Yesterday, Mar 21st, 2010, I attended "Darwin Day", a day long seminar sponsored by the Center for Inquiry, in Indianapolis.
Among the speakers was Dr. Barbara Forrest, Professor of Philosophy, SE Louisana University. Although she served as an expert witness at the famous Dover Area School District trial (where the creationists nutjobs were roundly defeated) she barely mentioned that case.
So I will do it for her. Here is a direct quote from her which I obtained on the internet. Emphasis is mine.
"On September 29, I noticed that the Discovery Institute (DI) had posted a transcript of an interview I had done—except that I hadn’t done it. The transcript was fake. Apparently meant (though not marked) as a parody, the organization whose self-described goal is "to support high quality scholarship . . . relevant to the question of evidence for intelligent design in nature" ridiculed me by, among other things, having fictitious radio host "Marvin Waldburger" refer to me as "Dr. Barking Forrest Ph.D." If DI thought this would unsettle me, they were ignoring the fact that I had just been through two killer hurricanes. I could only shake my head at their doing something so jaw-droppingly stupid. If they were hoping Judge Jones would see and be influenced by this silliness, it was just another sign of the disrespect for his intelligence and integrity that began before the trial and continues today."
For those unfamiliar with the oxymoron "Discovery Institute" is nothing more than a religion based organization that promotes "intelligent design" over sound science.
Dr. Forrest was more interested in sharing with the group her insights about Louisiana politics and especially it's Governor, Bobby Jindal. Believe me, this Jindal is a peice of work! Although he is a right wing Roman Catholic, he often attends Baptist and Penecostal church services in other parts of the state and uses the state's helicopter to fly there at taxpayer expense. Louisiana is so firmly in control by right wing fundamentalists that if any government official has the temerity to challenge the Governer, they can kiss their chances of winning the next election good-bye.
Governor Jindall wants to be the next President of the United States. Maybe he can pair up with Sarah Palin. Two delusional people for the price of one.
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My question to my religious republican friends, WWJD? Regardless of how one feels about the bill, is this necessary?
ReplyDeleteThree Democratic African-American lawmakers - including civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis of Georgia - said demonstrators against the health care bill yelled racist epithets at them as they walked past. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri said a protester spit at him. Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, an openly gay Democrat, said protesters yelled anti-gay comments at him.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, called the incidents "reprehensible" but said on NBC's Meet the Press "let's not let a few isolated incidents get in the way of the fact that millions of Americans are scared to
death, and millions of Americans want no part of this growing size of government."
Boehner later claimed the health bill "would be Armageddon." Really?
So Charlie, Satan is about ready to get his butt kicked. Here is what will happen according to fundamentalists. So, sit back and enjoy the fight.
Armageddon (Arabic أرمجدون, Late Latin: Armagedōn,[1] Ancient Greek: Ἁρμαγεδών Harmagedōn,[2][3] Hebrew: הר מגידו har məgiddô) is the site of an epic battle associated with the end time prophecies of the Abrahamic religions.
According to some premillennial Christian interpretations, the Messiah, the "Lamb", Jesus Christ, will return to earth and defeat the Antichrist (the "beast") in the battle of Armageddon. Then Satan will be put into the bottomless pit or abyss for 1,000 years, known as the Millennial age. After being released from the abyss, Satan will gather Gog and Magog from the four corners of the earth. They will encamp surrounding the holy ones and the "beloved city". Fire will come down from God, out of heaven and devour Gog and Magog after the Millenium, and the Devil who deceived them is thrown into Gehenna (the lake of fire and brimstone) where the Beast and the False Prophet have been since just before the 1,000 years.[4]
I can just hear Satan pleading, "Please don't throw me in the lake of fire". But, oh, isn't that where he already lives?
Jim
sigh I know, I know.
ReplyDeleteThey are all nuts.
We went out after church last night with a couple. As we sat around the tables at Wendy's with a dozen or so members from church, I was ill prepared for their anger about the health care bill. Remember, I was the only liberal democrat present which included my fifty-two year old son and his wife. Fortunately, they was sitting at another table and not involved in our conversation, but I'm sure he shares their sentiments about Obama. I tried to restrain myself, but couldn't resist a shot or two. I offered, "You know, it has been my experience that the people most vocal about an issue usually know the least about it. I admit that I don't know the details, but suspect much information being put out there is false. Time will reveal the real truth and besides, there is nothing any of us can do tonight to change what is going to happen, so just let the process play out." This turned the attention away from the subject for the men, but the ladies sitting at a separate table remained loud and angry. While drinking our coffee this morning, I said to my wife, "You know, I just don't fit in with the group we ate with last night." She surprised me with, "Neither do I". No wonder we prefer each others company. We disagree on a few things which I think is good, but we remain civil about. Why can't others do that; especially those who claim their lord is meek, gentle, and compassionate.
ReplyDeleteJim
Wow. You guys blow me away, to use a teeny boppers' phrase.
ReplyDeleteBut, Charlie, could we keep J & P separate? There are so many stupid people out there. What if they won?
BTW, Jim, that was one of the first things that made me question the truth of religion: their cruel unloving behavior which they justify by saying "we aren't perfect, just forgiven" in that pompous way jesus loved so much (not).
I wonder what that fundamentalist kid who called for a public apology from Biden for swearing, using the "F" word, is going to do about Sarah leading a crowd in a triumphic "HELL NO" cheer in Nevada. Of course, we all know, hell is not as bad a word as the other one. Don't we?
California gal