So, apparently, this bit of pseudoscience keeps cropping up. People continue to believe that vaccines cause autism, or are bad for you in some obscure way. This anti-vaccination movement is probably the biggest outcry against vaccines since Edward Jenner first gave his own son cowpox in order to protect him against smallpox. That innoculation worked, by the way, and 200 years later, vaccination is still proven. Why, oh why, do people not trust 200 years of proven science and medical track record?
Below this blog on my Facebook page, you'll see the video clip of Bill Maher arguing with Bill Frist about why he would never have the H1N1 vaccine himself. He feels that vaccines mutate too fast for immunization programs to be of much use. Now, that's only true if a certain percentage of the population does not get vaccinated, and the anti-vaccination movement helps insure that percentage stays abnormally high. In other words, it's the same sort of self-fulfilling prophecy that Bill decries in his movie, Religiulous.
Now, I trust Bill will change his mind about this one. He may never fully trust Western medicine, but I think his natural intelligence will eventually convince him that the problem is with the financing and insurance structures behind healthcare, rather than with the science behind it. The science is sound.
So what prompted me to blog this comes down to two quotes you'll see the one Bill give the other Bill in this video clip. First, Maher quotes from someone he says is the Chief Control Officer of the U.S. FDA, a J. Anthony Morris. The quote goes like this, "There is no evidence that any influenza vaccine thus far developed is effective in preventing or mitigating any attack of influenza. The producers of these vaccines know they are worthless, but they go on selling them anyway."
I tried finding out who this J. Anthony Morris was. Search after search revealed nothing. This guy didn't even have an entry on Wikipedia, and all I could find was one blogger after another making feedback comments on news service websites, quoting that same line over and over again. Where the fuck did that quote come from? Who the fuck was this guy? (I'm assuming he's dead, so I say "was." He'd be about 90 today, if still alive.) Finally, I found another blogger who was kind enough to do an archived newspaper search of the New York Times before he blogged. His name was B. Martin, and his blog is called Pathophilia. Here's what he found:
Morris was a virologist in the Division of Biologic Standards, which was part of the NIH until 1972 when the division was transferred to the FDA. In the fall of 1971, he made news by arguing to Congress that influenza vaccines were not just useless, but dangerous (see Lyons RD. Influenza shots held ineffective. NYT. October 15, 1971). He claimed that "not only has there been little or no benefit from the use of influenza vaccine in man, but harm has resulted." However, a federally appointed, 12-person scientific committee rejected Morris's claims of incompetence within his NIH division. The committee then proceeded to reject Morris's claims that influenza vaccines are harmful (see Lyons RD. Charges of poor vaccine regulation rejected. NYT. November 30, 1971). A related news story in June 1972 indicates that Morris had been demoted within his division, which was now (presumably) a part of the FDA. But later news reports indicate that Morris was appointed director of the Slow and Temperate Virus Branch of the agency. In July 1976, Morris, then 57, was finally fired from the FDA for "insubordination" and "inefficiency." Morris claimed that he was sacked from his $35,000-a-year job because he opposed President Ford's swine flu vaccination program. FDA officials acknowledged, at the time, that it was very unusual for an FDA employee to be fired, but the process that led to Morris's departure began long before anybody recognized the swine flu threat. Later Morris showed up on fear-mongering talk shows like "Phil Donahue" and provided anti-vaccine quotes to news reporters as recently as 1988.
A phrase search of various archived newspapers fails to return a source for the exact quote cited by Maher, except in 1 instance: Donald Harte, in a November 2007 editorial for the Marin Independent Journal ("Is there a vaccine that protects against non-science?") requotes Morris from a citation in a contemporary issue of Health & Fitness magazine. The quote was described as being 30 years old, but the original source was not identified.
So this quote is from an incompetent grandstanding prick, even if it could be verified. Strike one.
Bill Maher goes on to quote another person, Dr. Jonah Salk. Presumably, he said, "Live virus vaccines against influenza and paralytic polio, for example, may in each instance cause the disease it's intended to prevent."
Dr. Salk developed the Polio vaccine. But nobody knows where this quote developed from. It has no citations, no sources, and no search seems to reveal anything about it. Were it a genuine quote, the citation would be fairly common, and easy to find. It's safe to conclude, until any contrary evidence comes up, that this quote is fake. Strike two.
Besides this, Bill Maher is appealing to authority, even though there are no authority figures in science. Strike three.
Maher doesn't like the idea of being injected with a form of the actual disease you're trying to be cured from. The part he forgets, or at least has been oblivious to, is that the damned virus is DEAD, and that means you can't get sick from it. Do the vaccine preservatives contain mercury? Some of the older ones did, sure. Would that mercury hurt you? Not in such trace amounts. For comparison, you put more mercury into your body from the fillings in your teeth than you do from an entire lifetime of old-fashioned vaccinations, and mercury hasn't been used as a preservative for vaccines in decades.
I'm disappointed. I would think someone like Bill Maher would at least have verified his sources first. But then, his news-gathering technique has always been to gather up as much information as possible, and rely on the truth to ring out through the din of noise. Often, that has worked for him, and worked rather well. In this one case, he has mistaken the noise for the song.
It's time to put this nonsense to bed. Don't trust that professional bimbo, Jenny McCarthy. Don't trust the pseudo-scientists who mean well, but get it just plain damned wrong. This whole sad, stupid affair would be extremely funny, if only KIDS didn't get KILLED because of it. Vaccinate your kids! Do it today!
Otherwise, you're just like the insane couple I wrote about in my last blog who prayed over their kids instead of taking them to a doctor.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Bill-Killers and Prayer-Killers
Well, been awhile since I've had time to blog about anything. I have a test today, and will have a test every week from now until the end of the semester, when I will, of course, have no less than four tests and one quiz in as many days. Still, I thought I'd toss my two cents' worth into the wishing well of public opinion, seeing as how the world continues to turn, in spite of my being too busy to even really watch it whizz on by.
First off, I have to chip in on the parents up near Wausau, WI, who had decided to pray over their daughter instead of taking her in to proper medical care, and the girl died. (Because, it turned out, she had an undiagnosed condition of diabetes.) They were sentanced not to long ago, to 6 months jail-time, and some community service besides. Now, a lot of my fellow unbelievers are stunned that the sentance was so light. After all, they killed their kid with their superstitious nonsense! But I actually found myself defending the verdict, because any parent who has lost a child (and who wasn't trying to kill the kid on purpose) has felt a sting and pain of loss that is beyond anything the State can possibly dish out. So I thought that they'd punished themselves sufficiently enough, and any jail time issued was essentially gravy. Ah, but no. I've recently had the time to go back over the whole story. This couple actually thought their daughter would be resurrected after she died. Furthermore, the husband, Mr. Neumann, who seems to be the driving force in this whole sad, stupid affair, actually dared to be defiant to the court at his sentancing. "I'm guilty of trusting my Lord's wisdom completely. Guilty of asking for heavenly intervention. Guilty of following Jesus Christ when the whole world doesn't understand. I am guilty of obeying my God."
Mr. Neumann, if that's really what your God demanded, then to hell with him!
I've completely changed my mind. Life sentance is too short for him! This prick actually dares to assume he knows God's will, as if anybody knows jack shit about God in the first place! He dares to be defiant, instead of contrite over committing such an obvious and colossal fuck-up! He actually thinks that if the whole world doesn't understand his actions, that it's the whole world's fault, and not his own!
The only difference between this prick and Jim Jones is that the poor little girl wasn't made to drink poisoned Kool-Aid.
I've said it before, and it bears repeating: In a world where, if there is a God, he obviously said nothing to guide us, the only sin truly deserving of an eternity in hellfire is the sin of presuming to speak for Him.
God's Willl is, apparently, for us not to know His Will!
Hey, parents! Do you hate your kids? Think they're a financial burden? Do they drive you nuts? Now, you too can get rid of them and receive a mere slap on the wrist! Just get religion. Then, get your hands on some type of disease that will kill them if not treated, like Typhoid, and add it to their drinking water. Better yet, put it in their Kool-Aid. Then, just pray for them instead of taking them to the doctor. You'll only have to do six months in jail, thanks to the myopia of the Wisconsin justice system! You'll be out and free in no time!
After all that, I almost don't have it in me to say anything more, much less say anything more about the health care debate. But I will anyway.
I had a chance the other day to stay up late into the morning, and go to the bank. During that time, I caught a little bit of the Charlie Sykes show, which I haven't been able to do in a little while. Charlie was talking about (you guessed it) health care reform, and was making the point about how many medical breakthroughs take place because of the desire for companies to make a profit off of the breakthrough. His point, I guess, was that medical care for profit is not necessarily a bad thing, especially in terms of advancement of medical technology.
Now, Charlie has morphed through the years. I liked the Charlie Sykes show back when it was newer, and he was more reasonable. Back then, the old Charlie would have asked the obvious question: What percentage of medical research is actually for-profit? The modern Charlie didn't touch the question with a 10-foot pole! How I miss the "old Charlie!"
Turns out, most medical research is still government and research-grant funded. The percentage which isn't, is geared towards mega-payoff, and isn't really looking to advance medicine in a way which would produce maximum health. Instead, its looking for maximum profit. This explains why we have many treatments for long-term ailments, such as acid reflux, sleep apnea, and heart disease, but few long-term cures. Long term cures, you see, means you get treated once, and don't make companies any more money afterward. For-profit medical care pretty much means that they'd prefer you be (ahem!) a "regular" customer.
Now, I'm not going to go off the deep end here like Bill Maher recently did, and say that alternative medicines are needed instead. But I am going to say that I think it's odd, and more than a little shameful, that we have a cure for male-pattern baldness, and pills that will give you an erection, but have no cures for things like alzheimer's disease. After all, if alzheimer's gets cured, all those treatment centers would have to close, wouldn't they?
Sometimes, especially with medicine, you simply have to take the system by the throat and say, "Fuck your profit! Do the right thing!"
But doing that will prove tricky. The lines have sharpened, and it's quite clear that this is a fight between our government and the insurance companies. And that's scary for a number of reasons. Sure, the Democrats may have a super-majority, but the insurance companies have a similar such super-majority in terms of the number of lawmakers they have in their pocket. We've already been sold down the river with the abandonment of the public option, even though I'd detailed in an earlier post why public-paid health care is as inevitable as death and taxes. What might get lost next?
The mantra that gets repeated is that private industry is better than government. That's almost true. Private industry sucks when there's a monopoly. That's why we have anti-trust laws. And it's interesting that it's phrased like that: "Anti-trust." What aren't we trusting, if not capitalism left unbridled? Don't get me wrong, I like capitalism, but not left unchecked, and it's already had far too much freedom than is good for it.
But there's another exception to private industry being better than government, and that's the insurance industry. In fact, the insurance industry is the one form of private industry that has consistently underperformed the government at every possible level. And this is what some want to trust our healthcare to? Isn't it the insurance industry which was, and is, the problem to begin with?
I mentioned anti-trust laws earlier. Did you know that insurance companies are exempt from anti-trust laws? This was outlined on Keith Olbermann's show last night. Any health care reform bill better at least slap an anti-trust clause onto the insurance giants, or we're going to be in for a whole world of hurt!
First off, I have to chip in on the parents up near Wausau, WI, who had decided to pray over their daughter instead of taking her in to proper medical care, and the girl died. (Because, it turned out, she had an undiagnosed condition of diabetes.) They were sentanced not to long ago, to 6 months jail-time, and some community service besides. Now, a lot of my fellow unbelievers are stunned that the sentance was so light. After all, they killed their kid with their superstitious nonsense! But I actually found myself defending the verdict, because any parent who has lost a child (and who wasn't trying to kill the kid on purpose) has felt a sting and pain of loss that is beyond anything the State can possibly dish out. So I thought that they'd punished themselves sufficiently enough, and any jail time issued was essentially gravy. Ah, but no. I've recently had the time to go back over the whole story. This couple actually thought their daughter would be resurrected after she died. Furthermore, the husband, Mr. Neumann, who seems to be the driving force in this whole sad, stupid affair, actually dared to be defiant to the court at his sentancing. "I'm guilty of trusting my Lord's wisdom completely. Guilty of asking for heavenly intervention. Guilty of following Jesus Christ when the whole world doesn't understand. I am guilty of obeying my God."
Mr. Neumann, if that's really what your God demanded, then to hell with him!
I've completely changed my mind. Life sentance is too short for him! This prick actually dares to assume he knows God's will, as if anybody knows jack shit about God in the first place! He dares to be defiant, instead of contrite over committing such an obvious and colossal fuck-up! He actually thinks that if the whole world doesn't understand his actions, that it's the whole world's fault, and not his own!
The only difference between this prick and Jim Jones is that the poor little girl wasn't made to drink poisoned Kool-Aid.
I've said it before, and it bears repeating: In a world where, if there is a God, he obviously said nothing to guide us, the only sin truly deserving of an eternity in hellfire is the sin of presuming to speak for Him.
God's Willl is, apparently, for us not to know His Will!
Hey, parents! Do you hate your kids? Think they're a financial burden? Do they drive you nuts? Now, you too can get rid of them and receive a mere slap on the wrist! Just get religion. Then, get your hands on some type of disease that will kill them if not treated, like Typhoid, and add it to their drinking water. Better yet, put it in their Kool-Aid. Then, just pray for them instead of taking them to the doctor. You'll only have to do six months in jail, thanks to the myopia of the Wisconsin justice system! You'll be out and free in no time!
After all that, I almost don't have it in me to say anything more, much less say anything more about the health care debate. But I will anyway.
I had a chance the other day to stay up late into the morning, and go to the bank. During that time, I caught a little bit of the Charlie Sykes show, which I haven't been able to do in a little while. Charlie was talking about (you guessed it) health care reform, and was making the point about how many medical breakthroughs take place because of the desire for companies to make a profit off of the breakthrough. His point, I guess, was that medical care for profit is not necessarily a bad thing, especially in terms of advancement of medical technology.
Now, Charlie has morphed through the years. I liked the Charlie Sykes show back when it was newer, and he was more reasonable. Back then, the old Charlie would have asked the obvious question: What percentage of medical research is actually for-profit? The modern Charlie didn't touch the question with a 10-foot pole! How I miss the "old Charlie!"
Turns out, most medical research is still government and research-grant funded. The percentage which isn't, is geared towards mega-payoff, and isn't really looking to advance medicine in a way which would produce maximum health. Instead, its looking for maximum profit. This explains why we have many treatments for long-term ailments, such as acid reflux, sleep apnea, and heart disease, but few long-term cures. Long term cures, you see, means you get treated once, and don't make companies any more money afterward. For-profit medical care pretty much means that they'd prefer you be (ahem!) a "regular" customer.
Now, I'm not going to go off the deep end here like Bill Maher recently did, and say that alternative medicines are needed instead. But I am going to say that I think it's odd, and more than a little shameful, that we have a cure for male-pattern baldness, and pills that will give you an erection, but have no cures for things like alzheimer's disease. After all, if alzheimer's gets cured, all those treatment centers would have to close, wouldn't they?
Sometimes, especially with medicine, you simply have to take the system by the throat and say, "Fuck your profit! Do the right thing!"
But doing that will prove tricky. The lines have sharpened, and it's quite clear that this is a fight between our government and the insurance companies. And that's scary for a number of reasons. Sure, the Democrats may have a super-majority, but the insurance companies have a similar such super-majority in terms of the number of lawmakers they have in their pocket. We've already been sold down the river with the abandonment of the public option, even though I'd detailed in an earlier post why public-paid health care is as inevitable as death and taxes. What might get lost next?
The mantra that gets repeated is that private industry is better than government. That's almost true. Private industry sucks when there's a monopoly. That's why we have anti-trust laws. And it's interesting that it's phrased like that: "Anti-trust." What aren't we trusting, if not capitalism left unbridled? Don't get me wrong, I like capitalism, but not left unchecked, and it's already had far too much freedom than is good for it.
But there's another exception to private industry being better than government, and that's the insurance industry. In fact, the insurance industry is the one form of private industry that has consistently underperformed the government at every possible level. And this is what some want to trust our healthcare to? Isn't it the insurance industry which was, and is, the problem to begin with?
I mentioned anti-trust laws earlier. Did you know that insurance companies are exempt from anti-trust laws? This was outlined on Keith Olbermann's show last night. Any health care reform bill better at least slap an anti-trust clause onto the insurance giants, or we're going to be in for a whole world of hurt!
Friday, October 2, 2009
Putting A Rubber Dog-Turd On Darwin's Legacy
Well, nobody disagreed with my last posting, so that's a pretty good indication that either I was 1.) right on target, and nobody wants to disagree with me, or 2.) everyone's bored with me already. So, that's one issue nailed, on to the next one.
So, apparently, Ray Comfort and his lap-dummy, Kurt Cameron, are teaming up again, this time to hand out copies of Darwin's classic Origin of the Species. Nothing wrong with that, except that Comfort has included a 50-page introduction which gives his twisted attempt at refuting evolution, and that's simply a cheap shot, at best. At worst, it's raping the dead. Idealogical necrophilia.
I wanted to read the 50-page introduction for myself, but unfortunately, Ray Comfort has removed the .pdf link from his ministry's website. (If anybody out there saved it onto their PC or Mac before he quashed it, please, e-mail it to me!) He claims he did this because angry responses from atheists have caused him to withdraw from any public address of the book, or its introduction.
I call bullshit. Oh, I'm sure some atheists responded to him angrily, but I'm sure an equal number of respondents were angry Christians who don't want to see their Lord and Savior publicly fucked by a piss-poor P.R. strategy. AGAIN.
As bad publicity goes, this one ranks (literally, ranks!) near the top. Only Oral Roberts' claim that God would "call him home" if millions weren't raised for his ministry, is worse. It's probably tied with Jim Bakker boinking his secretary. Well, maybe Robertson & Fallwel saying that 9/11 was the fault of gays and liberals might be worse. I mean, better. I mean... Oh, hell! You know what I mean!
In a video promoting this insanity, Cameron makes a number of stupid claims about American culture. He says that kids are no longer allowed to pray in school or read a Bible publicly. Wrong! I WAS the class Jesus-Freak in High School, and I read my Bible and prayed in school almost every day. Nobody stopped me, nobody gave me a detention. The difference is that teachers can't FORCE kids to pray in school anymore. And guys like Cameron are actually pissed about that? But he also points out that over 60% of college professors are atheists or agnostics. "No wonder atheism has doubled among 18 to 25 year olds over the last 20 years."
Um, Kurt? It's TRIPLED among 18-25 year olds. It's only doubled among the general population. But it's not college professors who are responsible. If you want to know why young people are leaving the faith, take a good look in the mirror. It's washed up actors like you who are driving kids away by claiming that artificially-selected domesticated banana plants are somehow God's design, or by acting like shit in the movie-version of your fundie-wish-fulfillment-novel, Left Behind. (Kiss MY left behind, why don't you?) Or blame your fellow washed-up actor buddy Willie Aames, for being stupid enough to play "Bibleman" in purple spandex, and guarantee that kids would go running away from Church, screaming, the very second they hit puberty.
Conscientious college students all over America will be carefully removing Comfort's lame attempt at redacting Darwin via commentary as these books are given away, and the end result will be that Christians will have flooded the market with tons of free copies of Darwin's classic science book. Plus, Christian leadership gets the privilege of looking all kinds of stupid in the process. Wow. Brilliant move, guys.
With enemies like this, who needs friends?
So, apparently, Ray Comfort and his lap-dummy, Kurt Cameron, are teaming up again, this time to hand out copies of Darwin's classic Origin of the Species. Nothing wrong with that, except that Comfort has included a 50-page introduction which gives his twisted attempt at refuting evolution, and that's simply a cheap shot, at best. At worst, it's raping the dead. Idealogical necrophilia.
I wanted to read the 50-page introduction for myself, but unfortunately, Ray Comfort has removed the .pdf link from his ministry's website. (If anybody out there saved it onto their PC or Mac before he quashed it, please, e-mail it to me!) He claims he did this because angry responses from atheists have caused him to withdraw from any public address of the book, or its introduction.
I call bullshit. Oh, I'm sure some atheists responded to him angrily, but I'm sure an equal number of respondents were angry Christians who don't want to see their Lord and Savior publicly fucked by a piss-poor P.R. strategy. AGAIN.
As bad publicity goes, this one ranks (literally, ranks!) near the top. Only Oral Roberts' claim that God would "call him home" if millions weren't raised for his ministry, is worse. It's probably tied with Jim Bakker boinking his secretary. Well, maybe Robertson & Fallwel saying that 9/11 was the fault of gays and liberals might be worse. I mean, better. I mean... Oh, hell! You know what I mean!
In a video promoting this insanity, Cameron makes a number of stupid claims about American culture. He says that kids are no longer allowed to pray in school or read a Bible publicly. Wrong! I WAS the class Jesus-Freak in High School, and I read my Bible and prayed in school almost every day. Nobody stopped me, nobody gave me a detention. The difference is that teachers can't FORCE kids to pray in school anymore. And guys like Cameron are actually pissed about that? But he also points out that over 60% of college professors are atheists or agnostics. "No wonder atheism has doubled among 18 to 25 year olds over the last 20 years."
Um, Kurt? It's TRIPLED among 18-25 year olds. It's only doubled among the general population. But it's not college professors who are responsible. If you want to know why young people are leaving the faith, take a good look in the mirror. It's washed up actors like you who are driving kids away by claiming that artificially-selected domesticated banana plants are somehow God's design, or by acting like shit in the movie-version of your fundie-wish-fulfillment-novel, Left Behind. (Kiss MY left behind, why don't you?) Or blame your fellow washed-up actor buddy Willie Aames, for being stupid enough to play "Bibleman" in purple spandex, and guarantee that kids would go running away from Church, screaming, the very second they hit puberty.
Conscientious college students all over America will be carefully removing Comfort's lame attempt at redacting Darwin via commentary as these books are given away, and the end result will be that Christians will have flooded the market with tons of free copies of Darwin's classic science book. Plus, Christian leadership gets the privilege of looking all kinds of stupid in the process. Wow. Brilliant move, guys.
With enemies like this, who needs friends?
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Creationists love pointing to the Grand Canyon, saying that it shows evidence of massive flooding. But the dirty little secret they won't tell you is that it shows evidence of not one flood, but many floods.
In the upper-left photo, Dr. Genie Scott illustrates one piece of evidence of multiple flood events. The photo was taken on a hike through North Canyon, one of the tributary canyons along the Colorado River. This would put these rock layers in the mid-Supai group, probably the Manakacha Formation. At her shoulders, is a layer of sandstone which is pretty smooth and clean. It looks rather solid. But at her waist is a layer beneath which is pockmarked and rough. It doesn't look smooth at all. That's because this particular layer once had small invertebrates feeding and digging into the sandy, muddy bottom, looking for food. Later, they were suddenly buried. In geologic terms this is what's called a bioturbated rock layer.
Now, here's where it gets interesting. Above Genie's head is another bioturbated layer, followed by another smooth layer, followed by another bioturbated one, and so forth. Below Genie's feet, is another smooth layer, followed by another bioturbated one, followed by another smooth one, et cetera. So, if the Canyon layers were layed down in a great cataclysm, why did things get calm long enough for little critters to come in and start feeding, then get buried, then get calm again, then have little feeders come in again.... Doesn't this cycle indicate a shallow sea with the occasional hurricane burying things? Doesn't that make more sense than a global flood?
The Canyon is pretty unambiguous about what happened to form it. Many, many floods once passed over those rocks. Not one big one. Many hurricanes, many freezings, many dryings. There will be more on this in later postings, but one big event didn't make the rock formations in that Canyon. To insist so is just plain silly.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Grand Canyon's Great Unconformity
Well, I once got my hands on a newsletter from the Midwest Creation Fellowship a few years ago. In it, they list the winners of their 2005 essay contest for junior and senior high school children. The winner? Beth Conway of Alliance, OH. And her essay was about, you guessed it, the Grand Canyon.
Essentially, she argues that one of the best evidences of the Genesis Flood comes from the Great Unconformity. This is a very visible line where angled sedimentary layers suddenly meet perfectly horizontal sedimentary layers. It looks almost as if someone took a kilometer-sized power sander and leveled off everything before more deposits were layed down on top. A picture of the unconformity is shown here, situated behind the portable commode we used while on the NCSE rafting trip. (This way we could contemplate the wonders of nature while, well, answering the call of nature.)
Essentially, she argues that one of the best evidences of the Genesis Flood comes from the Great Unconformity. This is a very visible line where angled sedimentary layers suddenly meet perfectly horizontal sedimentary layers. It looks almost as if someone took a kilometer-sized power sander and leveled off everything before more deposits were layed down on top. A picture of the unconformity is shown here, situated behind the portable commode we used while on the NCSE rafting trip. (This way we could contemplate the wonders of nature while, well, answering the call of nature.)
Beth Conway thinks that since the Great Unconformity was caused by the rushing waters of Noah's flood planing off rugged mountainous edges, before the currents settled down and layed down new sediments. But even the biggest amount of rushing water wouldn't level things off in such a perfect way. Waves pounding into a shallow oestuary could level off any jagged edges, but that wouldn't fit perfectly either, plus it would take millions of years, and that doesn't fit the creation model very well. What could have leveled the angled mountaintops before they were buried? What could have caused this pattern?
The best explanation seems to be that it was a glacier which did this. Only a glacier can plane off rugged, jagged mountaintops with such level precision. A massive enough glacier can literally bulldoze over rock, leveling off everything in its path. Also, the rock immediately below the unconformity dates to about 825 million years, while the rock immediately above it dates to about 570 million years, thus making a 255 million year gap in time between the two. Precisely during that gap in time, we know from other geologic evidence that the world was virtually covered in glaciers in the largest ice age the planet had ever seen. It makes perfect sense that a glacier planed off the angled, mountainous layers over 250 million years, before the earth warmed, oceans rose, and sedimentary deposits began to accumulate once again. Certainly, this makes much more sense than claiming that a global flood did it.
Eric
Friday, August 21, 2009
New Blog, Old Blog, and Creationist Madness...
Well, here goes something I have heretofore not yet attempted. I am importing an external blog into my Facebook profile. The Sacred Cow Wursthaus blog is one that I've had going for a little bit, going parallel with a podcast I've had of the same name. The podcast will hopefully return soon, but in the meantime, I'm consolidating my blogging into one area.
Meanwhile I've had another blog for a group which is now defunct: The Milwaukee Evolution League. That group is currently unnecessary with the advent of a new organization called Wisconsin Citizens for Science (which I encourage all my science-minded friends to join).
http://wisconsincitizensforscience.org/
I'll be taking at least one article from the old Milwaukee Evolution League blog and transferring it to the Sacred Cow Wursthaus each week. Since these articles are not time-sensitive, they're still relevant, and interesting, and I hope everyone will like them. Or agrue about them. Either one is fine.
And now to the good stuff: For those who haven't heard, Creationist kingpin and all-around pain-in-the-ass, Kent Hovind, is currently languishing in jail because he felt that his ministry did not have to pay taxes to the IRS for employee salaries. His son, Eric Hovind, is currently running the ministry.
Well, it seems that a follow-up lawsuit has also not gone Hovind's way. The IRS had moved to seize the property assets of his ministry, Creation Science Evangelism, and liquidate it in order to help pay off the debt. Hovind's family filed to contest that in court. It seems, they've lost again. That means that at least one "Creation Science Museum" will close its doors forever. (One down, about two dozen to go....)
An e-mail, sent out by a desperate Eric Hovind is urging supporters to send in money to help with the transition to new offices in Pensacola, FL, about 1 mile away from the old location that the government is taking over. What's interesting is what he's asking: "It would only take 3,800 people giving $100 to make the difference and help keep Creation Science Evangelism as a relevant and energetic ministry in the creation versus evolution debate." So, CSE is at least $380,000 in the hole, and that's just for relocation. This is less than the amount the IRS says that Hovind's ministry owes, which is to the tune of greater than $500,000. Hovind was convicted in July of 2006, so basically, after three years of begging for donations, he's not seemingly doing so hot.
My personal connection to the story is this: Hovind visited UWM in 2006, and because of the book I'd self-published back in 2004, "Creationism: The Bible Says No!", I was challenged to do a debate with him. He even offered me $300 to debate him. Not having anything prepared, I refused. He later claimed in his speech that "people are too scared to debate," and I think he even said something like "an atheist turned me down today," but I had no intention of being bullied into something I was not prepared for at the last minute. A few months later, Hovind was in jail, and if I'd known that would happen, I might have changed my mind.
It will be interesting to see what happens next. Kent was sentenced to ten years, and three of those are nearly up. An early release is not unheard of, but this is a federal prison, so that's far less likely. When he gets out, and finds that creationism has taken a nose-dive after ten years, he'll go at it again with a vengeance.
Only this time, I'll be waiting for him.
Meanwhile I've had another blog for a group which is now defunct: The Milwaukee Evolution League. That group is currently unnecessary with the advent of a new organization called Wisconsin Citizens for Science (which I encourage all my science-minded friends to join).
http://wisconsincitizensforscience.org/
I'll be taking at least one article from the old Milwaukee Evolution League blog and transferring it to the Sacred Cow Wursthaus each week. Since these articles are not time-sensitive, they're still relevant, and interesting, and I hope everyone will like them. Or agrue about them. Either one is fine.
And now to the good stuff: For those who haven't heard, Creationist kingpin and all-around pain-in-the-ass, Kent Hovind, is currently languishing in jail because he felt that his ministry did not have to pay taxes to the IRS for employee salaries. His son, Eric Hovind, is currently running the ministry.
Well, it seems that a follow-up lawsuit has also not gone Hovind's way. The IRS had moved to seize the property assets of his ministry, Creation Science Evangelism, and liquidate it in order to help pay off the debt. Hovind's family filed to contest that in court. It seems, they've lost again. That means that at least one "Creation Science Museum" will close its doors forever. (One down, about two dozen to go....)
An e-mail, sent out by a desperate Eric Hovind is urging supporters to send in money to help with the transition to new offices in Pensacola, FL, about 1 mile away from the old location that the government is taking over. What's interesting is what he's asking: "It would only take 3,800 people giving $100 to make the difference and help keep Creation Science Evangelism as a relevant and energetic ministry in the creation versus evolution debate." So, CSE is at least $380,000 in the hole, and that's just for relocation. This is less than the amount the IRS says that Hovind's ministry owes, which is to the tune of greater than $500,000. Hovind was convicted in July of 2006, so basically, after three years of begging for donations, he's not seemingly doing so hot.
My personal connection to the story is this: Hovind visited UWM in 2006, and because of the book I'd self-published back in 2004, "Creationism: The Bible Says No!", I was challenged to do a debate with him. He even offered me $300 to debate him. Not having anything prepared, I refused. He later claimed in his speech that "people are too scared to debate," and I think he even said something like "an atheist turned me down today," but I had no intention of being bullied into something I was not prepared for at the last minute. A few months later, Hovind was in jail, and if I'd known that would happen, I might have changed my mind.
It will be interesting to see what happens next. Kent was sentenced to ten years, and three of those are nearly up. An early release is not unheard of, but this is a federal prison, so that's far less likely. When he gets out, and finds that creationism has taken a nose-dive after ten years, he'll go at it again with a vengeance.
Only this time, I'll be waiting for him.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Barack Obama's Pastor
Okay, let's put this issue to bed:
Barack Obama has a Pastor (actually, now former Pastor) who is a bit of a nut. But really, aren't they all? Let's bear in mind that the Republicans, who are the ones making the big stink about this, are the ones who have given Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell a free pass in the White House as advisors, both of whom are TEN TIMES AS CRAZY as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright! So why is this even an issue?
Last time I checked, the Rev. Wright was not the candidate!
Okay, let's draw another comparison with someone conservatives love: Jesus Christ. He hung out with twelve complete scumbags, none of whom ever lifted a finger to help him when he was arrested. There was Peter, a cursing fishmonger, James and John who were two complete narcissists, and let's not forget Judas, the member of his inner circle who later stabbed him in the back by betraying him. Some man following Jesus was wearing only a sheet at the time he was arrested, and ran off naked when the soldiers tried to arrest him. What was Jesus' relationship to this man? And, to top it off, Jesus was often found in the company of one Mary Magdalene, a known prostitute! Eliot Spitzer would be proud! Clearly, Jesus did not pick his friends well, and that speaks poorly of his character.
Yet is there even one conservative republican who wouldn't make Jesus his commander-in-chief? Isn't that the LEAST of the honors they would bestow upon him? Why then, are people holding Barack Obama, a mere mortal, to a higher standard of conduct than Jesus fucking Christ?!?!?!!
Barack Obama has a Pastor (actually, now former Pastor) who is a bit of a nut. But really, aren't they all? Let's bear in mind that the Republicans, who are the ones making the big stink about this, are the ones who have given Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell a free pass in the White House as advisors, both of whom are TEN TIMES AS CRAZY as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright! So why is this even an issue?
Last time I checked, the Rev. Wright was not the candidate!
Okay, let's draw another comparison with someone conservatives love: Jesus Christ. He hung out with twelve complete scumbags, none of whom ever lifted a finger to help him when he was arrested. There was Peter, a cursing fishmonger, James and John who were two complete narcissists, and let's not forget Judas, the member of his inner circle who later stabbed him in the back by betraying him. Some man following Jesus was wearing only a sheet at the time he was arrested, and ran off naked when the soldiers tried to arrest him. What was Jesus' relationship to this man? And, to top it off, Jesus was often found in the company of one Mary Magdalene, a known prostitute! Eliot Spitzer would be proud! Clearly, Jesus did not pick his friends well, and that speaks poorly of his character.
Yet is there even one conservative republican who wouldn't make Jesus his commander-in-chief? Isn't that the LEAST of the honors they would bestow upon him? Why then, are people holding Barack Obama, a mere mortal, to a higher standard of conduct than Jesus fucking Christ?!?!?!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
