1. Workers' Religious Freedom vs. Patients' Rights

Comment #222724 by DuckPhup on July 31, 2008 at 7:33 pm

""In general, the Department is concerned that the development of an environment in the health care industry that is intolerant of certain religious beliefs, ethnic and cultural traditions, and moral convictions may discourage individuals from underrepresented and diverse backgrounds from entering health care professions," the document states."

Oh, swell... they want to make sure that morons do not get offended by knowledge and reason.

2. Islam subway ads cause stir in New York

Comment #216399 by DuckPhup on July 23, 2008 at 6:19 am

Of course, it would then be appropriate to accompany those with some OTHER signs...

jihad?
suicide bombing?
stoning?
beheading?

You deserve to know... www.killtheinfidels.com

3. The Boundaries of Belief

Comment #205411 by DuckPhup on July 7, 2008 at 8:45 am

An 'atheist' is a person who... by definition... does not believe that god(s) exist. So, Pew's finding that 21% of atheists believe in god(s) is just plain ridiculous. It is the very same thing as saying that 21% of the people who do NOT believe that god(s) exist, DO BELIEVE that god(s) exist.

IF a person says that he is an 'atheist' AND that he "believes in god", THEN that person is NOT an atheist... that person is a dumbass.

The proper way to cast such a result is NOT to say that x% of atheists believe in god... it is to say that y% of god-believers are such dumbasses that they think they are atheists.

(NOTE: Survey's ALSO reveal that around 20% of christians think that the sun revolves around the earth. I wonder if they're the same one who think they are atheists?)

4. God hates Mars

Comment #199605 by DuckPhup on June 26, 2008 at 4:09 am

"If god had intended for us to fly in space, he would have given us more money." - NASA engineer (jokingly)

5. We Urgently Need Your Help Now!!

Comment #196240 by DuckPhup on June 19, 2008 at 1:46 pm

Well... I submitted my 2-cents worth to the gov...

Dear Governor Jindal,

I understand that you are prepared to sign SB 733 into law. Should you do this, you will have been instrumental in making Louisiana a laughing-stock throughout the country and throughout the whole world... for all of future history.

I would hate to see that happen... but I... and tens of thousands of others like me, including virtually ALL of the world's most eminent scientists and educators... will diligently work to MAKE that happen, should this underhanded and subversive effort of the Discovery Institute and the creationist community succeed.

[Creation Science / Intelligent Design] "… is an attempt to give credibility to Hebrew mythology by making people believe that the world's foremost biologists, paleontologists, and geologists are a bunch of incompetent nincompoops." ~ Ron Peterson

Here's the thing that you must deal with. If you overlook and ignore all of Discovery Institute's misrepresentations, pseudoscience, distortions, deceptions, sophistry and outright lies, you still must be able to explain to the world how you reconcile the following:

In order to qualify as valid and 'scientific', a theory MUST...

... have explanatory power

... have predictive power

... be falsifiable

'Creation science' / creationism / 'intelligent design'... possesses only ONE of those THREE mandatory properties. It has tremendous explanatory power. Tremendous because it not only purports to explain what evolution explains... it also purports to explain what physics explains... what cosmology explains... what chemistry explains... what biology explains... what quantum theory explains... what genetics explains. Essentially, it purports to explain EVERYTHING... and that explanation is... for all intents and purposes... MAGIC.

Magic... that's the good news. On the bad news side of this equation, you have this...

... it has absolutely NO predictive power. Who knows the mind of god (should he actually exist)? Christians keep telling us that nobody can know the mind of god... so how can they reconcile their 'theory' with what they purport to be a holy, divine, cosmic, god-given 'truth'? (This suggests that a new staff position might be required to support the Louisiana schools' science departments... prophet.)

... it is not falsifiable... and the only (alleged) 'evidence' in support of this 'theory' is comprised of the myths, superstitions, fairy tales and fantastical delusions that arose from the sun-baked brains of an ignorant gaggle of Bronze Age fishermen and peripatetic, militant, marauding, genocidal goat herders.

Finally... in the Dover PA trial, Michael Behe (on the witness stand) admitted that the definition of science must be changed, in order to admit 'Intelligent Design' under its purview... and that the same changes that would be necessary to admit ID would ALSO require that science admit Astrology... and (presumeably) Phrenology and Numerology.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope that you do not make the tragic mistake of endorsing this insanity. You cannot 'un-ring' a bell... and if you go down this path, there will be no 'taking it back'. A tsunami of embarrassment and humiliation will be your legacy... and the only 'reward' that you will reap.

"If we are going to teach 'creation science' as an alternative to evolution, then we must also teach stork theory as an alternative to biological reproduction." ~ Judith Hayes, In God We Trust: But Which One?

Good luck.

6. THE FOUR HORSEMEN - Available Now on DVD!

Comment #98964 by DuckPhup on December 15, 2007 at 3:18 am

The 'theist' position asserts a 'belief' on the basis of 'faith'. There is no logically valid proof for the existence of deities. So... on the basis that there is no logically valid proof for the existence of gods, atheists deem such beliefs to be stupid and irrelevant. In plainer language... the idea that deities exist causes their bullshit alarms to clang loudly, persistently and annoyingly. That is ALL there is to that issue.

But here is where issues become separated. It is useful to take note that highly intelligent, well educated, sane and rational people... as a rule... tend to look with disfavor upon gullibility, irrationality, willful ignorance, self-deception, self-delusion, intellectual dishonesty, hypocrisy and drooling stupidity. Many highly intelligent, well educated, sane and rational people feel that it their ethical responsibility and moral duty to confront ANY of those insults to the human intellect, human dignity and the human condition whenever, wherever and however they encounter them. It just so happens (coincidentally, of course) that religion... particularly the Abrahamic death-cults of desert monotheism (Judaism, Islam, Christianity)... wraps up most or all of those dubious 'qualities' into one neat and tidy package (with a bow on top), where they can be confronted all at once.

Confronting religion, then... serendipitously (as a happy incident)... becomes a simple matter of efficiency.

"Ahh... arrogance and stupidity, all in the same package. How efficient of you." ~ Londo Molari, Babylon 5

In summary... atheists simply do not believe in invisible, magical, all-powerful, supernatural sky-faeries. That is all.... that is the ONLY thing that defines atheists. So... taking issue with religion is a 'sane and rational' thing, rather than an 'atheist' thing. People just get blinded by the peculiar coincidence that most highly intelligent, well educated, sane and rational people also happen to be atheists. We should try not to read too much into that.

It is OK for highly intelligent, well educated, sane and rational people to be deeply offended by gullibility, irrationality, willful ignorance, self-deception, self-delusion, intellectual dishonesty, hypocrisy and drooling stupidity. It is OK for highly intelligent, well educated, sane, rational people to be grateful for the efficiency that arises (coincidentally) from the convenience that religion neatly encapsulates all of those deeply offensive insults to the human intellect, human dignity and the human condition.

"The god who is reputed to have created fleas to keep dogs from moping over their situation must also have created fundamentalists to keep rationalists from getting flabby.  Let us be duly thankful for our blessings." ~ Garrett Hardin

The thing that gets religious knickers in a knot over these matters is being put into the uncomfortable position of having to DEFEND gullibility, irrationality, willful ignorance, self-deception, self-delusion, intellectual dishonesty, hypocrisy and drooling stupidity. So, I don't think that they are OFFENDED so much as they are dreadfully inconvenienced by the unfamiliar burden of being forced to think. Feigning offense is a ploy that is invoked to escape that unwelcome burden.

So, Four Horsemen... don't worry about offending them. Just put it in perspective for them.

7. An Open Letter to Richard Dawkins

Comment #98953 by DuckPhup on December 15, 2007 at 2:10 am

Funny...

I am aware of tens (hundreds?) of millions of people having been tortured and/or killed in the name of fascist and communist regimes.

I am aware of tens (hundreds?) of millions of people having been tortured and/or killed in the name of Jesus/Christianity.

I am not aware of even a single person ever having been tortured and/or killed in the name of 'rational skepticism'... that is, 'atheism'.

8. A New Debate

Comment #75694 by DuckPhup on October 3, 2007 at 10:58 am

Great idea... except for the venue. I think that the whole affair should be conducted by Jay Leno, using his 'Jay-Walking' format... except that after each question, the answer should be critiqued by an logician (to address logical fallacies) AND an appropriate scientist. A typical 'debate'-type format would skew the results, because candidates might benefit from the answers of the others.

On second thought, it might be a good idea to have at least PART of the affair in the conventional format... AFTER the 'Jay-Walking' segment. Why? Well, I'd just LOVE to see THIS question asked and answered:

Senator Brownback... as President, what steps would you take to advance the fundamentalist Christian 'dominionist' agenda, that being to overthrow the Bill of Rights and turn the USA into a theocracy, based on Old Testament biblical law?

Followup question: So, Senator... would you use the 'bully pulpit' to explain to the Americal people how our country is ordained by scripture to take the lead in establishing a Kingdom of God here on earth, and facilitating the conditions that are prophesied to precede the return of Our Lord Jesus, the destruction of humanity, and the establishment of His new Kingdom here on earth?

9. Logical Path from Religious Beliefs to Evil Deeds

Comment #75349 by DuckPhup on October 2, 2007 at 11:33 am

I have often pointed out to Christians...

I am aware of tens of millions of people having been tortured and/or killed in the name of Jesus/Christianity.

I am not aware of even a single person ever having been tortured and/or killed in the name of rational skepticism.