Ah, Reagan!

For all you so-called "conservatives" out there, I just came across this little tidbit from the...ermm...*ahem*...Great Orator himself.

Speaking on behalf of members of the mujahideen, who later became Al Qaeda, on the White House lawn in 1985, he said:

"These gentleman are the moral equivalents of America's founding fathers."

Um, hey Sean? Since you love Reagan so much, who left us $2 trillion in debt by the way, would you like to explain why he was praising the very people who would later become our enemies and murder 3,000 innocent people? Hmm?

Rush?

Quinn?

Rose?

Glenn?

Bill?

Anyone?

The cure for hiccups

Got the hiccups? I just found the perfect fix!

Wegman O's chocolate sandwich creme cookies and milk. Just a few and a small glass of milk. That's it.

Update: Dale Neumann

In May I told you about the death of Kara Neumann. She was murdered by her parents because they felt that praying to Jesus provided more hope to save their daughter than medical treatment for diabetes. The day she died, Kara became so weak that she collapsed to the floor and went into a coma. Even as Kara was dying her parents prayed and asked their friends and family to pray for her instead of calling 911.

Thanks, Jesus.

Kara's mother, Leilani, was convicted in May of second degree homicide. On August 1st her husband was also charged with the same crime. Both face up to 25 years in prison.

But here's the kicker. Dale's attorney, Jay Kronenwetter said, "Dale Neumann was doing what he thought would work for his daughter. He was administering faith healing. He thought it was working."

This little girl was dying for a month. She grew weaker and weaker every day, until she finally collapsed and went into a coma. And even then, Dale and Leilani thought praying would heal their daughter and save her from certain death. At which point did these murderers realize that Kara's "faith healing" wasn't working?

As far as I'm concerned everyone who prayed for Kara knowing she was being denied medical treatment instead of calling child protective services should be put on trial as well. How people like Kronenwetter can sleep soundly is a mystery.

Have fun in jail, Neumann's.

In related news, Daniel Hauser is continuing chemotherapy for his non-Hodgkins lymphoma by court order.

A few thoughts on the Ark

Noah's Ark, that is.

If you frequent Ray's channel, you'll know that I ask a lot of questions. I'm also asked a lot of questions, and I can't remember a time that I didn't try to provide an answer. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am.

Every now and then the b.s. gets so high that I have to speak up. Almost every question I ask of the fundies and non-fundies alike are met with resounding silence or seething anger. I understand that you have safe haven at Ray's blog, but here you have no such luxury. You do, however, have the ability to speak freely at my blog, something that is little more than a courtesy at Ray's blog. Here, the First Amendment reigns supreme.

Anyway, this is for those of you who continue to rail against those of us who do not subscribe to your point of view and inform us that we're all hellbound worthless pieces of trash. Are you listening, Terry?

So here are a few questions that I have for the young earthers, those of you who believe the universe is ~6,000 years old, at Ray's blog. The first question is in 2 parts:

1. If you are a young earth creationist, you no doubt believe that dinosaurs walked side-by-side with man. If you're an absolute lunatic, you believe that Satan buried dinosaur fossils to confuse mankind in an attempt to lead us from God. Either way, the Bible says clearly that God lead two of each kind of animal onto the Ark. The Bible also says that the Ark was about 45' tall, 75' wide, and 450' long. It had 3 decks, one door, and an 18" window for ventilation.

First, tell me how an 18" window is going to provide adequate ventilation from all the methane, ammonia, and carbon monoxide coming out of every orifice of every animal on the ark.

Secondly, tell me how you can fit an adult brachiosaur, diplodicus, or spinosaur through the door of the Ark, especially when the height between decks would have been no more than about 13 feet. Keep in mind, an adult brachiosaur stood well over 20' at the shoulder and about 45' tall.

2. In 1961 Henry Morris said that there were 37,000 animals on the Ark. But in 1987, he bumped that number up to 50,000 in a pathetic attempt to account for the vast diversity of species. Whatever the number he wants to use, let's just assume for the sake of the argument that there were a lot of animals on the Ark.

Genesis 6 says that God decided to kill all living things on earth. All living things means plant life, too. If that's true, when the Ark landed on Mount Ararat there would have been nothing for any herbivore to eat. The predators, however, had plenty of those yummy herbivores to munch on. Since Mount Ararat was essentially an island, the herbivores had nowhere to run and were easy pickings for the predators as they stepped off the Ark. The site would have been an absolute blood bath.

How did the herbivores escape certain death at the top of Mount Ararat?

3. Pandas. They're cute, cuddly, and very endangered. Bamboo makes up over 95% of their diet. Unfortunately, bamboo has very little nutritional value, so the panda has to eat huge amounts of it in order to survive, up to 84 lbs. per day. To make things harder for the panda, although bamboo grows in a variety of climates, it does not grow in deserts.

How did 2 pandas survive the trip from mainland China and into Mesopotamia with no bamboo to sustain them? Even if they got to the Ark, they had to have at least 30 pounds of bamboo a day for about 365 days. 30*365 = 10,950. Would you care to explain how these animals carted over 5 tons of bamboo through the Gobi desert and over the rugged, mountainous terrain of Central Asia?

4. Penguins. Polar bears. Walruses. Arctic foxes. Arctic seals. These are animals that are supremely adapted to survive in bitter cold environments. They're not found in deserts for a reason - they'd die there. Quickly.

Please tell me how these animals survived swims up to 6,000 miles, walked through a desert with no fish to eat, and boarded the Ark in one piece.

I can practically hear your keyboards melting as you furiously scramble to ICR for answers. While I accept your best answer, copying and pasting arguments from creationist wackos like Duane Gish and Kent Hovind will not be accepted.

Justice!

Poor Kent Hovind.

Sitting in jail for fraud and stealing from the government and ripping off his employees. Not only does he have about 7 years left on his sentence, but a federal judge has given the green light for the Feds to seize his creationist ermm...ahem, "theme park" for restitution. $430,400 and change. Ouch!

I seem to remember Ray saying something a few weeks ago about money being well spent on scientific research. I agree. I say the Feds should give that money to the National Science Foundation for research into evolutionary biology. That would be money well spent.

Whaddya think, Ray?

Jefferson the Creationist

I realize that this is a little bit late, but as I was listening to Episode #209 of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe, I heard that the DiscoTute has confirmed that Jefferson would be a creationist if he were alive today. At least that's what Stephen Meyers would have us believe.

Keep in mind that Jefferson died before the Origin of Species was published, not to mention the discoveries of Hubble's Law or Cosmic Background Radiation. To his credit, at least Meyers confirmed this in his article.

Meyers touches on DNA for just a moment, referring to Crick and Watson's discovery of DNA structure. Of course, what Meyers doesn't tell you is that Crick was an agnostic "leaning toward atheism," while Watson, 81, is an atheist. Crick has gone so far as to say "Christianity may be OK between consenting adults in private but should not be taught to young children." Neither does Meyers tell you that Jefferson was a deist, not a Christian.

Like most creationists, Meyers is trying to push not just creationism onto the public, but a very specific kind of creationism. And that's something that should give all of us pause.

In somewhat related and equally late news, the Texas State Board of Education thinks its high school history text books need revised. Apparently, Thurgood Marshall isn't a hero worthy of recognition, but Billy Graham is.

Says right-wing, fundamentalist lunatic, Don McLeroy, "America is a special place and we need to be sure we communicate that to our children. The foundational principles of our country are very biblical.... That needs to come out in the textbooks."

As if Rome had nothing to do with the foundation of Western civilization. Why this man is still employed by anyone is beyond me.