I Told You From The Beginning - Now Shut Up Already

We were this close:

I immediately called Mitt’s home, and Ann answered. She encouraged me to go down and visit with him at the campaign office. When I entered the office, there was a table to my right where I saw women from the ward working. I said, “Hi,” and he asked, “What brings you here?” I told him I was interested in politics, that I heard he was taking a pro-choice stance, and that I was wondering if, as a Democrat and fellow Mormon, maybe I could work for him. I wanted to understand his stance better. “Yes, I’m definitely for choice,” he said. And I said, “Great, we agree on that.” Then, he said, “In Salt Lake, they told me it was okay to take that position in a liberal state.” I said, “That doesn’t make me quite as happy. I’d rather know you really believe it.” 

...I asked, “What about women who might be on public assistance?” He said, “I would never have the state provide for abortion.” I said, “For a lot of Massachusetts women that won’t work.” He got very restless and stood up and said, “I am pro-choice; is there something else?” And so I asked him how he planned to address the recent excommunications of Mormon feminists, which had been covered in the New York Times and Time magazine. And he said, “What’s your question?” I said that a lot of people think they were not excommunicated for misconduct but for their views. Mitt said, “With any bishop who excommunicates a woman, I will not question his reasoning. I will support the bishop.” Then, he said, “Well, I don’t think we have much to talk about,” and I told him that I had at least wanted to try, and I gave him my best wishes. But I realized that I could not work for him.

And now it's all fallen apart:

“Nothing so unbecame his campaign as his manner of leaving it. I don’t think he’ll ever be a significant figure in public life again.”

Because we were this close:

"The bottom line is that a little bit of messiness and frank family discussion is not a terrible thing after an election like this."

That was much, much too close:

The featured speaker at graduation was Tagg’s grandfather George, ever the distinguished-looking statesman even in his early eighties. But the speech itself was a shock—a jeremiad about the importance of chastity and the false god of evolution. “My wife isn’t a descendant of orangutans,” George thundered.

Since you simply wouldn't vet him - that's why,…

 

Bwaaaaa-haaaa-haaaa-haaaaa-haaaaa-haaaa!

Women are attracted to macho men and see modesty as a sign of evolutionary weakness, a study has shown.

I've got nothing really to add here - except I've been right, and the rest of you pussies have been wrong, all along, whether you like it or not.

Now suck it up, you little bitches.

Another Situation Where Prayer Ain't Helpful

"In this anniversary year, the polls are depressing. More than two thirds of Egyptians have never heard of evolution and almost half of all Turks think that men and dinosaurs lived at the same time."

-- Steve Jones, reviewing a new Richard Dawkins book - "The Greatest Show on Earth: the Evidence for Evolution" - and making it seem hopeless that the modern world will ever become,...well, "modern", but will leave humanity stuck in the age of The Telegraph.

I'm Not Hostile, You "Close-Minded" Twit!!!

I don't know how Dawkins does this. The way this "Stepford wife", with her "faux cheerfulness" (to quote Charles Johnson) can speak of respect - as she disrespects him - is an amazing display of patience on his part.

Do me a favor, Wendy: Get in touch with me when the evidence for "a loving god" shows up.

A Perfect Example Of What's Wrong With Men

This is why I don't make (and can't take) "Friends" easily:

First, Ross should've destroyed that NewAge loon a long time ago, but he didn't because he's a wimpy little bitch, so his own public humiliation at the hands of that supremely stupid woman - who admits she "enjoyed" doing it - is his only possible reward. Despite all the evidence of scientific fact around them, she's never going to admit he's right. So she deserves whatever she gets.

Also, notice the look of *satisfaction* on the faces of the other two women - all recipients of the scientific largess Ross is so earnestly defending - as he (the "man") folds. Are they going to tell Phobe she's wrong? No way. Is Ross' own sister coming to his aid? Standing by his side? Talking some sense into the idiot bitch trying to warp her brother's world? No way. He's on his own in the face of ignorance. I tell you, take note, people - especially men:

It's either you or them, and NewAgers are playing for keeps. Destroy them at will. And, whatever you do, don't feel ashamed for enjoying it.

They don't.

Hat Tip: Little Green Footballs

More Proof Of Why People Today Are So Stupid

"Scientists say Ida - squashed to the thickness of a beer mat by the immense passage of time - is the most complete primate fossil ever found.

With her human-like nails instead of claws, and opposable big toes, she is placed at the very root of human evolution when early primates first developed features that would eventually develop into our own.

Another important discovery is the shape of the talus bone in her foot, which humans still have in their feet an incredible 70 million lifetimes later."

-- Alex Watts, on the discovery of evolution's "missing link" between ape and man, on Sky News Online.

Michael Shermer: Why Darwin Matters

Get some popcorn: This is a lecture, kids.

Watch, Listen, And (If It's Even Possible:) Learn - Then Send This Post To All Who Need To See It

Screw Your Birth: Explain Your Life

"So how perfect is the universe, anyway?

There's an argument I've been seeing a lot lately in support of religious belief. It's sort of a cosmic version of the argument from design (the idea that biological life is too complex and too perfectly balanced to have just come into being on its own). Now, when it comes to the development of biological life, anyone who understands the theory of evolution knows that the argument from design is a non-starter. But the cosmic version of it has been making the rounds, even among people who completely accept evolution...

...I've pointed out how human- centric this argument is; how it assumes that, because we are here, therefore we were required to be here. I've pointed out that the fact that you, personally, against astronomical odds, were born, doesn’t mean that you were required to be born, or that we need to come up with an entire philosphy or theology to explain your birth..."

-- Greta Christina, speaking about the habit of believers to think we're all "put here for a purpose" - or some other silly crap - on (you guessed it:) Greta Christina's Blog.

My Man: NOT A NewAger

He shoots - and he scores:

"I'm not so presumptuous as to,..be God,..."

Our "simple president" also thinks the Bible is "probably not" true - and evolution is correct - which matches TMR's assumptions about him all along.

This blog will miss George W. Bush.

UPDATE: This blog will not miss the president's critics - with their usual line of silly talking points - each one revealing themselves as this country's true simpletons, who are all pissed as hell but not bothered enough to investigate the truth of the charges they throw around (If the man's so guilty, then why haven't the Democrats - who have had the House and Senate for two long years - gone after him? And I'm an atheist, you assholes, proving you're too dumb to even look that up.) even after 8 years. They're the biggest bunch of NewAge idiots and losers this country has ever produced. The cream of the fucking crop. We should all thank Bush for getting them to finally reveal how lame they are - and how much damage they're willing to cause - in the service of their own stupidity.

Wail Away, Dude: It's A Good Thing!!!

“The urge to take revenge or punish cheaters is not a disease or toxin or sign that something has gone wrong. From the point of view of evolution, it’s not a problem but a solution.”

-- Michael McCullough, professor of psychology at the University of Miami and author of the book “Beyond Revenge: The Evolution of the Forgiveness Instinct,” defending The Macho Response - and dissing NewAge ways of thinking (using it's own language) in the New York Times.

Atheists Eat Oddity For Lunch

There was a time when Mark Boyd's truck sported a 'Darwin fish,' which is a parody of the Christian ichthys symbol. Then somebody ripped it off, broke it into four pieces and put it under one of the vehicle's windshield wipers.

Sometimes, it's not easy being an atheist in the Fresno area.

Boyd knows this, which is one of the reasons he helped form the Central Valley Alliance of Atheists and Skeptics. He wanted a group that allowed like-minded people to gather and discuss issues of common interest.

'It's a conservative city,' Boyd said of Fresno metropolitan area. 'It's good to have a way to find each other.'

On Sunday, about 30 people -- some card-carrying members of the group, some simply curious -- gathered at Letterman Park in Clovis for discussion, some debate and even a bit of chess.

Many Christians might well have been shocked by the conversation. But know this, too: believers in Bigfoot, homeopathic medicine, unidentified flying objects, ghosts and male enhancement drugs would likely have been offended as well.

That's because it wasn't simply a religion-bashing contest. Other areas some dubbed "pseudo-science" also were bashed.

Even some Christians attended, such as Bullard High School science teacher Scott Hatfield, who came to the event straight from Memorial United Methodist Church in Clovis, where he is music director.

Hatfield said there are "flavors of atheism." Some are evangelical in their non-believing zeal, while others may be questioning their faith. In his case, he is a Christian with a strong belief in critical thinking.

Such skepticism, he said, is vital to people who move in society, be it for voting or simply buying products. And because he is a Christian, he sees the good in others in the group whose beliefs steer strongly toward a nonbelief in God.

That includes people like Fresno writer Nick Lewis, who won a Bible at his church as a youngster and was turned off by the words inside. 'I was born an atheist,' he said. 'No one's going to change that.'"

-- John Ellis, covering the first-ever "Heretics Barbecue" in California, for the Fresno Bee.

Darwin Would Do Fine (If You Watered It Down)

"If [Samuel] Hahnemann had to pass an examination in homeopathic medicine today, he should have no problems answering most questions correctly. However, Charles Darwin would have no chance at passing an examination in evolutionary biology today, because our modern synthetic theory of biological evolution has developed far beyond his classical Principle of Descent with Modification by Natural Selection. Terms such as genotype, phenotype, germ-line mutations, etc., were unknown to Darwin, who used the methods of his time.

In contrast to evolutionary biology, homeopathy is a closed, dogmatic system of fixed rules. Moreover, the basic tenet of homeopathy, 'Nothing, dissolved in water, is more effective than water in which nothing is dissolved,' is irrational. Homeopathy must be regarded as a static, quasi-religious faith that has no place in any science curriculum."

-- U. Kutschera, describing the difference between Homeopathy and the Theory of Evolution, for Skeptic Magazine

Finally: McCain Gets A Real Challenger

You can pick one up here.