Monthly Archives: March, 2008
Quote for the day
“We are turning into a nation of whimpering slaves to Fear — fear of war, fear of poverty, fear of random terrorism, fear of getting down-sized or fired because of the plunging economy, fear of getting evicted for bad debts, or suddenly getting locked up in a military detention camp on vague charges of being [...]
Ben Stein Wins Money from Intelligent Design Community
My appreciation for the absurd has been taxed to the limit with the following press release;
Ben Stein, known for his lead role in the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and his Comedy Central show Win Ben Stein’s Money, believes in liberty and truth. In recognition of this, Biola University’s masters in science and religion program [...]
Bakunin’s thoughts on religion
The first revolt is against the supreme tyranny of theology, of the phantom of God. As long as we have a master in heaven, we will be slaves on earth.
– Mikhail Bakunin, God and the State (1871), quoted from The Columbia Dictionary Of Quotations
People go to church for the same reasons they go to a [...]
Two reasons more people believe in gods than aliens
These may not be the only reasons more people believe in gods than aliens, but they’re the most obvious to me.
Since we have as much supporting evidence for the existence of aliens as we do gods, you’d think both would be equally embraced. Yet they aren’t, because…
…our interest in the possibility of life elsewhere in [...]
The Whack-A-Mole Method of Ending Hate In Our Time
Originally submitted to David Farber’s Interesting People mailing list:
Clearly whatever it is that Dutch politician Geert Wilders wants to talk
about in his film is going to be the end of the internet. The news that
Network Solutions decided to pre-empt his use of a domain name registered
through them for the purpose of promoting his [...]
Internet company suspends politician’s website over Qur’an film
Have the terrorists won yet?
An American internet company has inactivated the website of a Dutch right-wing politician, who was planning to release a critical film about the Qur’an, the Islamic holy book, on the site.
Network Solutions announced late Saturday that it had suspended the site, www.fitnathemovie, as the company assesses whether it contravenes its “acceptable use [...]
Time magazine invents facts to claim that Americans support Bush’s domestic spying abuses
Glenn Greenwald, in a Salon.com opinion piece, provides a refutation of the points in the previous Time article. While he doesn’t challenge the underlying premise that the U.S. government is acting in ways detrimental to and incompatible with our Constitution, he does question the conclusion Time reached, that Americans just don’t care.
[...]
Do Americans Care About Big Brother?
Via Time Magazine online:
A quick tally of the record of civil liberties erosion in the United States since 9/11 suggests that the majority of Americans are ready to trade diminished privacy, and protection from search and seizure, in exchange for the promise of increased protection of their physical security. Polling consistently supports that conclusion, and [...]
Atheists and free thinkers on Twitter, FriendFeed
Twitter and FriendFeed are becoming popular ways for like-minded people to communicate and keep in touch.
So how many of you use those services? It would be cool to share our usernames and build a network of atheist and free thinking folk. You may also want to check out Twhirl as a Twitter desktop [...]
Playing with memes
I just heard a TV ad for a clothing store that repeats the phrase “Family Values” several times. Ostensibly they’re referring to values (savings) for the whole family.
On another level, they’re parroting a phrase popular in society. That some customers might associate this store with a religious right catchphrase that appears to imply [...]
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