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Going To School With Jesus.
2006-08-08 21:06:01
Unfortunately today’s report is not about Intelligent Design again, it’s just plain old religious exclusivity in a government sponsored forum. Christians have been invading the public school system for some time. They have weaseled their way further and further into the administrations and militant parents have rallied the flock to push for Christian-based education in the public school system. They always claim freedom of religious expression and denounce the separation of church and state laws as mean-spirited Christian persecution led by godless liberals. Well today we get to see the dark side of this movement. Not just for the inherent dumbing-down of America, but in the actual conflict and very unneighborly way it promotes religious fascism and tears communities apart. This is not about scientists or Christian Conservative agitators or militant atheists or the ACLU. It’s just a lone Jewish family in Delaware and their 11 year-old boy. Where Mona Dobrich g...
More About: Jesus , School , With , Jesu , Going

Put Your Brain Back In Your Head!
2006-08-08 21:06:01
On my list of most aggravating things, is the entire Intelligent Design debate. Forgetting that the entire purpose of Intelligent Design is to inject religion and creationism into the science classroom, it’s just bad logic and poor thinking. Regardless of personal beliefs, I think the greatest crime is teaching children that it is ok to ignore science, facts, sound reasoning or logic if it conflicts with your beliefs. It’s also interesting how every scientific fact, theory or idea is up for grabs, but anything on the religious end is unassailable. You can read an exploration of this idea in my post about The Perfect God Syndrome. Well ID is back in the news again, but this time it looks like some folks are starting to see some reason. For this report, were going back to the land where the collective brains and critical thinking skills oozed out of the ears of  people far and wide: Kansas. Kansas, which used to be a bastion of quality thinking and independent reasoning in...
More About: Rain , Your , Back , Head , Brain

Don?t Pray For Me!
2006-08-08 21:06:01
Living in the south, I’m constantly being told by people that they will pray for me.  No matter what ills or challenges I’m facing, people will be glad to add me to their list for their next meeting with God.  When my father was involved with the Evangelical Church, we routinely prayed for others, and when someone in the congregation or a friend of the congregation was sick or in the hospital for surgery or treatment - the prayer machine rolled out in earnest. This practice is going on across the country and around the world.  They even have special groups whose sole purpose is to ask God to heal or at least ease the suffering and aid recovery of those who are being treated. Much ahs been made about the effects of prayer, with the faithful firmly believing that God and his staff of Angels are constantly on the go to fulfill their wishes and take care of their loved ones. Sorry to be the one to break it to you, but it’s all bunk.  But not only is it bunk, but it may...
More About: Pray

And Starting In Left Field For The Braves?Jesus!
2006-08-08 21:06:01
No, not Jesus from Venezuela or the Dominican Republic, but the One, the Only…Jesus “The Nazarene” Chriiiiiiiiiist. That’s right boys and girls, today right here in good old Atlanta, the Braves are playing the Marlins on what has been named “Faith Day” at Turner Field.   Not bat day, not hat day, it’s Faith Day.  But let’s cal it for what it is - Jesus Day.  As we all know faith and God are the sole property of Christians and are merely licensed to Jews and Muslims. So on Jesus Day at the ball park after the last inning, the crowd will be honored by a talk with the Reverend John Smoltz who will share his faith and talk about his pal Christ. You can read the full article here. Now some would say that faith and sport go together like peas and carrots, and God knows the Braves could use all the help they can get, but isn’t this going a bit too far? “We’ve been very careful to make sure what we’re not about is ambus...
More About: Raves , Rave , Start , Star

You Can Sue for Your Rights, But It?ll Cost You!
2006-08-08 21:06:01
The Republican/Christian controlled House of Representatives has long been making a mockery out of the legislature, the law and the country by pandering to the Christian Conservatives.  Today is no different. Before the House Judiciary Committee today is HR 2679 called the dubious Public Expression of Religion Act.  Now if this bill had anything whatsoever to do with that or aimed to protect people from persecution in the expression of their religion or non-religion, then I could get behind it.  But alas, this is just another in a series of that should be renamed the  Freedom to Exclusively Prosthelytize Christianity Without Any Restraint or Obstruction Act. I’ll have to give them credit for originality though, the heart of this particular bill would disallow plaintiffs from recovering legal fees and court costs if they sue and win a challenge to the government for constitutional violations of separation of church and state.  In a nutshell, if the government is once again foun...
More About: Rights , Cost , Your , Right

Conspicuous Consumption
2006-08-08 21:06:01
As I pulled out of my parking lot, past the Mercedes, BMW’s, Lexus’s and Jaguars on my way to the mall where I searched through multiple $2000+ watches, $500+ shoes and $150 jeans I started to really wonder about people. Now, I’m not going to go off on some feed the homeless or kids starving in china kind of thing, no this is more about the most basic of questions, why? I have a regular car that I bought used, a decent watch that I’ve had for 4 years that cost less than $100 and my favorite pair of jeans cost me $6 (on the clearance rack) at Target. I’m not saying this to make myself look good (even if that happens by accident) but to make a point about why we buy what we buy. I’ll be honest, I have no idea sometimes. Is a $50,000 car better than a $15,000 car? It had better be, but is more than 3 times better? Are Lucky Brand jeans more than 3 times better than Gap jeans? How about that Tag Heuer watch? Is it really THAT much better than m...
More About: Spic , Cons , Consumption

World War III: Stirring the Soup.
2006-08-08 21:06:01
Sometimes I hate being right. Just like the Emperor in Return of the Jedi things are happening as I have foreseen them. Israel, while showing no signs of letting up on their assault on Hezbollah and Lebanon, has just threatened a full-scale ground invasion Lebanon, just as we predicted. They are already fighting inside the Lebanese border and have rejected all calls for a cease-fire - so it’s just a matter of time now. Also the rhetoric on both sides is churning. We have already heard threats from Iran and Syria, but also chime in’s form Iraq. On the other end, we are already starting to hear lots of us vs. them talk. Just yesterday Newt Gingrich referred to the “Iranian-Syrian-Hezbollah-Hamas alliance” as fueling this conflict and called the conflict World War I II (with no credit given to Disorganize for calling it first I might add). On top of all that, demonstrators are defying authorities and marching and chanting in Egypt in support of Lebanon (and...
More About: World War , Soup

Wage Slaves.
2006-08-08 21:06:01
What is a living wage? Is it just enough not to fall into homelessness or do we have an obligation to help people pull themselves up somehow? As we have heard, the gap between rich and poor is widening everyday. The middle class is disappearing. The federal minimum wage has stood unchanged for over 9 years. A fact that the Republicans who continue to block increases, trumpet as a triumph. Interestingly enough, it is a fact that the bulk of their Christian Conservative base seems to overlook, but directly affects a large majority of them. Wages have been in the news lately. The City of Chicago just passed a “living wage” ordinance despite threats from Wal-Mart to force “big box” retailers to pay their workers a minimum wage of $10 an hour by 2010. Chicago is the first large municipality to take this kind of action. The action is necessary since the Republican controlled Federal Government continues to prevent any real minimum wage increases to move f...
More About: Slaves , Slave , Aves