1. Richard Dawkins' US Tour begins this week

Comment #138645 by cassdenata on March 4, 2008 at 4:40 pm

The University of Florida at Gainesville would love to have you. We have a huge budget for speakers and they love to get "controversial" speakers.

2. Pope says some science shatters human dignity

Comment #120468 by cassdenata on February 1, 2008 at 6:00 pm

You know what shatters human dignity, the fact that a tiny part of my fathers brain has malfunctioned to stop producing dopamine and this has caused him to have immense suffering, a changed personality and a very young death due to Parkinsons disease. Now granted, these imperfections are a part of human nature, but any chance we have to help someone who is so abused by a meaningless, purposeless disease with something as promising as stem cells is the absolute most moral, kind thing we can do in this world. Any creed or doctrine that preaches the obvious is evil, ruthless and meant to be conquered on all levels.

3. Scientists discover way to reverse loss of memory

Comment #120459 by cassdenata on February 1, 2008 at 5:22 pm

My dad has one of these for his Parkinson's. It was extremely succesful and quite an amazing piece of technology. Weird to think that he was awake, while they were probing his brain asking him questions though. I have the utmost respect and support for medical researchers working on easing suffering, particularly from this event.

4. Scientists want rewrite of Earth's time line

Comment #120451 by cassdenata on February 1, 2008 at 4:51 pm

This is actually a very old idea. The evidence seems to be that ever since we started gaining large populations and clearing huge tracts of land for agriculture, we have caused extinctions, changed the concentrations of atmospheric gases, even acted as a keystone species to promote certain ecosystems.

5. Britain cannot put its faith in religiously divided schools

Comment #113994 by cassdenata on January 21, 2008 at 7:13 am

It is good to see the consciousness-raising of not labeling children by their parents religion, that Professor Dawkins is promoting, is catching on.

6. Ethical storm as scientist becomes first man to clone HIMSELF

Comment #113991 by cassdenata on January 21, 2008 at 7:03 am

What a great day for science. I can't wait to see what is to come in the future with this research.

7. Fish out of water: Your Inner Fish

Comment #111273 by cassdenata on January 14, 2008 at 7:58 am

Fascinating! If the rest of the book is as interesting to read as this, I will quickly add it to my library. Keep telling me of all the wondrous things that can go wrong with my body.

8. Monkey, Business

Comment #105303 by cassdenata on December 31, 2007 at 8:07 am

Copernic, based on the policies that most people who belong to the Free-Market-Jesus cult advocate, there would be no legal recourse for these actions. The local citizenry has no options and by the very nature of their ideas, the state and local government has no control over this issue, they can't regulate businesses.
Tybowen, you honestly believe that companies which are practicing unsustainable and wasteful business practices, will cause the public to stop buying goods. Especially in this global age, when we buy products from thousands of miles away. I guarantee you that you buy products made by companies that are doing some pretty nasty things. For instance, there is a huge swath of ocean downstream of the Mississippi river that is devoid of aquatic life due to the fertilizers introduced in the breadbasket of the US. So if you live in the US and eat food, you are supporting this business.

9. Monkey, Business

Comment #105153 by cassdenata on December 30, 2007 at 6:59 pm

What utter tripe. Maybe the article, from a newspaper with a track record of having a right-wing bias, misconstrues and oversimplifies his argument but this sounds ridiculous. This is the philosophy of the Free-Market-Jesus. Just allow corporations to regulate themselves and I'm sure they won't pollute the environment, waste resources and hoard money in to the hands of a select few. The concept of Externalities completely destroys the idea that the "Free Market is all we need" and requires top-down intervention. Here is a simple form of what an externality is. If I own a factory along the Mississippi river that makes widgets. At the end of the widget making, I create a pretty toxic waste. It would be completely economically beneficial for me to dump that waste in the Mississippi river. It would mot harm me because it flows downstream and I would be gotten rid of a costly waste. Now, the fisherman who have made a living in the Mississippi delta for years are no longer in business because all the fish has died from that waste and they have a right to that fish. There is no Magic feedback mechanism that will get the factory owner to play nice. This concept can apply to lots of other issues, not just environmental problems. While I agree that most of the market shouldn't be influenced by government intervention, there are many reasons why an organization that represents the greater society needs to step in.

10. FFRF 07 Conference Footage

Comment #81755 by cassdenata on October 25, 2007 at 6:15 am

While I definitely respect some of the nuanced points of Hitchen's defense of the Iraq war, I have heard him say 1) that Saddam actually had weapons of mass destruction, 2) that Saddam did have ties to Al-Qaeda and 3) that Saddam was a religious fanatic. All three of these points have been thoroughly debunked. It is hard for me to take the rest of his critique so seriously when he keeps believing these points.

Secondly, you can't win by declaring war on an entire religion or race in this day and age. Hell, we can't even stabilize Iraq. What do you think is going to happen when we try to declare war on the theocracies in Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and much more all at the same time. Previously apathetic individuals in those countries will now become violent enemies of our state and we will be fighting an even bigger battle.

At the end of the day, there are some goals that we can expect to achieve militarily and other goals to be achieved by other means (diplomacy, education, sanctions) but you gotta hope that modernity catches up with these people.

11. FFRF 07 Conference Footage

Comment #81105 by cassdenata on October 24, 2007 at 5:50 am

None of these links work for me.

12. Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Comment #80548 by cassdenata on October 22, 2007 at 6:17 am

While I surely admire her strong stance on what needs to be done about Islam, I think that strategically she is downright naive to think that Islam will go straight to non-Islam without a moderate form of the religion in between. Rome wasn't built in a day as they say. Secondly, I think her stance on cracking down on Islam creates a slippery slope. Who is to judge what clerics are preaching things radical enough to be shut down...the government? It reminds me of the anti-communism hysteria where people were getting arrested for leftist ideas that aren't popular. Not to contradict myself, I agree that these schools and clerics need to be clamped down upon but we need to be concerned about violating civil liberties and the great freedoms that we all have.

13. Hirsi Ali Returns to the Netherlands after Losing Body Guards

Comment #75941 by cassdenata on October 4, 2007 at 6:01 am

I'm kind of sad to see her go for two reasons. Firstly, is my selfishness in wanting to keep her in the states and ironically, she is safer in the states and will need her bodyguards more when she returns. After reading her book it appears that her politics are not decidedly right-wing, but I definitely feared the influence of the AEI. It seems to me that her politics are truly left-wing. It used to be the liberals calling to care about mistreated women, the separation of church and state and an egalitarian society. I can say that I still believe in these things for the muslim world but that it is not to be done at the end of the barrel of a gun. If I was naive enough (like the neocons) to think that simple removal of Saddam would open up the floodgates to the Iraqi people's yearning for democracy, then I think that would be an intrinsically good thing. Plus, I think that the neocons intentions in Iraq were decidedly more sinister than setting up a democracy in the middle east and of course they lied about the reasons for the war. Unfortunately, the several American experiments with setting up governments whether they be dictatorships or "democracies" has been almost universally negative. One only needs to look to Latin America.

14. New Rules: A Religious Test

Comment #72762 by cassdenata on September 22, 2007 at 7:31 pm

Using humor and ridicule can be scalpel-sharp tools when attacking religion. Unfortunately, when humor is involved, some people take the criticism less seriously. Instead they assume the comedian just attacks and criticizes everything indiscriminately. My favorite bit is an old clip from the Daily Show called Even Stephen, that had Stephen Colbert and Steve Carrell. Colbert was defending christianity, Carrell was defending Islam as their mythology of choice. I would have thought that lines like,
"Stephen, what part of "there is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his Prophet" don't you understand? Look, lets assume for the sake of argument that your God is the one true God. That would mean that Allah is not the one true God, which we know he
is. Don't you see, your logic eats itself!"
-and-
"First off, it's not my logic, Steve, it's God's logic, as written in the Bible, every word of which is true. And we know every word is true because the Bible says that the Bible is true, and if you remember from earlier in this sentence every word of the Bible is true! Now, are you following me here, or are you some kind of mindless zealot?"

You would think this would be enough to tear religion apart, but unfortunately it isn't enough.

15. CNN Request for 'I-Reports' on religion

Comment #65030 by cassdenata on August 22, 2007 at 5:07 pm

Oh crap. I just got a voicemail from CNN about my submission, only about an hour after I sent it in. I included a picture of me doing research in a wetland and described how I find the natural world so amazing, that religions don't even compare. I'm not sure I'm ready to come out to a wide-scale audience as an atheist.

16. CNN Request for 'I-Reports' on religion

Comment #64985 by cassdenata on August 22, 2007 at 3:03 pm

My contribution

I am one of the millions of people who doesn't live by faith. I am one of the millions of people that knows that there are some things I have control over to improve my life and those around me but other things are left to blind chance and are nobodies fault for not praying enough or being devout enough. I am one of those people who has acknowledged that since there is no afterlife, this beautiful existence is our only chance to truly savor this thing called life. I am one of the billions who has realized that dogma of any kind must be held up to the light of reason and that moral and lifestyle choices are our own to make, not handed down by a big brother in the sky. I am one of the billions of people who choose to be good to our fellow human beings, creatures and the earth on its own merits, without fear of hellfire and eternal damnation.

17. CNN Debate on Koran in Toilet

Comment #60315 by cassdenata on August 1, 2007 at 2:56 pm

I never thought I would be agreeing with Dennis Prager the most in this discussion. In my oh-so-humble opinion, the example that Mr Hooper gives of people videotaping the shooting of a Koran and then putting the Koran on the doorstep of a mosque is most definitely intimidation and likely a hate crime. Christopher weakens his argument when he disputes this. I waiver back and forth on whether I think the Pace University example is a hate crime or not. When I replace muslims being the targets with homosexuals or blacks, it automatically puts a bad taste in my mouth and has me thinking it is a hate crime, which perhaps shows my atheistic liberal bias. In the end, a religion is a belief system, not specifically an ethnic group or an inborn feature (although there is a huge overlap between culture and religion). If a member of the college republicans stole a Bill Clinton book from the college dems and put it in the toilet, I would laugh to think this was a hate crime. But they are directly equivalent.

In closing though, there is a lot of general bigotry towards muslims of any stripe. Although there are plenty of muslims committing atrocious acts, there are still large numbers of muslims, who are great people. We have to walk a fine line between criticizing an ideology and criticizing our fellow humans.

18. An Atheist Responds

Comment #56349 by cassdenata on July 15, 2007 at 8:04 am

Christopher Hitchen's rhetorical question answers the question of whether god is 'necessary' for religion but not whether he helps increase the number of moral actions or moral people. It is purely a numbers game, an empirical question. This could be solved by randomly surveying atheists and strong believers and comparing them to some standards of morality. Unfortunately, this kind of survey could bias the results because those who are atheists in this day and age could have strong correlations with some innate brain chemistry and family and social upbringing that allows them to be more considerate, intelligent and likely to not need coercion to do good in the world. We already know that there is a positive correlation between education and disbelief. For instance, we may all have friends who are atheists who are very moral but that is not a good test. We need to find the person who was abused as a child or was a drug abuser, or who doesn't have a good education in our surveys. The only true way to test this is to wave a magic wand and make everybody an atheist and see what happens.

I don't know what the answer to this question is, whether religion does tip a few people in to the morally positive universe. But if I am to S.W.A.G. a little bit, I would say that it would make a very small difference. Although many people claim to be religious due to upbringing or the inability to think of a world without god, most people whether criminals or soccer moms don't think about god in their day to day actions. If they do resist the temptation towards criminal and immoral acts it is out of a duty to community, society, family, the fact that a fruitful life is more enjoyable and to stop going to prison and losing friends and lovers.

19. A force for evil?

Comment #55193 by cassdenata on July 10, 2007 at 8:20 am

Does anybody know where he got that information on 80% of charities being non-religious and non-religious folks donating more to charities than the religious. Is that just in the U.K?

20. What I Think About Evolution

Comment #46607 by cassdenata on May 31, 2007 at 7:35 pm

Actually life itself is completely an accident, I would agree with this statement. Life is such a small proportion of the universe, that if you were to write a description of the universe you SHOULDN'T include life. It would be like surveying the desert, only to find one drop of water and including it in your description of this place. We are simply the accidental result of chemical reactions over billions of years. In my mind, that doesn't cheapen life at all. We still have very real emotions, we still are capable of great music and art, unseen on worlds without life. In addition, it fills me with such a sense of awe to think that we weren't planned, that something so intelligent, so complex could emerge like trying to bake bread and instead opening the oven to a 30-course meal that can make its own bread while whistling a tune.

21. What I Think About Evolution

Comment #46565 by cassdenata on May 31, 2007 at 4:43 pm

Why is life so much more special if a being far superior to us decided to do a science experiment and create a flawed world and human nature to test if we were worthy enough to love him. I mean how pathetic does that sound. It is like we are lab rats trying to complete a maze and if we find the right path, we get cheese and affection from the scientist.

22. Sam Harris Strikes Back

Comment #45817 by cassdenata on May 29, 2007 at 10:46 am

In all honesty, reading Chris Hedges article, I was actually moved. It was a decent discussion of our morality and shared purpose. I think that the enobling of the individual is one of the greatest things manking has achieved. You could rewrite most of that article as a philosophical treatise and not even mention god and it would be quite good, if a little unrealistic. I definitely do not consider this man to be religious at all, based on his lecture. I believe that life does have meaning and there is such a thing as good and evil, but they are not divinely inspired. That is why I was disapointed when he pointed out that Sam wanted torture done for his particular version of what is 'good'. I think torturing is a slippery slope that is a dangerous and predominantly unnecessary tool but it is most definitely 'good' to prevent September 11th from happening. It is most definitely good to prevent innocent civilians from getting killed. These concepts are not arbitrary.

I think that Sam's best move is to say that he agrees with most of this in a philosophical sense but that is not religion, or god. It is an abstract philosophical idea that keeps us from being self-centered, allows us to value the individual and to value non-material things like relationships, love, kindness and friendship. If Sam continues with his hypothesis that moderate religious people empower more extreme versions he may have trouble. The man who wrote 'American Fascists' is not enobling extreme forms of christianity. His best move is to call a spade a spade and argue that he is not debating a religious person. Unfortunately, that would end the debate but they could still talk about the minutae of philosophy.

23. Comic in US 'hate speech' row

Comment #45064 by cassdenata on May 26, 2007 at 4:42 am

Luthien, read the rest of my post.

24. Al Gore on Reason

Comment #44921 by cassdenata on May 25, 2007 at 3:22 pm

I call total bullshit on the creationist claim.

25. Penn & Teller's Bullshit - Holier Than Thou With Christopher Hitchens

Comment #44820 by cassdenata on May 25, 2007 at 10:45 am

That is a good episode, I may rent these. It is sad that the more skeptical I become, the more my cherished cows get demolished. I've come to realize that organic farming isn't strictly about what is best for the environment but is based on some naturalistic spirituality, in some instance but not all. I've become extremely jaded on alternative fuels which can be energy intensive, food replacing and causes of deforestation. But I think the most important thing is to value the truth above all and wherever it leads you. It is important not to simply give up when your pre-conceived notions are destroyed or damaged. There are still ways to farm that are better for the environment, while still providing food for billions but they are based on practical and intelligent applications, not fear of the 'unnatural'. There are good alternative energy sources, that can at least replace some fossil fuel usage.

26. Comic in US 'hate speech' row

Comment #44799 by cassdenata on May 25, 2007 at 9:58 am

Granted, he does have a right to say whatever he wants and if muslims are offended, that is their right. But muslims should not get special treatment by the courts from being offended. No religion should. He discusses this quite clearly in his video. But beyond that, people can disagree with his points and speak against them, just like he is doing. This is what I really want to address.

I think that an accurate way of going about things is to insult the actions and ideology at the expense of the individual. Because irregardless, I'm sure there are plenty of muslims in the world who are progressive and have secular values while still being muslim and believing in god. There are many christians I know who I am proud to call my friends and family and besides this comforting, unimportant delusion (in their case), are great people. One could find plenty of examples of violence and women's oppression in the christian bible as well, although the good christians have learned not to take the book literally. For instance, if we found that on average Americans are smarter than Syrians but there is a significant amount of overlap on individual intelligence, it wouldn't be accurate to say all Syrians are stupid, if not for the obvious reason that it isn't very nice.

Now, although I don't have a large amount of information on the percentages of muslims that hold extreme unprogressive views, it seems to be a disproportionately large number. In attacking the ideology and not the individual, it is fair to point out that in the Koran, Mohammed is portrayed as someone who we would classify as a psychopath. It is fair to vehemently criticize any man who makes his sisters, daughters and wives wear a veil, who tells his daughter who she can and can't marry, who forces her to marry a muslim. Most of the time, when people say that most muslims aren't extremists, they are strictly referring to Muslims who would support suicide bombers, who want to instate Sharia law and the like. My how low we've sunk in defining extremists. They are probably correct that most muslims disagree with this position, although there is a disturbingly large amount who agree. But in this expanded definition of evils including anyone who doesn't value womens equality, freedom of speech and other essential individual freedoms, I think that you would then pick up the majority of muslims, unfortunately.

I do think that there is some value especially for a comedian to speak hyperbolically and crassly about a dangerous situation that is occurring to expand peoples consciousness. Unfortunately, in less intelligent hands this comedians words would inspire them towards hatred and violence towards muslims and more importantly to support politicians whose foreign policy is to expend significant human and economic resources to destroy what they term islamofascism.

27. Comic in US 'hate speech' row

Comment #44773 by cassdenata on May 25, 2007 at 9:13 am

Man, it takes some kind of cognitive dissonance to be a liberal, which usually means you value feminism and more important the unique rights of the individuals and then defend women wearing veils. It is most assuredly an oppression of women.

28. Comic in US 'hate speech' row

Comment #44768 by cassdenata on May 25, 2007 at 9:09 am

Alright, now what the fuck is the City Commission of the city of Berkeley doing taking a stand on a comedian who doesn't even live in their own country. This is not the role of the City Commission and if I lived in that city I would demand that my taxes be spent on more appropriate things for a city commission, like planning housing and commercial developments, working with transportation systems and the like, not something like this which is way off their radar.

29. Prayer - A Neurological Inquiry

Comment #44759 by cassdenata on May 25, 2007 at 9:00 am

I just read this after receiving my first copy of a 1-year subscription of Free Inquiry and Skeptical Inquirer. So far they are quite good and I encourage others to join and subscribe. The Point of Inquiry podcast is excellent as well.

30. Lightning damages Jesus statue

Comment #44349 by cassdenata on May 24, 2007 at 11:55 am

What criteria did they use to determine if it was an act of god? If they did determine it was an act of god, then how should it be interpreted, what should be done? Does that mean god doesn't like the statue, or some of the particulars of the church? Maybe the pastor is speaking the wrong message? Or maybe nothing needs to change, it was just a reminder from god that he is still here. There is absolutely no way to determine what god's will is. The bible sure doesn't help. What an intellectually and emotionally depauperate way to live your life religion is.

31. For the God Question, a Biological Perspective

Comment #43754 by cassdenata on May 22, 2007 at 12:48 pm

Konquererz, I second that. Evolution is an extremely interesting topic. So get reading.

32. For the God Question, a Biological Perspective

Comment #43726 by cassdenata on May 22, 2007 at 11:10 am

Lifes too short to NOT underline your book. What are you going to do, sell it back to a museum in pristine condition?

33. The Paradoxical Hatred of Christopher Hitchens

Comment #42993 by cassdenata on May 20, 2007 at 8:40 am

"Christians are commanded to love everyone, including those they believe are "lost." They do not believe that those they don't like are doomed for hell. Rather, they believe the Bible teaches we are all doomed unless we have saving faith in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins. Christians are not the ones pronouncing judgment on their fellow man in this regard, but believe God has revealed, through Scripture, his plan for divine judgment."

Translation: As christians we are not judging anybody or their lifestyles, god is and this dusty old book proves it. Can you disagree with that?

34. Ask Richard!

Comment #41731 by cassdenata on May 16, 2007 at 6:06 pm

I read the god delusion and it was an interesting read. I read the Selfish Gene and it completely transformed the way I look at the world and reinvigorated my interest in biological sciences.

35. Hitchens' flat world

Comment #41461 by cassdenata on May 16, 2007 at 6:41 am

I have begun to realize that many of these religious apologists see religion, not as a belief in a personal god, or an afterlife but a manifestation of our culture and our shared mythology. To them, humanity needs some sort of central story to rally around to provide meaning in a blank slate world. To the apologists, without creating a religion, it is simply impossible to answer the deeper questions of life. Religion, though an arbitrary construct, provides the answers, and something better fill the void. I imagine many of the apologists would agree that the current forms of religion are quite imperfect and some may accept that improved replacements are possible. But until that is replaced with something they approve of, the liberal religious apologists will fight any intrusions. This is one aspect that none of recent authors as far as I can tell have tackled in great detail. At least an acknowledgement of this facet would be useful. In listening to Sam Harris' discussion with Oliver McTerney, Oliver kept on telling Sam that he didn't wan't to discuss the fundamentalist set because that was not true christianity. Sam was unable to get out of the mindset of criticizing this set of religious people. What he should have done was turned the tables and asked Oliver, if you have the 'true' conception of god, then what is your perception of god and religion.

36. Christopher Hitchens Explains It All for You: Move over, Sam Harris; another atheist wants the pulpit

Comment #41057 by cassdenata on May 15, 2007 at 12:38 pm

"Add to that the obvious fact (pointed to so nicely in the early chapters of Genesis) that, given enough time, human beings will screw up everything. "Religion" isn't the problem. This book could have just as easily been titled People Are Stupid."

This comment really pisses me off. So we are going to assume that human destruction is inevitable because it says so in Genesis. Instead of defining our own reality and planning for the future, we are going to define our reality by genesis and the authors pessimistic views. Maybe I'm more optimistic than that. At least I want to try to maintain a stable, civil and sustainable society.

37. Lou Dobbs w/ Hitchens on Al Sharpton's Bigoted Remark

Comment #39571 by cassdenata on May 11, 2007 at 6:54 am

You hit the nail right on the head BicycleRepairMan. I'm disappointed that Hitchen's didn't stick up for Sharpton's right to criticize anothers religious opinoins, just like he would criticize Romney's Iraq policy. Now the media is saying bigot, because of the invisible wall we place around peoples 'personal' beliefs. One thing that Hitchens, Dawkins and Harris have in common is that they want to make it acceptable to penetrate the black box and criticize peoples religious opinions. Hitchens could have helped shape the debate but he missed a chance.

38. Disney daughter calls Muslim Mickey evil

Comment #39416 by cassdenata on May 10, 2007 at 2:46 pm

Even the less crazy guy says, "Children's nationalist spirit must be developed differently". No, children's nationalist spirit must be destroyed in favor of a humanist spirit. The nationalist spirit is part of the problem and shouldn't be 'developed' at all.

39. God . . . in other words

Comment #39408 by cassdenata on May 10, 2007 at 2:28 pm

Awe-inspiring and transcendent. Professor Dawkins may find our origins awe-inspiring and I agree with him, but MANY other people would find the opposite conclusion if told how we got here. A bunch of rocks spread out throughout the galaxy, ours happened to land in the right place, where water and many organic molecules could exist. Now these chemicals began reacting automatically to form unique compounds (as occurs in many lab experiments, or baking bread) that could replicate and got more advanced. Eventually these chemicals developed what we call intelligence and some of them like us developed consciousness and formed social groups to survive. That is how you got here and that is the meaning of life. Many people would consider that the opposite of awe-inspiring.

Secondly, the use of transcendence in this sense. Theoretical extrapolations of quantum physics have postulated separate dimensions, where much different processes than our current understanding of the world occur, which explain the 'quirkiness' and counter-intuitive nature of quantum mechanics. At this point there is nothing more profound to interpret from this about the other dimensions and definitely not a god. It is like discovering wireless radio and concluding that it proves there is something transcendental and supernatural that can't be explained by anything in our dimension. Nope, it is radio waves.

40. Brazil Greets Pope but Questions His Perspective

Comment #39399 by cassdenata on May 10, 2007 at 1:51 pm

City of god is a great movie, a must see. Thanks for the information on Brazil. My wife just left the states for Brazil (Rio, Sao Paolo, Curitiba) today. I have read much about the crime and the poor distribution of wealth but I look forward to seeing it with my own eyes to make a judgement. Some of the information sounds exaggerated and gets my skeptical sensors buzzing. I talk to so many Americans who look at me like I'm crazy for heading anywhere in Central or South America. Isn't it dangerous? Don't they have a military dictatorship?

41. Lou Dobbs Interviews Christopher Hitchens

Comment #37410 by cassdenata on May 4, 2007 at 12:03 pm

Oh man, what a great interview. For those that aren't Americans, Lou Dobbs is a mainstream news anchor who has a PrimeTime nightly show, this is no small bag. I think Lou Dobbs had a large hand in creating the CNN News Network. Lou Dobbs is generally quite rational, mostly liberal and a bit dull, so he is not as popular as O'Reilly and the like. Plus, he is absolutely OBSESSED with illegal immigration, discussing it on his show every night. His position on illegal immigration is more in line with the right wing, in that he is very anti-immigration.

42. How multiculturalism is betraying women

Comment #36842 by cassdenata on May 2, 2007 at 1:38 pm

This is the second time that I have seen an article on this matter. Each time I think that the judge is making a statement against multi-culturalism and the brutality of the islamic religion in order to generate a real discussion on these issues. His statements are so absurd, it can't be real...can they?

43. Science and Religion in Islam

Comment #36593 by cassdenata on May 1, 2007 at 4:47 pm

The Point of Inquiry podcast is my favorite, a must listen. I am always impressed by DJ Grothe's skill as an interviewer. Even though he has a sympathetic audience and he is always sympathetic to the person being interviewed, he asks devils advocate questions and forces those interviewed to provide thorough answers. I look forward to listening to this when I get my chance.

44. 4 Sermon for Matins: 'Dawkins and The God Delusion'

Comment #36515 by cassdenata on May 1, 2007 at 11:54 am

Alright, please don't start out your lecture mentioning that you were too stupid to finish reading The Selfish Gene and expect to be taken seriously. That book is very concise and easy to follow. Please let me know if I am mis-interpreting the reason he put that little aside in there.

45. An atheist's call to arms

Comment #36513 by cassdenata on May 1, 2007 at 11:49 am

Hey Greg23. What are some other interesting TEDtalks that you enjoyed?

46. Interview with Christopher Hitchens

Comment #36480 by cassdenata on May 1, 2007 at 9:57 am

I second that, or third that. The thought of him being drunk never crossed my mind.

47. The God Delusion

Comment #36443 by cassdenata on May 1, 2007 at 6:34 am

Wow, thanks for that article on the Ayn Rand Institute's perception of environmentalism, Arre. That doesn't seem very rational. If that is what the leading thinkers of this philosophy think, then I think I can skip reading her books.

48. Convention ends with Satan and immigrants

Comment #36179 by cassdenata on April 30, 2007 at 12:29 pm

Oh come on, it isn't that bad. These extremist christians are harmless, deluded Yes, but...wait, WTF, these are Political leaders. These whackos are running a state. Damn, I should have read that more closely.

49. Pundit Christopher Hitchens picks a fight in book, 'God is Not Great'

Comment #35907 by cassdenata on April 29, 2007 at 9:10 am

Firstly, I will say that although Christopher Hitchens was 'incorrect' about the war, I have a great deal of respect for him and not just for his outspokenness on atheism. He is a witty scholar and an asset to our country. Unfortunately, he got caught up in the great muslim conspiracy, of a battle between groups. I use the word incorrect, not lightly. While you may argue that his reasons for war, logically make sense, the outcome is that he was wrong as current events indicate. It is like Bertrand Russel's comments on the ontological argument, the argument is hard to disprove even though you know its wrong.

1) The US was not in a continuous state of war with Saddam. The last few years he was a neutered puppy thanks solely to the UN (which of course has problems, but they were successful this time). Weapons inspections were obviously successful. Think about how easy it was to beat Saddam's army this time. His army was much larger in the first gulf war but due to international pressure, their current army was tiny. Saddam was the least of our worries from a threat perspective.

2) I imagine that the US does bear 'some' responsibility but if we went around fixing all the damages our foreign policy has done, we would bankrupt the entire country and that is a fact. You have to have some perspective in your foreign policy. The goal may seem worthy but that doesn't mean it 'should' be done. It is ironic that Saddam, a ruthless dictator, was able to stabilize a region with bitter, divided hatreds and simmering religious fanaticism. I remember the common language early on in the war was that Iraq was a religiously moderate, secular country compared to other middle eastern regions. No, it was just Saddams ruthlessness that kept that in check as we are witnessing now.

3) WMD's were not found, don't try and stretch the truth. While it is a decidedly awful event that the US largely bears responsibility for, he gassed the Kurds years ago after the first Gulf War. There are atrocities going on around the globe that are 100s of times worse than Saddam was currently inflicting on his people, why choose this one.

4) The humanitarian defense. Sometimes going to war with the best intentions, causes more pain and bloodshed than had occurred in the previous situation that you were trying to fix (see the Iraq War). Intelligent people have realized that there are atrocities occurring in the world but not all can be fixed at the end of a gun. It is purely a matter of strategy. I believe that even if we didn't have an incompetent administration, the war was unwinnable. Putting a democracy like this in a region of the world, largely set in the dark ages, requires longer-term grass roots changes.

While I agree with Hitchens that the religion of Islam causes much suffering and pain to its own people, I have different strategies. Iraq was not a terrorist state, not a hotbed of anti-american fervor, not really a part of the overall battle between west and dark-age Islam.

50. Scene Caused by Christian Group at NYC Stage Show

Comment #35897 by cassdenata on April 29, 2007 at 8:26 am

philos, what a ridiculous self-righteous comment. Does all art have to be clean and pure. There are some artists and comics whose purpose is largely to be 'edgy' and push the envelope. You don't have to like it. But with your closed mind you are missing out.