“Freedom is measured by the distance between church and state”
Steve asked:
Ray,
What would be considered a major work on atheism? Would it be Dawkins?
I reckon it would depend on that you wanted to focus on.
Supposedly “The Four Horsemen” of the New Atheist Movement (if it can be called that), would be Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennet, and Sam Harris, each [...]
It started out cloudly and a bit rainy at times. Now it is clear and sunny, 80° and about 54% humidity. Dang. After the last two weeks of fussing with the big order and getting that out the door, and they yesterday getting all the other orders out the door, I find myself today feeling [...]
Y’know, I reckon everyone has certain people here and there along the path behind them, and every now again we get to enjoy the treat of reconnecting with those touchstones from our history. You could be separated by miles and years, even decades sometimes, but when you chance to meet or phone, you just [...]
Okay, so everybody knows I’m not real keen on religion, god(s), etc.
Anyway, after my previous post, Rain left a thoughtful comment that some of you might have missed, so I’ll copy it here.
Something I have never understood is how can an atheist be so sure there is no god? I understand agnosticism and those who [...]
Yesterday I saw Susan Jacoby on The Colbert Report. After that I ordered her book, The Age of American Unreason, along with her Freethinkers book.
Wow, the UPS guy brought them to the door TODAY. Holy crap that was FAST! Delivery in less than 24 hours from the time I clicked [...]
I saw Stephen Colbert’s show (the Colbert Report) yesterday, a repeat of the previous night’s show. His guest was Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason. Here’s the clip from the show:
After watching her I knew I would enjoy reading her book. If you have a brain, you probably will [...]
Okay, so this discussion came up about how male strippers make more money than female strippers, on the notion that male strippers are rare by comparison. Or maybe it’s because women are more generous with their discretionary funds. Or whatever.
While it is still true that men (as a group) do make more money than women [...]
Is it wrong to take a dollar from someone who wants to give it to me?
Is it wrong to make cheap tacky crap and sell it for a dollar to someone who likes wasting money on cheap tacky crap?
I am torn. You see, I’ve been seeing all sorts of really crappy stupid shit all over [...]
I stepped on the bathroom scales this morning. I’m down to
177 Pounds
again! Wheeee!!!!! How cool is that! Just another 10-15 pounds and I’ll be where I want to be — a good 165. I was under 150 when I got married. If I remember, I was something like 129 or so in the Air [...]
I was just posting on Ravelry about some stuff, regarding the Assemblies of God preachers and their scandals, and reflecting how I’d been kicked out of churches for the content of my preaching rather than any serious scandals.
And as I was stirring the hash (I’m cooking gr. beef, potatoes and Trinity for supper), I remembered [...]
I’m watching a program on National Geographic highlighting the human footprint — how each American directly impacts the environment.
They just said that our average life is 77 years. FUCK! That means I have about 25 more years of this shit. I don’t want 25 more years. I don’t want 2.5 more years. I don’t want [...]
Shit, I don’t know if this is “lingering cold” or something else, but I feel like such a shit today. Totally incompetent to do what I need to do, worthless and useless. Blaaahhhhhhh.
I know (rationally) that I’ve not begun to do all the cool stuff in my head to do. [...]
First off, let me say that I have no background or history with Mr. Ratzinger or whatever his real name is. He’s just another Roman Catholic priest, worthy of ridicule and mockery in his own right. But that’s for another day.
What bothers me even more than the fact that the Pope is Roman Catholic and [...]
The world is fucking falling apart. WTF?
Presidential candidates Clinton and Obama “have chosen not to accept an invitation to debate America’s future of science and technology policy at Science Debate 2008″ and instead will participate instead in yet another fucking goddamned religious forum. No wonder America is in the toilet — [...]
I need a personal assistant. Yup. That’s what I need.
Something like this:
click on his picture to see what I’m talking about.
Because I KNOW you want me to be happy, I am sure you will gladly contribute to the fund in order to purchase this little item.
I mowed over the little bit of GGS* in the front yard. I was going to ask my SIL about whether to let the seeds finish first or not, but they were bothering me, so I mowed ‘em over anyway.
I’m in a sort of pissy, angry mood today, not sure exactly why. I took a [...]
This is a question that has been discussed in several forums where I participate:
If you have no issue with gay people or Birth Control or whatever, no problem at all, but continually fund and associate and identify yourself, by your own volition, with a group that does and finds these things abhorrent, then in some [...]
PZMyers posts that Illinois State Representative Davis (y’member the ignorant anti-atheist bigot highlighted a few days ago) has apologized to Mr. Sherman, using a school shooting as her excuse for saying about atheism:
It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists!
What bullshit. [...]
I swear to gawd, I hate my eyebrows. Too thick, too bushy, and far too long. If I didn’t shave way high up, my eyebrows would simply flow around and meld into my beard high up on my cheeks. If I didn’t shave for a week, you’d see a fuzzy-faced hillbilly with a couple eyeholes [...]
Why do they let stupid people onto the Internet?
I mean, seriously! It takes up SO MUCH OF MY TIME fixing the world’s problems!
