Sylvia Brown or the gullible twits who will keep seeking out her “expertise” after failures like this?
Sylvia’s actually a genius; she’s made a mint off duping the impossibly dumb.
Curse me and my general sense of ethics!
If only because I don’t know what the heck to say.
Update: Is that Beaker talking at 00:12 into the video?
Check it out on NPR, featuring comments from Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation, and Ellen Johnson, President of American Atheists, among others.
Hey, kids, who wants a free video?
Trade your soul for a DVD! All you have to do is post a video of yourself to youtube, stating that you deny the holy spirit, and you’ll get a copy of The God Who Wasn’t There.
More details at Blasphemy Challenge.
However, if I hadn’t typed that line about the holy spirit, I could go out and kill millions, apologize to Jesus with a sincere heart (because, really, I’m not the type to kill millions), and go right to Heaven as a good Christian governor executes me in one of his state’s prisons.
Yeah, that’s a sane belief system.
Your Denver blogging friends have missed you.
Since you’re probably being bombarded with thousands of emails today, I’ll just put this here: if you or Melissa need anything from me and the Mrs., just let us know!
Anything but prayers, of course.
Oh, and can you still do blogger bashes? Do say “yes.” ‘Cause we’re planning one… perhaps we can celebrate your triumphant return to blogging and big boy pants! Huzzah!
Stories like this one from the Duke lacrosse rape case demonstrate why I am against the death penalty in practice (but not principle):
The head of a private DNA laboratory testified Friday that he and District Attorney Mike Nifong agreed last spring not to report DNA results favorable to Duke lacrosse players charged with rape.The testimony of DNA Security director Brian Meehan could create difficulties inside and outside the courtroom for Nifong. The district attorney did not challenge Meehan’s testimony, but he said after court that he did not withhold evidence. He said the defense could have asked for that material all along.
North Carolina law requires Nifong to hand over all evidence regardless of whether it has been requested.
Hmm, a prosecutor turning a blind eye to significant and disconfirming evidence. He’d make a fine intelligent design advocate too.
Back on topic: it’s becoming pretty clear that Nifong has a weak case, but - in order to save face - he’s willing to destroy the reputations and futures of three men that are most likely innocent.
In court Friday, Meehan said his lab found DNA from unidentified men in the underwear and body of the woman who said she was gang-raped at a lacrosse party in March.
“Unknown men.” As in none of the three that Nifong has been trying to put away. His tap dance continues:
“And we were trying to, just as Dr. Meehan said, trying to avoid dragging any names through the mud but at the same time his report made it clear that all the information was available if they wanted it and they have every word of it,” Nifong said.
Nifong has done little but drag the names of these three young men and their teammates through the mud since the beginning. How, exactly, saying their DNA was not present in or on the accuser would be “dragging…names through the mud” is beyond me.
As for my opening statement about the death penalty, an attorney that is willing to wreck innocent lives may be willing to take innocent lives. That is an unacceptable risk given the finality of the consequences.
Nifong has no shame, no ethical sense, and he should have no future as a prosecuting attorney.
More: Not mentioned in the previous article is this -
A private laboratory hired by the prosecution in the Duke lacrosse case failed to report that it found DNA from multiple males in the accuser’s body and underwear, according to a defense motion filed today.The lab, DNA Security of Burlington, found that the DNA did not match the three defendants, their lacrosse teammates or anyone else who submitted their DNA to police, including the accuser’s boyfriend.
Is there a way to lock up Nifong for false imprisonment?
The BBC is reporting evidence of baby-trafficking in Ukraine in order to harvest stem cells:
Healthy new-born babies may have been killed in Ukraine to feed a flourishing international trade in stem cells, evidence obtained by the BBC suggests.Disturbing video footage of post-mortem examinations on dismembered tiny bodies raises serious questions about what happened to them.
If true, it’s a horrific crime and those involved should be punished severely. Although many right-to-lifers think it impossible, I find this to be a tragedy, even though I’m a middle-of-the-road pro-choice atheist.
Naturally, these same pro-lifers are shouting “told you so!“
Well, here is the nightmare scenario that every right to life, Conservative has warned about when a society so disrespects life that it begins harvesting human cells and parts for “science” and medicine.
Let’s see… “harvesting human cells and parts for ’science’ and medicine” would include willing organ/marrow donation, pre- and post-mortem, as well as simple acts like blood donation. Wow, who knew that modern society’s disrespect for life is responsible for all of that? Somebody shut down the Red Cross and pronto! Strip me of my organ donor card!
I don’t think the writer really intended such a blanket condemnation, but then “writing for clarity” is a skill lacking in many.
Now, let us engage in a moment of thought about the matter:
Humans have been disrespecting the lives of other humans throughout history. In fact, a number of groups of humans have made up origin myths and holy books that tell of their wonderful explots disrespecting other humans on the order of their God. From conquest to slavery to everyday murder, humanity has always had its share of individuals willing to see others as only a means to an end; Roe v Wade, I’m pretty sure, didn’t grandfather itself back through all of recorded history and change the flow of time. As well, infanticide has been a trait of human cultures since people bothered to start writing about themselves.
I’m not saying this to justify such behaviors, but to point out that there will always be people among us capable of horrific crimes against their fellow man.
These crimes in Ukraine have nothing to do with embryonic stem cell research any more than armed robbery is the fault of the U.S. Mint for printing all that darn money.
Science is not the enemy (unless you’re a creationist, in which case, yeah, maybe it is).
Wow, maybe I should write a post about soon to be dethroned Miss USA Tara Conner… an Instalanche pales in comparison to a boobielanche!
Hmmm: Maybe they’re dethroning her, taking her yabos out of the public eye, to protect her from this guy*.
* If you don’t get it, it’s not worth explaining; and, if you do get it, yes, I know her name was Sarah.
Ha, take that Mr. Smarty-Pants Scientist!
Detailed observations from the first comet samples returned to Earth are debunking some of science’s long-held beliefs on how the icy, celestial bodies form.Scientists expected the minute grains retrieved from a comet Wild 2 to be made up mostly of interstellar dust - tiny particles that flow through the solar system thought to be from ancient stars that exploded and died.
Instead, they found an unusual mix of primordial material as if the solar system had turned itself inside out. Hot particles from the inner solar system migrated out to the cold, outer fringes beyond Pluto where they intermingled and congealed to form a comet.
Well, I guess that makes it clear that evolution is false and creationism is true because, really, if science was wrong about this, can it really be right about anything?
I bet the satellites fall from the sky tomorrow!
No matter that we really ought to leave Santorum’s kid alone.
You don’t want to see me looking like that, do you? I don’t even know if I can fit into my plaid pinafore anymore.
That was a reference to Rick Santorum’s 8-year old daughter crying at her father’s loss in the recent Congressional elections, for the noble cause of scoring votes in the “Kevin chooses which blogs he likes best anyway” 2006 Weblog Awards.
I don’t get it… when rightwing idiots called Chelsea Clinton unattractive, the left took offense. Now that the left has had a good showing, they suddenly feel it’s ok to drag children into the affairs of adults, to mock the child as an attack on the parent?
No, I don’t think so.
My wee Fiona thinks I’m the best daddy in the world. I happen to agree, but it’s entirely possible that (gasp) I’m a flawed human fully capable of making bad decisions, choosing the wrong path, and generally fucking up this or that.
I’d rather my daughter be allowed to figure that out without the rest of you mocking her for wanting the best for me.
Maybe before I was a parent I would have said such things as those directed toward Santorum’s daughter, but I hope not. Like I said though, I’m far from perfect (I’ve seen it on the map, but it’s on one side of the globe and I’m on the other).
People who are parents, and who love their children, - however - should know better.
Take the kid out of the picture.
Or at least tell me she’s cute.
Note: Maybe it was the beer - or maybe it was the high emotional drama of that Wilco documentary I was watching while enjoying said beer - but making fun of the kid, even in passing, just didn’t sit well with me. Still doesn’t, but maybe that’s because I went to sleep at 2:30am and woke up at 5:30am and, my oh my, what a long day ahead.
Anyway, I go to Pharyngula for the science, not so much for the politics, just like I go to Don Surber for the wit insight consistency of thought …ummmm…. ok, bad example.
