Anti-religion

I find myself thinking that, in the end and over the long term, our government won't be "taken over" by Christian/evangelical religious extremists. The reasons are several: I don't think corporate special interests will let that happen, because there are too many conflicts between the agenda of profit and the agenda of religion. The corps have a lot more money than the religious folk do, so they'll always have more power in government. I don't think that the people as a whole will ever let theocracy happen, because the simple fact is that the majority of Americans still aren't voting... so the religious minority is only winning out now because they're playing a numbers game; they barely represent half of the registered voters, and they can only redistrict and skim the margins for so long before something spoils their advantage.

The downside is that the religious extremists will become more extreme when they lose their footing in government. I guarantee you this. Mark my words and heed my prediction well, because when Roe V. Wade doesn't get "overturned" and stem cell research continues and the extremists don't end up getting any of what they want - they will resort to outright terrorism. Which is not to say that they don't terrorize now, they sure as hell do when they list doctors's names on web sites, but it'll get worse in that it becomes indiscriminate as opposed to targeted. James Dobson will form his own little terror cells and everything.

Speaking of which... is it bad that I get worried when I see an unkempt man with a swarthy complexion reading a pilot training manual at the laundromat?

Adventures in Netflixxing

I got two DVDs today - American History X and The Pianist.

Except I didn't get The Pianist, it wasn't in the sleeve. Instead, I got "Constantine".

Which of course leads me to wonder... who the heck rents Constantine and The Pianist to watch at the same time???

Richard Dawkins = My Hero

To a Creationist:

"Do go away and read a book, they are remarkably fascinating things."

Everyone Has To Listen To This Because It Is So Tremendously Awesome

http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2005/08/20050810_a_main.asp

What can we do to unempower the ignorant??

The question I always want to ask these religious scientists: if you were shown incontrovertible proof, scientific evidence that life on earth was created by an alien being or race, and they presented themselves and completely demonstrated that they intelligently designed human life for a specific purpose... would you still believe in a god?

And of course, we know their answer, don't we? Nothing can stop belief in the unprovable.