What is a conpiracy theorist to do now?

Well the Ohio recount is over and just like we thought there were missing democratic votes found, so there you stupid red staters! Unfortunately there were only an additional 300 votes found for Kerry. Shit!

Okay so Bush won.

So I guess I will have to spend the day looking for a fundamentalist Christian church to join and put my intellect in a lockbox until the next election and the chance to vote for somebody who does not think the pinnacle of scientific discovery was fire. Excuse me while I practice the Republican mantra "Science bad, God good."

Overwhelmed by the devastation

I just wanted to take a moment to say how sorry I am for the immense loss of life due to the earthquake and tsunami that it created. As I post this the death toll is estimated to be 44,000 people. I cannot really wrap my mind around a number that large.

Well it is about damn time!

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000742016

Where are the rest of the news media? They are so frightened of being labeled Liberal that they have lost their balls. Al Neuhrath is a hero and hopefully his courage will inspire others to say what we all know to be true. This war is a terrible mistake and a criminal act on the Iraqi people.

Eight of the top ten smartest states voted For Kerry.

I had seen a discredited version of this same report on another blog so I looked it up myself. This study is completely unbiased and has nothing to do with politics. I just found it interesting.

http://www.morganquinto.com/edrank03.htm

By the by, my state is ranked 25th and it voted Republican. I hate us.

Man! Somebody was sure pissy!

I just re-read my last post and I was somewhat surprised at the amount of venom I spewed. I mean I was completely right in what I said about the awarding of the Special Olympics medals to Bushes tainted trio but I could have phrased it with a little more delicacy. From now on I will take my medication before I start typing.

Now on to a competely new topic. I was channel surfing the other day and I happened to land on a channel featuring religious programming. I was bored, and a little interested, so I watched for an hour or so. There were several programs that seemed geared toward a youthful demographic. I was surprised at the constant talk of reintroducing the Bible into the public school system. Now, though I am an Athiest, I do not advocate attacking religions or religious organizations. However, I do take umbridge at the idea that the Bible has any place in the public school system of this country. It is certainly not a text book, and as a historical document it is subjective at best, and for an explanation of the origin of our species it is full of bullshit.

The religious right have been aggressively pushing this "Intelligent Design" concept and trying desperately to find some purchase in the public shools for it to be taught along with Evolution. This is obviously a poorly disguised version of the Creationist theory. The courts have already outlawed the teaching of the Creationist theory because it does not meet the criteria to be considered a scientific discipline. So the new approach is to fill the school board with religious fundamentalists and then vote on introducing it in this disguised form. Tricky!

I for one think that this is a fine idea. Let's put Evolution and Creationism in the same classroom. Then let the budding scientists examine the evidence supporting each scientific philosophy. How long do you think it would take for Creationism to be buried under the vast amount of data that makes up the science of Evolution. If I was a betting man I would bet that even slacker students would be able to find the huge logic holes peppered throughout the Creationist theory. And since we are blurring the line between religion and science then maybe local churches could invite scientists to visit their Sunday schools and discuss with those pliable little minds the scientific proof for the existence of God. Should be a short session.

Trust me when I say that no minister with half a dozen brain cells would want his religion put under the same scrutiny that evolution has been under since it was first introduced into the scientific lexicon.

So to wrap up I would just like to say that I encourage you to believe in what ever it is that gets you through the day, Tarot cards, Astrology, Transcendental meditation, Hinduism, Taoism, being a Wiccan, or Christianity. But could you try not to beat me over the head with it? Thanks.

An unbelievable set of balls.

I almost find this impossible to believe.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/14/iraq/main660994.shtml

It is like Bush is daring anybody to challenge him on anythng that he does. This prick really believes that he has a mandate and is completely above reproach.

These men are criminals! If there was any justice left in this country then they would be testifying before the world court and their leader would be shackled right next to them. How much longer will it take for Americans to step up and hold these bastards responsible for the damage they have done to this country and for the crimes they have committed on the Iraqi people.

And they say that Fundamentalist Muslims and Christians have nothing in common.

I found this on the site "One Good Move". Very enlightening. Look under the heading "Fundies and Fascists".

http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/

I find all of this incredidably short sighted as it retards our intellectual progress. How can we move forward if we are constantly looking backward? Let us just accept the fact that religions come and go. Even though Christianity is showing renewed vigor right now it is apparent that it is the last death rattle of a religion that is no longer viable. The children's fables in the Bible do not resonate in this age of discovery. We cannot be pacified with soothing stories of an omnipient father figure when we are racing toward uncovering the secrets of our past and creation on our own.

I am trying not to get too excited here.

If this is true then it is unfucking believable.

http://movies.ziaspace.com/curtispt1.mp3

http://movies.ziaspace.com/curtispt2.mp3

I have tried not to compare this war to Vietnam but....

Once we no longer need them it seems we just discard them.
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041207-121848-6449r.htm

My heart goes out to these guys. I cannot believe that we are going to allow this to happen to these victims of this administation. I truly hope that somebody will get some programs started to care for these brave men and women.

Furthering my attempt to bring light to your darkness.

A very informative and accessable description of what evolution is and the questions that it answers without having to provide a supernatural explanation. This is from a discussion that Richard Dawkins, a noted Zoologist and writer, had with journalist Bill Moyers.

http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/001758.html#more

If you would like to read more examples of Richard Dawkins work then follow this link.
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_dawkins/index.shtml

This day gets more and more interesting.

http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=477

Please let this be what happened. I want so much to have faith in my fellow Americans again. I can handle just a couple of crooked politicians changing the outcome of the election rather then the whole populace being largely brain damaged.

Nothing surprises me anymore.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mediaweek/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000731656

I will applaud their organizational skills.

Another example of why I am in the minority.

I found this on MSNBC and could hardly believe my eyes.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6650997/site/newsweek/

Have we completely by passed our intelligence in exchange for a this particular superstition? Does it not occur to anyone that your most fundamentally held belief are due almost exclusively to an accident of birth? Do people really think that they would be embracing their religion if they were born in another part of the world? We are the product of our environment. If these same Christians were born in India chances are they would be Hindu. And if that were the case then would not the truth expounded by all religions be suspect? Just asking.

No, Damn it! I will not get over it!

In our local morning paper this morning was yet another letter from a smug Republican telling those of us who voted for hope instead of fear to "get over it". He went on to say that the election was over and we just needed to stop whining and accept our fate. Well, I will have to respond here as I am certain that my morning paper will not publish my answer to his suggestion. FUCK YOU!

I will not get over it. Not today and not for any time in the near future. Like many I did not see this election, as I have many others in the past, as a choice between two candidates with differing policies. I saw this election as the difference between our country losing all hope for redemption and the chance of sending a message to the rest of the world that we are not all insane.

Now I watch Countdown with Kieth Olbermann pretty much everyday but I hold little hope that the Ohio results will be overturned and the election results changed. (Though there are these small moments just before I drift off to sleep that I allow my fantasies to run free.) I am not usually any sort of a conspiracy theorist, (I never could get into the X-Files) but I will say that some of these things just don't make sense to me. How could the exit polls be so wrong? (In the Ukraine they are redoing the election based mainly on the descrepancy with the outcome and the exit polls.) How could a sitting president with such a shoddy performance both locally and abroad ever be re-elected? How could Americans be so ignorant?

Now I know that I am somewhat different then the average voter. I watch way too many news programs. I think way too long on the issues. I drink way too many cups of coffee each day. And I care much too much about my country, my people, and my children. But I take this shit seriously and I would like all of you to take it just as seriously. You don't have to vote or think like me. Just make damn sure you vote and think! I honestly feel that if everybody had paid as much attention as I had that the election would have turned out completely different.

In the meantime I am going to continue to watch the news, drink coffee, and think all of my important decisions through completely before acting on them. Does that make me unamerican?

I believe that this is how recent events make me feel. 

What do the red states want to teach my child?

The conservatives of this country are wasting no time in getting there agenda on the air ways, in politics, and in the classroom. I am shocked by how bold they have become. We are in danger of losing our intellectual capitol by allowing our schools, and by definition, our children to get dumbed down to pacify those who fear that there religion cannot survive an educated populace. . Here are a couple of articles that I have recently discovered.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/11/06/evolution.schools.ap/index.html

By the way what exactly makes these creatonist believe that finding fault with evolution automatically makes their version of things the only other choice. Are they completely unaware of the Hindu story of creation, or the Shinto creaton story, the American native creation story, etc.. It seems the height of arrogance to assume that your belief system is universally accepted by every student in American schools.

This next story should be shocking to me but sadly is is not.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6633542/

Yep it is a brave new world.