Christopher Hitchens Destroys The Bible

The grandiloquent intellectual on the Bible and Mankind (with illustrations)

Part I


Part II

More From Powell

He puts the McCain campaign's tactics of guilt-by-association and fear-mongering in perfect perspective: with 2 wars, a plummeting economy, worsening infrastructure, and especially rising inflation with stagnating wages, how in the world could a serious candidate for president focus his campaign on trivial character assassination tactics?!?

Is Powell the October Surprise?

Well, it isn't much of a surprise, as Powell has publicly stated his admiration of Obama's performance during this LONG campaign. Powell has now officially endorsed Obama's candidacy on Meet the Press this morning, and has condemned the tactics of the McCain campaign and the RNC in this election.

Powerful words, and a powerful final development as Nov. 4th approaches. Further evidence of the implosion of the Bush Republican Party, or "narrowing" as Powell describes it.

AAAHH!!! Real Monsters!

UPDATE: Apparently this is a House Centipede, and it's virtually harmless to humans, and kills spiders, ants, etc., so basically it's helpful to humans. WHO CARES! IT MAKES ME FREAK OUT JUST THINKING ABOUT IT!!!!

So it's around 12:30 AM here, I'm watching Amy Poehler perform a Sarah Palin rap with the governor at the Weekend Update anchor desk, when all of a sudden I see this shadow come crawling across the wall behind the TV. I flip on the lights and see this gigantic centipede-like bug with these antennae so freakin long that I start to shake in my bootie straps. Why are bugs so frickin nasty?!?!?!?! Here's the best pic I could get of this hideous creature:

I think it was at least as long as my index finger, possibly my middle finger, including the span of the legs. HOW WILL I SLEEP TONIGHT?!?!?! I'm a sissy when it comes to these foul creatures!

Words to Worship

" Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear."
- Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson: an extremely learned man of numerous professions (political philosopher, architect, archaeologist, paleontologist, author, inventor, etc.[thanks wikipedia!]), and author of the Declaration of Independence, perhaps the most important document ever written in the history of humankind; in other words, an elitist.

- Presented here, non-elitists:

(pic from Brett Marty, as posted on www.crooksandliars.com)


The choice is clear. Shall we elect the one who appeals to ideas and reason, or the other who appeals to fear, gut reaction, and whim?

The Great One: 175,000 Turn Out to See Obama Speak in Missouri

(pic from www.npr.org)

The desperate Right would have you believe that all these people are anti-american. Ridiculous. After eight years, we are actually about to elect a man of ideas! Let intellectualism reign and stupidity fail.

Need To Post More!

and I shall...

For John McCain, Karma Rears Its Righteous Head

Friday in Minnesota McCain was forced to confront the terrible product of his campaigns most recent and disgusting tactics: xenophobic hysteria. In response to an assertion from a supporter that Obama was an Arab, McCain shook his head and said no, as if to alleviate the supporter's fear that Obama indeed was of Arab descent. In another instance at the same rally, McCain had to explicitly state that his supporters shouldn't be scared of an Obama presidency, that McCain simply disagreed with the senator, in order to allay the supporter's fear of Obama as a person.

But McCain, through his campaign, deliberately stoked this fear. He brought it upon himself. His VP candidate actually stated time and time again that Obama palled around with terrorists, a flat-out lie perpetrated by the campaign to boost his poll numbers by spreading fear. Furthermore, the campaign refused to condemn the various shouts of "terrorist!," "treason," and "kill him!" directed at Senator Obama in answer to Palin and McCain's question of "who is the real Barack Obama." Days went by without a statement from the campaign condemning this vile behavior. Finally, Friday was McCain's day of reckoning as he was forced to turn back his campaign's entire strategy for that week of assassinating Obama's character.

Un-presidential. He deserves to lose for this terrible behavior.

And why has the campaign not rejected the idea that an Arab-American or a Muslim running for president is something to ridicule or fear? Are Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans not Americans, or not American enough?

A Voice of Reason - Obama on the Economy

"Part of the reason this crisis occurred is that everyone was living beyond their means – from Wall Street to Washington to even some on Main Street. CEOs got greedy. Politicians spent money they didn't have. Lenders tricked people into buying home they couldn't afford and some folks knew they couldn't afford them and bought them anyway.

We've lived through an era of easy money, in which we were allowed and even encouraged to spend without limits; to borrow instead of save."

- Obama in Toledo, OH

The Republicans' Ultimate Failure

John McCain losing this election will be a failure, but not the only one, and certainly not the most important. What has happened since the creation of the Bush Republican Party will be the ultimate failure, for the Bush Republican Party has been the ultimate conservative manchurian candidate. The Bush Republicans have ruined the conservative name: they seized the brand, used it as cover, and proceeded to devolve into career politicians worried only about guaranteeing their next vote and next successful election rather than operating according to their conservative principles. Instead of small government, they enlarged it more so than FDR's New Deal. Instead of fiscal responsibility, they've ballooned the debt so much that the famous national debt clock broke trying to keep up with the escalating tab. Instead of a competent and reserved foreign policy focused on American interests rather than nation building, a platform on which Bush campaigned in 2000, we've become an agressor, an invader, and an occupier, destroying our economy and our reputation with our allies.

Barack Obama has proven to be presidential and extremely knowledgeable on foreign policy. So far, he has deserved to win this election, mostly because John McCain has so earned the loss he likely will face. However, President Obama will likely have a very friendly and reinforced Democratic majority in Congress with enough votes to pass legislation without fear of a Republican filibuster. This is unnerving. But it's the fault of these Bush Republicans who pursue conservative values only when they are in danger of losing elections. Good riddance, and let the conservative brand be rebuilt by conservative intellectuals who promote intelligence and ideas.

McCain's Hero, Gen Petraeus: "I do think you have to talk to enemies"

McCain's hero even disagrees with him. What's McCain gonna say now?

The Trouble with Guilt by Association

Signs of a dying campaign, McCain has resorted to playing the guilt-by-association game by bringing up Obama's past associations with Bill Ayers and others, in a desperate attempt to distract voters from the economy, which continues to wreck McCain's presidential hopes.

Here's a little problem: McCain's VP candidate, the one and only Sarah Palin, has ties to a group that wants to secede from the U.S. How patriotic. I submit the following:

- The Alaskan Independence Party is a political organization with the central goal of getting Alaska to secede from the United States
- Joe Vogler, founder of the AIP, had this to say about the U.S. in 1991: "The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government, and I won't be buried under their damn flag." He also called for Alaskans to revoke their allegiance to the United States
- Sarah Palin's husband, Todd, joined the AIP in 1995 and was a member for about seven years
- Sarah Palin attended the AIP's convention in 1994 and 2000
- Sarah Palin spoke at the AIP convention in 2006 and addressed the convention this year!


*From www.jedreport.com

So, if we are to play the guilt-by-association game, we must conclude that Sarah Palin has condoned Joe Vogler's statements that Alaskans should secede from the United States and that the U.S. is worth such hatred as Vogler clearly expressed. Hmmm, shouldn't we think twice about electing a vice president who would have one of its states secede from the country? Should we elect a person so unpatriotic that she would speak at a secessionist party's conventions multiple times, in which the founder of the party stated that he would not even be buried under the American flag?

This is how low the McCain campaign has stooped to distract the nation from McCain's ineptitude at leadership. He is a man of no honor and no integrity.

Story of a Migraine

Monday, 10:00 A.M. I'm running carts of books at ye ole local bookstore when I suddenly realize that my peripheral vision is different. At first I thought I was just noticing the blind spots that everyone has on their eyes (the point on the retina where the optic nerve leads back to the brain, or some such nonsense). Nope, in just a few moments I notice a slight flashing in the far top right corner of my eyes, fractured red, blue, and green dancing at the edge of my vision. Closing either eye reveals the phenomenon is occurring in both eyes. What the hell; this can't be good. As I continue to put books away I now notice that my vision is now nearly cut in half; reading a title of a book, with my eyes focused as much as I can will them, I can only see the first half of the word, as if the rest was never there at all. So I begin to freak out, especially since I wasn't feeling any pain in my head. Thankfully the steady rush of pain to the back and left side of my head soon followed; now I know I'm getting a migraine, and not some random new visual impairment.

I've never had such a warning sign before I've gotten a migraine, however I'm well aware of them because my mother gets them quite regularly. Nevertheless, the experience of losing my vision, even just temporarily, was completely frightening. How the hell could I use teh internets without functioning eyeballs? Curse those migraines and send them straight to Hell!!!

Why We Are Fleeing: Conservatives and Today's Republican Party

I am loyal to truth, and little else. What is true of today's Republican Party leaders is that they are anti-intellectual, cynical, distasteful things that exploit the lesser educated for political gain. They are driven by political ambition, not by values. They decry nuance. They denigrate intellectual honesty. They proclaim criticism as unpatriotic.

Now they attack Sen. Barack Obama for criticizing our nation's deplorable foreign policy. The laughable and dangerous Sarah Palin, who is the epitome of the Republican Party's anti-intellectualism and cynicism, has claimed that Obama doesn't see America as "you or I see America" because he has been critical of Bush's unforgivable foreign policy. This is distasteful? A person who refuses to acknowledge his irresponsible eating habits that endanger his health sees himself differently than his doctor. We are now mired in two wars in which the top commanders involved repeatedly acknowledge that we are nowhere near "victory," further stating that we may not ever get to use the term. Yet Republicans like Senator Lindsey Graham and especially McCain criticize Senator Obama for not declaring victory and accuse him of not understanding foreign policy. They are willing to sacrifice everything, including American soldiers and American citizens, in order to advance their political careers. They should be tried for treason.

This is why true conservatives are fleeing the GOP, as fast as the GOP has sacrificed its integrity.

The Creator Is In the Details

If we want to know God (assuming he exists), we've looked to the wrong people for far too long. The prophets of old are unreliable, focused on tedious rules and unaware of the myriad contradictions they held, such as a loving God who compensates purposeful mass extinctions of human beings with rainbows. No, the West's holy books belittle God, and contain only tiny glimpses of his true majesty. Where then should we look? The scientist. The scientist is the one who is systematically revealing the majesty of God's omnipotence.

Think about the atom, with it's 99.99999% empty space, which is the basic building block of all matter in the universe. Somehow, every beast, human, mountain, and nebula is composed of 99.99999% empty space, held together by a near unfathomable system of electromagnetic forces that are orders of magnitude stronger than the force of gravity which pulls entire planets. This is truly wondrous, and puts the tedious God of the Old Testament to shame. If we could just step back and appreciate the world as it is and as we continue to discover it, rather than imprison ourselves in our futile attempts to corral our fellow human beings under one umbrella of behavorial rules that will supposedly lead us to the next world, we'd be far better off. This world certainly isn't one to denigrate, it's too incredible.

From the Columbus Dispatch, Obama Opens Lead Against McCain

Obama opens lead in Ohio: 47% vs. 42%. No Republican has won the presidency in modern history without winning Ohio.

"Conservatives" Lie!

"Conservatives" of today are charlatans.  They call Democrats tax and spenders.  Let's let the facts speak for themselves.
(from yglesias.thinkprogress.org)

Polls!!!

Who's the racist? Matthew or Jesus?

Hrmmm...

Matthew 15: 22-28 (KJV - "Authorized Version")

22:And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 
23: But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. 
24: But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 
25: Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 
26: But he answered and said, It is not meet (right) to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. 
27: And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. 
28: Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.  

According to Matthew, non-Jews were comparable to dogs in Jesus' eyes.  Must research further...

Putting Yahweh on Trial...

I shall try.  This will definitely take some time...

(in progress)

Replacing Religion

How are we to frame our existence if religion as we know it (at least the Abrahamic religions) is bunk?  What are we to do?  How should we live?  As a recently converted agnostic, I have experienced the incredibly horrifying (but temporary) feeling of vulnerability that comes with such a conversion:  feeling scared, lost, and somehow untethered, as if floating in space when I was once anchored to sure-footing.  Nevertheless, I had to embrace reality.  What other option is there except insanity or delusion?

So I studied, searched, examined, and reexamined.  Luckily, I was directed toward the ever interesting Ayn Rand who, although certainly flawed, founded a philosophy of life that is truly fulfilling.  One need only to read her works to find direction toward realizing that a person is individually worth as much as the next, and that the purpose of one's life should be the achievement of one's own rational happiness.

What the hell does this mean?  Read Rand's works.  I sure as hell cannot explain it as competently as she.  But the idea is that Man is the highest value, not the lowest.  That he is innately valuable, and that his life should be focused on his own rational fulfillment.  Life is a positive thing, and Man should enjoy it.  He is not born condemned as he is under the Abrahamic religions.  There is no such thing as Original Sin.  Man is his own end.

Man finds himself alive.  He finds that life can be fulfilling, so he seeks to achieve fulfillment.  And he needs no sanction to validate his life.  The fact that he lives is his own validation.  

"I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being.  I am the warrant and the sanction." - Ayn Rand

To Refute Christianity, One Only Needs to Look to the First Book of the Bible

I was once a Christian, until I found I could no longer delude myself when considering the tough questions of the Bible, and their "answers."  What are the tough questions?  They are the instances that defy logic and reason, demanding impossible explanations to validate their claims to truth.

For example, the New Testament describes a god that loves the world.  This god supposedly loves the world so much that he sent his only begotten son to be sacrificed most brutally, so that every person who believes in his sacrifice will receive eternal residence in Heaven, even those who are the most guilty of punishment and least deserving of forgiveness.  So long as one has faith in the sacrifice and identity of Christ, one will be forgiven for their sins and enter Heaven.

The problem with this theory of a loving god is that this same god is also purportedly the one from the Old Testament; a collection of stories which describes a god who kills countless innocent people, including children, for transgressions that to any sane and rational person would not warrant such a bloodthirsty response.  If God so loves the world, why did he wait so long to show it?  Why did he authorize so many massacres of human beings in the Old Testament?  Especially, why did he kill the entire population save for one family if he could have saved them by sending his son?  

There is no logical answer here, except that the god of the Old Testament is different than that of the New.  If such is the case, then Christianity dissolves instantly, because its foundation is that its god is the one who created the world in the book of Genesis.  Then we are simply left with a horrifyingly tedious and ill-tempered, bloodthirsty dictator of a god.

There are countless other unanswerable questions of the Bible which refute its claim of being true.  This is merely one.  One which demands an honest Christian to question his entire religion, and to pronounce it untrue.