Thursday, December 27, 2007
Feed the Muse - Willy Ronis
Culture Wars Fought on Digg
Digg is a great source for news. I find and follow stories under my Mojoey moniker. Digg spy turned me on to the Pink and Blue Project, Everyone's cool with it, says dope smokers, and America's Most Literate Cites, 2007 (Buena Park is not on the list). What caught my attention today was a World Nut Daily post attacking the Canadian judicial system. On Digg, the comment threads are often more entertaining than the articles they link to. In this case, Bible standards attacked in Canadian "bastardized courts" fights the gay/anti-gay culture war in a series of comments that make you shake your head in wonder. As I post this, there are 272 comments in the thread ranging from hate filled screeds to hilarious sarcasm.
How about the multitude of events prophesied in the Old Testament that eventually came true as documented centuries later? The Bible does indeed prove its own Truth. If you want to dispute this, you would have to discredit hundreds of historians and archaeologists.
Politicians gone wild! Who believes Congress and the Courts are protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States? This Country is in a clear and present danger of it's own government. If the people will not do something now then when , if ever? Evil men will wax worse. They call this civilization, I say we never left the jungle, and the only rule according to the power elite is winner take all. Truth be known a high percentage of the power elite are queer.
It gets worse, except for some exceptionally bright people who interject critical thinking into the discussion. They give me hope while at the same time I scratch my head and wonder at the stupidity of the haters - In this case, Christian haters. Their fanatical anti-gay hatred is something I will never understand.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Review: HBO - Hard as Nails
I waited a few days after my first post on Hard as Nails to post a review. I wanted to separate my negative emotional response to this documentary from my rational response. You see, this documentary, and its subject, Justin Fatica, touched on something primeval in me. It stirred hatred, and hatred is something I prefer not to harbor. I failed. I could not get over Fatica. He scares me.
As documentaries go, Hard as Nails is a good one. It tells the story of lay catholic pastor Justin Fatica and his Hard as Nails ministry in a convincing and disturbing way. I enjoyed it. At one point I said to myself, this is the kind of documentary I would like to make (if I had gone to film school and actually had talent in this area). It was Justin Fatica who pissed me off, the documentary was great.
Justin Fatica is a bully. I hate bullies - even bullies for Jesus. I watched as he berated children, even simulating the crucifixion on unsuspecting participants. The yelling reminded me of boot camp - it was designed for the same purpose. Break them down so they could be molded into something else, like solders for Christ.
Justin Fatica is a nutball. I don't want him anyplace close to my children or family. If I were a parent witnessing his harassing tirades, I would punch this guy in the nose... twice. I don't care if he has big muscles built as a penance for his sinful masturbation. He still gets a punch in the nose.
In the 70s, when I was a "troubled teen", the tactics were more subtle, but no less insidious. My youth pastor would work us week after week on issue like masturbation, premarital sex, rock music, dancing, books, and even associating with non-Christian kids. It was enough to make me angry at the time. I did not need advice from these guys, few of us did. Fatica pounds the message home by yelling in the faces of his captive audience until he triggers the inevitable emotional breakdown. Once he cracks the shell, he dives in for more. His methods reminiscent of vaudeville, pro-wrestling, and military mind control all aimed and inflicting the maximum emotional distress on at risk children - night after night a church near you. Where are your kids?
Fatica has no credibility. I doubt he would have any credibility with the kids he preaches to if they knew of his silver spoon upbringing. take the 5,000 square foot home on a lake where his every need was taken care of. The "troubled" young Fatica was a spoiled brat at the end of his schoolyard influence with few prospects. Now the power of Jesus fills him - and he is utterly pathetic. If this is what his brand of religion is, I want no part of it.
I know a few people like Justin. They are ignoble, misguided and socially stunted. They embrace religion with a fervor not seen since the crusades. They focus on religion to the exclusion of all else. They ultimately fail at everything they touch except religion.
Justin Fatica is a scary man. I hereby christen him a nutball.
David Holbrooke deserves an award for his work. I don't know how it is possible to treat a subject like this fairly. My guess is that there was much worse footage left of on the cutting room floor. If you are reading David, may I suggest you choose James Dobson as your next subject?
Technorati tags: Movie Review, Reviews, Hard as Nails, Justin Fatica, Catabolism, David Holbrooke, nutballs
Blogroll Update: Archaeoporn
2007 is winding down. The Atheist Blogroll has grown from about 100 blogs to nearly 550. It has been a good year. I can no longer keep up with reading all the blogs on our blogroll. My guess is that we post at least a thousand posts per day (it seems that way anyway). The latest blog to join is Archaeoporn. Thadd Nelson is the author.
In his own words:
Archaeoporn looks at the misuse of archaeology, with a specific focus on its ties to religious belief and agendas. Articles also cover archaeology news, information on looting, politics, and atheism.
Sample Post:
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
A question for the heathen masses
My 26 year old son recently finished his first hardcore science fiction novel, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. He asked for a recommendation for his next read. I need to set the Sci-Fi hook. My recommendations are:
- Isaac Asimov - Foundation Trilogy
- Robert Heinlein - Starship Troopers
- Joe Haldeman - The Forever War
- William Gibson - Neuromancer
- Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon
- Alfred Bester - The Stars My Destination
- Phillip K. Dick - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
- Jack Chalker - Dancers in the Afterglow
- Tim Powers - Dinner at Deviant's Palace
- Niven & Pournelle - Lucifer's Hammer
It is important to me that my son continue on his Sci-Fi education. I've read nearly everything published in the genre, as has my wife. This list is my favorites. I would like to hear your recommendations and/or critiques. What are your Top 10 Sci-Fi books?
Monday, December 24, 2007
A story from my day - One
I played an early morning round of disc golf at El Dorado Park early this bight Christmas eve morning. For those of you in cold places, it was bight and sunny. I wore shorts and a t-shirt with a dose of sun screen for good measure. It was a perfect Socal winter morning.
I played alone for the first few holes. I caught a threesome on the 6th hole. They asked me to play with them instead of allowing me to play through. They were young men, my guess was they were in their early 20s. They paid too much attention to me. My fundie senses tingled.
On the tee box they asked me if I was a Christian. I told them no, that I was an Atheist, and not interested in their faith. They wanted to talk, I wanted to walk. I did a quick calculation in my head and realized I would spend at least an hour with the guys. it was going to be a long morning.
I was playing well. I pared the 6th hole while they shot one or two over. They continued to pester me with questions. I asked if they had ever really played disc golf before. When they asked what believe in (since I did not believe in Jesus), I responded with "I believe in love, you know, like the U2 song One. I got a few blank looks. So I quoted the song:
One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other
The actually said "we only listen to Christian bands". When I told them U2 was a Christian band they laughed. I just shook my head. These guys were not only fundies, they were wearing blinders too. I told them that U2 and the song One carry the message of love as the higher power of "oneness". It is how I try to live my life. I try to love everybody. They did not understand how I could do it without Jesus. I... well I did not really care.
A few minutes later I got my first ever hole in one on the 9th hole. It was a very good day.
Happy Holidays everyone.
Friday, December 21, 2007
and the rest of the world laughed
Do you know how I know? When evangelical Christians glob on to an old testament reference to the number 35 and somehow come away with a Holy highway, is there need for further proof? This kind of "yuck yuck, I checked by brain in at the church door" crap can only happen here in America. Read it and weep.
A devout group of evangelical Christians in the Midwest are flocking to help purify a spot they believe the Bible has ordained as holy ground -- and it happens to be 1,500 miles of interstate asphalt.
Why the location?
According to CNN, the small contingent of churchgoers believe that Interstate 35, a sprawling highway running from Texas to Minnesota, is specifically mentioned in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 35.
Devout? more like demented.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Pastor charged with abuse
*** Update ****
Clayton Pruett is innocent. I'll publish an update when I have the full story.
*** Update ***
Another Baptist youth pastor has been arrested and charged with inappropriate sexual contact with a 15-year-old girl.
Clayton James Pruett, 25, allegedly had inappropriate sexual contact with the girl at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, where he serves as a youth pastor, said Lt. Detective Scotty McGaha of the Bullitt County sheriff's office...
...He was arrested after the girl and her mother told police that Pruett made inappropriate sexual advances toward the teen at Pleasant Grove Baptist, and that the behavior had continued for more than a year.
McGaha said the advances began when the girl was 14 and intensified after she turned 15. The worst offenses happened in July, he said. He declined to elaborate.
When will it end? Never! New pedophiles pastors pop up every other week or so. What is being done about it? Nothing!
Technorati tags: Clayton Pruett, Baptists, Pedophiles, pedophilia, child abuse, sexual abuse, clergy sexual abuse.
This man is crazy
Which man? why Mike Huckabee of course. How do I know? Andrew Sullivan told me so...
Again: you try and disentangle this. I can't. "Institutionally supported necrophilia"? The man is nuts.
Source: From Under Huckabee's Rock
I followed Sullivan's link back to the original article in Mother Jones. it was from a book review of Mike Huckabee's 1998 book Kids who Kill. I plucked this quote from the article.
He also declared that people who do not believe in God tend to be immoral and to engage in "destructive behavior."
Kids who kill is about:
In Kids Who Kill, Huckabee argued that school shootings were the product of a society in decline, a decline marked (and caused) by abortion, pornography, media violence, out-of-wedlock sex, divorce, drug use, and, of course, homosexuality. Huckabee and his coauthor bemoaned the "demoralization of America," observing, "Despite all our prosperity, pomp, and power, the vaunted American experiment in liberty seems to be disintegrating before our very eyes."
At least he did not argue that the shooting were God's wrath on a sinful nation (although I am sure that is what he thinks).
New Jersey ends capital punishment
America took a small step forward today. After our giant steps backward under Bush, this small achievement is cause for calibration. Thank you citizens of New Jersey - you give me a small measure of hope.
Today Governor Jon Corzine signed into law a bill that ends capital punishment in New Jersey. "This is a day of progress for us and for the millions of people across our nation and around the globe who reject the death penalty as a moral or practical response to the grievous, even heinous, crime of murder," Corzine said. In a powerful and eloquent speech delivered Monday morning, the Governor thanked advocacy groups for their hard and courageous work in creating "a fundamental grass roots groundswell that put pressure on those of us in public service to stand up and do the right thing."
Read More....
Now - let's take a look at Texas.
Technorati tags: Capital Punishment, New Jersey
Blogroll Update: Our Freedom of Espresso
I love the name of this blog, Our Freedom of Espresso. Jersey has offered an introduction.
In her own words:
Just like Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, and the rest of the major religions, adherents to atheism and its non-theistic cousins come in a variety of colors and shades. As is, coffee and coffeehouse have long been associated with the freethinkers' movement, giving rise to democracy, freemasonry, humanism, separation of church and state, both the New York and London Stock Exchange, and the not-as-important things like tipping, social gatherings without the presence of alcohol, and $5 coffee drinks.
As secularism and non-theism rise as dominant forces in the Western world, these forces clash with established traditions and religions who long have had an unrestrained hold on our culture and society. "Our Freedom of Espresso" hopes to be a blog about showing the benefits of freethinking and skepticism, while trying to show that there are as well many positions between atheism and theism that many blogs do not seem to show.
I love espresso - thick and strong like it is made in Italy. Yummy!
Enjoy!
Blogroll Update: Five Public Opinions
I am behind in my maintenance on the the Atheist Blogroll. I plan to catchup tonight. Five Public Opinions joined our blogroll a few months ago. Now that this outstanding blog has moved from blogspot to wordpress, an introduction is in order. Enjoy!
In his own words:
Suffice it to say: while I have always been an atheist, Five Public Opinions has not always been an atheist blog, if you take my meaning. It evolved in this direction out of a growing interest in the hybridisation of religion and politics both in Australia and in the US, and the ramifications of this hybridisation for science and education (e.g. the ID debate) as well as liberal democracy (e.g. discrimination against non-heterosexuals and same-sex couples). In the course of many fruitful (and even some fruitless) online exchanges I have come to identify myself as an agnostic atheist–the kind of atheist that Richard Dawkins would term a “Level 6.” I am yet to be convinced that a move further along the scale towards “Level 7″ is warranted.
And here is a sample post:
Another troubling Huckabee clemency
Hot Air has an interesting piece on a questionable Huckabee clemency. It seems he grated special treatment to a donor.
Much discussed lately is Gov. Mike Huckabees incredible record on issuing clemencies more than 1,000 of them during his 10 years as governor. National Review and MSNBC are both reporting on a suspicious one involving an evidently incorrigible DWI convict who just happens to donate lots of money both to the AR GOP and to Baptist causes in the state. That the story is coming from both a liberal and a conservative outlet at roughly the same time suggests to me that its being fed to the press by a rival campaign, but nevertheless, if the facts are as reported, it doesn't look good for Huckabee
Read More...Another troubling Huckabee clemency
I cannot keep track of Huckabee's character issues. I'll have to make a post with a list of problems. Did I mention that this guy cannot become our next president?
Monday, December 17, 2007
Question of the day
How does this help the cause?
A teenager was arrested after a leader of the Church of Satan turned over to the FBI an e-mail the high school student had written to the sect in which he threatened to kill his grandparents, authorities said.
Source: News from The Associated Press
The Church of Satan is an Atheist Organization.
Gilmore said members of his group are atheists who believe Satan is a symbol of freedom, not evil. "To the Satanist, he is his own God," reads a statement on the group's Web site from Gilmore.
Can somebody tell me how associating Atheism with Satan helps promote the cause of Atheism? I don't get it.
Technorati tags: Atheism, Church of Satan
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