Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks the NRA is a terrorist organization.

Tonight at 6: Pensacola community reacts to a billboard calling NRA “terrorist organization”. We talked to the man responsible for the billboard @weartv #C3N #Pensacola pic.twitter.com/HPO1Nl1daF

— Jamarlo Phillips (@JPhillipsTV) March 2, 2018

Courtesy of The Hill: 

A political action committee has erected a billboard in Pensacola, Fla. blasting the National Rifle Association (NRA) as a “terrorist organization.” 

Mad Dog PAC, the group behind the sign, funds billboards nationwide calling out GOP candidates and President Trump. 

I think that this is now inarguable.

The number of deaths that can be traced back to the NRA, due to it's lobbying for gun manufacturers and attempts to undermine reasonable gun legislation, is many multiples higher than any of the US deaths attributed to all of the terrorist organizations in the world combined.

And that is simply a fact.

Atheists have adopted Donald Trump's favorite catch phrase, but I do not think he will appreciate how they put it to use.

Courtesy of NBC News: 

Nick Fish, a spokesman for American Atheists, claimed the signs aren’t meant to offend, but to spark a dialogue by adding a topical tag line.

“It’s a way of starting a conversation not just with this organization but within a community,” Fish told NBC News on Wednesday. “The choice is often between being provocative or not being heard at all. If we can start that initial conversation, then we’re doing our jobs to get the ball rolling and get our foot in the door.” 

Since the signs were put up on Nov. 30, many atheists in the affected areas have come forward in support of them, Fish said. These atheists claimed that the billboards made them feel as though they weren’t alone in their community. 

American Atheists, which has gone after Christian groups as well as other organized religions since they formed in 1963, specifically targeted areas that they felt were particularly religiously homogeneous. 

“It’s about targeting areas where religious identity is assumed. Albuquerque is not necessarily a conservative place,” Fish said, “but there is a lot of religious expectation there and we want to challenge that.”

There is of course very little in the Bible that is supported by the facts, so defining it as "fake news" seems perfectly reasonable.

Of course if reason was something that the majority of Christians were to embrace there would be a whole lot fewer Christians.

The Sioux Falls Atheists are not playing around anymore.

Courtesy of the Friendly Atheist: 

Back in May, Dale Hemming, the one-man show behind the Sioux Falls Atheists, paid for more than 20 billboards (most of which were digital) to go up in South Dakota. 

Now he’s back with a collection of billboards, both static and digital, to promote science — specifically evolution and climate change. 

Well so much for subtlety, but then again when has that approach ever seemed to work?

I am typically not a huge fan of the more in your face approach to Atheism, preferring instead to write my ideas down here on my own blog and inviting people to come and discuss or disagree with what I say.

However there is little doubt that this approach will stimulate conversation in Sioux Falls, and who knows perhaps even a few people will find their way to enlightenment.

First off why would a god need assistance. And secondly why would he need a billboard to ask for it?

So here's the thing, if the god that you believe is putting up billboards asking for your help in stopping gay people from getting married, it might be time to start shopping for a new god.

Which should be easy since there are over 330 million of them.

(Link to explanation.)

Well Palin didn't make the big NRA event in Nashville, but her rolling billboard did.

Palin 2016! #SteelSpine #HillaysNemesis @SarahPalinUSA pic.twitter.com/8B5K2K17FB
— PalinRepublican (@nochangeplease) April 12, 2015

That Political Earthquake PAC was super excited that Palin was scheduled to appear, so they hurriedly raised money for this sad little billboard.

Unfortunately for them her last minute decision to bail left them with a sign that is the very definition of pathetic.

Australian Atheists offer to help others "escape" religion.

Here is the billboard put up by Sidney Atheists.

And here is their press release concerning the billboards: 

Have you escaped religion? We have! 

Most of the members of Sydney Atheists once belonged to a religion. With the benefit of a comprehensive and usually critical education, particularly in the areas of science, history, geography, philosophy and religion we have discovered the fallacies of religions. It is a great challenge for many to escape the religious indoctrination that most of us have suffered, usually from birth. 

We have members who once belonged to religions ranging from Judaism, Christianity and Islam to Hinduism and Sikhism. It stands to reason that because all religions make the claim that they are somehow uniquely correct in their supernatural claims, they are all simply false belief systems that deny the realities of the universe, life in general and particularly the place of humanity on this earth. 

Sydney Atheists invite those who are trapped by religious belief to escape the bounds and strictures of their religions to gain freedom of thought, deed and a better life, governed by morals that are determined through rational, humane and skeptical thinking and the just laws of the land.

I used to have serious doubts about how much this kind of thing really helps.

However lately I have become somewhat of a convert after reading testimonials from people on the internet about how helpful it was to leave their religions after discovering that there was already a community of non-believers ready to offer support.

Hey anything that helps to let others see that a life without religion is not only possible, but amazing seems like a good idea to me.

Atheist billboards causing a stir among believers in California.

Courtesy of CBS Los Angeles:

 A billboard near Riverside aimed at raising awareness of the local nonbeliever population is turning heads and raising eyebrows. 

The billboard off the 215 Freeway just south of the 10 Freeway junction in Colton reads: “Don’t believe in a God? You are not alone.” 

CBS2/KCAL9’s Adrianna Weingold spoke to a number of people who found the sign offensive. 

“I’d have them take it down, because God’s real,” Colton resident Benjamin Hall said.

Well that's one argument I guess. Resident Cyndi Bulger doesn’t want it in Colton either:

“Everybody’s an individual, so you shouldn’t be told how you should think or what you should believe.”

Well that's interesting since that is what religions have been doing since the dawn of time.

Remember people do not go door to door to tell people to be Atheists. Nor do they suggest that they will suffer eternally for not doing so.

Of course the goal of the advertising is not so much to change minds, as it is to let those who are already critical thinkers know that they are not alone.

Made possible with over $6,500 in funding from the Washington, D.C.-based United Coalition of Reason, the 18-by-48-foot billboard will be up for the month, according to Inland Empire Coalition of Reason coordinator Jan Goings. 

The campaign, part of a nationwide program that began in 2009, has grown to more than 60 similar campaigns in nearly 40 states, each sponsored by a local coalition of nontheistic groups, Goings said. 

“We want people to know that nontheistic folks like us are a regular part of communities all over the area,” Goings said. “Nontheists are your friends and neighbors, your coworkers and family members. Our nontheistic community focuses on service, and we care deeply about bringing justice and help to others: being good without a god.”

I am not usually one for in your face advertising. But considering that Atheists are currently among the most mistrusted demographic in America, I can certainly understand the desire to reach out and comfort those living in fear of discovery.

Political Earthquake PAC purchases digital billboards in Iowa to promote Sarah Palin during the Freedom Summit.

Actually when she quit she left behind a 70% debt-to-GP-ratio in Alaska. Nothing responsible about that.

Courtesy of Sarah Palin's Earthquake Movement's Facebook page: 

The Political Earthquake leased our first digital billboard in Des Moines, Iowa. It is located on Fleur Dr. 600' North of Bell St. a major thoroughfare connecting the Des Moines Int. Airport and Downtown. Our billboard will run during the Iowa Freedom Summit from Monday the 19th of January through Sunday the 25th. It will display three separate message each displayed for 8 seconds and all encouraging folks to join us and support Sarah Palin to run in 2016. If you happen to be in the area we would love to see photos or read any local news coverage of our efforts.

Seriously?

 Well it looks like this bizarre group of people are willing to flush their money down the toilet in homage to Miss Moosepoop herself, Sarah Palin.

By who?

Above are the three versions of the sign that will be on display in Des Moines from Monday the 19th until Sunday the 25th.

I have little doubt that by then the Iowans will have had plenty of time to laugh out loud at them, and the morons ignorant enough to have paid for them.

At this point anybody who can still convince themselves that Sarah Palin would ever seriously run for President, needs to immediately check themselves into the nearest mental health facility before they hurt themselves.

Wanna bet?

These billboards are still visible in Kentucky despite the fact that project has hit an insurmountable hurdle.

Of course it wasn't really wasn't the liberals who sank the ship, it was Ken Ham's own intolerance.

In Alabama they don't hide their racism. They put it on a freaking billboard for everybody to see.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

The mayor of an Alabama town has denounced a billboard with a racial message that appeared recently near Birmingham. 

“Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white,” the billboard alongside I-20 reads. 

“While this billboard is actually in Birmingham, the impression to passersby is that it is within our city limits,” Leeds Mayor David Miller said in a statement obtained by The Birmingham News. “The City of Leeds is a community with a long history of racial harmony, and wants to make it clear to all that it has no connection with this sign and categorically and unequivocally denounces the racist message portrayed on this billboard.” 

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the message originated in a 221-word Mantra written by white supremacist Robert Whitaker. The Mantra has inspired racial killings, including the 2011 deaths of 77 people in Norway. 

The Mantra’s message — and the Alabama billboard — have been heavily promoted by Timothy Gallaher Murdock, who runs an online community for racists called White Rabbit Radio. 

“The point of the message is when white people are called racist to give them something to say, something to say to defend themselves so they don’t just sit silently keep getting beaten over the head over and over again,” Murdock told WBRC on Monday. “You know everyone has come to the conclusion that racism is only in white countries, only in white people’s churches, houses and businesses, and white people are generally the only ones who face this charge generally on behalf of white anti-whites as well.”

The KKK threatening to "take back this land,"  protesters blocking roads to keep undocumented immigrants from entering their towns, and now racist slogans openly displayed on billboards as if they were ads for Burma Shave.

Is  it just me or is there a particularly nasty pattern forming here?

Alabama ministry puts up billboard using pro-indoctrination quote from Adolph Hitler.

Courtesy of the Ledger-Enquirer:  

A billboard at the Village Mall in Auburn, Ala., features five smiling kids beneath a quote from Adolf Hitler: "He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future." 

According to Lamar Advertising's Montgomery office, the billboard was rented out by Life Savers Ministries, based in Opelika, Ala. 

Hitler's quote traces back to his speeches of the '30s, and has historically been tied to the Nazi youth programs. 

The billboard went up Friday and will be taken down Tuesday, per LSM's request. 

"We are pulling the billboard and certainly never intended to cause confusion. ... Herbert Hoover would have been a far better one to quote when he said, 'Children are our most valuable resource,'" founder James Anderegg told the Ledger-Enquirer. "We are a children’s organization and had honorable intentions and nothing less." 

"We are a children’s organization and had honorable intentions and nothing less." I'm pretty sure Hitler said something along those lines as well.

You know there must be a handbook somewhere that instructs these organizations NOT to state what their purpose is, and to avoid using horrible historical figures as their inspiration, but apparently Life Savers Ministry lost their copy.

And of course this provides the opportunity to once again put that old wives tale about Hitler being an Atheist to rest. Hitler was raised in the Catholic church, learned his antisemitism there, and even  borrowed the swastika from the coat of arms that was displayed on the stone arch at the monastery where he attended school.

In fact Hitler would probably be very pleased with the methodology utilized by fundamentalists and Christian home school programs in this country, and their reliance on the camouflage of religion to provide cover for their agenda.

Which reminds me of another quote attributed to Adolph Hitler:

“Who says I am not under the special protection of God?”

Who indeed?

American Atheists place Superbowl themed billboard on way to stadium.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

It’s not a $2 million ad buy. But will a billboard by the activist group American Atheists at the Super Bowl draw the same kind of attention? 

The 14 foot by 48 foot digital billboard in East Rutherford, half a mile from the Meadowlands and Metlife Stadium, is what Super Bowl visitors Sunday will see heading west on Route 3. Once every 10 minutes, it has displayed the American Atheists design, a priest with a football and a message, “A ‘Hail Mary’ only works in football. Enjoy the game!” 

The ad will continue through Sunday. It’s a dig at prayer in sports and the conflation of religion with athletics. But it’s also the latest attempt by the group to draw attention to the cause, inviting public confrontation.

It may surprise you to know that I am not actually a big supporter of these billboards.

I mean I write about them as a way of discussing what is happening with Atheism in this country, and I certainly support the idea of them being placed next to billboards that proselytize, but overall I am not a fan.

I think it is more appropriate to have the conversation about religion, and faith, in places like this blog. Where people are allowed to openly express their agreement, or disagreement, with some anonymity.

When it comes to blogs you can also choose to avoid those that feature topics that make you uncomfortable, or if not the blog itself at least the topics that you don't enjoy.

A billboard on the other hand is kind of obtrusive, and religious people driving to see a football game probably don't appreciate being confronted with this.

I just don't think in the long run that it helps to move the conversation forward.

Anybody disagree?

Two men attempt to light "Keep Saturn in Saturnalia" sign on fire. Well so much for religious diversity in this country.

Courtesy of South Jersey Times:

Someone tried to torch the “Saturnalia” billboard on the edge of town Tuesday night. 

An off-duty police officer from another municipality was in Carolina Blue with a number of friends when they looked across the intersection of Lambs Road and Holly Avenue at about 11:45 p.m. and spotted two men underneath the billboard, which proclaims “Keep Saturn in Saturnalia.” 

The billboard was erected by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, the organization’s way of countering the “Keep Christ in Christmas” banner that hangs across Broadway, Pitman’s main thoroughfare. The Christmas banner is erected by the Knights of Columbus. 

The FFRF has been objecting to the Christmas banner since at least 2011, insisting it is illegally hung, without receipt of proper permits. 

Despite the fact that the billboard features a depiction of the ringed planet Saturn, Saturnalia was an ancient Roman holiday named after Saturn, a Roman deity. The holiday took place near the Winter Solstice — which occurs on Dec. 21 this year — and featured public feasting and gift-giving.

That was not the first attempt to destroy or deface the sign either by the way: Also on Sunday, a man accompanied by a woman and child put an extension ladder against the billboard and prepared to climb up and paste a poster with a picture of a manger on it over top of the Saturnalia sign. Police intervened and the protesters left.

Sure the religious people are always talking about freedom of speech and diversity, but put up one billboard celebrating the TRUE reason for the season and what them lose their shit.

I gotta tell you this stuff is cracking me up this year.

American Atheists use sayings by Sarah Palin and other conservatives to advertise their 50th anniversary celebration.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

American Atheists rolled out the new signage over the weekend ahead of their 50th anniversary celebration, set to take place at the end of the month. 

One of the billboards featured Palin, alongside the quotation, "We should create law based on the God of the Bible.” 

The quote is a reference to a May 2010 appearance by Palin on Fox News, in which she denounced the backlash against the National Day of Prayer. At the time she suggested that critics were ignoring the Founding Fathers in their opposition to the large-scale expression of faith. 

"I think we should kind of keep this clean, keep it simple, go back to what our founders and our founding documents meant," she advised. "They're quite clear that we would create law based on the God of the Bible and the Ten Commandments." 

CNN reports that American Atheists public relations director Dave Muscato has admitted that the word "should" should not appear in quotes and has announced plans to make the correction. 

But Muscato and American Atheists President David Silverman told CNN that the “intent and context” of the billboard remains accurate. 

“Ms. Palin would stand by what we have quoted her as saying," Silverman claimed in a statement to CNN. 

Palin isn't the only Republican politician being used to promote the group's event. Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and former presidential candidate Newt Gingrich are both featured in other billboards, alongside accurate quotations.

Considering some of the ridiculous, and outlandish, things that fall out of Palin's maw I can't imagine anybody should be too concerned with the replacing of "would" with "should" while quoting her.

But hey at least atheists are willing to make changes to their way of thinking when presented with evidence which contradicts it, that is certainly more than can be said for most in the religious community.

Gee I wonder how Palin will feel about her copyrighted image being used to promote atheism?

The final death throes of Sarah Palin's once meteroric political careeer.

Courtesy of KCRG News: ]

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - A group called The Earthquake Movement is responsible for a series of Cedar Rapids billboard ads supporting Sarah Palin for the Republican presidential nomination. 

An electronic billboard near The Ar-Jay Center on Council Street NE has recently been displaying a series of four advertisements involving Sarah Palin. None of the ads actually contain Palin's image, but include messages like, "Nominate Sarah Palin for President," and "Sudden and Relentless Reform - Delegates are Unbound," as well as "Palin 2012" and "Sarah Palin Supporters Unite." 

According to an email from a representative of The Earthquake Movement, the group has sent informational packets to delegates around the country, asking them to be one of the five required majority state delegations needed to nominate Palin in the first round of voting at the Republican National Convention. The packets also ask for delegates to nominate Palin in the second round if presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney does not receive the required number of delegates in the first round. 

The Earthquake Movement has also distributed information on Palin's "record, accomplishments and why we think she is the person who can excite the base and defeat President Obama in November." 

"We are finding a lot of unhappy Republican voters," the email said. "They feel like the RNC is not listening to them and based on voter turn out in the primaries and what we are hearing from Conservative Americans, they want her to emerge from the convention as the nominee. They are also very angry that she was not given a prime time speaking spot at the convention and are wondering if the RNC is attempting to shut her out because her message resonates with so many of us fly-overs. Are they afraid if she speaks prior to the vote or at all, we will have an averted Reagan experience?"

Oh that is just about the saddest, most pathetic thing I have ever seen.

It reminds me of the people who insist that Elvis Presley never died. ("I done seen him at the Piggly Wiggly. The King is alive I tell ya!")

Gee NO wonder the Sea O'Pee has seemed more like a wake held in a mental hospital rather than a information blog these days.

Look Palin-bots come here for a second, let's speak frankly shall we?

Folks it's over, Sarah Palin is no longer relevant.  Even you have to admit that she was kind of crazy and terminally under qualified to be the President of the United States. So you have to come to terms with the fact that she will never be a candidate for anything significant again.

In other words her political career is all but dead.

And I should know, because I helped to kill it.

Have a nice day.