I'm gonna do it."
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/oct/07/iraq.usa)? - Where was your outrage when, with no substantial evidence of eminent threat or WMD’s, we invaded Iraq, an endeavor that has cost the United States over 4,300 brave servicemen and women and nearly $700 billion? - Where was your outrage at the over $700 billion bank bailout? - Where was your outrage at the over $400 million dollar prescription drug benefit? - Where was your outrage when it was revealed that Thomas Scully (Medicare Administrator) had ordered Richard Foster (actuary) to withhold from Congress that the bill would cost at least $139 billion more than the White House was claiming, or he would be fired (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/08/politics/08medicare.html)? - Where were you when Detroit specialized gas-guzzlers for decades, bankrupting Americans and financing our enemies? - Where was your outrage when financial institutions were allowed to merge with insurance interests and create banks that were ‘too big to fail’
(http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=107741751&blogID=479752342)? In other words, where were you when your country needed you? It is not enough to say that you were against it then while you're screaming at the top of your lungs now. That is like the hypocrite who sees a robery and mutters under his breath "Hey, stop it." then sues the police when he himself is robbed. That hypocrite is the embodiment of libertarians and my Republican Party. Before everyone takes my head off, watch this video below: In Summary: Fellow Republicans will never admit their embrace of the “social conservatives” was a disaster. Still, they wish to downplay the connection of social conservatives and this new movement - that I will not tolerate it a second time. Why? It’s not merely the warping of what we stand for as a party. Nor is it, as an atheist, my recognition of the disastrous consequences of merging church and state. I, as American, cannot stand the thought of enduring the sight my grandfather did: the red, white and blue draped casket of another slain United States President. Stay tuned for...
A NEW VISION FOR ATHEISTS & AGNOSTICS ADDENDUM: GLENN BECK A NEW VISION FOR ATHEISTS & AGNOSTICS PART IV: "SKEPTICS", CHOICES & RESULTS
A NEW VISION FOR ATHEISTS & AGNOSTICS PART V: SUBMITTED FOR YOUR APPROVAL
Let's Not Forget Those Kudos!
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Sunday, September 27, 2009
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Category: Religion and Philosophy
Liberalism and Democrats
Illustration: Senator Edward Kennedy
Many Americans were struck by the recent passing of Senator Edward Kennedy. Liberal atheists and agnostics loved him not only because he was their hero, but because he stood up often for the principle of separation of church and state. I personally thought it would be a good idea to do a blog on Kennedy’s service of that principle. During my research, what I found was disturbing. Sen. Kennedy arranged the below-market value transfer of land from the financially-ailing “Old Soldiers Home” in D.C. to Catholic University. When veterans threatened legal action, Kennedy arranged Catholic University be given a right of first refusal on any bid. Kennedy and his Republican friend, Mormon Senator Orrin Hatch, arranged the claim of countless dollars in land through the passage of Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and, in 2000, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). These, among other things, gave religious institutions special privilege in avoiding laws you and I have to obey when it comes to real estate. What Kennedy preserved in separation of church and state, he gave away by enriching those who would take it away later. http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20090903.html Points of Interest:
(1) What is currently called, by-and-large “conservatism” was not very long ago called “classical liberalism”. The subjective nature of what is “progressive” is matched only by Americans lack of historical understanding.
(2) It has been disheartening (for at least three of us) to hear liberals like:
- Chris Hedges (In his book I Don't Believe in Atheists),
- Cornell West (on Real Time with Bill Maher),
- and belated liberals like Andrew Sullivan (also on Maher's show as well as his series of discussions with Christopher Hitchens),
...adopt old conservative propaganda like:
“The greatest acts atrocities of the twentieth century were committed by atheism.”
“The civil rights movement was a Christian movement.”
First, Hitler’s pro-Christian statements are voluminous, the one exception generally considered to be one of the many Hitler forgeries. Secondly, liberals and conservatives are impotent to name any words of Stalin, Mao or Pol Pot even remotely stating “I am doing this in the name of atheism.” By their standards ANY Christian, Muslim etc. that commits a crime has as her accomplice her religion. Finally, this is especially hypocritical in that some of the founders of many of the classical liberal institutions (the ACLU, NAACP, etc.) were unapologetic socialists and communists. The founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, shared with Hitler a belief in negative eugenics. This should not disparage the essential work of these organizations, but let’s not be hypocrites, folks.
As far as the civil rights movement, its founders (Frederick Douglas, W.E.B. Dubois, etc.) were almost universally agnostic or atheist. A blog we did on this fact was so thoroughly despised by liberals, that we had to block several former friends, one of which had even threatened us (she was reported to MySpace). http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=107741751&blogID=439691080 (3) Indeed, one of liberalism most classic tenets, multiculturalism, has contributed to influx of the most virulent fundamentalist Muslims in the world. This has led to the most progressive, secular and nuclear armed nations in the world now, at their current disparity in rates of reproduction, with an Islamist future on the horizon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Europe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_France http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_United_Kingdom Critics have been immediately met with the accusation of racism, an ironically racist position in that Islam does not encompass merely one “people” or “race”. This has left the right-wing with the only voice against this encroachment. Who do they blame? Yup, you guessed it: secularists. (4) It was this that freed us to do the following: We were free to criticize elements of the Democratic Party that advocated distancing it from atheists and agnostics. http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=107741751&blogID=430558525 http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=107741751&blogID=432940984 http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=107741751&blogID=356716855 We were free to deny the relationship of political ideology with disbelief. http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=107741751&blogID=356993674 We free to reach out to Republicans on behalf of atheists and agnostics. http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=107741751&blogID=476089754 We were free to take issue with then candidate Obama on the need to “reach out to Evangelicals”. http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=107741751&blogId=356814467 We were free to join with former American Atheists president Ellen Johnson in asking the question should we vote when that vote is taken for granted by the American Democratic party? http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=107741751&blogID=355558388 We were free to critique Rep. Maxine Waters in her ferocious attack on atheists. http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=107741751&blogID=375298728 We were free to ask atheist and agnostics to not vote for Kay Hagan after she threw atheists under the bus and made it a dirty word when she was attacked by then Senator Elizabeth Dole as being one for having spoken to the ‘Godless PAC’.
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=107741751&blogID=445658897
This last one caused us a lot of grief as we were accused with tampering with ‘our one and only chance’ to enact the Democrats agenda by both theists and non-theists who saw it as more important than the good name of atheists. It is in this light, we find it rather amusing to see the Democratic Party impotent to enact that agenda with a ‘filibuster proof majority’ and a popular President, as Glenn Beck (of all people) picks off his administration one-by-one. Principles matter. In summary: Liberal religionists live in a fantasy world where the Golden Age of their respective religions was a magical amalgamation with the post-modernism of today. It is upon this basis they dismiss fundamentalists and attack atheists and agnostics. Meanwhile, liberal churches are dying at rate that would warrant a terror alert and fundamentalists are the ones growing. There is no rational reason, for an expanding movement as our own to be wedded to one of the many evolutionary hodge-podges like liberalism or conservatism when it is not our best interest and it evokes such irrational hostility towards us. Stay tuned for...
A NEW VISION FOR ATHEISTS & AGNOSTICS PART III: CONSERVATIVES & REPUBLICANS
A NEW VISION FOR ATHEISTS & AGNOSTICS PART IV: "SKEPTICS", CHOICES & RESULTS
A NEW VISION FOR ATHEISTS & AGNOSTICS PART V: SUBMITTED FOR YOUR APPROVAL
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Saturday, September 12, 2009
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Category: Religion and Philosophy
It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle. – Sun Tzu
Introduction
This week was the third anniversary of ATHEISTS AGNOSTICS SKEPTICS & HUMANISTS ON MYSPACE. For those of you who have been with me a while, you know my story. A former missionary and apologist, I had become consumed with the guilt I felt over what I had done in the name of a god. That guilt culminated around the time of the anniversary of September 11th. I remembered the day after the attacks asking my fellow Christians what would be worse, what the terrorists had done or what we would do in return. This is not the sort of question you ask conservative Christians the day after our nation was attacked. I would not make any friends years later in an article questioning the invasion of ....Iraq...., ironically, on rational grounds. Was there evidence of WMD’s? The Christian right had already made its decision. It had never opposed an American war and it wasn’t about to start with an openly Evangelical president who had promised the judges necessary to overturn Roe vs. Wade and stop the gay advance in it’s tracks. I should know better. I had the drill and buzz phrases down pact: “It’s a relationship, not a religion.” “Hate the sin, love the sinner.” “Evolution & banning prayer has brought our nation to ruin.” “We’re not pushing our morals on you. You’re pushing the gay, liberal agenda on us.” I did cease to believe sometime later and became consumed with what I’d let myself become. I went to my computer to create the MySpace everyone asked me if I had. I didn’t know what to do, so I did the only thing I knew besides researching Christianity and preaching…I told jokes. For months, I fought the inclination to make this a serious page in fear of becoming an agnostic version of what I was. I came to realize that I was being selfish. The so-called “new atheists” weren’t more aggressive than those prior (Madalyn Murray O’Hair made Christopher Hitchens look like a fairy princess), they were more savvy. They wanted to know the enemy that threatened them. I started a program to equip atheists and agnostics to know what they were up against. That was good for a while, but it wasn’t enough against an enemy whose motivation was “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient” (2 Cor. 10:5). Atheists and agnostics needed soldiers who knew the mind of a relentless enemy. Nothing can defeat well-trained soldier who would die for his cause: - Lob missiles at him, he’ll dig in. In this case, believers will avoid the words that will reveal racism or other stigmatizing weaknesses. They will even allow their ‘heretics’ to be their ‘face’ as they fight. - Beat his numbers, he’ll find new tactics. In this case, the believer will lay low especially now that, according polls, he’s less popular. The believer is well-disciplined. He’ll let the less obvious believer use tactics like accusing the opposition of fascism, socialism, even the old canard of communism. Remember what Sun-Tzu said – “All war is deception.” The only way to defeat him is to demoralize him - squeeze off his numbers and supply to make his battle hopeless and/or meaningless. The Changes - “Avatars” and Principles One change was the realization that this was not a one-person job. After a lot of searching, the input three additional investors came into play. For personal reasons, we call ourselves avatars (yeah, I know). As the time progressed, the importance of politics became clearer. American atheists and agnostics tend to fall into two camps: “liberals” and “libertarians”. Unlike most non-believers, I’m a proud political moderate. The others avatars include two “progressives” and one unapologetic Republican who “is as angry with the religious right as I am with hypocritical lefties”. As you can imagine, our conversations can be pretty intense. We found that we could agree on two guiding principles: 1. The unifying needs of most atheists and agnostics tend to outweigh the unique needs of liberals and conservatives. 2. If a politician isn’t afraid of what an atheist or agnostic does, it isn’t worth doing. The political ideologies of American liberalism and conservatism are an evolved hodgepodge of issues, embraced by its leaders at one time in its history, then spread to the rank and file. There is no more rational a connection between environmentalism and civil rights as there is between low taxes and anti-abortion. Agnostics and atheists share the fact that both are but the absence of a belief and do not necessarily embrace any particular ideology despite what theistic liberals and conservatives mistakenly (and self-servingly) believe. More importantly, we tend to share an abiding demand for reason and science. Sam Harris said “Reason is bigger than atheism”, but it is also bigger than America’s Democrats and Republicans.
Stay tuned for...
A NEW VISION FOR ATHEISTS & AGNOSTICS PART II: LIBERALS & DEMOCRATS
A NEW VISION FOR ATHEISTS & AGNOSTICS PART III: CONSERVATIVES & REPUBLICANS
A NEW VISION FOR ATHEISTS & AGNOSTICS PART IV: "SKEPTICS", CHOICES & RESULTS
A NEW VISION FOR ATHEISTS & AGNOSTICS PART V: SUBMITTED FOR YOUR APPROVAL
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Monday, August 17, 2009
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Category: Religion and Philosophy
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Wednesday, August 05, 2009
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Current mood:  frustrated
Category: Religion and Philosophy
THIS WOMAN CAN DRIVE ANY RATIONAL PERSON INSANE. YOU STILL CAN'T HELP BUT LEARN FROM THIS CONVERSATION WHEN YOU KEEP IN MIND THAT SHE REPRESENTS MIILIONS OF PEOPLE HUMILIATING AMERICA...  HEY! WHAT ABOUT THE KUDOS?
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Sunday, August 02, 2009
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Category: Religion and Philosophy
Part I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOFh8nDx-WY
This video was posted on the dprjones channel on 25 July 2009.
A dmca take down notice was served on it by someone named, (or purporting to be named), Brody Harris on 30 July 2009.
It was the 3rd dmca notice served against my videos in 4 days.
As a result the dprjones channel has been suspended.
A copy of the video can be downloaded from this link;
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=4d77967b07dff9ac1686155677bb268565551b9045907956As with all my videos you have my permission to copy mirror and use this video in any way you wish.
If you do mirror it then you may be subjected to a dmca take down notice.
In my view the take down notice served by "Brody Harris" is without merit and I will be serving a counter notice.
Part II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vQ8xXy7avE
For those interested in the scenery, see the Beautyintheuniverse channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/beautyintheuniverse
(Night on a Knife-edge (to be uploaded shortly))
So PCS wants a debate, or more specifically another debate.
The first (at least my half) is still on my channel as debating a creationist parts 1-3.
PCS deleted all of his.
The last one has a request for a vote for who won.
It came in something like 97% for Tfoot, 3% for PCS.
However I think PCS does sterling work in representing Creationism and Intelligent Design and would be only too happy for him to throw his cap back into the arena.
He wants another debate thats fine. I will happily do it for his return. However PCS does not have a good track record in keeping his word. As a token of faith I have requested that he makes 5 videos before we have this debate.
Now Im sure he will cry that but what about the safety of my family. Well what indeed PCS? Firstly you are the one who challenged me. Secondly how many seminal debates in history required permission slips from ones parents? And lastly you have cried wolf on this so many times its not funny anymore. This time last year (when I was touring) you pulled EXACTLY the same stunt. Why not take a more mature response to such matter like factversusreligion and just post the screen names of those who issue death threats, laugh at their immaturity and get on with life. After all, are there ANY cases of threats on youtube leading anywhere?
http://www.youtube.com/user/factvsreligion
I dont even care about death threats, let alone the even more sadistic threats you make that my god wont just kill you, he will torture you for eternity
Lastly, if you really had any commitment to your message then what would you care for this life when your eternal salvation is on the line?
So yeah, bollocks crybaby. I will debate you if you come back youtube.
Bring back the clown!
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Sunday, July 26, 2009
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Category: News and Politics
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Friday, July 24, 2009
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Current mood: contemplative
Category: Religion and Philosophy
Thunderfoot VS. Ray Comfort
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