WIlliam Dembski Has Too Much Time on His Hands

William Dembski, a mathematician and one of the leading proponents of intelligent design has proven that he has way too much time on his hands. He created this flash animation which features Judge Jones (the Judge who ruled against intelligent design in Kitzmiller v. Dover School Board) being a puppet of evil “Darwinists.” The funny thing is that all Dembski did was read snippets from Judge Jones’ decision and sped it up as if a high pitched voice makes the points any less valid. It even had fart noises in its original version, but Dembski toned it down because too many people made fun of him for it.

In his defense, Dembski wrote on his blog, Uncommon Descent, “In most if not all of the comments from the anti-ID crowd they focus on the farting sounds or what Judge Jones is actually saying. They entirely miss the point being made. The point is that what the judge is saying aren’t his own words. They’re the words he was given by the people pulling his string. In other words, he’s nothing but a talking doll mindlessly repeating verbiage supplied by others.” Sorry Dembski, Judge Jones repeated the points because they’re the only valid arguments he heard during the trial. He is allowed to repeat what he heard if he agrees.

Of course, you need to understand Dembski, first. He feels he is a poor, persecuted scientist who will help start a new revolution in science just like Galileo. Here are some of his quotes:

“Just as a tree that has been "rimmed" (i.e., had its bark completely cut through on all sides) is effectively dead even if it retains its leaves and appears alive, so Darwinism has met its match with the movement initiated by Phillip Johnson. Expect Darwinism's death throes, like Judge Jones's decision, to continue for some time. But don't mistake death throes for true vitality. Ironically, Judge Jones's decision is likely to prove a blessing for the intelligent design movement, spurring its proponents to greater heights and thereby fostering its intellectual vitality and ultimate success.”

“Taking a longer view, I think Dover will come eventually to be be seen as a moral victory, in the same way that Galileo's condemnation is now viewed as a moral victory.”

“Ann [Coulter] is taking Phillip Johnson's message as developed in DARWIN ON TRIAL and REASON IN THE BALANCE and bringing it home to the masses. Critics will dismiss it for its hyperbole, lack of nuance, and in-your-face attitude. But she has the gist just right, which is that materialism (she calls it liberalism) dominates our culture despite being held by only a minority of the populace and has become an agenda among our elites (academy, scientists, media) for total worldview reprogramming.”

“The pressures directed against frontline ID proponents are real. From your armchair, it is easy enough to say that we need simply to get to work. But families and livelihoods really are under threat by these Darwinian fascists, and when our days are spent trying to shore up the latter, the former does not get done.”

That last one makes me laugh. So shoring up the latter means you spend your time making flash videos with juvenile humor? And still no peer-reviewed articles this year on intelligent design? Dembski, get back to work. Or can you finally admit that there is nothing to work on because ID is not testable in any sense and, therefore, not science?

Quote of the Week

“My answer to my kid being forced fed prayer?
No I have no problem with the school requesting that my child pray with the rest of the class.
Now if he were forced to pray to a Allah then I would have a problem with that.”

- Response from a fundamentalist Christian on DefCon's comments page. Is he so blinded by his faith that he is incapable of seeing an issue from the other side?

Proof that Abstinence-only Education Causes More Harm Than Good

CNN has reported on a recent study that shows 95% of Americans engage in premarital sex. If that isn't proof that abstinence-only education won't work, then nothing is. Clearly, Americans are going to have sex whether you tell them to or not. Not teaching them anything about contraceptives, or teaching that contraceptives are harmful, is criminal in my mind. If the RR wants to reduce teen pregnancies and abortions, then they need to face reality and actually educate children on the propery way to prevent pregnancies. Of course, the RR operates in a dreamworld of magic, and everyone knows that reality has a strong liberal bias.

To read the CNN article, click here.

Rep. Virgil Goode (R) VA Hates Freedom

The following is from www.thinkprogress.org:

Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) issued a letter to constituents earlier this month in which he declares, “I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States” if we do not adopt “strict immigration policies.” The letter was inadvertently sent to a local progressive activist, who shared it with the C-Ville Weekly newspaper.

In the letter, Goode references the election of Muslim Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN), and warns “American citizens” to “wake up” or “there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office”:

I do not subscribe to using the Koran in any way. The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran.

At another point in the letter, Goode describes telling a “Muslim student” who “came by my office” that the Koran will never be hung on his office wall:

The Ten Commandments and “In God We Trust” are on the wall in my office. A Muslim student came by the office and asked why I did not have anything on my wall about the Koran. My response was clear, “As long as I have the honor of representing the citizens of the 5th District of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, The Koran is not going to be on the wall of my office.”

Goode’s bigoted views are no secret, and he uses them to justify more than his hardline immigration policy. Earlier this year, he announced that he opposed increasing the minimum wage because it would “be a magnet for illegal aliens to come to this country. We do not need a strong magnet to lure illegals here.”

This is downright scary. How can an elected representative even think he could get away with garbage like this? This is bigoted hatred and Orwellian scare tactics. Goode is using existing fear of Islam in an attempt to subvert our rights and further the RR's dream of making fundamental Christianity the state religion. We as citizens cannot stand for this. Hopefully, Goode gets his ass voted out of office in '08. Retard.

I just have one question: Rep. Goode, why do you hate freedom?

An Excellent Documentary on End Timers

Here's an informative documentary from the BBC that thoroughly explains the End Time movement I discussed in brief a couple posts down. Frightening stuff (and not because I think Revelations will come true).

Teacher Caught Preaching in Public High School

Here’s a disgusting story from the New York Times. In New Jersey at Kearny High School, a high school teacher named David Paszkiewicz was caught preaching in the classroom. A student recorded the teacher saying that evolution and the Big Bang were not scientific, that dinosaurs were aboard Noah’s ark, and that only Christians had a place in heaven.

This disgusts me to no end. First off, what about the students who are not Christian? What are they to think? Public schools are not a place for preaching, EVER. To do otherwise is unconstitutional, i.e. illegal. Religion must stop at the door and remain a private decision.

What’s worse is that the student was chided by the school and he even received death threats after bringing his teacher’s statements to the press. Christian love, eh?

The last disturbing part of this story is that the class was on the US Constitution. How can a teacher explain a document when he clearly doesn't understand it? *sigh*

The Problem With End Timers

First, let me tell you who End Timers are. They are the bulk of the evangelical right who believe that the book of Revelations accurately predicts the second coming of Jesus. When this happens there will be plagues, natural disasters, genocide, war, etc. Luckily for Christians, they think they’ll be “ruptured” into heaven to dance and party with Jesus until the end of time. Meanwhile, back on Earth, the Antichrist will call all the nonbelievers to his side to destroy the remaining Christians (poor bastards, I guess they didn’t believe enough in the first place). Luckily, Jesus will come back in seven years as a superhero and smite the forces of the Antichrist, judge all of humanity, and then reign on Earth for the next thousand years. And it’s all going to start in the next fifty years. Don’t believe me? Read the Left Behind series by Tim Lahay. This money grubber lays it out exactly how fundamental Christians think it will happen.

The problem with prophecy is that it can become self-fulfilling. Evangelicals today want to do everything they can to hasten Jesus’ return. They support war in the Middle East, refuse to allow Israel to give up land to the Palestinians, and don’t care about global warming. Why? Because these are the events that will hasten Jesus’ second coming. That’s all well and good…unless it’s not what Revelations means at all.

The idea of the Rapture first appeared in the 1800s. It’s not an ancient belief at all. Furthermore, the author of Revelations was writing for a contemporary audience. The Christians of the time rightly feared the Romans and believed that Jesus was going to come back and destroy the Roman Empire in the same generation. But here Christians are 2000 years later, still waiting for Jesus to save them.

Because of the control the RR (Religious Right) has on our government (not to mention our born again President) through the Republican Party, this belief in the End Time permeates through government policy. Bush rejected the Kyoto Treaty to stop global warming, and believes that he is doing God’s work in Iraq. It also widens the division between religions until there is no chance for reconciliation. It’s all ludicrous. When people stop caring about this world, what happens to this one? What do we leave our children? This belief in prophecy must stop if we want to survive as a species and give our descendents a decent place to live.

Quote of the Week

"Reality has a well-known liberal bias."

- Steven Colbert roasting President Bush at the 2006 White House Correspondents Diner.

Hey Kids! How About Some Religious Violence?

What could be better than teaching your child that violence is okay as long as you do it in the name of Jesus? Everyone knows that nonbelievers are going to hell anyway! Why don't we help them along?

Amazingly, that's the basic idea behind the new PC game Left Behind: Eternal forces. Based on the overly popular books by money-grubber Tim LaHey, the game follows the events in the Book of Revelations along the narrow and completely unfounded interpretation favored by born again Christians. The game takes place in New York in the not too distant future and the goal is to convert as many people as possible to the born again variety of Christianity to make America into a Christian theocracy ready for Jesus' return. For those that don't join you, the answer is simple: kill them.

While advocates of the game argue that the game punishes players for unwonton killing by reducing "spirit points," a player has no choice but to kill the unending hoards of the Anti-Christ's Global Community Peacekeepers, which is closely modelled on the United Nations. But hey, at least it doesn't show any blood.

Furthermore, the game features between mission "factiods" meant to debunk anti-Jesus ideologies such as evolution (for my thoughts on this matter, click here). So, besides simply endorsing religiously-inspired violence, it also tries to convert people. Great.

For me, this is terrifying. It teaches children and teenagers that it is okay to kill people for not sharing their same beliefs. Now, I'm all for freedom of expression, but all I'm saying is don't buy this hateful piece of garbage.

Besides, it's a terrible game. Just read some of the reviews. Terrible controls, terrible graphics, terrible AI, terrible message. Enough said.

Sorry for the Hiatus

School work has been out of control for the last few weeks, so I have not had any time to write. But it's all done now, so I should be able to pick up where I left off. Expect something in the next day or two.