1. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #178364 by Vaal on May 11, 2008 at 9:53 am

I hope the SAS pay this disgusting excuse of a human a little visit.

2. Church of Scotland mediators to quell disputes

Comment #178246 by Vaal on May 11, 2008 at 2:23 am

What? Isn't David Robertson in the Scottish Judean people's front, or is it the Scottish peoples front of Judea?

Splitter!

Sorry, couldn't resist it...

3. How to reconcile Richard Dawkins?

Comment #173646 by Vaal on May 1, 2008 at 3:18 am

Steve

Sorry to see you go. Your posts are some of the best to read on here, and you have a great way of cutting through all the crap and administering the coup de grace to most of the ignorance we encounter on this site.

As a layman, I have been most interested and learned a lot from the more qualified people on this site, particularly yourself. I was very sad to see Veronique leave, as her posts were marvellous, and it will be the same for you.

However, it has been getting a bit tedious to hear the same banal inanities being hashed by the religiously credulous and it is depressed to realise how ignorant so many of the Religites are about basic science, and how gullible they are, so I am much in the same mind as yourself, and will take a break from the site for a bit.

4. Anti-Evolution Film Misappropriates the Holocaust

Comment #172770 by Vaal on April 30, 2008 at 4:34 am

As Darwin was English, does that mean the English by association are Darwinists. Strange that it was the English "Darwinists" who were among the first to arrive at the death camps to liberate Ben Steins relatives from the horrors of totalitarian genocidal fascism. What poppycock! He should hang his head in shame.

I wonder what Darwin himself would think if he was alive today, to hear such drivel being propagated in his name. He may have been a product of his era, but his views, particularly on race, were well beyond the Zeitgeist of his time. I suspect he would be utterly horrified.

5. Girl, 17, killed in Iraq for loving a British soldier

Comment #172719 by Vaal on April 30, 2008 at 1:45 am

Lighten up fellas.

Al, I agree with most of your posts, but I feel that Bunny has been bullied off this board. It is a shame to lose her and I hope she returns.

6. Orangutan attempts to hunt fish with spear

Comment #172001 by Vaal on April 29, 2008 at 5:28 am

Ben Stein in a monkey suit, pursuing his new career after "Expelled"?

7. Science leads to killing people

Comment #172000 by Vaal on April 29, 2008 at 5:27 am

Irate

LOL :-))

8. Science leads to killing people

Comment #171972 by Vaal on April 29, 2008 at 3:53 am

Is it just me, or does Ben Stein look like Dr. Strangelove? Hmmmm....

9. Girl, 17, killed in Iraq for loving a British soldier

Comment #171965 by Vaal on April 29, 2008 at 3:37 am

Any culture that supports this inhumanity and cruelty is an abomination and should be addressed. Cultural relativism does not cut it. If a culture is capable of such an appalling and odious crime, then it should be cut out of that culture like a cancer and recognised for the evil that it is.

What concerns me is that her brothers turned on their 17 year old sister as well as the bigoted father, instead of protecting her. To have such a mind set beggars belief. Anybody who ever tried to hurt my sisters would only do it over my dead body.

Where does this come from? Unfortunately it has its roots in religion. These people are taught to hate "kaffirs" from birth from their religious leaders. There have been several appalling "honour" killings in Britain recently, where people have sought help from the authorities, but have found little solace as the police are terrified of being accused of upsetting communities, ultimately leading to tragedy.

The law should come down very hard on this, so that people of all communities and religions recognise that it is totally unacceptable. I would also like to see the law come down on the religious bigots that espouse this hatred in their places of worship, as they are the ones laying down the roots of this vile, inhuman culture. These children are not born with this hatred, but taught it.

10. Tyrannosaurus rex protein proves dinosaurs evolved into birds

Comment #170929 by Vaal on April 28, 2008 at 6:35 am

So, Chicken Licken was right. The sky did fall on him, 65 million years ago...

11. Tyrannosaurus rex protein proves dinosaurs evolved into birds

Comment #168658 by Vaal on April 25, 2008 at 9:11 am

Another nail in the coffin of the ReligIdiots.

12. Humans nearly wiped out 70,000 years ago, study says

Comment #168520 by Vaal on April 25, 2008 at 7:21 am

Humans are evolving into two separate species now, Homo Sapiens Religites (otherwise known as Morlocks) and Homo Sapiens Rationalists.

In several thousand years the Morlocks will be living in the deserts with their camels or underground living in fear of their small despotic desert God. The rest of us will be colonising the galaxy, with the occasional foray back to Earth as an anthropological exercise to see how our our superstitious cousins are getting on.

Every now and then we shall light a burning bush and chat to them about some new laws for them to follow, or what food not to eat, so as to preserve the other species they haven't driven to extinction. Thou shalt not eat Whale on pain of stoning. The Tiger is sacred. Follow the shoe. No wait, follow the gourd...

13. Lynchings in Congo as penis theft panic hits capital

Comment #168346 by Vaal on April 25, 2008 at 4:26 am

So that's what happened to my sister. Oh, ..wait.

14. Lynchings in Congo as penis theft panic hits capital

Comment #167360 by Vaal on April 24, 2008 at 12:41 am

So THAT is what happens when I dive into ice cold water?

15. Is religion a threat to rationality and science?

Comment #166193 by Vaal on April 23, 2008 at 1:39 am

One decisive knock-out hook from Bennett, and a feeble empty parry from Winston. Like Muhammed Ali versus Adrian Mole. I am sure Epeeist can better describe it in fencing parlance.

16. Evolution exhibit shows why nobody's perfect

Comment #165642 by Vaal on April 22, 2008 at 1:05 am

Yep, that would be great to see in the UK. Richard, any chance of having a word in somebody's ear here at the Natural history museum to get somebody to promote it.

I would LOVE to see the Lucy skeleton and wouldn't it be great to be able to get hold of the Homo Erectus skeleton of the Turkana boy, although I can't see Kenya releasing it for tour. Maybe a replica?

Of course, we could get a replica of a Homo Robertson skeleton otherwise known as Homo inanity, Homo diarrhoea or Homo Ostrich. Anybody else got any suitable names? Don't know if you could get its head through the door though?

17. If God Is Dead, Who Gets His House?

Comment #165628 by Vaal on April 22, 2008 at 12:44 am

Can I have the Vatican please.

18. Pope's Views on Science Invoke Spirited Debate

Comment #165337 by Vaal on April 21, 2008 at 11:07 am

Its verdict against Galileo was rational and just, and revisionism can be legitimized solely for motives of political opportunism

19. Mecca should become core to measure time zones: scholars

Comment #165268 by Vaal on April 21, 2008 at 9:22 am

If God had a sense of humour, he would aim an asteroid at Mecca.

He would then sit back to see the debates of "it was God's will" and "It was because we have sinned", and have a chuckle...

20. Pope's Views on Science Invoke Spirited Debate

Comment #165264 by Vaal on April 21, 2008 at 9:19 am

Beware the dark side of the Force, oh Darth Ratzinger. How dare he criticize Obi Wan Galileo!

21. Ben Stein Vs. Sputtering Atheists

Comment #165212 by Vaal on April 21, 2008 at 8:19 am

I came out of it stunned

22. Mecca should become core to measure time zones: scholars

Comment #165198 by Vaal on April 21, 2008 at 7:48 am

So, dark ages one side of the Meridian and enlightened world on the other side. So, what happens to a time apostate, would he be put to death?

Wonder how they will worship Mecca in a few million years when it is under the sea. It would be like a fish bowl with all those pilgrims scuba diving around it. Be quite hard to stone that wall under water, and would that mean the devil is aquatic?

23. Open Letter to a victim of Ben Stein's lying propaganda

Comment #164769 by Vaal on April 20, 2008 at 5:06 pm

Tragic that Richard has to write this letter at all. Not only is "Expelled" utter tripe and a nasty dose of Religious right wing propaganda, it seems to have the unfortunate side effect of regarding atheists and evolutionary scientists as people to blame and hate for the disgusting holocaust, a blemish on all humanity.

In fairness though, J seems to have been easily duped by such obvious propaganda. I would have thought somebody whose family had been murdered in the holocaust would not have been so impressionable.

However, I am sure we shall hear the same theme quite often from the gullible, regardless of what Richard or anyone else says, unfortunately.

24. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #164326 by Vaal on April 20, 2008 at 4:32 am

You are being too kind Steve, to be intelligent and foist that model on yourself, takes a special kind of stupidity.

25. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #164323 by Vaal on April 20, 2008 at 4:23 am

A quote on PZ's article below describes Remnant and the "Expelled" trolls infecting this site in one sentence..

I've got an easier strategy for creationists: be really stupid, lie a lot, and ignore anything a scientist tells you.

26. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #164319 by Vaal on April 20, 2008 at 3:43 am

Ah, just logged on to see you guys decimating that IDiot Remnant. Most enjoyable.

Have you seen this, made me chuckle first thing on a Sunday morning...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7357021.stm

One sect trying to destroy another sect. I wonder if they can see the irony?

27. Gods and earthlings

Comment #163777 by Vaal on April 19, 2008 at 2:47 am

I agree Steve, I suspect that we will, in quite a short space of time, have the technology to get spacecraft up to an appreciable fraction of the speed of light, sail technology being one of them. At 10% the speed of light, we can get to Alpha Centauri in 40 years, if 50% then we shall get there in 8 years, which when you consider Pioneer 10 is now over 30 years old, is a time scale that is entirely workable.

There is quite a good site that looks into these technologies with peer reviewed research into deep space exploration.

http://www.centauri-dreams.org/

I would love to see images from Alpha Centauri in my lifetime from a robotic probe, but unfortunately it is probably unlikely.

As an aside. Ah, Richard, so that is how a 747 got into the junk yard!

28. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #163388 by Vaal on April 18, 2008 at 9:23 am

OK, one more joke while I am on a roll, and that's it for the weekend...

Man walks along the beach, picks up a bottle. A genie pops out. The genie says you have one wish. The man expected 3 wishes but he thinks hard about it. "I would like a bridge from England to the United States", he says. The genie looks worried. He says "do you realise how hard that is? Do you know how far it is, the stresses on the bridge, and how deep the Atlantic is?" I am not sure I can do that, can you do another wish?

The man thinks. He says "OK, I would like to understand women. I want to know what makes them happy, what makes them sad, what makes them laugh, what they like, what they dislike, everything that makes up a woman." The Genie says "How many bridges did you want?"

See, we are not joyless :-))

29. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #163359 by Vaal on April 18, 2008 at 8:38 am

While we are on jokes...

An Irishman walking along the seashore picks up a bottle and rubs it. Out comes a genie. You are allowed 3 wishes the genie tells him.

The Irishman thinks hard and then says "I would like a bottle of Guinness that never empties". Kaypow, he gets his bottle. He drinks it and
it fills back up immediately. Wow, that's fantastic, he retorts! The genie says you still have 2 more wishes. The Irishman says "I will have two more of them!"

PS.. As an Irishman, I am allowed to tell Irish jokes :-)

30. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #163350 by Vaal on April 18, 2008 at 8:22 am

Santa is not true????????????!!!

31. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #163270 by Vaal on April 18, 2008 at 5:55 am

Irate

Although I am in agreement with Sargeist most of the time, I have to say that a good "Fucktard" is warranted occasionally. It does make me laugh, as sometimes there is no other response that says it all in just one word so eloquently, particularly in answer to trench raids from the Wooter/DR phalanxes.

However, as it your call and your intellectual property, I will leave it in your capable hands. I wouldn't describe the below as polite, and I haven't heard him answer a single question, particularly from Steve, with any rational response yet. Somehow I suspect that it will be an exercise in futility.

Bravo, my fellow atheists! Let's all give ourselves a big pat on the back for our intellectual superiority over the masses of peons that share our meaningless existence, yet like to delude themselves into thinking life is about anything more than self-praise and the belittling of inferiors!

32. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #163213 by Vaal on April 18, 2008 at 4:27 am

Egomaniac

When you have something to say that isn't complete codswallop, I will answer it..

Yes, I would describe your statements as the epitome of inanity...

inane
adjective
1 lacking sense, significance, or ideas; silly: inane questions.
2. empty; void.
noun
3. something that is empty or void, esp. the void of infinite space.

inane
"silly, empty-headed," 1819, earlier "empty" (1662), a back-formation of inanity "emptiness, hollowness" (1603), later "silliness" (1753)

adjective
devoid of intelligence

Without contents; empty; void of sense or intelligence; purposeless; pointless; characterless; useless. "Vague and inane instincts.

33. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #163163 by Vaal on April 18, 2008 at 3:28 am

Egomaniac

Hardly worth replying to such inanity. I dread to think how anybody would mark any paper by you, unless it is a study of obscurantism.

So, let's see "How would I know", "I don't know", "perhaps" etc etc etc... so you don't actually know anything and it all comes down to wishful thinking. Try harder if you want to be taken seriously.

Irate, you are being very patient...

34. Evolution fray attracts top scientist

Comment #163100 by Vaal on April 18, 2008 at 1:54 am

92. Comment #162792 by The Schuermannator

I am stuck working at Kennedy Space Center with all the nutters around here. Just last Friday a few of the engineers I work with were having a heated debate over the proper way to get into heaven.

35. Sexpelled: No Intercourse Allowed

Comment #163089 by Vaal on April 18, 2008 at 1:31 am

Stork me!

36. Yoko Ono, Filmmakers Caught in 'Expelled' Flap

Comment #162765 by Vaal on April 17, 2008 at 12:27 pm

Santi Tafarella

You have a point, however I don't want to fill their coffers to see deceitful religious propaganda. I might watch it for free, but to be honest, it sounds horrendously dull.

I think many of us were much the same as you, who came up through a religious background. I actually got a lot of encouragement from my old Methodist minister, who's son and I were very interested in Astronomy. His son is now a professional Astronomer working in the States.

However, I think you are the exception rather than the rule. Most people subject to this sort of literature never make their way out of fundamentalist Creationism, because they never read any other point of view, or just refuse to accept it.

There was a thread on not so long ago of a scientist who, even though his field was the study of dinosaurs, took till nearly his middle age to shake off the shackles of superstition, and still felt guilty about it, and he was a good scientist and an intelligent man.

37. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #162750 by Vaal on April 17, 2008 at 11:53 am

I prefer the giant Moa, they were the huge cousins of the kiwi's, standing 12 feet tall. Of course, the Maori's ate them all, gits!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moa

38. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #162733 by Vaal on April 17, 2008 at 11:19 am

2159. Comment #162711 by al-rawandi

Al

You have a point. How do you measure Love, how subjective is it? When does it become obsessive and dangerous? How do you measure how much you feel towards your wife, or her to you. Heather Mills McCartney was still telling the media how much she loved Paul McCartney outside the divorce courts. Thanks, with love like that, I think I would rather hang from my toes in the garden.

How about David Robertson's love where he needs to be loved by some nebulous supernatural being. Why does he need to be loved by this entity? It reeks of insecurity. As Crocodile Dundee once said "Doesn't he have any mates?". He certainly doesn't show much love outside his religious tribe, as evidenced by the sneering, self righteous trite he posts here.

Of course we are going to have strong bonds and attachments otherwise as a species we would never have survived the travails of our early existence. Altruism and empathy never arose through some lazy supernatural agent but instead became hard wired into our brains through necessity arising over thousands of generations.

39. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #162676 by Vaal on April 17, 2008 at 8:03 am

What is love? The hormone's running through your body as a teenager (nature's way of getting you to propagate your genes)? The love of your parents or children. The love of your pet? The love of looking through a telescope or listening to music, or reading a book? Love of your country?

Love is not eternal. We have all fallen out of love, nearly all murders are perpetrated by somebody they know, often a family member.

I have NO love whatsoever for the aggressive hoodies that hang around the local shop, even if they are other humans. In fact, how many people do we really care for, other then direct family members and close friends? I always get indignant at pop stars like Michael Jackson telling me he loves me. Why? I don't love you, or even particularly like you.

40. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #162635 by Vaal on April 17, 2008 at 6:53 am

Steve

So, as a fledgling Jedi, I can hope to count on Prince Charles for support in defending my faith?

41. Yoko Ono, Filmmakers Caught in 'Expelled' Flap

Comment #162569 by Vaal on April 17, 2008 at 4:42 am

Ah man. That has made my morning. Can these guys get any more incompetent?

42. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #162560 by Vaal on April 17, 2008 at 4:19 am

2057. Comment #162522 by Egomaniac

Who said anything about a harp and a cloud?

It undoubtedly keeps a lot of people in check, though. Yes, some do use this mentality to justify suicide bombings, but by and large, this way of thinking benefits the world as a whole

what a horrible mischaracterization of the lives of people who believe in the afterlife

43. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #162501 by Vaal on April 17, 2008 at 3:14 am

2022. Comment #162482 by Egomaniac

The notion of a continued existence after death, along with the idea that the manner in which one's life has been lived will influence the level of quality of said existence adds meaning to many people's lives

44. Evolution fray attracts top scientist

Comment #162250 by Vaal on April 16, 2008 at 12:42 pm

36. Comment #162235 by padster1976

Of course, they have Disneyland in Florida as well? I rest my case. :-)

45. Evolution fray attracts top scientist

Comment #162248 by Vaal on April 16, 2008 at 12:38 pm

Senate Majority Leader Dan Webster, R-Winter Garden, said the theory of evolution "had flaws."

46. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #162244 by Vaal on April 16, 2008 at 12:30 pm

Comment #162228 by flying goose

What is the source of morality?

It comes out of the hills just north of Scunthorpe (I think).

47. Richard Dawkins' secular army must be stopped. God is behind some of our greatest art

Comment #162239 by Vaal on April 16, 2008 at 12:27 pm

Wow. He is taking a pasting. I wonder if he will think twice before writing such twaddle again. As for The Guardian, they should be ashamed of printing such third rate articles. I would expect something more constructive from a schoolboy. Not a great reflection on the Guardian editor.

So, where do we get the army of Dawkins uniform? Can I be Colonel Mustard please?

48. Evolution fray attracts top scientist

Comment #162205 by Vaal on April 16, 2008 at 10:35 am

And this is from Florida, the state where Nasa has Cape Kennedy based? I thought that this would have been one of the more enlightened of the US states!

49. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #162197 by Vaal on April 16, 2008 at 9:58 am

Comment #162167 by Sargeist

From what I have seen from this forum since I became a member, most of the theists that come on here do not have an argument. Their best shots are trying to discredit science, in particular evolution, and fill the holes with "God of the gaps" or "my personal feelings", or "voices in my head", down to "Not my God(s)".

I haven't seen a credible and plausible argument from a single theist yet, from the paranoia of David Roberston to the virtual reality world of Danielos. Most that have come on here have retreated in the face of the powerful posts of the more knowledgeable contributors, or just ignored them (DR).

What does surprise me is, as you and Epeeist have already indicated, is the poor general knowledge of most of the theists. Most of them do not understand the difference between abiogenesis and evolution. They have a poor understanding of evolution, the natural world, geology, and Cosmology. They are also so arrogant that they seem to believe that they are the sole reason and the end result of the ENTIRE Universe. Such solipsism beggars belief. If the Earth was snuffed out tomorrow, the Universe would continue in supreme indifference, regardless of wishful thinking.

Mostly their argument is from scripture, and as many contributors on RD are from a religious background, they have a sound knowledge of scripture, and just take it apart. It is also a circular argument.

The best argument is perhaps the anthropic principle, as we don't fully understand that yet, although this also has been dissected by other RD contributors. Behes irreducible complexity comes down to no more than wishful thinking and pseudo-science.

What have they left? From what I can see from the "Expelled" fiasco, there is a deliberate policy of disinformation, pseudo-science, propaganda, pure deceit, and complete absence of the scientific method. Not very impressive, is it?

50. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #162162 by Vaal on April 16, 2008 at 8:54 am

Al, I wonder how old they were?

Maybe he was in there checking to see if any ankles were visible? :-))