Posts

Tom Willis, the creationist behind the “Lucy’s knee joint” claim I debunked in a Talk Origins FAQ, who in June stated that evolutionists should be “violently expelled” from the United States or denied the right to vote, now says that evolutionists should be imprisoned in labor camps. I think Mr. Willis is either a lunatic or desperate for attention. I think he should get the latter, as a poster boy for creationist rationality. I discussed Willis and the Lucy’s knee joint claim in the fourth ApostAZ podcast. (Willis is not actually in Kansas, but in Missouri, where he runs “The Berry Patch.") UPDATE: Ed Brayton has a more detailed take-down of Willis’ latest at Dispatches from the Culture Wars. ...

Jack Cafferty writes at CNN about how McCain seems to be as intellectually vacuous as George W. Bush. Hume's Ghost (2008-08-23): He has to be, doesn't he? The inmates are now running the asylum in the GOP and their presidential candidate has to run against reality to appease the base.Hence the mocking of Obama when he made the accurate statement about tire inflation and care maintenance. ...

Abraham Katsman and Kory Bardash point out several instances of Obama inflating his resumé with bogus claims about his record in The Jerusalem Post. They argue that he is doing this because despite holding multiple noteworthy positions, he really hasn’t accomplished much of anything in any of them. He’s published not a single academic paper while Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, published nothing while Harvard Law Review President, and can’t point to any significant legislation he spearheaded in the U.S. Senate or in the Illinois State Senate. UPDATE: John Lynch, in the comments, has, to my mind, refuted the concerns about publications (a Lecturer is not expected to publish, nor is the Harvard Law Review President), but my main concern was about the false statements. Two of the false statements are that he claimed to have “passed laws” that “extended healthcare for wounded troops who’d been neglected” when he didn’t vote on the bill in question, and his statement that “Just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee–which is my committee–a bill to call for divestment from Iran as a way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don’t obtain a nuclear weapon” when he’s not even on the Senate Banking Committee. On the latter point, Obama’s campaign says he meant to say “my bill” rather than “my committee,” in which case the statement becomes somewhat more accurate, as Obama did supply some of the provisions to the bill in question. But it isn’t really Obama’s bill, despite his contributions. It’s more accurately described as Christopher Dodd and Richard Shelby’s bill. ...

We got back from Maryland last night, after spending most of a week at Deep Creek Lake and making day trips to D.C. and Baltimore. The Deep Creek Lake time was mostly relaxing, spending some time on the lake, visiting a few sites in nearby Oakland, visiting Swallow Falls and Muddy Creek Falls, and attending the Garrett County Fair, where I viewed my first demolition derby and pig and duck races. We went to a few of the less common attractions in D.C.–the crystal skull exhibit in the basement of the National Museum of Natural History, Owney the dog at the National Postal Museum, and had an excellent lunch at the National Museum of the American Indian. In Baltimore, we visited Fort McHenry, Poe’s grave, and Fells Point. Owney the dog traveled the world from 1888 to 1897, when, as the National Postal Museum’s website says, “Owney became ill tempered and although the exact circumstances were not satisfactorily reported, Owney died in Toledo of a bullet wound on June 11, 1897.” ...

Daniel Radosh has a new book out titled Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture, which might be entertaining. There’s a chapter on creationism that talks about Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis, and possibly the split by Creation Ministries International, since Google Books tells me my name is mentioned on p. 279. Anybody at Scribner want to send me a review copy? Based on the reviews at Amazon.com, it sounds like Radosh gives Christian pop culture a sympathetic and even-handed portrayal that also points out its absurdities and self-contradictions, similar to the excellent documentary Hell House.

The latest ApostAZ podcast is out: Episode 007 Atheism and Freethought in Phoenix- Go to atheists.meetup.com/157 for group events! Monthly Meetup Epilogue. Debate Tactics and Rhetoric. Sweden Rules Against Prayer as Truth: http://www.guardian.co.uk/. Prayer and Aggression. Obama and Faith Based Initiatives. Pickett Church? http://www.atheistrev.com/ Aggression study: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120083092/abstract. Greydon Square’s Album ‘The Compton Effect’Funny analogy from Shannon: “Prayer is a homeless dude on your couch." Charity Navigator is another site similar to CharityWatch. Shannon incorrectly states that McCain is a creationist. He’s not. And the Creation Museum is in Kentucky, not Tennessee. Picketing churches on the basis of its beliefs and doctrines is a terrible idea that should be left to Fred Phelps and similar kooks. The picketing of the Church of Scientology has generally been based on its behavior, not its doctrines–to the extent the focus is on opposing criminal behavior, that’s reasonable.

Via the Arizona Republic: A man who won $10 million in a California lottery game has been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for a drunken-driving crash that killed three people. Thomas Turnour had pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and causing injury while driving intoxicated. The winner of a SuperLotto game in 2001 was sentenced Friday in San Bernardino. Authorities say the 52-year-old man from Victorville was driving a pickup truck that hit a car stopped at a red light in San Bernardino three years ago. Three people inside the first car died. ...

The Phoenix Atheists Meetup Group has sent a letter (PDF) and ten questions (PDF) to John McCain, Barack Obama, and the 114 candidates for the Arizona State Senate and House of Representatives who are listed in the Citizens Clean Election Commission candidate statement booklet. Any received answers will be posted here. The ten questions are: 1) Given a legislative voting scenario that presents you with a direct conflict between your religious beliefs/values and your duties to uphold the Constitution which do you choose and how would you make that decision? 2) What is your position regarding prayer while acting in your official capacity as an elected official and what role if any do you think prayer should play in the legislative body you wish to hold? 3) What is your position on enacting law that has religious tenets and/or dogma as its main motivation and reasoning? 4) Is it acceptable for elected officials to hold back or alter scientific reports if they conflict with their own views, and how will you balance scientific information with politics and personal beliefs in your decision-making? 5) Should the modern synthesis of Creationism known as “Intelligent Design” be taught in the public school and is it acceptable for religious ideology to interfere in science? 6) Would you allow a non theistic individual (atheist, humanist, freethinker, etc) to openly serve on your staff? 7) What is your position on a constitutional amendment to define marriage and if in favor of a constitutional amendment to define marriage are your motivations religious or secular? 8) What is your position on abstinence-only sex education? 9) What is your position on government regulation and funding of stem cell research? 10) With regards specifically to the establishment of the United States as a nation, the history of the United States, and the law of the United States do you consider our country to be a “Christian Nation”?

The FFRF billboards planned for Phoenix that were supposed to be launched on August 18 have been postponed after CBS Outdoor became uncomfortable with the “Imagine No Religion” slogan. They have decided to apply an analogue of their policy requiring that billboards advertising alcohol and tobacco, which must be at least 1000 feet from any school or church. Apparently CBS Outdoor considers atheism to be equivalent to alcohol or tobacco, unfit to be advertised near sensitive churchgoers or students. They are probably within their rights to do this–they own the billboards–but their belief that this is a sound business decision is pretty absurd and cowardly. (I haven’t actually seen the contracts, but I suspect they are crafted in such a way to leave themselves the option to move locations or even cancel the contract if there’s a whiff of controversy that they’d prefer to avoid.) I suspect the locations of the billboards are unlikely to make much difference about whether controversy is generated, but this change gives CBS Outdoor something they can appeal to in response to criticism–see, we tried to be sensitive to religious concerns about the expression of disagreement. The new locations are likely to be approved on Monday, and I’ll report here what they are. I’m actually surprised that there are any billboard locations in Phoenix that aren’t within 1000 feet of a church or a school. (Previously, previously, subsequently.)

Via Stranger Fruit. 1. Venison 2. Nettle tea 3. Huevos rancheros 4. Steak tartare 5. Crocodile 6. Black pudding (in Buenos Aires) 7. Cheese fondue 8. Carp (fish allergy) 9. Borscht 10. Baba ghanoush 11. Calamari 12. Pho 13. PB&J sandwich 14. Aloo gobi 15. Hot dog from a street cart 16. Epoisses 17. Black truffle 18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes 19. Steamed pork buns 20. Pistachio ice cream 21. Heirloom tomatoes 22. Fresh wild berries 23. Foie gras 24. Rice and beans 25. Brawn, or head cheese 26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper 27. Dulce de leche (in Buenos Aires) 28. Oysters 29. Baklava 30. Bagna cauda 31. Wasabi peas 32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl 33. Salted lassi 34. Sauerkraut 35. Root beer float 36. Cognac with a fat cigar 37. Clotted cream tea 38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O 39. Gumbo 40. Oxtail 41. Curried goat 42. Whole insects (chocolate covered ants/grasshoppers/crickets) 43. Phaal 44. Goat’s milk 45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more 46. Fugu 47. Chicken tikka masala 48. Eel 49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut 50. Sea urchin 51. Prickly pear 52. Umeboshi 53. Abalone 54. Paneer 55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal 56. Spaetzle 57. Dirty gin martini 58. Beer above 8% ABV (Elephant beer at Carlsberg Brewery in Copenhagen) 59. Poutine 60. Carob chips 61. S’mores (last night) 62. Sweetbreads 63. Kaolin 64. Currywurst 65. Durian 66. Frogs’ legs 67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (Beignets at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans) 68. Haggis 69. Fried plantain 70. Chitterlings, or andouillette 71. Gazpacho 72. Caviar and blini 73. Louche absinthe 74. Gjetost, or brunost 75. Roadkill 76. Baijiu 77. Hostess Fruit Pie 78. Snail 79. Lapsang souchong 80. Bellini 81. Tom yum 82. Eggs Benedict 83. Pocky 84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant 85. Kobe beef 86. Hare 87. Goulash 88. Flowers 89. Horse 90. Criollo chocolate 91. Spam 92. Soft shell crab 93. Rose harissa 94. Catfish 95. Mole poblano 96. Bagel and lox 97. Lobster Thermidor 98. Polenta 99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee (I’d rather try Kopi Luwak) 100. Snake Fried rattlesnake at Rustler’s Rooste