1. The Flea Delusion

Comment #200420 by Brungardt on June 27, 2008 at 3:03 pm

I don't know what's more annoying, that publishers keep giving all these fleas a mouthpiece to pollute the public discussion or their habit of sticking on the thinnest veneer of scientific credibility to the cover by using stock nature photos.

*GIANTFUCKINGROLLINGEYES* You actually CAN judge such examples by their covers and it reeks of creationist propaganda films too. Dialogue decrying everything related to Darwin the man and Darwin's ideas is run next to images of birds flying, insects flowering plants, the waves crashing, etc.

I really just feel slighted they keep running the same plays from the same old playbook I think. Do they take THEMSELVES seriously?

2. Dumb and Dumber: A discussion between Ben Stein and Glenn Beck

Comment #176580 by Brungardt on May 7, 2008 at 4:04 pm

Wow. WOW. Get this: we all know the video's posted here are down but that you can search and find some on YouTube all the same. I love the description for this one though:

"Ben Stein and Glenn Beck talk about the New York Times bias towards "Expelled", and Richard Dawkins' belief in aliens as the intelligent designers and not God."

What's worse though is comments are disabled! Perhaps not unsurprisingly though, it's not like right-wing media isn't an echo chamber that outright discards and ignores differing opinions in favor of established ideology and dogma.

edit: http://youtube.com/watch?v=-o7OSNDqY9g

3. EXPELLED!

Comment #147606 by Brungardt on March 21, 2008 at 12:53 am

The best comedy, truely, writes itself. :)

4. There Are No Ghosts in Your Brain

Comment #120462 by Brungardt on February 1, 2008 at 5:35 pm

Hehe, I thought it was 2 accountants SPS, that made the brain work. You know the scene in the Simpsons:

"Bob, you ever wonder what's outside these walls?"
"hey, that's dangerous thinking there Johny, why don't you go back to work?"
*laughing* "You're right Bob."

5. The Science behind the Large Hadron Collider

Comment #116485 by Brungardt on January 26, 2008 at 3:28 pm

D'Arcy, Rational_G, you're both horribly unfunny but in a funny way. I firmly believe that if you go in the direction of a "cheesy" joke you eventually wrap right on around and end up back in the funny area. So cheesy it's funny in other words. :) Sorta like how the further left or right you go politically, you still end up with fascism.

6. Loneliness Breeds Belief in Supernatural

Comment #116217 by Brungardt on January 25, 2008 at 9:47 pm

That actually makes a fair bit of sense. I consider myself a loner, I've never really ever needed a social group such as a church or something. Loner's probably can be alone without being lonesome, hence belief isn't natural to us though not necessarily anathema either. (though it is to me)

7. Lewis Black - The Devil's Handiwork

Comment #115142 by Brungardt on January 23, 2008 at 4:47 pm

I love Lewis Black, I've seen him twice live in San Diego. (both on leave before supposed deployments which ended up not happening for me, as it were)

He's hilarious but as much as it is cause of his actual jokes his theater experience really seems to show and his over-the-top anger gets me too.

It's probably not news to many people, but if you like what you see here, know that he does irregular segments on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show called "Back in Black." (<< more YouTube fodder)

8. Daniel Dennett Debates Dinesh D'Souza

Comment #94117 by Brungardt on December 4, 2007 at 8:34 pm

Any chance we can get a TRANSCRIPT for this debate? Dinesh D'Souza made a mountain of bad arguments but I don't wanna have to go through the trouble of transcribing 2 hours of debate to take it apart.

9. Atheists don't believe in anything

Comment #83041 by Brungardt on October 28, 2007 at 4:57 pm

debaser71: "To say that atheists believe in nothing is to suggest that to believe in god is everything."

I thought the same thing but with this as a foundation I'd say:

If God is everything, I'd rather believe in nothing.

10. Darwin or Design

Comment #58681 by Brungardt on July 25, 2007 at 6:31 pm

"Why do theists so desperately try to pin the label "dogma" onto atheism,- or "religion" and "Faith" onto Science in an effort to insult them with these apparently dirty words? Should they not be supporting their own side and trying to encourage as much "dogma" etc everywhere they can?"

It's a debate winner cause it shocks you and gets your attention. Why ever did the term Godwin's Law come into existence? Cause of this predilection to use a Golden-Standard-of-Evil to whack debate opponents over the head with. It's a lazy, often inaccurate way of just getting the masses to quickly side with you. (and I put it that way cause whenever such lazy and often dishonest debate methods are used in more critically thinking crowds, such as this one, they fall flat on their face)

Ditto with calling America an Imperial power when direct military occupation and use of force often enough isn't a 1st option. We've done it our fair share of times to be certain but then we've also bullied the world into using the dollar to buy and sell oil and have exerted economic and cultural imperialism probably as much as militaristic means. Look at the spread of McDonald's, western clothing and music and an embargo on Cuba that has them driving cars straight out of the 1950's. But then that word EMPIRE strikes certain visceral connotations and gets people riled up even though it paints with very broad strokes a picture that needs a finer brush with more detail.

And so it is with "dogma" even though what science concludes is always amenable to new evidence and subject to change. What science concludes is not decided "out of principle" but "out of fact." Research can cast new light and new conclusions come about and that isn't dogma at all.

11. The Stupidity of Fox News is Truly Beyond Belief

Comment #53877 by Brungardt on July 3, 2007 at 9:37 pm

Uh, wow, some random religious talking head is an expert on atheism.

Honestly, that NEVER gets annoying. *rollingeyes*

12. You can't trust science!

Comment #25301 by Brungardt on March 11, 2007 at 9:34 pm

Hilarious but the top right panel was slightly ... depressing. "Can I have my check now?" I should hope no scientist would sacrifice his credibility for a cheap buck and Conservative talking heads.

13. Response to Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris

Comment #25300 by Brungardt on March 11, 2007 at 9:24 pm

"The 20th century, the bloodiest century in human history wasn't about religion but about ideologies." (edit: put in quotes)

Perhaps but only because modern death-dealing technology far outstrips that available to Crusaders, Mongol hordes and Muslim caliphates.

That being said his closing argument was music to my ears compared to a rapture-ready Bible thumper. The only problem is the Abrahamic religions are open to any of a smörgåsbord of beliefs, some good like "love thy neighbor" and others ... less pleasant.