The Rock calls out Goldberg

Go Green!
Green Machine!!!!!

William F. Buckley R.I.P.

Buckley passed away this morning at his desk.

NY Times Article

Below are parts 1 & 2 of a debate between Buckley and Noam Chomsky. Fist, I thought you might enjoy them since you're reading Chomsky right now.

Noam Chomsky vs. William F. Buckley Debate : Part 2 of 2

Noam Chomsky vs. William F. Buckley Debate : Part 1 of 2

Congrats to me

For all of u who dont know....... Mr. wilson is going to be a daddy. Due date is sept. 13th.

MIDWEST VOICES: Let us bow our heads and pray for... (Comments)

The re-awakening of atheism in America is going to make for some very interesting times. Leaders of the Christian Right have spent years trying to cast themselves as the voiceless victims in a secular society, but the scapegoating [sic] is over. (Want to talk marginalized? How many atheists have there ever been in Congress or the White House?)

Re-awakening? At best the current popularity of atheism will influence a few people to adopt it, but most who are influenced will be nominal at best, settling on agnosticism instead. She is certainly correct, though, in labeling atheism as a truly marginalized minority and calling out the Christian Right for pretending they are “voiceless victims.”

Although I would consider myself a “co-belligerent” with the Christian Right on certain issues - the “life” issues in particular - I do applaud anyone who highlights the deliberate misinformation and willful ignorance that characterize much of the Christian Right.

Nonbelievers know a lot about Christianity and Judaism, most having been raised in religious families. Believers, however, are somewhat less clued-in about atheists. Here are a few simple truths about who they are, and aren’t.

First of all, most believers and nonbelievers don’t know much about Christianity or Judaism (at least historically) – and that includes the pray-daily-bible-thumping-wear-it-on-the-sleeve believers, too. Anyway, the last sentence in that paragraph, with its claim to know “…a few simple truths about who [atheists] are, and aren’t.” should clue you in that the rest is utter hogwash. Here we go….

Atheists are well-behaved.

Really? All of them?

Atheists seem to play well with others overall.

Direct me to your quantitative study entitled “Atheists: How They Seemingly Play Well with Others Overall”

They’re not in the news for getting caught doing things they tell others not to do.

This statement may just imply that atheists don’t have standards, or maybe that they are boring. Or, could it be they only make up 0.4% of the population, they hold relatively few public positions, and therefore they have fewer opportunities for public displays of hypocrisy.

Most co-exist peacefully with believing family and friends. They pay taxes.

...and so do most people.

Atheists don’t start wars on behalf of atheism.

…though wars have certainly been waged on behalf of ideologies that are anti-religious, if not downright atheistic. Let’s just turn to our history books and look at the last century for a good primer on the topic.

They do join the military, however, and contrary to the cliché, they are found in foxholes. In fact, there is a lawsuit now against Defense Secretary Robert Gates and a major who harassed a group of “foxhole atheists” who simply wished to exercise their freedom of/from religion while serving their country in the Middle East.

I’m certainly not for harassing anybody for their particular beliefs, especially if they work under me, but “a” major’s action does not constitute a modern day auto de fe.

Atheists have a thing for the American Constitution, particularly the First Amendment that separates church and state. They are secularists who support a government free from influence by any religion. They’re not anti-religious but nonreligious.

Well, if atheists (again, is this all of them, some of them, or just the ones Staten is idealizing?) truly have a “thing” for the Constitution they would realize that “separation of church and state” does not mean that religion cannot influence the state; it means that there cannot be an official state sanctioned religion, nor can the state intervene in the affairs of religious faiths (provided they don’t break the law). If Ms. Staten’s ignorance of Constitutional law is indicative of her co-secularists in general, I’m afraid we wouldn’t be any more well served than by the Christian Right she decries.

Any person of faith, whether it lies in atheism or Christianity, is well within their rights as an American citizen to do whatever is in his or her power to influence the state, for which Ms. Staten’s incoherent rah rah atheism piece could be considered somewhat of an example.

So when people like Mike Huckabee announce they want to “take this nation back for Christ” and make the Constitution fit the word of God, atheists worry, and feel that everyone else would be wise to worry along with them.

Let’s don’t get hysterical here. When Huckabee says “‘take this nation back for Christ’” – I don’t believe he means “…make the Constitution fit the word of God” – as Stanton sneakily adds after the quote.

Atheists don’t take up much space. In fact, they only comprise 0.4 percent of the U.S. population, according to the 2001 American Religious Identification Survey, conducted through the Graduate Center at CUNY. (Agnostics would add 0.5 percent, the nonreligious 14.1 percent more.)

A total of 900,000 people isn’t [sic] even enough to fill 10 football stadiums, but evangelical leaders insist the godless are behind the decline of a whole nation. Uh, okay.

Which “evangelicals?” I’m pretty certain that evangelical leaders like Jim Wallis, Tony Campolo or Jimmy Carter don’t talk like this.

Besides, I think when most evangelicals talk about the decline of American morality they probably don’t have atheists, as a group, in mind. Sorry, they’re just not that influential. What they are talking about is the increased lack of shame or sense of traditional morality in general – and this comes from a variety of places; a group of 900,000 atheists are probably the least of their concerns.

Atheists make good neighbors. Chances are, if you lived next door to an atheist, you might never know it. Atheists aren’t known for going door-to-door or shore-to-shore to un-convert people. They will help you even though there’s no heavenly reward in it for them.

Seriously, how many more of these categorical statements like “atheists are this or that” am I going to have to read!

Atheists will not infringe upon your life uninvited. On the other hand, you have to wonder about the neighborliness of certain believers when you see, for example, the miracle of the multiplying churches and neighborhood-munching mega-churches.

Oh yes they will. Once atheists start multiplying because our schools have Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins on the required reading list, it’s going to be like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, you just watch and see. I’m going to alert Pat Robertson and pray that God raises Falwell from the dead to combat this scourge of atheism. I don’t think Osteen has the balls to do the job. We as believers need to exterminate these godless heathens once and for all!

I always find it ironic when atheists use Christian morality (“neighborliness”) to judge Christianity.

Thanks to the Religious Land Use law, passed in 2000, it’s lots easier now for religious groups to build more tax-exempt houses of worship, often against the wishes of neighborhoods which they burden financially and environmentally.

Yep, that’s right. Churches are always built where no one wants them. That’s what keeps them multiplying.

Atheists are lousy fundraisers. If you really want to raise a ton of money, oh, say on a weekly basis, don’t ask an atheist. Go to the folks with the know-how.

Televangelists raise almost $100 billion a year. In fact, they are so good at talking money out of people’s purses and bank accounts that six major Christian ministries are under investigation by the Senate Finance Committee.

Considering how influential Staten thinks the Christian Right has been you’d think the Senate Finance Committee would have better things to do than investigate their mega-church coffers.

These prosperity preachers tell their followers that God wants all of them to be well and be rich. (Serendipitously, God wants the preachers to have fancy cars, huge houses and the occasional Learjet.)

I see a new book – it’s called “Building Wealth the Godless Way.” In it you’ll learn how to take that money you’ve been foolishly tithing away to “prosperity preachers” and put it toward temporal treasures rather than heavenly ones.

Atheists are the quiet type. Religionists have counted on atheists’ need for self-protection, but things are changing. Witness the popularity of Christopher Hitchens’ insightful book, god is not Great, the movie version of “The Golden Compass,” the mainstream media interest in the nonbelievers’ demographic.

…and witness the cycles of this phenomenon every so many years. This is hardly unique. Christian-themed stuff gets popular for awhile, then atheism, and then New Age…it’s all fairly predictable.

There’s a new dialogue beginning between mainline believers and atheists, and among atheists themselves. While militant New Atheists fight on intellectual turf to replace dogma with rational thinking, humanists encourage believers and nonbelievers to get the moral work of peace, social justice and saving the environment done together.

What’s a “militant New Atheist?” I thought atheists were just quiet and good neighbors that didn’t try to convert anybody. I can’t wait till they “dialogue” with me and teach me how to be rational, saving me from being lost in religious irrationality.

So humanists are going to teach me peace, social justice, and how to save the environment. Goodie because my church has never even heard those words. Maybe Ms. Staten can get me the number of a hum-an-ist (did I pronounce that right?) to speak at my parish.

Right-wing Christianity shook the atheist community out of its complacency with its relentless rhetorical badgering and attempts to co-opt the country. A missing piece of the real picture of America is finally being restored. Amen to that.

All I can say is… “Don’t shove your atheistic morality down my throat!”

MIDWEST VOICES: Let us bow our heads in thanks for atheists

The re-awakening of atheism in America is going to make for some very interesting times. Leaders of the Christian Right have spent years trying to cast themselves as the voiceless victims in a secular society, but the scapegoating is over. (Want to talk marginalized? How many atheists have there ever been in Congress or the White House?)

Nonbelievers know a lot about Christianity and Judaism, most having been raised in religious families. Believers, however, are somewhat less clued-in about atheists. Here are a few simple truths about who they are, and aren’t.

Atheists are well-behaved. Atheists seem to play well with others overall. They’re not in the news for getting caught doing things they tell others not to do. Most co-exist peacefully with believing family and friends. They pay taxes.

Atheists don’t start wars on behalf of atheism. They do join the military, however, and contrary to the cliché, they are found in foxholes. In fact, there is a lawsuit now against Defense Secretary Robert Gates and a major who harassed a group of “foxhole atheists” who simply wished to exercise their freedom of/from religion while serving their country in the Middle East.

Atheists have a thing for the American Constitution, particularly the First Amendment that separates church and state. They are secularists who support a government free from influence by any religion. They’re not anti-religious but nonreligious.

So when people like Mike Huckabee announce they want to “take this nation back for Christ” and make the Constitution fit the word of God, atheists worry, and feel that everyone else would be wise to worry along with them.

Atheists don’t take up much space. In fact, they only comprise 0.4 percent of the U.S. population, according to the 2001 American Religious Identification Survey, conducted through the Graduate Center at CUNY. (Agnostics would add 0.5 percent, the nonreligious 14.1 percent more.)

A total of 900,000 people isn’t even enough to fill 10 football stadiums, but evangelical leaders insist the godless are behind the decline of a whole nation. Uh, okay.

Atheists make good neighbors. Chances are, if you lived next door to an atheist, you might never know it. Atheists aren’t known for going door-to-door or shore-to-shore to un-convert people. They will help you even though there’s no heavenly reward in it for them.

Atheists will not infringe upon your life uninvited. On the other hand, you have to wonder about the neighborliness of certain believers when you see, for example, the miracle of the multiplying churches and neighborhood-munching mega-churches.

Thanks to the Religious Land Use law, passed in 2000, it’s lots easier now for religious groups to build more tax-exempt houses of worship, often against the wishes of neighborhoods which they burden financially and environmentally.

Atheists are lousy fundraisers. If you really want to raise a ton of money, oh, say on a weekly basis, don’t ask an atheist. Go to the folks with the know-how.

Televangelists raise almost $100 billion a year. In fact, they are so good at talking money out of people’s purses and bank accounts that six major Christian ministries are under investigation by the Senate Finance Committee.

These prosperity preachers tell their followers that God wants all of them to be well and be rich. (Serendipitously, God wants the preachers to have fancy cars, huge houses and the occasional Learjet.)

Atheists are the quiet type. Religionists have counted on atheists’ need for self-protection, but things are changing. Witness the popularity of Christopher Hitchens’ insightful book, god is not Great, the movie version of “The Golden Compass,” the mainstream media interest in the nonbelievers’ demographic.

There’s a new dialogue beginning between mainline believers and atheists, and among atheists themselves. While militant New Atheists fight on intellectual turf to replace dogma with rational thinking, humanists encourage believers and nonbelievers to get the moral work of peace, social justice and saving the environment done together.

Right-wing Christianity shook the atheist community out of its complacency with its relentless rhetorical badgering and attempts to co-opt the country. A missing piece of the real picture of America is finally being restored. Amen to that.

Written by Linda Staten of Kansas City, a professional writer and former college instructor of ethics and comparative religion.

Pele'

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cJBAFXeQFC8

Midnight Express (Chase Theme) - Giorgio Moroder

Enzo Dipede, Gino Schiraldi. Lets sign up for Soccer. Pele style. Victory!

Blood Sausage Anyone?

No food settles in my Bavarian stomach quite like cuisine from das Vaterland. Luckily there's German Deli.com to fill the void.

Kimbo Looks Bad but that's About It

Listen, I'm on the Kimbo Slice bandwagon as much as anyone. However, as much as I'm in his corner, and would pay good money to have dinner with the guy, he will get killed if he ever makes it to the UFC and fights someone like Ken Silva or Randy Couture. He's a menacing looking fellow with a beard and gold teeth, a marketer's wet dream. His decisive victory over the aptly named Tank Abbot, who is a fat booze hound that happens to fight, was pure marketing hype.

In short, Kimbo is not a serious fighter. He's fun to watch, but that's about it. Once people can't get away with making money off him anymore, they'll be forced to put him in the octagon with someone serious; they'll promote it to be the fight to end all fights, he'll get beat, and then he'll do commercials for mufflers or luggage.

Action and Responsibility

Orwell offers a highly quaified appreciation of the then (and still) politically incorrect Kipling. He insists that one must admit that Kipling is “morally insensitive and aesthetically disgusting.” Still, he says, Kipling “survives while the refined people who have sniggered at him seem to wear so badly.” One reason for this is that Kipling “identified himself with the ruling power and not with the opposition.”

“In a gifted writer,” Orwell remarks, “this seems to us strange and even disgusting, but it did have the advantage of giving Kipling a certain grip on reality.” Kipling “at least tried to imagine what action and responsibility are like.” For, Orwell explains, “The ruling power is always faced with the question, ‘In such and such circumstances, what would you do?’, whereas the opposition is not obliged to take responsibility or make any real decisions.” Furthermore, “where it is a permanent and pensioned opposition, as in England, the quality of its thought deteriorates accordingly.”


The above passage is taken from an article by William Kristol in today's New York Times called, "Democrats Should Read Kipling." In it Kristol highlights George Orwell's (by no means a conservative) appreciation of Rudyard Kipling. I think the main thrust of the article is applicable, not only to situations where political parties are involved, but to the current milieu of critique birthed by postmodern philosophies (which are actually nothing more than literary and historical criticisms) 40 some odd years ago. If everyone would simply ask the question "‘In such and such circumstances, what would you do?’" I think we'd have a more civil and thoughtful society. Unfortunately, there's a significant pseudo-intellectual class, influenced by the aforementioned anti-philosophies, who are content to be discontent while doing not much of anything but immaturely defining themselves by who they are not. The result is a pervasive sarcasm and irony which serves to frustrate action and responsibility in otherwise conscientious people.

Canonball Run...on a Bike

It's an illegal sport (nah, really?) called Alleycat Racing made up of bike couriers like that Kevin Bacon movie from the 80s, Quicksilver. Check out the Lucas Brunelle Productions page to watch the videos.

Cloning Your Hard Drive

Sil and I have had a few conversations related to this topic. All my knowledge on external hard drives and backing up stuff is fairly vague. Anyway, I thought this article was helpful - especially if you want a relatively simple and comprehensive solution.

PRAYER OF REPENTANCE by Rev. Joe Wright

Berkeley's Insurgence

I have sent a thank you email to Senator DeMint. We need more leaders like him.

Semper Fi

This is an outright act of selfishness and total disrespect for the very people that defend these psuedo-citizens rights to do what they are doing. The irony is so thick it is ridiculous.

It is perfectly acceptable to disagree with the war, to be anti-military, to object to certain policies of the government, and to voice your opinion in a respectful way of any of the above. However this is just taking it too far. These people should be tried for treason. There is no excuse for nonsense like this and they should be ashamed of themselves.

Nothing can be said to justify the actions of this group or the city council of Berkeley. I am sick. Cut off the funds, cut off the protection, cut off the transportation...let them die off (or be killed off) on their own terms, we don't need them.

If there were ever a time that I wished to cuss, it is now.

More details

Dry Lake Mead? 50-50 chance by 2021 seen

Study cites warming, water use and growing Colorado River deficit
Image: Lake Mead drought
This view of Lake Mead was taken last July 26, during the seventh straight year of drought that had caused the lake to drop more than 100 feet to its lowest level since the late 1960s.
What are the chances that Lake Mead, a key source of water for more than 22 million people in the Southwest, would ever go dry? A new study says it's 50 percent by 2021 if warming continues and water use is not curtailed.

"We were stunned at the magnitude of the problem and how fast it was coming at us," co-author Tim Barnett of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography said in a statement. "Make no mistake, this water problem is not a scientific abstraction, but rather one that will impact each and every one of us that live in the Southwest."

"It's likely to mean real changes to how we live and do business in this region," added co-author David Pierce, a Scripps climate scientist.

The experts estimated that the Colorado River system which feeds Lake Mead and Lake Powell, is seeing a net deficit of nearly 1 million acre-feet of water per year — an amount that can supply some 8 million people. That water is not being replenished, they noted, and human demand, evaporation and human-induced climate change are fueling the growing deficit.

OK, TELL ME THIS SCIENTIST IS NOT GETTING PAID! WHAT THE F*** IS A 50-50 CHANCE?? SO HIS PREDICTION IS EITHER IT WILL DRY UP, OR IT WONT! WOW, THANKS FOR THE INSIGHT MR. SCIENTIST!! MAKING A PREDICTION LIKE THAT ENSURES THAT YOU WILL NEVER BE WRONG OR RIGHT! I THINK THE TERM "50-50 CHANCE" SHOULD BE OUTLAWED, OR MAYBE JUST RESERVED FOR METEOROLOGISTS!!

If Hillary isn't bad enough....

If his wife is elected president, Clinton said he will not interfere with her work or her advisers.

"I will do what I'm asked to do," Clinton said. "I will not be in the Cabinet. I will not be on the staff full-time. I will not in any way interfere with the work of a strong vice president, strong secretary of State, strong secretary of Treasury."

"I will do what we've always done for each other," he said. "I will let her bounce ideas off me. I will tell her what I think."

Bob Knight Top 10 Soundbites

The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational

The boss sent this out today:

Here is the Washington Post's Mensa Invitational which once again asked
readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding,
subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.
The winners are:
1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the
subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.
3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you
realize it was your money to start with.
4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops
bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows
little sign of breaking down in the near future.
7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person
who doesn't get it.
9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
10. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.
11. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
12. Karmageddon: It's when everybody is sending off all these really bad
vibes, and then the Earth explodes, and it's a serious bummer.
13. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day
consuming only things that are good for you
14. Glibido: All talk and no action.
15. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when
they come at you rapidly.
16. Arachnoleptic fit (n..): The frantic dance performed just after
you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
17. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your
bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
18. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in
the fruit you're eating.