51. On TV: The Genius of Charles Darwin: Presented by Richard Dawkins

Comment #236779 by Border Collie on August 25, 2008 at 10:07 am

'Teach the controversy' is simply a ploy to spin one's tires in the muck ... like a 'please stop and argue with us because we want to argue' ... just an old fundamentalist ploy. They will argue with anyone until the universe implodes just to promote their agenda or to stifle another's agenda if it disagrees with their's.

52. On TV: The Genius of Charles Darwin: Presented by Richard Dawkins

Comment #236772 by Border Collie on August 25, 2008 at 9:56 am

Watching RD interview the teachers was painful. Not teaching any longer and being in the business world, I can just keep my mouth shut. But the teachers ... they must present something. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place, trying to do what they love, walking that razor's edge, trying to keep their jobs. I know the multiculturalrelativism started here in the 1970's. What the teachers were saying in the interviews was straight out of my mid/late 1970's education classes at the University of Texas. The not-so-hidden agendas behind the religious/ cultural agenda are the economic and political agendas. And, it's not just about potentially saying something that a student might take offence to in the religious realm ... it covers everything ... everything/anything is valid. 'Little Johnny will you stand up and tell the class about your belief in zombies and voodoo dolls? Blah, blah, blah. Thank you very much indeed. Now, class let's discuss zombies and voodoo dolls.'

53. On TV: The Genius of Charles Darwin: Presented by Richard Dawkins

Comment #236548 by Border Collie on August 24, 2008 at 7:14 pm

I'm into Episode 3 ... Wow, MacKay, what an ignoramous. Reminds me of innumerable similar Southern US religous toads. What was it? No evidence of rain before Noah's time? That just about takes the cake for the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard. RD, thanks for exposing that guy!

Now I'm watching Wendy. She's not defending religion, she's defending her empire, her very nice office, her probably very high yearly income. What a twit. I admire your attempt RD, but I saw her brain go completely dead when you were explaining jaws.

54. Priest Antonio Rungi wants beauty contest - for nuns

Comment #236514 by Border Collie on August 24, 2008 at 6:17 pm

Damn, next thing you know, nuns will be riding bicycles.

55. Robot with a Biological Brain: new research provides insights into how the brain works

Comment #236512 by Border Collie on August 24, 2008 at 6:13 pm

I was thinking poor, little retarded robot ... only a few neurons to think with ...

56. A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash

Comment #236446 by Border Collie on August 24, 2008 at 3:53 pm

The evolution of teaching evolution, steady as she goes, baby steps ... I'm amazed that even this much is happening given the animosity for ANY science all over the US. Yes, I'd love to see leaps in science education ... maybe after the repubs are voted out of office ...

57. What Binti Jua Knew

Comment #235814 by Border Collie on August 23, 2008 at 3:47 pm

How many of you saw Children of Men? How did you feel when there were no children in the world? How would you feel if there were no chimps, no tigers, no gorillas, no elephants? The answer lies in there.

58. Channel 4 announces return of Undercover Mosque

Comment #235751 by Border Collie on August 23, 2008 at 1:45 pm

Maybe one of you guys could put a link on this site so we kuffars over here across the pond can enjoy bad editing also.

59. Why Dawkins is right and his critics are wrong

Comment #235517 by Border Collie on August 23, 2008 at 7:02 am

To any wingnuts posting here ... I've only seen episode one so far. I don't know yet whether RD pats religion on the fanny affectionately enough or not throughout the episodes. However, given that religion has been given much more than its due for at least two thousand years now and given that it has been crammed into every orifice of our bodies literally, with the appendages of priests and the branding irons of Inquisitors, and figuratively for at least an equal amount of time, I see absolutely no reason why it should be given ANY mention or respect in this TV program. Like, what, there isn't enough religious programming on TV?! Have you ever seen religious programming give equal time and consideration to science? Neither have I. It is not the other side of the argument. It does not deserve equal consideration or mention. It is not science. I am sick of hearing about it.

60. Why Dawkins is right and his critics are wrong

Comment #235509 by Border Collie on August 23, 2008 at 6:54 am

Good grief! Are you guys still arguing?! It's a TV program, for heaven's sake! Is it supposed to be perfect? Hell, what is? Given the time, content, etc., constraints of such programs, I'm surprised that it even made it to broadcast. Most don't. It damned sure won't be broadcast here in the US! Even, or maybe esp., NPR doesn't have the guts to broadcast it. And you know that none of the commercial networks will. I'm just grateful that it showed to you Brits and that it's posted here so that I can watch it. Who cares what a bunch of detractors think?

61. On TV: The Genius of Charles Darwin: Presented by Richard Dawkins

Comment #235326 by Border Collie on August 22, 2008 at 6:46 pm

Apparently Crucie Fiction posted this? Whoever you are, thank you.

62. US school district sued over homophobic 'witch hunt'

Comment #235233 by Border Collie on August 22, 2008 at 3:31 pm

'We're not out to tar and feather ...' The truly sickening part of that statement is that deep down inside they believe that they do have the right to tar and feather someone and that they're doing them a big f'ing favor by not tarring and feathering them ... this time ... but they'll keep the threat in their back pocket just in case they need to set someone straight in the future ... I grew up with this type of mentality surrounding me ... it hasn't changed in ages ...

63. Why Dawkins is right and his critics are wrong

Comment #235221 by Border Collie on August 22, 2008 at 3:10 pm

If I remember correctly, there's a great story that Richard Feynman (sp?) would tell about when he was a child and he and his father would observe nature. His father would encourage him to not label or name living things, but simply encouraged him to observe their behavior and try to describe it. Wow, what a great way to electrify the mind of a budding genius!

64. Why Dawkins is right and his critics are wrong

Comment #235211 by Border Collie on August 22, 2008 at 2:41 pm

Diacanu ... I completely agree ... I was the same ... I think I began to become aware at about age six ... you must have been a prodigy ... but I do know that in this day and age, most people's experience of nature and or agriculture is limited and I think that makes it more difficult for them to have a reference point from which to begin esp. when they have so many preachers screaming at them ... I guess I should say that the lack of contact with nature and agriculture abstracts the concept of evolution ... and you know what abstraction means ... thinking and questioning ... scary ... I think touching, smelling, seeing, hearing, tasting nature is pivotal. I had experiences in my very young life that opened my eyes ... observing birds, finding fossils and native American relics ... you know ... Many years ago I found a pristine, perfect, very detailed trilobite fossil, but it was stuck in a slab of rock that must have weighed twenty tons and I couldn't remove it. I remember the impact that had on me. I knew enough to know that it was hundreds of millions years old. Just that simple thing was an astounding experience that filled me with awe ...

65. Why Dawkins is right and his critics are wrong

Comment #235195 by Border Collie on August 22, 2008 at 2:23 pm

You know, most people lead detached urban lives. They have little or no interaction with 'nature' or agriculture except on TV and the grocer. And most don't watch nature shows on TV. So, the natural sciences are just a subject that they're generally forced to take a little of in middle and high school. Otherwise, it's nature observation in the back yard and watching night time soaps on TV. So, really, in general, how can most people have any sort of visceral understanding of evolution? I don't think they can. I was raised on a farm, spent all my spare time in the fields and woods. I had direct experience with agriculture and nature. I'm not exceptionally smart, but Darwin's basic concepts are so simple and obvious to me because I did see agriculture and nature firsthand. I mean, selective breeding and natural selection, how simple can it be?

66. Why Dawkins is right and his critics are wrong

Comment #235189 by Border Collie on August 22, 2008 at 2:14 pm

Is this posted anywhere we yanks can watch it?

67. Why Dawkins is right and his critics are wrong

Comment #235146 by Border Collie on August 22, 2008 at 1:26 pm

It's easy ... religion is based on fear ... maybe a little natural fear of the unknown ... and fear engendered by the prime purveyors of fear in the world today, the priesthood, in all its many forms. When people blast RD, it's fear, hedging their bets on the side of religion. And, still, in this world, an atheist is an easy, acceptable, maybe obligatory target of the sanctimonious. In the media, real or contrived controversy sells more soap, that's all.

68. Pastor Michael Guglielmucci spun gospel of lies

Comment #235102 by Border Collie on August 22, 2008 at 12:24 pm

Wow, a lying preacher! I'll have to write this down and remember it.

69. Supernatural science: Why we want to believe

Comment #235099 by Border Collie on August 22, 2008 at 12:20 pm

I don't know about the religious people are taught to not believe in the paranormal. What is it then that they pick up on Sunday mornings? The churches simply want them to belive 'their' paranormal story and not those other false paranormal stories ... our delusion, not their delusion. I think we want to believe because we're taught to want to believe. They certainly don't want us thinking or asking questions. Really, so few people here in the South have any explanation for anything other than 'creationism'. The evidence of science is mistrusted and or ignored at best. With belief there's always some easy, simplistic, brain-dead answer available. With rationality, one might have to live in the question for more than a nanosecond, and that's what they fear more than anything ... not having an immediate answer and vacant space in their little pointed heads. Without the immediate answer, the mind might start thinking and asking questions and then, as with all fundamentalists who have a nanosecond to spare, evil spirits and Satan begin to 'come into' their minds. I don't know why it's always the Wicked Witch of the West who shows up. I mean, why couldn't it be the Good Witch of the East or Snow White or the Easter Bunny or Jesus himself? But, alas, it's always something/one bad. Hey, I've been hearing this stuff for decades and still hear it almost every day.

70. Pastor Rick's Test

Comment #234560 by Border Collie on August 21, 2008 at 3:09 pm

Oh, LOVE the horse, cowboy, cross thing ... I come to this site to GET AWAY FROM IT! I have to see that EVERYWHERE I go on the window & bumper stickers of pickups and SUVs along with the little Jesus fish and little Jesus fish families ... Daddy fish, Mommy fish, Sally fish, Johnny fish ..., baby fish. We're SO religious we have to advertise it on our vehicles for the entire State of Texas to see. But, don't get in the way of our Christian vehicle, or we WILL run over and kill your ass with smiles on our faces, glazed doughnut eyes and blame it on God.

71. Supernatural science: Why we want to believe

Comment #234556 by Border Collie on August 21, 2008 at 2:57 pm

All I know is that many or most human minds project strange things into dark, empty places. I guess it's more fun than just walking over to the dark, empty place and checking it out with a flashlight. I mean, really, what's more fun, a scraggly stray dog or a chupacabra? And, the US, esp. the southern US, is filled with poorly educated people who get at least a weekly injection of the paranormal at church. What can be expected except Big Foot sightings? Oh, and we want to believe because it's easier. We don't have the tools to observe and analyze rationally. One actually has to go to school, study and learn for that.

72. The rise of Miliband brings at last the prospect of an atheist prime minister

Comment #234553 by Border Collie on August 21, 2008 at 2:47 pm

I'd doubt if any politician, atheist or not, could live up to that rosy forecast. I can't imagine it ever happening here in the US.

73. US school district sued over homophobic 'witch hunt'

Comment #234543 by Border Collie on August 21, 2008 at 2:31 pm

And you guys are surprised at this? Hello, rural Florida ... just like any other rural area in the South. I'm not condoning what the principal did. I'm just not surprised in the least. When I was a kid, something like this wouldn't have even made the local podunk news. The party lines might have been humming, however.

74. Pastor Rick's Test

Comment #234033 by Border Collie on August 20, 2008 at 7:12 pm

I get it, I get it ...

75. Scientists Create Blood From Stem Cells

Comment #234031 by Border Collie on August 20, 2008 at 6:59 pm

If it's not the government's job to fund it then it's not the government's job to control it ... but they do or try to. There are only a few more months of Bush, then maybe we can start taking some baby steps forward.

76. Pastor Rick's Test

Comment #234028 by Border Collie on August 20, 2008 at 6:48 pm

J Mac ... well, water, of course ... I did try that other natural stuff when I was a young man. Rather enjoyed it. I was referring to my normal everyday insanity as all natural and not induced by ingested substances. So, where is Quetz? I like his wit.

77. Pastor Rick's Test

Comment #234022 by Border Collie on August 20, 2008 at 6:36 pm

Mord ... I don't smoke or drink or snort anything. It's all natural. But, thanks for the recco. We're just so saturated with this religious muck here in the US and esp. in Texas and other southern states, that every time I hear one more thing about religion and politicians I want to scream ... on second thought, maybe I will try some of that baggie stuff.

78. Q&A with Richard Dawkins after lecture at UC Berkeley

Comment #234021 by Border Collie on August 20, 2008 at 6:34 pm

RD seems to become clearer with every talk and every q&a ... amazing guy ...

What did I miss with isthatclear? It seems to be missing.

79. Pastor Rick's Test

Comment #233939 by Border Collie on August 20, 2008 at 3:44 pm

The truth is that even if Obama had shown up nailed to a cross, bleeding from his side, with a crown of thorns, glowing in the dark, with a verifiable halo, performing miracles and ascending into the heavens, the fundy vote in the US would still go to McCain.

80. Central Texas Man's Death Sentence Upheld Despite Bible In Jury Room

Comment #233932 by Border Collie on August 20, 2008 at 3:33 pm

Ramases ... Being from Texas, I think Texas has the largest prison population in the so-called free world, yes, just Texas. At least, I'd heard that stat at one time. It is nothing but an enormous tax industry. There is no civilised legal system in Texas. And, unfortunately, given the amount of drugs and criminals flowing through Texas from Mexico, I doubt that anything will get better.

81. Pastor Rick's Test

Comment #233927 by Border Collie on August 20, 2008 at 3:21 pm

Quetz ... in what part of the world are you? No, I'm not going to throw a brick at you.

82. Pastor Rick's Test

Comment #233924 by Border Collie on August 20, 2008 at 3:16 pm

Quetz ... I'd just break them off the house ... I'll consider it, however ...

83. New Ribosomal Research Offers Fresh Evidence, Understanding of Evolution

Comment #233918 by Border Collie on August 20, 2008 at 2:59 pm

'Evolution in its earliest days ...' What? It still is.

84. Central Texas Man's Death Sentence Upheld Despite Bible In Jury Room

Comment #233910 by Border Collie on August 20, 2008 at 2:51 pm

Convicting and executing murderers, or any other type of criminal, in Texas is nothing but a legal game to keep police, lawyers and judges in jobs. They don't give a damn about the victims or the criminals or the public. They're simply continuously juggling legal situations to keep those tax dollars flowing into the so-called justice system. Then when they're really sitting around with nothing to do and they're tired of twiddling their thumbs, eating doughnuts and stopping high school girls, they let a few bozos escape from jail so they can chase them all over the state so they can earn a few overtime hours. It is a frigging joke and always has been. About the only way one can be assured of living another twenty years in Texas is to receive the death sentence. The justice system will not let you die until they've vampired every possible penny out of the situation, and that usually takes about twenty years.

85. Pastor Rick's Test

Comment #233905 by Border Collie on August 20, 2008 at 2:43 pm

I made a point to NOT watch it. I knew that I'd throw a brick through the TV screen and I can't afford a new TV right now. I mean, what on Earth could I have learned?! ... that presidential candidates have no guts and will do anything to pander votes, that a preacher can ask a bunch of questions to make someone squirm, that there are tens of millions of dumbasses watching it believing it is profound ... makes me sick at my stomach.

86. Sincerity no substitute for evidence

Comment #233645 by Border Collie on August 20, 2008 at 6:57 am

Whatever ...

87. Knights Templar 'Heirs' Sue Pope For Billions

Comment #233636 by Border Collie on August 20, 2008 at 6:24 am

Laughing my ass off!
Even Dan Brown couldn't top this!

88. Last Night's TV: The Genius of Charles Darwin, Channel 4

Comment #233340 by Border Collie on August 19, 2008 at 6:25 pm

Right now, 8:24PM Texas time, Bill Maher is on CNN, Larry King Live doing 'Is Nothing Sacred?'
And, hey, Bigfoot in the freezer was a fake ... imagine that.

89. Unintelligent Design

Comment #233261 by Border Collie on August 19, 2008 at 3:12 pm

Even when I was a kid living in rural north Texas, not too many miles north of the dino tracks in Glen Rose, and being forced to go to the screamer Baptist church every Sunday morning, I had doubts about the dominant religious paradigm. I saw so many life forms, so many fossils, so many native American relics, that it just didn't jive with my observations. Believing that someone's small concept of God created everything just didn't make sense. I forced myself into the goddidit thing, but it seemed so limited. My immature thoughts were more along the line of a God that could create what I was observing had to be a more vast God than the one I was being told about. The smallness of the God that I was being force-fed simply got in the way of 'creation'. The beauty of the Earth, the living things, the sky, the weather, the land forms, the odors of the earth and plants after a summer rain and the constant surprise of discovering something new was just too much to stuff into the small space offered by the church. Little did I expect that in my adult life there would be a world wide war to undo science and reason which would again or still try to force the beauty of this Earth and universe into that small place where the small minded would be safe from the awe of it.

90. After Bibles seized, U.S. group won't leave Chinese airport

Comment #233223 by Border Collie on August 19, 2008 at 11:49 am

When I was a kid in the screamer Baptist church, they were always having drives and offerings and prayers and revivals to gather up loads of Bibles and deliver them to the poor unsaved 'heathens' in foreign countries. This has been going on for decades, folks.

91. Catholic leaders block contraceptive advice for 30,000 Scots girls

Comment #233133 by Border Collie on August 19, 2008 at 7:06 am

'It seems a bit archaic ..." Do tell. It's always good to be reminded about how obsessed the church is with sex and death. I love it when a bunch of sexually repressed/obsessed pedophiles make life affecting decisions about the health of women. There was a similar controversy in Texas a year or so ago. Seems that if they spent much less time trying to control sexual behavior and much more time just helping people, they might deserve some of the respect they're always screeching about. But, then, I guess if they weren't trying to control sexual behavior, they just really would be the church, would they?

92. After Bibles seized, U.S. group won't leave Chinese airport

Comment #232876 by Border Collie on August 18, 2008 at 7:51 pm

I love hearing about two idiotic world mythologies butting heads ... hey, as long as they're screwing with each other, they're leaving me alone ...

93. No credit for creationism

Comment #232872 by Border Collie on August 18, 2008 at 7:46 pm

Oh, well ... it's everywhere in the US. What's new? Get the lawyers involved and they'll make a permanent and perpetual historical case of it. Seems like the polarization of issues has set up a resonance that won't go away. The fundies could eventually win; then what? They won't ever stop trying to interject their 'stuff' into all aspects of American life, esp. education. I never thought things could be worse than when I was a kid, but they are. It seems as if the ease of communication and the vast amounts of money involved in religion along with well-known political validation here in the US has made it grow out of all reasonable proportion.

94. Religion out of medicine, a new message for Ontario doctors

Comment #232682 by Border Collie on August 18, 2008 at 1:31 pm

Doctors should not be forced to do or not do anything. If they don't want to do a procedure for whatever reason the patient can just be referred to a doctor who will do it. How difficult is that? I don't see the problem. The problem becomes worse than the problem when a bunch of government wanker functionaries start telling doctors how to practice medicine. Do any of you want some government jerk-off telling YOUR doctor how to practice medicine on you?

95. Petrol pump pilgrims keep faith

Comment #232138 by Border Collie on August 17, 2008 at 4:42 pm

Market forces, supply/demand? ... Yea, right ... the oil markets are the most controlled markets on the Earth except maybe diamonds ... And with an administration which has utterly abandoned the American public and doing everything it possibly can to rip us to shreds before it's voted out of office ... Not that I believe what they're doing will work, but what's your solution?

96. Richard Dawkins Lecture at UC Berkeley

Comment #231535 by Border Collie on August 16, 2008 at 2:00 pm

Flawless ...

97. Big-brained Animals Evolve Faster

Comment #231388 by Border Collie on August 16, 2008 at 8:01 am

Don_Quix ... I'm not sure whether those DNA samples were contaminated by bullshit, moonshine or both. I'm working on it. Until then, Bigfoot's in the freezer. I'm sure that soon some pseudo-scientific channel like Discovery, NG or History will have the full story for us.

98. Big-brained Animals Evolve Faster

Comment #231380 by Border Collie on August 16, 2008 at 7:52 am

'there is not one single transitional fossil'

absolutely correct

there are thousands

99. Big-brained Animals Evolve Faster

Comment #231370 by Border Collie on August 16, 2008 at 7:34 am

Prince ... Are you the same guy who sends me those Nigerian phishing scam emails? You know, I send you three thousand dollars and you send me twenty million dollars? If so, please send me the twenty million and I'll then send you the three thousand, OK? Thanks.

Oh, and by the way, please hurry, I need the money like yesterday.

100. Big-brained Animals Evolve Faster

Comment #231070 by Border Collie on August 15, 2008 at 5:35 pm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26222822?GT1=43001 ... for a laugh or two