8 posts tagged “religion”

If you haven't heard, "global warming" has been abruptly canceled. Details follow.

But first I want to talk about Dox. Sometime back we really got into it about "global warming." He's totally bought it, and he even started a group devoted to the worship of it. I say 'worship" because how better to describe something you have to take on faith because there is nothing that is reliable that supports it? And like any religion, that which you take on faith often requires irrational defense, not that Dox intends to be irrational, he just is because he doesn't know any better.

And that was never more apparent that yesterday.

But I'm going to delay explaining that as well and give you a little background frst. See, I joined Dox's group because I thought he wanted to hear both sides, and during our major disagreement, like Timothy, but not anywhere near as bad as that jackass, Dox blocked me from his further participation in his group.

To his credit, Dox immediately thought better of it and did the right thing. I, in turn, told him that I would no longer be participating because he had the right to conduct his pro-warming group any way he wanted, and I would always be a thorn in his side... because he was simply wrong.

So we parted our warming ways and remained on good terms. Dox and I shared similar views on politics, so it wasn't like he was Snowy or anything.

It was only relatively recently that I re-added him to my neighborhood because we were both McCain backers and Palin backers, and I felt that he'd probably matured, so I wanted to read what he had to say. All went reasonably well until yesterday when he posted the single stupidest entry about "global warming" that I've ever seen - to wit:

(approximate) "If the sun causes global warming, then why worry about what man puts in the atmosphere?"

I was going to respond, but you know how some things are just so idiotic that by responding, you elevate them? Therefore, I did the next best thing - I de-neighborized Dox.

When I venture out, I expect to read intelligent, coherent commentary. Dox's opening question was so illogical and disjointed that it showed he's learned nothing. Thus I fully expect John to agree with him. And by the way, Dox, if you're reading this, please feel free to respond here - and expect the worst.

Now about what precipitated all this...

I wasn't going to say anything about Dox. What's the point? but then Drudge posted something this afternoon that made Dox relevant. It turns out that the 'warmest October on record"... isn't. In fact, it's so far from the warmest that about two thirds of the Octobers since they've been keeping records were warmer.

And that's not the half of it. Bloggers uncovered the fraud that Jimmy Hansen was trying to put over on the world, and when they did, Hansen, like Dems in Minnesota, suddenly found new stuff in his trunk to support his case.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Jimmy, he heads NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), he's Al Gore's surrogate, and he's totally bought and paid for by George Soros. And his agency is one of the primary ones whose data the UN relied on for their fraudulent climate report. GISS is always putting out the warmest data of all of the four agencies the UN uses.

So it's even more significant that not only was Jimmy wrong about October, but he's admitted that it's not even NASA's own data - he uses (cherry-picks) unverified data from other sources to make his claims. That's compounding the felony - that Dox believes in.

So to be clear, now there's not only no reliable data to support "global warming," but what these disciples had relied on is a FRAUD! Far worse than nothing at all, wouldn't you say?

When I first read that October was supposedly the worst on record, I was aware of the record lows and snowfalls that had been reported during the month, and so I did what I do about all warming stories now, I don't read them. I'm looking for truth, and "global warming" stories are more biased than the media was for Obama. What I mean by that is simply that your own common sense will tell you otherwise when you read one.

But don't think "global warming" is going away. That's because it never has to. People like Dox still believe it despite this latest debunking, and despite the fact that they now have far less data than they did yesterday. They will still make their claims as usual. They will still be as irrational as they have been. That's because they're 'scientists" - they're peer reviewed.

And by the way, this fraud was disclosed by a British paper. Wanna bet you never see it from AP?

Guess What I Named My Toilet?

I've come to the conclusion that I have nothing left to say about anything. Don't get me wrong, I've got plenty to say, but it seems pointless since the answer to everything - Cox whores, gay marriage advocates, liberals, slightly less conservatives, Democrats who aren't liberals, animals (and I say this as a long-time vegetarian), hip-hop "artists," a mess-o-Muslims, and my neighbor, Mike (but not necessarily in that order, although reverse order might be OK)... the answer to all of it is one simple four-letter word: Kill.

OK, I admit it's slightly more complicated than that because, for example, I'd like to see Bob Melvin die slowly and in the most horrible manner possible.

And Ive come to realize that there aren't nearly enough like-minded people to do what's needed, so I'm pretty much done. It'll be gardening and Court TV for me until it's all finally over.

Boy, I can sure see why the Prime Murderer sent that flood back when even if I can't excuse him because his frustration was due to his own incompetence - while my frustration is due to his incompetence as well, but at least I understand how he could get so fed up that he just finally decided to hose everything down.

Although that's another thing I hold against him because I have neither the authority nor the power to do the same.

As you get older, you realize that it doesn't matter whether or not Heaven exists because if you're at all rational, no matter how great the surroundings up there, you'll spend eternity trying to get even with God for what he put you and yours through to get there.

I mean, say you're God. Are you gonna create this majestic place but before you allow your pets to enjoy it, you put them on some scrap heap and subject them to untold misery while you throw a tantrum every so often for good measure? And then you only reward those who come through it all with smiles on their faces and songs in their hearts?

In fact, if that flood and other Bible stories are true, it seems to me that those people who do get through this mess in good humor are far better than the God who created them. And I hasten to add because you probably haven't noticed, I'm not one of them.

But as Hitchins points out, God created my type too.

And speaking of the Big Guy, big, tough Kathy Griffin has a beef with Big Guy Jr. which, if nothing else, proves Kath ain't no atheist.

If you don't know her, Griffin is what some people consider to be a comedian, and she just won an Emmy for some show she did. The problem is that she showed up to accept the award gunnin' for Christ. And I must say, I completely understand her to that point.

Griffin said that many people thank Jesus for his role in their winning stuff but that in her case, Christ had nothing to do with it. Then she did what I do privately a hundred times a day - she said, "Suck it, Jesus."

All right, I admit it, I've never said that. In truth, I've never even thought to say that - it's far too tame.

Anyway, later Griffin said she hoped she offended somebody.

Interesting if unenlightened. Talk about transference, she's angry that Jesus gets too much credit, but she can't get back at him, so she wants to offend people who, having experienced similar good fortune, might be more humble and thankful.

The real problem is that it's a big "if" that she offended anyone very much since Christ aficionados are rather used to this sort of thing from idiots like her.

But Cowardly Kathy could certainly have accomplished her purpose with ease if she'd simply substituted Mohammed for Jesus in her imperative.

And had she done so, lot's of people would be following her a lot more closely from then on, if you get my drift. So in a profession where timing is everything, Kath missed a golden opportunity. And she calls herself a comedian?

Well, all this has gotten far too ugly (yet at the same time, not ugly enough to suit me) for my first farewell note, so in closing, I'd like to say that if you haven't seen it, check out Burn Notice on USA Network tonight at 10pm Eastern and Pacific. The production values are great, the stories well-developed, and Gabrielle Anwar is at least one thing God has done right. So such so that I'd love to try my hand at doing her too.

Which reminds me, Happy Ramadong, everybody!

Because I'd really like to hear his take on this...

LONDON: Increasingly, Muslim women in Britain take their children to school and run errands covered head to toe in flowing black gowns that allow only a slit for their eyes.

Like little else, their appearance has unnerved Britons, testing the limits of tolerance in this stridently secular nation. Many veiled women say they are targets of abuse. At the same time, efforts are growing to place legal curbs on the full Muslim veil, known as the niqab.

------

Here's, I think, the essence of the article:

"Wearing the niqab means you will get a good grade and go to paradise," said Hodo Muse, 19, a Somali woman. "Every day people are giving me dirty looks for wearing it, but when you wear something for Allah you get a boost."

In addressing the comments of (most certainly) Australia's greatest thinker, I decided that in the interest of time and my level of interest, it would be best if I simply went with my initial reaction.

So with that, I present, The Great Soggy!

"Nice coming from someone who's entire repetoire (sic) is comprised of unfounded Muslim bashing."

And right off we encounter deflection, speculation, and the assumption of facts not in evidence and the denial of other facts that are. Why does something tell me there's a Muslim connection in SOG's background.

"Comments such as yours, which was effectively "Everywhere that there are Muslims there is war and corruption" only serve to fan the rather pointless flames."

Incorrect characterization, I said "trouble," and trouble means trouble.... And it's right here in River City.

And every flame I've ever seen has a point.

"don't just target Muslims. Go for everyone"

Unnecessary and... um... it fans rather pointless flames.

"I chose Aethiesm (sic) (sic) because I realised (sic) that all religions contain much falsity and hypocracy (sic)."

A rather pointless reason to choose atheism, some would say. Me, I just call it absurd in concept, and insane if true.

"I also realised (sic) that they were the major cause of war since their inception."

Another reason to choose atheism? The reasoning seems rather disjointed, but I don't want to accuse Soggy of not trying, I'll just say he's an idiot.

"I have no degrees."

Aren't people with no degrees what they used to call dead?

But seriously folks, it doesn't matter how many degrees a person has, what matters is how well he can reason. And SOG, you have "no degrees" there either.

"Guess what age person you are insulting?"

OK, I'm not good at this, so please allow me a year or two either way, but nine?

And it's curious that he's insulted yet he still expects to play guessing games with me.

"True enlightenment, from a Republican?"

Again assumes facts not in evidence.

'Someone who believes in the War in Iraq, tougher border protection, the death penalty and the protection of "Christian" values. HAHAHAH."

That's what we call an "aside," but it appears to be what passes for sane and rational argument in Australia.

"P.S. You would make an excellent forum troll. Join WoW. Just not Jubei...'

Now this is interesting. Soggy leaves three unsolicited, rambling and incoherent comments, and he thinks I'M the troll?

"I invite you to clean up your countries (sic) act before attacking anyone else."

Even assuming there's anything to "clean up," the comment is rather pointless, and it shows the defendant has low self-esteem. Because he seems to assume I can't do both simultaneously?!?

"I also ask that you persecute (sic) Jews and Christians with your anti-religious tirades."

My comments about Muslims "fan rather pointless flames," but they'd be OK if I was fair and balanced?

Well, unfortunately, I am.

"For Jewish problems one need look no further than the strife in their homeland - the combined Israel-Palestine."

Jewish problems? The Jews have problems all right, none of which are their own doing, but somehow I think that Soggy means the Jews are -causing- problems, don't you?

"For Christian problems look to the American midwest (sic)"

Non-specific and again assumes facts not in evidence. Still, it might be fun... what problems are Midwest Christians causing, do you suppose? Any threats of violence? Any beheadings? Bombings? Wanton slaughter of civilians? Refusing to let people leave the religion, maybe?

"or, to stretch it a tad, the historical context of Christianity; the sweeping bloodbaths that were the crusades (sic), then the witchburnings (sic)"

But why stop at the Crusades? I mean how about the pagan Romans? The Jews in Egypt and Babylonia? And why are we conveniently overlooking Hitler and Stalin, SOG?

"and even recently the murder, brutall (sic) murder, by Christians of black people. Ahh... Americans, so hypocritical."

Aside from being irrelevant and immaterial, Your Honor, we submit that comment as evidence of the defendant's mental impairment.  "Christians... Americans." Yes, one and the same to be sure, but the problem is that even if Soggy's comment was relevant, many Americans, even American Christians, have no ties whatsoever to such events because their ancestors weren't Americans at the time of occurrence. So while some Americans might indeed be hypocrites SOG's generalization is, at best, well, hypocritical.

Furthermore, you take all the murders in the history of America that could remotely be attributed to Christians, and they wouldn't amount to a hill of hummus in Muslimwille...

"one must consider the Christian and Jewsih (sic) laws, especially those in the old testament (sic), which brutally subjucate/d (sic) women and gay people."

Non-specific and irrelevant, although I must admit that my mother was "subjucateid" because she had to wear a hat to church.

"If you like, Christianity is currently only a slightly more commercialist (sic), older brother of Islam."

If I like? Then no, it isn't. Moe is more the older brother of Jim Jones.

"But that is not the point."

Thank God, now we might be getting somewhere...

"I would ask you to cease making sweeping generalisations (sic) about a largely peacefull (sic) religion"

How about a "largely" spit-take here?

"that you so-clearly know nothing about."

To paraphrase Phil Gramm, I have all the knowledge I need, but way more than I want...
 
Myself, I am an aethiest (sic), but I have taken the time to study many religions to see if they were the right ones for me."

I see his dilemma, I, too, don't know which religion is right for an atheist, but I heard good things about Unitarians???

"I urge you to study religions before you attack them in such a grandiose and generalised (sic) way."

And I urge Old SOG to remove his head from the sand... although, to paraphrase Phil Gramm, he can remove his head from the sand, but he can't remove the sand from his head...

But what would possess Soggy, do you suppose, to be so concerned about a religion he'd like to see eradicated? I mean, does he want it both ways - he decries "religious values," but he likes the "largely peaceful" ones?

Then why doesn't he like the rather wholly peaceful ones of better religions? Anyone been exterminated in the name of Judaism lately?

"It would make me happy if you attacked all religion (especially the Abrahamics) on the basis of their lack of truth and the way they contradict themselves, however, this current display of ignorance makes you seem insignificant and slightly idiotic."

Confucius say, "Better to be idiotic than dead."

And I'm no Confucius.

But now... Abrahamics? Isn't that a form of aerobics? Or what a magician says?

"I'm sorry for the rant."

Not, however, sorry enough that it overcame his desire to inflict it on us. And yet he still doesn't see the need for religious discipline?!?

"I am not an anti-semite (sic). I am anti-every (sic) religion"

OK, except there's one small problem - being an anti-Semite has nothing to do with religion....

"I wasn't blaming the Jews for the problems in the Middle East, however I was blaming the Israelis..."

Vomit-take

"and the Palestinians for hundreds of thousands of needless deaths."

I submit there's nothing like that many deaths, but if there aren't, then I, too blame the Israelis... because there should have been. (I refer you to my Palestinian Solution offered sometime back)

"However, the main aim of the rant was to point out that every religion creates problems, especially violent ones."

Amazingly, that was the only part of the rant that I got, and coincidentally, the closest SOG came to making sense... while still not.

"Christianity has many problems, from (b)ombing abortion clinics to
the (c)rusades (sic)."

Or as such things are called in Islamistan, "Just another Muslim Monday."

But OK, that's only B and C, what happened to A through Z?

Seriously folks, that's the best Soggy can do. And he equates isolated past events attributable to some few Christians with everyday, present-day occurrences brought to you courtesy of the religion of peace - for example, the 80 or so dead in a mosque bombing yesterday.

Why I bet even Aput would like to behead this guy?

"I agree that my generalisations (sic)... were out of place... (how  about) this specific American, such a hypocrite."

OK, here's the overriding problem. Soggy apparently thinks I'm a Christian. So the question is, if I'm something else like, say, an atheist, am I still a hypocrite?

Which also brings up another overriding problem - Soggy apparently thinks atheism is an enlightened state.

"But then again, perhaps not, considering the polls which show 50%+ of Americans to be "from somewhat to a great extent" living in fear and hatred of Muslims."

Only 50? Man, those wacky liberals never learn. But now I wonder if SOG saw the poll that says 25% of American Muslim youths can justify suicide bombings?

And does he agree that percentage would approach zero if the religion was doing its "peaceful" work??

"I was going to put in something asking you to read the holy texts of many and varied religions, however I am not going to waste my time."

Well, how many more words would it have taken before his time was officially wasted? I mean considering that, with minimal reworking, that sentence could have been put in the form of a request?

"I ask that, instead of attempting to fix the problems that everyone else has, fix your own first."

Interestingly, most Americans would be only too happy to do that, but the world won't leave us alone. "Fix Kuwait," "Fix Bosnia," Fix "Kosovo." "Fix Darfur." See the pattern here? And granted they didn't ask us to fix Afghanistan, but I haven't found anyone who's unhappy with that intervention - except the Taliban, maybe,

Although Aput did try to blame us for not doing the job to his liking...

"I'm not British. I'm Australian."

Then I offer my apologies to the British for the smear.

"I dislike your corruption of the English language."

We are the English language. In fact, I heard a song that says we are the world.

"I realise (sic) that you believe Christianity not to have any "fascism and chaos" inherent within it"

Objection:  assumes facts not in evidence, and defendant is again engaging in rather pointless speculation since neither is Christianity on trial here (except in Soggy's even soggier mind) nor am I a Christian.

"which shows not only your lack of political understanding but also of history."

Political? I thought we were talking about religion?

And history? How about Current Events? maybe they don't get them in Australia?

"Islam can be likened to a semi-evolved Christianity"

By whom? By Soggy?

And I wonder how Muslims would like that characterization? But beyond that, I'm left to wonder further... why such a frantic defense of the indefensible Islam?

"in fact, its (sic) currently going through a period highly simmilar (sic) to the crusades (sic), where the Christians rained down on the Arab holy lands in an attempt to reclaim the sacred sites and purge the "heathen scum".

Huh? The only thing that made sense there was "heathen scum"

For example, how can they be "Arab holy lands" when Christians are attempting "to reclaim the sacred sites?"

And if, in fact, Islam is merely going through a phase, is it impolite to ask them to speed it up a tad?

And one last thing... for a guy who takes pride in his parochial dialect, is it just me or is Soggy awfully careless in his implementation of it?

Score it Muslims-1, Christians-0 in the best of one, winner-take-all series in Malaysia. At stake was the right to the coveted title, "Ex-Muslim."

So it turns out that it's slightly more difficult to leave Islam than it is to leave the Mafia. That's the bad news, of course. The good news is that Lina Joy won't have to stand in long lines to get a new I.D. card.

She had said she's no longer a Muslim. Today, Malaysia said she is.

I know it's hard for us, the uncivilized masses to imagine, but we have on this planet a religion that's so peaceful that, for your own good, you're forbidden to leave it - because if you do, you'd be disturbing the peace says Malaysia's Supreme Court.

"About 200 mostly young Muslims welcomed the ruling outside the domed courthouse with shouts of "Allah-o-Akbar" (God is great), but Christians and non-Muslim politicians were dismayed."

The better news is, the ruling was not unanimous.The three judge panel split 2-1. One judge said that the agency that issues identity cards should have complied with Joy's request to have the Muslim designation removed - he's the token non-Muslim judge.

Well there's at least some consolation if you read my account from yesterday: Lina may be a Muslim against her will, but at least she's still got her Johnson.

They can't get married though, not as long a she's a designated Muslim and he's Christian, so at least we won't have any Romeo and Juliet action goin' on - which is nice.

By the way, the article characterizes Malaysia and  Indonesia as practicing "a moderate brand of Islam." I guess that's because in most Muslim countries, well before the case ever got to the Supreme Court, the only thing left of Ms. Joy would have been her I.D. card.

Oh and would this account be complete without a quote from your new favorite Muslim Youth Movement President?

"We hope that we have seen the last of such attempts. We invite anyone who feels that they are aggrieved or victimized within the current system to choose other, less confrontational and controversial attempts towards change and reform, said Yusri Mohamad, as crowds cheered "Allah-o-Akbar" - translation, "Land-o-Lakes!".

And presumably, the less confrontational attempts towards change and reform that Mohamad was referring to is to, well, not...?

You know, it's for their own good.

Besides, he's only looking out for Malaysia's minorities...

Warning: This piece may start out light and hopefully humorous, but I realized as I was writing it that it was impossible to end it that way, so if you're offended by arguments against the existence of God, you might want to stop reading now, or at least before you get to the ugly part. Cheers.

Less than three hours from now, we're finally going to know if God exists. I don't think he does, and I pray he doesn't, but just in case, I have "he does" in the pool, which I expected would never pay out, but tonight, the experts will finally sort it all out when Kirk Cameron debates some atheists on Nightline.

I saw a preview of the "for" argument when Mr. Cameron appeared on O'Reilly tonight, and I must say it's pretty convincing...

... The following may contain spoilers ...

But maybe I'm kidding myself because it's the Cameron argument is the same one that brought me back from the brink - and scared the hell out of me... or make that -into me-.

It's that everything is just too complicated to have arisen from nothing, and that if the most complex things on Earth have their creators, it seems implausible at best that all this - the wonderful universe filled with death and destruction, could have sprung up spontaneously if only because there seems to have had to have been something, some environment, for it to have sprung from.

I'd like to pause now so ask, may God forgive me for that mess.. and for what's about to follow.

For Mr. Cameron also presented what he thought would be the atheists' argument against the existence of a supreme being, and note the lack of caps there, because here's the argument as Kirk stated is, and which I also agree with, unfortunately...

It's that there can't be a living that is such a megalomaniac.

There it is. I personally think "megalomaniac" is overly charitable, since an actual god would be the biggest mass murderer in history, but that infinitely understates the problem and does his deeds such a disservice, since they are so many and varied. That is to say, horrific.

But the point is that atheists do worse at proving God doesn't exist than believers do at showing he does, so it's perhaps fortunate that non-believes don't have to prove anything. And if believers are right, I wouldn't expect to be looking at an all-just, all-good guy when judgment day arrives.

But hope springs eternal, so I sure hope I'm wrong.

Dominoes vobiscum, and let them fall where they may.

OK, so everyone knows there's not a sliver of proof that God exists, but I still respect religious people whose beliefs are sincerely held. I mean, they're under no obligation to subject those beliefs to any logical test, and whatever helps get through life is fine by me.

So I came across a discussion yesterday titled: Why do people not believe in God?

Which eventually prompted me to ask how some of those people managed to dress themselves.

True, I don't believe in God, but I'm not an atheist. In fact, I detest those atheists who smugly think they know something - i.e. that there's nothing.  Even worse are those who get hostile about it. Isn't it sobering enough to realize that even if you're right, you don't get to gloat? And that if you're wrong... well, is there gloating in heaven? Either way, you may never know. That's why Pascal thought everyone should believe - because it's better to be safe than sorry.

All well and good except that if you do that, how can you live with yourself today - much less for eternity?.

But in fact, I called myself an atheist years ago when I wanted to get the door-knockers all charged up. I stopped when I tired of being a hypocrite - about the same time, I stopped answering the doorbell.

Anyway, I eventually ended up starting a thread asking if God might, in fact, be Satan?

Seems simple enough to me: would YOU create a mess like this? And then not only allow the suffering, but initiate it? Not to mention, would you be petty enough to screw Adam because Eve was a dumb bitch?

And what's up with Jesus? If he came today and told people he was planning to die for our sins, what kind of reception would he get? Or would he simply be committed? And another thing, why did he choose to come when he did? He couldn't wait a few thousand years for YouTube? Or did he purposely want to avoid videotape and 24hr. cable news? "Jesus turns bread into seafood, film at eleven!" Big deal, I think Morningstar Farms can do that too now.

Besides, there's no way Jesus could die on the cross today. Amnesty International would be all over it if for no other reason than they'd want to nip Christianity in the bud. At best he'd get a lethal injection, but what if he only got life in prison?