tvashtarkatena

I would say that IB has effectively prevented more such routes from being placed than any wilderness regulation or enforcement regimen ever would or could. Best of all worlds, really. No environmentalist could ever hope for a better deal.

Oh, and BTW D-Dave: I've finally relented: you can call me Daddy.

If you have a daughter you love her, right? If she starts talking to an imaginary friend named Zardoz you take her to the shrink. If she starts talking to an imaginary friend named Jesus you take her to church. If either imaginary friend actually shows up you start taking her seriously.

One could say that about believers too. If I had a dime for every time somebody came up with this comment, presumably to prop up their shaky faith, I could buy the universe and call myself God. And so, for the millionth or so time... Atheism is personal decision to not believe in a God, just as faith is a personal decision to believe the opposite. Obviously (I hope), such personal decisions do not and cannot constitute verifiable 'fact'...I believe even ferrets and gerbils understand this distinction. Why such personal decisions would ever constitute arrogance is beyond me. If they are, then I suppose it's equally arrogant not to believe in the ravings of the next street corner psychotic one runs into...after all, you can't come up with any PROOF that the evil, invisible wombats attacking the city aren't really there. Also, I wanted to mention that Kevbone's inability to create ocean waves (don't we pretty much know how those are made at this point?) doesn't exactly usher me back into the fold.

I wore a tin foil underlayer as a make shift Faraday cage, just in case. Probably not necessary, as no one mentioned the word "God" at any time during the service.

One could say that about believers too. Yes, but that does not make your statement "there is no god" any truer. (Que trashie's all-knowing wisdom for the next 50 pages of drivel.) Dood, WTF did I ever do to you to put so much sand in your coochie? Jesus....

Please extinguish all smoking materials.... [video:youtube]

Well, there's censorship, as in, you got put in prison, tortured, and killed by the state for expressing your beliefs, and then there's censorship, where you whine about how some privately owned web forum, which you voluntarily choose to participate in, won't let your freedom of expression soar like an eagle.

j_b only huffs organic biodiesel.

Don't do it....

I can't really comment on Dawkins much more than I have. I've never read any of his stuff.

There are many brands of christianity, of course. I gave a 'sermon' at a universalist unitarian church 2 weeks ago, and the similarities with Pat Robertson's "the Haitians deserved it" folks and the good people in the pews in front of me were...not so much. I personally object to any form of religion that is exclusive; that is to say, preaches that believers are 'chosen' in some way, and that non-believers are slated for punishment. Feel free to believe that, of course...as long as you don't try to fold that into our laws, and I'll feel free to fundamentally disagree with such exclusive doctrines. When you start blabbing about Da Debbil n shit, however...sorry, but you're just a coo coo clock. I just feel that such exclusive doctrines are not the way to move forward in this increasingly crowded world together. I realize that I'm going to Hell for believing that, but I take comfort in knowing that all my friends will be there with me.

Many find Dawkin's personal style offensive, and that's really the issue. He represents no one but himself. It's common to conflate the attitudes of all non-religious folks with Dawkins if one is uncomfortable with the idea of atheism itself, but that, of course, is simply one more layer of bullshit to wade through. But lets examine the political agenda of atheists, even really, really BAD atheists like Dawkins, with that of, say, evangelical christians. From a human rights perspective, the ideas of even a rabid atheist like Dawkins have no negative effect on human/civil rights. Contrast that with American evangelicals, who have been pushing a legislative agenda of anti-gay bigotry in the spirit of now defunct anti-miscegenation laws (the last of which was overturned in that Great Bible Belt State of Alabama as late as 2000, BTW), forcing a recently invented form of christian doctrine to be taught in schools, and having the State force women to bear unwanted offspring under penalty of imprisonment. I'm not even going to mention murdering doctors. Oops, I just did. Their agenda is completely at odds with core American values of freedom, as codified by the Constitution. It deserves a sound rejection and denunciation. From a personal standpoint, that's the aspect of christianity I focus on. I really don't care much what any individual believes...just attempt to have the State force your beliefs on me. Christians (evangelicals, mostly) do this...atheists don't.

You are one fuckin entangled inebriate.

Best not to take this shit too seriously. Seriously.

I've been unferretly targeted.

funny, i've never met a ferret-ownder who wasn't fuck-all psychotic i have a half-share in great big goddamn snake currently Precisely. Ferrets are an indicator species.

Just out of curiosity, how many more decades in power would it take you folks to turn the Earth into a complete shithole? Just a ballpark figure. Thanks in advance. The earth is a shithole now, so that would be zero generations. Within one or two generations, certainly, we'll probably experience a massive, step function 'correction' in climate, and it won't be for the benefit of the angry hairless monkeys.

Frank, please pray to Jesus for better spelling and grammar. Non believers will...might...well, they still won't take you seriously, but your readership, regardless of faith, will wince just a little be less.

IB...were it to be uttered in an episode of Deadwood: In-Fuckin-finite Cock Suckin Bliss!

There are three things a single gentleman must avoid, in order: 1) Horses 2) Kids 3) Ferrets You don't have any ferrets, do you Minx?

For the record, Fremont (WA) doesn't have an ACLU chapter. Plus, I don't live there. Finally, I think I might have been really stoned when I passed the LSAT....

In the beginning, I had to decide whether Ivan was Too Fawking Annoying to climb with. Then I went home, spied my own handsome countenance in the mirror, and said to myself "Now WTF are you on about?"

Trust me, it's enough.

Yeah, but Bjork added a letter to his name, had the operation, and went on to be a really weird Euro pop star....