Martin Luther; The Man, The Myth, The Creationist

Here’s an interesting article which attempts to disprove the theory of evolution in favor of intelligent design by showing that Martin Luther rejected evolution and would only accept the account of creation found in the book of Genesis.

Scripture deals with major aspects for both the visible and invisible parts of creation. Scripture therefore is a greater authority than science, he argued. Martin Luther’s grasp of the scientific method was far ahead of his time.

While it would be almost impossible to count the flaws in this argument, the two most glaring ones are:

1. Darwin would publish his Origins of Species 342 years after Luther nailed his thesis on the doors of the church.

2. If we could cite the scientific ideas of any age as proof of natural phenomenon today, the earth would still be flat, doctors would still be ‘bleeding’ patients, and all of the technology of today wouldn’t exist.

It must be weird to want something to be true so badly that you’re willing to lie, cheat, and ignore logic so blatantly. But if that’s what makes them happy, who am I to argue?

Video Game Violence Kills Scores in Minnesota

A federal judge has thrown out a pending Minnesota law that would fine minors for buying mature rated video games.  I’m sure Hilary Clinton and Joe Lieberman are furious – which amuses me.  Attorney General Mike Hatch did a job showcasing the kind of backward thinking that lead to this law’s conception:

There’s been some pretty good evidence that children who use these excessively violent video games really learn inappropriate behavior and they’re rewarded for inappropriate behavior – how many people do you kill and things like that.

See how he subtly slipped from talking about about the inappropriate behavior of some children to talking about video games rewarding players for inappropriate behavior?  It’s like he was trying to say that in real life, children are rewarded for inappropriate behavior, or that in video games children have to learn inappropriate behavior before they’re rewarded for it. 

I think that blurring the line between inappropriate behavior in the game and inappropriate behavior in real life is something that must be avoided.  And yet that seems to be the only argument the proponents of the bill can make.  Maybe the problem is that they can’t see the difference between fantasy and reality – not that the children can’t.

The Answers are in Genesis – The Truth However . . .

My new favorite website, http://www.answersingenesis.org, has a great FAQ section about the bible, and genesis in particular.  I was flipping through channels on TV and stopped briefly on one of those religious channels where a preacher was talking about Noah’s ark and had a scale drawing of it showing the ark, the humans, and the dinosaurs that were on it. . . Here’s what answersingenesis.org has to say about it:

Furthermore, not all dinosaurs were huge like the Brachiosaurus, and even those dinosaurs on the Ark were probably “teenagers” or young adults.

Well, they’ve convinced me!  I think the very idea of ‘bull shit’ came around about the same time that fundamentalist Christians came about.  No doubt I’ll have more gems from answersingenesis.org soon.

Link.

The Easter Groundhog

“Easter is the day that Jesus came out of his tomb, saw his shadow, and promised us 2000 more years of war.”

Quote of the day, by Drew

Coulter on Race Relations

Watch this video and feel sad that such hate mongering is allowed to go on (intellectually, not physically).  “We need oil.  Why not go to war just for oil?”  Oh Ann . . . I need you to stop polluting the minds of frightened Americans . . . does that mean you think I should kill you?  And as far as her theory on racial profiling goes . . . I wish there was a time in American history that we could’ve learned that racism wasn’t good for anyone.  I have to admit though, I do use racial profiling on a daily basis.  Whenever I see some white woman approach a microphone I run like hell.

The Minimum Wage and the Millionaires Saved

The Republicans are up to their old tricks again, this time attaching a tax break for millionaires to a bill that would increase the minimum wage.  This way the bill gets defeated and they can say that they tried.  I’d like a Republican to respond to a question asked by Rep. Steve LaTourette (R) who asked, “How can you defend $5.15 an hour in today’s economy?”  That’s a good question.  Link.

Why Sally . . . What are you doing with that DVD?!?!?!

Whose fault is it that more than 13 percent of Timken’s girls are with child? Some would say fault-finding isn’t a fruitful exercise, but in this case, it’s critical. Suspects range from movies, TV and video games to lazy parents and lax discipline. Only one thing is sure: Schools don’t impregnate children.

Joystiq has a link to this Op-Ed piece from the Canton Rep.  The thing the author fails to explain however is why so many young girls are having unprotected sex with digital media. . .

Mother Russia Rain Down Down Down

BoingBoing has a link to a great gallery of photos taken in a defunct underground Soviet submarine base turned museum. I don’t know why but I find things like this fascinating.

Above the Law

On Feb. 6, 2006, Jessie Lee Williams, Jr., a 40-year-old black man in a Southern Mississippi jail, was allegedly hooded and hog-tied by police, beaten about the head and testicles and ultimately died from blunt injuries to the head.

The coroner determined the death was a homicide. The local sheriff indicated law enforcement agencies were investigating and that the individual targeted by the investigation is “no longer employed by the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department.”

Despite the fact that the beating was videotaped, no arrests have been made.

Those who seek power often do so because they want to abuse it. That’s why the best people to be police, politicians, and soldiers are often those that don’t want the job. It’s also why there needs to be heavy outside oversight of all police departments in the United States.

Link to the story.

The Terrorist Quota

A local news station here in Denver has an article about air marshals putting innocent people on their “watch list” because they must meet a quota.  An internal memo said that each marshal is expected to turn in at least one report per month.  Another said:

There may come an occasion when you just don’t see anything out of the ordinary for a month at a time, but I’m sure that if you are looking for it, you’ll see something.

Is it just me or is that a really scary thing for a federal agency to say.  They find things because they want to find them, not because they’re there.  When did the liberties of innocent citizens take back seat to near totalitarian rule?  The worst damage the terrorists who flew those planes into the World Trade Center did was to make us afraid of everyone and everything – so afraid that we’d let our civil liberties(what this country should be most proud of) be taken away.

Logic, Reason, and Christianity

If one were to type in the phrase “christian statistics” into Google you would find none other than this very site as the number 4 result.  That phrase is responsible for the most visits to this site each day.  A lot of people have said to me, “Mitchell – why do you hate the Christians?”  So let’s clear some things up right now.

First – I do not, in fact, hate the Christians (well, at least no more than I hate everyone else).  What upsets me is the place that religious beliefs have taken in today’s society.  Religious beliefs are too respected to be put under intellectual scrutiny.  Logic, reason, and intellectualism occupy one place in our society, and they reign over everything else.  They dictate everything from how we make laws to why we put our socks on before we put on our shoes.  But today religious beliefs are on the same level as logic, reason, and intellectualism.

Putting faith on this level means that a person can believe or do anything and have absolutely no accountability.  Accountability is a result of logic, reason, and intellectualism.  Imagine what would happen if people could believe logically irrational things and use those beliefs to say, run a country.  Think of the consequences.  Very large parts of our population might be, say, denied the right to marry.  We might sign a virtual death certificate for thousands of Americans by denying research on stem cells because of an irrational belief that an embryo is a living human being.  Sounds like a pretty screwed up society right?

My point is that people have the right to believe whatever they want to believe.  But when a person starts using those beliefs as the basis for action then it becomes the concern for all of us.  If something you do or believe affects the society your actions and beliefs should be held under the same scrutiny as would those of an atheist.

Lieberman the Republocrat

Joseph Lieberman recently enjoyed the support of former president Clinton. Joseph Lieberman supports civil unions but is against same sex marriage. He voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act – which if nothing else proves he is a bigot and makes his support of civil unions pretty meaningless. The HRC endorsed him in 2006 which given his mixed voting record is quite the surprise. Sure, he’s no Rick Santorum but that doesn’t mean he’s open minded.

He’s in favor of the death penalty and has even voted in favor of applying it to minors. Together with Hilary Clinton he’s tried to censor main stream media. Video games, he believes, are responsible for teenage violence.

Lieberman also believes that religious hospitals that refuse to give contraceptives to rape victims shouldn’t be required to do so. That’s cute.

So, if this man ever runs for President . . . dear god don’t let him win.

Today’s Bombing Brought to You by the United States!

The US has reportedly shipped a large number of munitions in a hurry to Israel. 

The munitions are part of a sales package approved last year, the officials said. But some military officers said the request for expedited delivery was unusual and indicated that Israel has many targets it plans to hit in Lebanon.

In a conflict as muddled as the one in the Middle East I think it is very dangerous to so blatantly take sides.  Providing any government the means to kill innocent civilians will only result in more and more people angry with the United States.  It seems to me that we wouldn’t have all the problems with terrorism that we’re told we have if we would just stop pissing so many people off – let’s face it; if you were in the shoes of a lot of these people, you’d hate us too.

The US claims to be a peace loving nation – but we’re still the number one arms trader in the world.  We have the largest nuclear arsenal in the world and tell other countries they can’t have them.  We sell bombs to country A and tell country B they should find a diplomatic solution.  I think the US needs to analyze its place in the international community.  Right now we’re like the Catholic priest who preaches goodness but molests little boys in the confessional.  We need to practice what we preach.  Even if I don’t agree with what we preach – at least putting an end to the hypocrisy would be a start.

Link to article from Aljazeera.net.

Voting Rights Act Extended

Another public opinion poll from The Onion:

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate approved a 25-year extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which protected the voting rights of African Americans. What do you think?

Alex Kline,
Systems Analyst
“Are you telling me this issue was actually up for debate? Who are these people running my country and what color are they?”

Where is the line drawn? 49.9% Apparently

There’s an environmental case going on somewhere in Nebraska.  My inside sources say that the defending lawyers argued (while no press were present) that unless half of the affected population dies they shouldn’t be held responsible.  They also say that the victims can’t testify to what they were diagnosed with because the diagnosis are ‘heresay’.

Nothing like good old fashioned American accountability.