901. Flea Circus!

Comment #33267 by Logicel on April 19, 2007 at 6:59 pm

"But when you do don't be surprised when I reply in kind and please don't run to mummy telling tales about how the nasty theist is upsetting you."
_________

Weefree, Choosing the flag for troll, spam, and offensive is not running to mummy, it is a way for the posters here to contribute in monitoring the site themselves.

902. NEXT MONDAY: Bill O'Reilly interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #33222 by Logicel on April 19, 2007 at 3:55 pm

Dawkins must know the unsavory reputation of O'Reilly, and he still has decided to be interviewed. Dawkins knows what he is doing and can handle the situation. The Fox audience may not like what Dawkins has to say, but it will be the beginning of getting the atheistic, rational sound bite to those ninnies.

The only bad thing is that I will have to watch O'Reilly in order to see RD.

903. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #33041 by Logicel on April 19, 2007 at 3:47 am

Yorker, I love color and via ctrl and u I discovered how to do it too!

904. Christians at Bible publishers have their throats cut

Comment #33037 by Logicel on April 19, 2007 at 3:36 am

Isik, I also support Turkey's entry in the EU. Do you support that?

I agree that religious people do have the right to practice their religion, in private. I respect that right, however, I am sure you would not want me to lie and say that I respect your actual religious beliefs, because I cannot in truth say that. Therefore in not respecting the content of your beliefs, while respecting the right for you to be able to practice your beliefs, I will criticise those beliefs but support your right to practice them.

905. Flea Circus!

Comment #33024 by Logicel on April 19, 2007 at 3:13 am

weefree, in his earlier and frequent id incarnations, has been flagged for being a troll, not for being a theist with whom we disagree. I flagged an atheist as a troll recently because he was clogging up the thread with the repetition of his same points over and over again via hugely long comments charged with great emotion and could not accept that others disagreed with him who gave their reasons for doing so.

Unlike weefree, that poster stopped clogging the thread and did not get demoted to troll status. It is astonishing how weefree cannot grasp this little bit of thread etiquette. At this point, weefree is not showing any sign of trolling, but with his history, he could morph into one.

906. Flea Circus!

Comment #33021 by Logicel on April 19, 2007 at 3:05 am

Russell Blackford, My fave is: The Dawkins Dorkitude and am pleased that you thought up some for "our" side also! Though I certainly hope the atheists don't stoop to the level of the theists.

907. Sam's Flea!

Comment #32896 by Logicel on April 18, 2007 at 4:15 pm

In addition, focus needs to be placed on preventing rape, which includes educating women to protect themselves, and educating men about the inhumanity of rape.

908. Sam's Flea!

Comment #32891 by Logicel on April 18, 2007 at 4:07 pm

"My point is, rather, that, absent God, if someone decides to live that way, what can an atheist use to appeal to him?"
________

That if he breaks the law, he will most likely be caught?

And if the rapist is near the end of his life, why would anybody need to appeal to the rapist? What is this attraction with appealing to a rapist? A rapist breaks the law, he gets put in prison. If he is willing, he can work with a therapist, if not, there is nothing that can be done but to accept that the person is a rapist with no regrets, and that people need to be protected from the rapist.

909. Medicine without Evolution Make Sense?

Comment #32851 by Logicel on April 18, 2007 at 1:23 pm

Lions, worms, and primates have a steady diet of french fries and burgers?

Eating is not enough. Eating the right foods is what needs to be done, and in America the ignorance concerning what constitutes nutritious food is astounding.

910. Medicine without Evolution Make Sense?

Comment #32849 by Logicel on April 18, 2007 at 1:17 pm

And my clever husband is fond of saying, that if a doctor makes us well, then we should pay for the services, if not, then the doctor should get no payment!

911. Medicine without Evolution Make Sense?

Comment #32848 by Logicel on April 18, 2007 at 1:16 pm

MarkSmith, I agree. RD in TGD very astutely said there is only good and bad medicine instead of mainstream versus alternative. However, much of mainstream medicine is bad because prevention and education of the patient is hardly ever done.

I remember 30 years ago, stumbling on research that certain fats are bad, and certain are good, like the ones contained in nuts, seeds, and cold pressed vegetable oils. My MD told me I was nuts (Ha!) because I was spending so much more on extra virgin olive oil (that is, cold pressed). Now, it is commonly accepted. It took 30 years!!!! Anyway, I ignored my doctor, since I was confident in my research and have been imbibing cold pressed veggie oils for decades.

912. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #32846 by Logicel on April 18, 2007 at 12:46 pm

Anyway, this article stimulated some very good discussion and I learned a lot!

913. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #32844 by Logicel on April 18, 2007 at 12:42 pm

Ok, the real, super, mega NYC cynic is surfacing in me. How convenient that the case is being held in a state whose Appeals Court does not publish opinions in Lexis and Westlaw. Who would take the trouble to actually request info from the Oregon Court? Most would just donate some money instead.

And it is the kind of issue that can raise the emotional hackles to a such degree, that good sense could be thrown out the window. I browsed through the Daily Kos diary posted in January, and the guy that is pushing that there is enough evidence that this story is real, is very much against circumcision. Anyway, I am not going to get any more involved in this story, because it is too fishy for me.

EDIT: I deleted my post here requesting posters to digg this article.

914. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #32841 by Logicel on April 18, 2007 at 12:32 pm

An excerpt from a review:

"Misha, then, is a visionary of sorts, assisted by megadoses of Ativan and a steady supply of alcohol. A non-practicing Jew whose father has him circumcised at an advanced age,..."

http://www.curledup.com/absurdis.htm

915. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #32840 by Logicel on April 18, 2007 at 12:26 pm

Here is the wikipedia entry on the novel, Absurdistan:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdistan_%28novel%29

916. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #32787 by Logicel on April 18, 2007 at 8:55 am

rabidchihauhau, Intuition is recognition of patterns, and as someone who is experienced in validating accuracy in investigative reports, you probably can pick off a fraud pattern much easier than the rest of us.

917. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #32776 by Logicel on April 18, 2007 at 8:32 am

I remember a colleague of mine who decided to please her mother-in-law to-be, a holocaust surviver, by converting to Judaism so her son and my friend could be married via a Jewish ceremony. It took her months to go through the process--the Rabbi in charge of her conversion took it very seriously.

918. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #32749 by Logicel on April 18, 2007 at 7:00 am

Cell +1. 206. 465. 6636 is what is given as J. Geisheker mobile number. Site management needs to at the very least call this number.

919. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #32746 by Logicel on April 18, 2007 at 6:54 am

There is no clear link given to the supposed Misha Boldt case on the D.O.C site, just a link to a very confusing, difficult to weed through list of Oregon court cases.

I am with rabidchihauhau on this appearing to be very fishy.

920. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #32740 by Logicel on April 18, 2007 at 6:42 am

rabidchihauhau, I also cannot find anything else except what you have found--the domestic violence case between Mr and Mrs Boldt.

921. Who Needs Sex (or Males) Anyway?

Comment #32694 by Logicel on April 18, 2007 at 3:36 am

"By showing that asexual organisms have diverged into "independently evolving and distinct entities," the researchers argue, this study "refutes the idea that sex is necessary for diversification into evolutionary species." They hope others use their approach to study mechanisms underlying species divergence in sexual taxa to clarify the hazy nature of species and biological diversity."
_______

Yup, it is inspiring that scientists, because of the potent nature of the scientific method and body of resulting knowledge, do the opposite of committing intellectual suffocation within the dogmatic box like the religites do with such joy and willing investment of their time and mental energy.

However, the scientists involved in this study did not thrown out the baby with the bath water--they kept the the baby (evolutionary species diversification) but changed the bath water (sex).

922. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #32577 by Logicel on April 17, 2007 at 12:37 pm

"I think a very powerful reason there isn't more disgust and outrage in America over circumcision..."
_______

In addition, the majority of American adult males are sexually mutilated. I suspect that they would find it hard to regard themselves thusly, and would like their sons to look like them, and not the other way around.

923. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #32563 by Logicel on April 17, 2007 at 12:01 pm

Poem which is hidden in American MDs desk drawers:

Give your son's foreskin to lop,
If it hurts, no problem, he will get a lollipop.
When older, he can still enjoy a fling
But not as much as I enjoy the cash register going k-ching.

924. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #32558 by Logicel on April 17, 2007 at 11:48 am

In the UK nobody makes money from circumcision.
In the UK 98% of males are uncircumcised.
In the US every snip makes somebody some money.
In the US 95%(?) of males are circumcised.
________

Very interesting to think of the widespread practice of male circumcision in America as generously donating your son's foreskin to increase the GNP.

925. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #32467 by Logicel on April 17, 2007 at 6:02 am

L.Minnik, Parents are caretakers not owners of children. Many would disagree.

926. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #32463 by Logicel on April 17, 2007 at 5:58 am

My tired and sweet Veronique, I am grateful to your fatigue for the following about which I am still laughing like a mad woman: "I have no idea how those men perceived their 'mutilation'. Most, within my life span, were severed in the first few days of their lives and, for all intents and purposes, have known no different. In my sexual life, I have never known any of my lovers to have felt hampered by circumcision."

Oh, my, severing of the penis does not hamper sexual intercourse?

927. Irish poll shows parents no longer want to force religion on to children

Comment #32460 by Logicel on April 17, 2007 at 5:51 am

Luthien, Irish wakes sound like a great opportunity for storytelling which the Irish can do with the best of them. Now, if only the religious part could be removed.

928. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #32437 by Logicel on April 17, 2007 at 4:17 am

Could one obstacle to ending the prevalent and supposedly medical-based male circumcision is that circumcised adult males shy away from admitting they are essentially walking proof of irreversible sexual mutilation?

What percentage of male doctors who perform these medical based circumcisions are circumcised themselves? Is this similar to the female 'circumcision' situation where females play an active role in perpetrating the atrocity on other females?

929. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #32417 by Logicel on April 17, 2007 at 3:15 am

keith, Most of us have limited pockets, so we need to decide how we want to donate money. Regardless, the connection of the donation appeal to this site, is that a successful court case will weaken the religious stanglehold over stupidity.

930. Doctors Opposing Circumcision: An Appeal for Misha

Comment #32411 by Logicel on April 17, 2007 at 3:07 am

bitbutter, click on the home icon at the bottom of the link page. They accept paypal. The paypal icon is in the middle of the below link page:


http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/

931. Irish poll shows parents no longer want to force religion on to children

Comment #32403 by Logicel on April 17, 2007 at 2:35 am

aleprechaunist, What do you like about Irish wakes?

932. Mozart doesn't make you clever

Comment #32400 by Logicel on April 17, 2007 at 2:16 am

Brains become fit and stay fit when they are used. To me it makes sense, that passive listening to music would not add to brain fitness, and actively learning how to play music with a focus to excel at it, would encourage brain fitness.

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

933. Mozart doesn't make you clever

Comment #32398 by Logicel on April 17, 2007 at 2:09 am

scottishgeologist, hilarious annotated bad album covers link. Thanks, you made my day!

934. Atheism isn't the final word

Comment #32392 by Logicel on April 17, 2007 at 1:53 am

Please double post. You need to take a minute to register at the site. Many good posts here can just be copied and pasted to the original site.

935. Atheism isn't the final word

Comment #32385 by Logicel on April 17, 2007 at 1:36 am

I just double posted my comment--trying to get in the habit of double posting. I encourage everyone here that wrote a comment, and the majority of them are excellent, just copy and paste it to the original site. Perhaps edit it a bit for profanity. You need to register at the site to comment, it takes a minute.

936. Atheism isn't the final word

Comment #32378 by Logicel on April 17, 2007 at 1:15 am

But saying the debate is over doesn't make it so.
_______

And implying that atheists' strong argument against faith based-beliefs is the same as atheists saying that the debate is over does not make the strong atheists' stance go away. The debate is not over because the religious side has not entered into it yet. And Feder's uninspiring, reguritated trite will play its little role in keeping the atheists holding open that debate door. The contradictions of religion and its cobwebby matrix of compelling lies will become more and more commonly accepted and these cobwebs which allow humanity to become entrapped, finally broken for good.

937. Irish poll shows parents no longer want to force religion on to children

Comment #32368 by Logicel on April 17, 2007 at 12:42 am

Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said: "This is a very small step in the right direction, but it still seems beyond the imagination of most educators in Ireland – even the ones who recognise there are problems with religious influence – that a secular school system that requires pupils to leave their religion (if they have one) at home would be the answer."
________

I agree.

938. Kadra attacked in public

Comment #32364 by Logicel on April 17, 2007 at 12:27 am

Andreas, thanks for your informative post.

939. Kadra attacked in public

Comment #32257 by Logicel on April 16, 2007 at 1:07 pm

minstrel wrote: "I'm certainly not advocating female genital mutilation (I love female genitalia way too much for that!), but when denouncing gods or religions, we should take care not to toss the baby along with the bathwater. We may very well have adopted customs and rituals perpetuated by religion that conferred significant selection advantages without knowing it!"
________

Perhaps you are a woman, but I am guessing you are male. If so, women do not consider that the male love of their genitals should be the reason why they should not be sexually mutilated.

What is even more astonishing then the continuation of this health-diminishing, sexual-pleasure-negating acts, is that these barbaric practices have not decimated the female population, and not that they play some important advantages to the propagation of genes.

30 years ago, when I cataloged materials on female sexual mutilation at a NYC law library, I was shocked to find out that the majority of mutilations are done by women to women. And when asked some women why they mutilated other women, they replied that it was done to me, therefore other women need to have it done. Remember it was Ayaan Hirsi Ali's father that protected her from this brutal practice, and her grandmother who ensured that it got done in his absence.

940. The Age of Darwin

Comment #32251 by Logicel on April 16, 2007 at 12:28 pm

Fishpeddler, am I being telepathic here or do you really adore food?

Using spirituality to describe a positive state of being which is subjective though can be shared in part and perhaps can be confirmed by some evidence--brain scans can reveal which parts of the brain are being active when we are in various states of awareness, is problematic as this long sentence is, but it is late where I am and I am beat.

Have a nice dinner, Fishpeddler.

941. The Age of Darwin

Comment #32246 by Logicel on April 16, 2007 at 11:39 am

savroD, non-hominids are intriquing because us humans have limited knowledge of their mind/body experience. I regard my cats as being soulful.

It is very difficult to talk about spirituality with atheists because they are so skeptical about spirituality as being equivalent with the supernatural. But as Anne Druyan, has mentioned, us atheists need to recapture the word spiritual from the believers in the supernatural. Spirituality can be natural.

942. The Age of Darwin

Comment #32245 by Logicel on April 16, 2007 at 11:34 am

poppythinks, it is just the way I look at the union between my body and my mind. Nothing special, really on one level, but then again, it is very nice to be grounded in the recognition of your body and mind as working together in unison. I have been mediating for decades--just plain, simple yoga postures which I regard as deep muscle massage and breathing which slows down the rate of thinking and is very calming to the mind. Biofeedback, and certainly the recent forms available, can accomplish similar results.

Some eastern practices are absurdly punishing to the body in order to control the mind. And in the west, the body again is regarded as a detriment to having control over your mind, as being just some wild, often 'disgusting' aspect to hide, suppress, and whip into shape to the best of our abilities.

I often think of the African American use of the word 'soulful' which does not necessarily denote the supernatural. Soulful in that context signifies both the mental/emotional/physical appreciation of one's senses as in soul food and soul music. Soul is sensual, comforting and grounding, but in my sense it is not eternal, it does not exist after my life is done. The effects of my 'soul' however could perhaps, in the sense, that memories of a grounded person can positively influence posterity in often unexpected ways.

943. Kadra attacked in public

Comment #32239 by Logicel on April 16, 2007 at 10:29 am

Perhaps, I am being naive, but what I get from the posts in this thread, is that female sexual mutilation including infibulation is wrong, whether it is done by immigrants in their adopted countries, or by natives in their own. I got a sense of world citizenship very strongly in this thread, but then again, I have been reading and posting for about 6 months, so perhaps I have a better edge in understanding posts written by frequent posters.

944. Kadra attacked in public

Comment #32222 by Logicel on April 16, 2007 at 8:28 am

the fight against sexual mutilation:

http://www.montagunocircpetition.org/

945. Genie shows barred by Islam, clerics say

Comment #32212 by Logicel on April 16, 2007 at 7:48 am

edge100, congrats on your graduation from lurker to poster. Nice post. Trolls are always useful for serious posters because trolls provide fodder and ammunition for the atheist's viewpoint. Hardworking trolls, gotta love 'em.

946. The Age of Darwin

Comment #32211 by Logicel on April 16, 2007 at 7:44 am

"...the soul cannot be detached from the electrical and chemical pulses of the body."
________

savroD, I find the above quote to be a heavy weight despite the word 'soul.' So many religious believers say that they know God has touched their supernatural souls because of the way they 'feel.' This moderate author is opening the door to reason by connecting the two, and by this connecting, not necessarily giving validity to the 'soul', but giving validity to the sensation of one.

I am one of those 'spiritual' atheists that encourage us to reclaim that word, which does not always or have to mean beyond the natural. My own definition of my soul is the union of body with my mind. I have been chastised in regarding myself in this way, because the soul apparently must be defined only in supernatural terms. Bollocks.

947. Genie shows barred by Islam, clerics say

Comment #32202 by Logicel on April 16, 2007 at 7:03 am

I see our Sunday drive-by godder is still hanging out. Odd that the neutered Spagmonster vanished, vowing to return, and lo and behold, a miracle--the awaited apparition of Chamber is amidst our heathen, brighty bright persons.

Here's hoping that chamber will have a glorious brighty, bright day!

948. The Age of Darwin

Comment #32183 by Logicel on April 16, 2007 at 5:33 am

I just read Brooks Wikipedia's entry, sounds like an interesting bloke. Excerpt from the article:

"Brooks also broke with many in the conservative movement when, in late 2003, he came out in favor of same-sex marriage in his New York Times column. He equated the idea with traditional conservative values: "We should insist on gay marriage. We should regard it as scandalous that two people could claim to love each other and not want to sanctify their love with marriage and fidelity.... It's going to be up to conservatives to make the important, moral case for marriage, including gay marriage." (New York Times, November 22, 2003, A-15.)"

949. The Age of Darwin

Comment #32172 by Logicel on April 16, 2007 at 4:21 am

Excellent article. Particularly appreciated the following quote:

Human beings, in our current understanding, are jerry-built creatures, in which new, sophisticated faculties are piled on top of primitive earlier ones. Our genes were formed during the vast stretches when people were hunters and gatherers, and we are now only semi-adapted to the age of nuclear weapons and fast food. Furthermore, reason is not separate from emotion and the soul cannot be detached from the electrical and chemical pulses of the body. There isn't even a single seat of authority in the brain. The mind emerges (somehow) from a complex light show of neural firings without a center or executive. We are tools of mental processes we are not even aware of.

Brother, that's righteous.

950. For Some Hispanics, Coming to America Also Means Abandoning Religion

Comment #32167 by Logicel on April 16, 2007 at 3:58 am

"Here, the people get more materialistic," Mr. Cerritos said. "The culture here is really barren. There's no traditions."
______

Interesting and informative article. There are national American traditions, like celebrating Fourth of July and Thanksgiving. In addition there are regional and State traditions, like clam bakes, barbecues, Mardi Gras, etc. Being a fairly new country, it does lack the historical punch of traditions in older countries. As for as materialism, one is not forced to consume, and some Americans choose to embrace voluntary 'poverty.'

My goodness, where is Helian when you need him!