"Got to Bring That Black Man Down"

Old South "gentleman says about President Obama:

"We got ta bring that man down"

"We just cannot have 8 years of this black man"

Brooks says: "that I'm not going to help you with"

Good for Brooks. Brooks evidently isn't a "real conservative" because he's willing to think things through.

Geez, even Bill O'Reilly is questioning the weird rants by Glenn Beck.

Some Definitions

Found these definitions posted by "gma" on Pharyngula

SUPERSTITION = things that others belief to be true without verifiable and testable evidence

FAITH = things that I belief to be true and I'm deeply insulted when you ask me for verifiable and testable evidence

SCIENCE = things that we should accept (not believe) because they are supported by mountains of verifiable and testable evidence

Catholic Bishops Say No to Reiki

This makes me chuckle. US Catholic Bishops have come out against the practice of Reiki. Not only because there is no scientific evidence that it works but also because

"There is a radical difference between Reiki therapy and the healing by divine power in which Christians believe: for Christians the access to divine healing is by prayer to Christ as Lord and Savior, while the essence of Reiki is not a prayer but a technique," the bishops said in a statement.

And then there's the fact that "neither the Scriptures nor the Christian tradition as a whole speak of the natural world as based on 'universal life energy' that is subject to manipulation by the natural human power of thought and will," the bishops said.

You can read what the Bishops have to say about Reiki here(pdf).

I wonder what Catholic Bishops have to say about the efficacy of prayer for curing the sick. Is it more or less effective than Reiki?

Maybe this all just an April Fool's joke.

Murphy Takes Essex County

Scott Murphy won Essex country by 55% to 45%. The raw popular vote was: Murphy 1260, Tedisco 1026. Individual town results:

Keene
Murphy 212 Tedisco 94

North Elba
Murphy 639 Tedisco 433

North Hudson
Murphy 29 Tedisco 41

Schroon
Murphy 189 Tedisco 272

Ticonderoga
Murphy 200 Tedisco 186

Scientists Said the Earth Was Cooling - Nope

Snowstorm in OK Disproves Climate Change

Ok, let's forget how truly unthinking this senator is and ask him a question. So there are scientists that claim that global warming is not due to excess greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (and there are). Now show us that you understand the reasons put forth explaining why these other theories are unlikely. Bet you can't do it because you are not really all that interested. Climate change cannot be due to things that we might be able to control because controlling those things will cost money.

Want to learn why those other scientists may be wrong? Go here and take a listen. Warning, this is science and might take a little thinking on Sen. Inhofe's part.

Murphy-Tedisco Tie in 20th NY - Wingnuts Freak

It's basically a 50-50 tie in the 20th NY Congressional special election. Murphy is ahead by an insignificant number (61) votes with at least 5900 absentee ballots yet to be counted. I see this as a lose-lose situation for the GOP. The 20th district has twice as many registered Republicans as it has Democrats so they should easily carry this district in any election. But, if they win this election (and I'm still cautiously optimistic that they will not), it will be by only a few hundred votes at the most. Not the big "repudiation" of Obama that they were hoping for.

What is really fun however, is reading the comments on "Free Republic" concerning this race. Highly recommended reading that shows the current state of Republican "thinking". Here are a few comments found on freerepublic.com

Yep. I was dismayed to see Tedisco take a stridently populist stand here. He vacillated on the stimulus bill and that made him look bad

All the absentees have been impounded per court order. I think the GOP was actually pretty on top of vote shenanigans in this district.

when elections are close, you can bet that the Dems will have the tricks to steal it.

Something is very, very wrong. These elections simply CANNOT be this close each and every time. MN, NY, etc. They must be playing with the votes to throw these races into the courts for decision by liberal judges.

The district is steadily turning Dem, they move from the places Dems have ruined to enjoy the relatively better areas...then are ruining them as well.

If the R didn’t win by 20%, consider it a lost cause. The Dims will steal it away.

That’s what happened to the once great state of New Hampshire, “Live Free or Die” -— so many libs flooded into southern NH to escape Mass., and now they’re busily turning NH into just another Boston suburb.

Yeah. And now that Zerobama moved the Census into Ballerina Boys office, we can be sure there will be no elected Republican’s anywhere ever again.

The GOP fell apart on its collective moderate ideology.

You have to wonder whether the above comments came from people who were living in the USA the last 8 years.

Obe's Sermon on Evolution

Obe has given us the "scientific" evidence that supports intelligent design. Well, not really, his "scientific evidence" reads more like a sermon or religion lesson. But since attempts to reason with creationists and young earthers, concerning evolution, always comes back to religion and the inerrancy of the bible....let's look at that "inerrant" bible.

It's not too hard to find many, many errors in the bible. Let's take disease for instance. Leviticus 14 explains how to cleanse a leper (of leprosy, a disease caused by infection with Mycobacterium leprae).

4then the priest shall give orders to take two live clean birds and (C)cedar wood and a scarlet string and hyssop for the one who is to be cleansed.
5"The priest shall also give orders to slay the one bird in an earthenware vessel over running water.
6"As for the live bird, he shall take it together with (D)the cedar wood and the scarlet string and the (E)hyssop, and shall dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slain over the running water.
7"(F)He shall then sprinkle seven times the one who is to be cleansed from the leprosy and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the live bird go free over the open field.

Thus is the word of God. Does anyone (even Obe) believe that treatment works? Answer: well if God wants it to work it will work. Hmmmm.

Ok, let's try this. Which was created first, the earth or the sun. Scientists say the Sun, bible says the earth. When were plants created? Scientists say after the sun because plants need light to survive and grow (we all know that, right?). Bible says plants were created before the sun was created. Ok, let's not dwell on picky astronomical details. Explanation: God can do anything.

How about insects? Back to good ol Leviticus. Leviticus (11:20-23) says locusts, grasshoppers, beetles, and crickets are four-legged creatures. Now maybe back then those insects only had 4 legs and they evolved....nope no evolution forget that explanation. God did it.

How about the mustard seed - smallest seed in the world, right? Well, at least that is what it says in the Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matthew 13:31-32, Mark 4:31, Luke 13:18–19). Not true however, orchid seeds are far smaller, even poppy seeds are smaller.

Don't worry, Christian apologists have figured out explanations for all these biblical inerrancies.

Obe does like Romans 1:20 however. My question is....which version of Romans 1:20 do you like best. That written in the New American Standard Bible, God's Word Translation, King James Bible, American King James Version, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English, Douay-Rheims Bible, Darby Bible Translation, English Revised Version, Websters Bible Translation, Weymouth New Testament, World English Bible, or Young's Literal Translation?

Ignoramus Congressman

Why are people like ignoramus Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.)continually re-elected and sent back to congress? In recent years it actually seems like advantageous to lack critical thinking skills if you want to get elected to congress.

Listen to Rep. Shimkus explain why climate change isn't worrisome. See, the earth will not end until God decides it must end. Says so in yer bible. Rep. Shimkus has also used "scientific" reasons that climate change isn't worrisom. Plants need carbon dioxide to grow, so more CO2 in the atmosphere is good. The word moron doesn't begin to describe this guy.

Old Fish Found

The nearly complete fossil remains of a 418 million year old lobed fin fish has been found in China. Below is a picture of the fish as it likely appeared. Below that is the fossil. The fossil is also "the oldest near-complete jawed vertebrate ever found." No, the earth is not 6,000 years old Obe.