My EDAR Pledge

I'm in a weight loss pool this holiday season. We weigh in on the 19th. I'm the odds on favorite to win because I've loss a bunch of weight. The prize is $500. If I win, I plan to donate my winning to EDAR {Everyone Deserves A Roof), which is one of the coolest things I've seen in years. It is a rain proof, wind proof, tent attached to a shopping cart type frame. The perfect gift of homeless Los Angelino.

The LA Times has a great article with an heart warming video. Check it out, Upgrading from a cardboard box for the homeless.

The idea of a mobile, single-person shelter popped to mind.

Samuelson sponsored a contest at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena to design his "widget."

Eric Lindeman and Jason Zasa took the honors, with a mobile shopping cart-like apparatus. The cart features bins to hold cans, bottles and other recyclables collected by day. It folds out to create a sleeping platform, topped by a canvas cover with zippers and windows.

$500 produces a complete unit. If you are interested you can donate here.

Related articles

• Pop-up mini-shelter for homeless people
• EDAR - Everyone Deserves A Roof, Everyone

Technorati tags: Homelessness, EDAR, Charity

Pastor can post bail

One day I will run out of titles for my Hypocrisy Watch posts. Until then, pastor can post bail...

A community activist who ran for Congress from prison, where he had been sent for warning that a judge could be tortured by God, can post bond while he appeals his conviction, an appeals court has ruled.

I am willing to bet that pastor Edward Pinkney leans toward being a nutball. After looking at his case, I cannot figure out what Pinkney did wrong. He did not threaten a judge, he just said that God was going to punish the judge with curses, fever, and extreme burning. I'm don't see the harm here. It sounds like the exercise of free speech to me... well nutball crazy free speech anyway. The judge should have laughed this crap off. Extreme burning, what the hell is that anyway?

Watch Pinkney on YouTube.

Unfortunately, Edward Pinkney is not Edward Coote Pinkney.

( I remember reading this poem to my great grandmother)

ALAS! our pleasant moments fly

On rapid wings away,

While those recorded with a sigh,

Mock us by long delay.

Time,--envious time,--loves not to be

In company with mirth,

But makes malignant pause to see

The work of pain on earth.

Science is good, but science is scary too

Do I really want a scientist to reconstruct an image from my brain? Well yes and no. I mean, it would be cool to pull images out of my head, or out the head my friend (you know who you are Richard). But seriously, what if some evil scientist developes a machine that would allow your wife to see what is really going on inside your head? What if she used it while you were dreaming? Yikes!

Science is so cool.

I'm going to ask my son to read the source article to tell me if this is real or not.

Not guilty - just insane

If i were arrested for breaking into my ex wife's house and beating the snot out of her, somehow I think this bug ugly atheist would end up in prison. Of course, I could alway plead insanity like pastor Ted Pierce. It might not work... Atheism is a rational decision.

McLean County Judge Robert Frietag on Wednesday ordered The Rev. Ted Pierce to continue receiving outpatient mental health treatment but released him.

Pierce, who is 47, was charged with aggravated battery, domestic battery and criminal trespass after allegedly forcing his way into Laura Pierce's home in July 2006, shoving her onto a bed and threatening her. The couple were separated.

There is no justice in the world.

Pastor arrested in assult case

A few questions always spring to mind when I read these types of posts. How does a man who is 23 years of age become a "gifted pastor"?

The director of outreach ministries at Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford was arrested Tuesday on third-degree assault and disorderly conduct charges. Frederick L. Ward, 23, of 15 Bates St., was arrested after an incident near 18 Bates St. about 10:20 p.m. A police spokesman said details of what happened were not immediately available.

I know some poor soul out there attends Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford. Can you tell me what seminary he study out. Or what university he attended? I read these stories and think, "how dumb is that"? A 23-year-old has little wisdom as wisdom comes with age. A 23-year-old has little experience as experience come from actually working. An a 23-year-old has all the same impulse control issues as other 23-year-males. That is too say, impulse control is a challenge. So... Why are we surprised when they get arrested for assault? I'm never surprised anymove.

Quote of the day

This gem arrived by email.

Religions are not revealed: they are evolved. If a religion were revealed by God, that religion would be perfect in whole and in part, and would be as perfect at the first moment of its revelation as after ten thousand years of practice. There has never been a religion that which fulfills those conditions. -Robert Blatchford, author (1851-1943)

Others watch bad pastors too

Hicktown Press covers bad pastors from a Christian perspective. It is a pet peeve of mine that more Christians do not do the same thing. When I find one reporting on a bad pastor, I feel compelled to pass it along. Besides, I've been reading this blog for about a year now. It's pretty good if you can get past the conservative bias. Oh... and the whole Christian thing.

This post is about former Baptist pastor and convicted pedophile Robert Reaves. He murdered the girlfriend of his roommate in a jealous rage. Don’t skip the comments.

Technorati tags: Clergy Sexual Misconduct

Things I want our new president to address

President Elect Obama has a full plate. The country is a mess. We are fighting two wars. Our economy is in the worst state I can remember. And, our reputation as a nation is at an all time low. Yet there are some things that need to be fixed simply because they are just wrong. Like the erosion of personal liberties caused by our massive and misguided overreaction to 911. We lack innocent people up for trivial offensives. These people are not a threat to the United States. Why do we treat people like this? It reminds me of the Red Scare of the 1950’s where everybody is under suspicion.

Paul Clements sits in immigration prison because we are idiots. Let common sense prevail. Stop the Department of Homeland Security from enforcing mindless rules. Nothing is life should be black and white. Binary responses to difficult security questions are adopted when those who rule do not trust those who enforce our laws. My hope is that our new President will see the shortcomings created during the incompetence of the Bush Administration, and fix DHS.

Blogroll Update: We grow, but blogrolling sucks

The Atheist Blogroll has grown to 870 active members. I like seeing the new members. It amazes me that so many people continue to start blogging. Ahd that so many new atheist bloggers keep joining our little community.

Unfortunately, we are stuck with Blogrolling.com. Their website offers this suckfest from Nov 18. They promise another update sometime Thursday. Of course, they did not mention which Thursday… It could be some Thursday in December (they missed November already). It could be some Thursday in 2009. How do they expect people to trust them if they cannot even publish simple status updates.

The thing is, blogrolling.com officially sucks ass. So does their parent company Tucows.  It’s been months since the service went down, and still nothing. Plus the service was spotty at best ever since Tucows bought it back in 2994. They cabbit even put together a simple update. So what is the story? Is blogrolling coming back as V2, or is blogrolling dead?  Do I need to find another service, or can I trust you with the future of the Atheist Blogroll?

I have no faith is this company, no faith at all.

Alvin – if you read this post, it is time we pool our collective resources and make our own blogrolling tool. I mean, how hard can it be? It’s not rocket science. Plus, we’ve made much more sophisticated software together (several times).  What do you say?

Technorati tags: The Atheist Blogroll, Atheism, Blogging, Blogrolling.com, Tucows

A fellow atheist

I spoke with my long lost High School friend this evening for the first time in at least 15 years (see the Fish Heads post). I was a little nervous about the call. I've lost a few friends over the years because I'm an Atheist. I did not want the same thing to happen again. I warned him about my blog in an email and asked that he not take offence. I was hoping for the best as the call started. I need not have worries.

Jon was confused. He remembered me as a Christian, but not as an atheist. When I explained my history and why I write Deep Thoughts, he added that he too was an atheist.

And all is right with the world...

Technorati tags: Atheism

My muse is sleeping

Guess where I'm going tomorrow? I am visiting the Museum of Latin American Art to see Photoshopping and more. With a two hour one way commute and and no free time during daylight hours, my creative muse has been killed by daylight savings time. I figure a little time with some local photographers looking at a new art exhibit may be just the trick.  I’ll post a review after the visit.

Technorati tags: Molaa, Photography, Art

Fish Heads

Wow – I found my best friend from High School on the internet a few minutes ago. Jon Zamarin was a great guy when I knew him. I’ve lost track of him over the years. I’ve tried to find him, but it seems that I always misspelled his last name, which should come as no surprise to the readers of this blog.

I named my first son after Jon. He was special, gifted musically and extremely intelligent.  I look back at the years we spent together as some of the most import of my young life.  My son will be married in a few months, it is only fitting that I let my old friend Jon know what is going on.

I found Jon by random chance. I clicked on a picture of a fish on a random blog and landed on a old school website. I noticed the picture and said, “Is that Jon?” It was. What the hell are the chances? Check out his website,  Fish Heads

I know where he got the name for his website. When we were young lads, we would listen to Dr. Demento on KMET. I can still picture him singing Fish Heads by Art & Art Barnes. 

Why do Catholics hate Gays?

Hate comes in many forms. There is the outright bigotry of Prop 8, and then there is the subtle effort to create or maintain a hostile environment. In this case, the Catholic Church opposes a United Nations plan to introduce protection for gays facing the death penalty in countries charges where homosexuality is illegal. Their reason, it might hurt traditional marriage. I'm not kidding...

This week the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations, said the Holy See would oppose a resolution that would protect gays from being killed, just because they are gay because it would "add new categories of those protected from discrimination" and could lead to reverse discrimination against traditional heterosexual marriage.

Source: Queers United: Catholic Church Against Making Gay Death Penalty Illegal

The original source for the story can be found here.

I don’t get it. Why would anyone buy into this crap. It’s hate rapped in a shroud of saccharine love.

Artwork by Jeber 

Related articles by Zemanta

• Vatican vs. The U.N.
• Benedict's Defensive Crouch
• Vatican wants gays to be criminals -- and apparently think it's okay when nations execute gays
• Catholic hypocrisy...of course

Technorati tags: Gay Rights, Catholicism, United Nations, Death Penalty

Reddit: Non-theist charities

Somebody had a good idea. Use the collective power of Reddit to build a list of non-theist charities. I plan to steal liberally from the list for another post. In the mean time, if you know of any charities that qualify, add them to the Reddit list or add a comment to this post.

Technorati tags: Charity, Atheism

Hypocrisy comes in many guises

Image via Wikipedia

My least favorite is the fat cat pastor who lives off his church. Like First AME pastor John J. Hunter. This is what he had to say when confronted over a three year $100K spending spree financed by church credit cards.

I may owe [the IRS] some money, but I absolutely have never done anything criminal," Hunter said. "I have nothing to hide. To the extent I have any responsibility, I have fully embraced it and all of these matters have been addressed.

He already had problems with the IRS. What’s $300k in back taxes and penalties? Nothing to be concerned about people, move along… And then there are the same allegation from his previous church in Seattle. Again, nothing to worry about…

Where are the criminal charges? Why is he still a pastor? How is this behavior allowed to flourish over the years? Where is the moral outrage?

Allegations of financial mismanagement have dogged the pastor since his tenure at First AME Church in Seattle from 1998 to 2004. More than 30 Seattle church members formed a "Save Our Church" committee to protest what they alleged were improper charges on church credit cards and tax evasion by Hunter. In a series of 2005 interviews, Hunter dismissed the allegations and categorically denied any wrongdoing.

"There's nobody who's a leader who doesn't have enemies," the Boston University Law School graduate said at the time. "You have to make decisions. You can take the easy road, or you can take the right road."

No… It’s played off as his enemies are trying to bring him down. He can’t even take responsibility for his own actions by saying he knew spending church funds on personal items was wrong.

I guess it’s all ok because he runs a big church and… you know, them pastors are men of god and all.

Technorati tags: First AME, Hypocrisy