Mosquito Rodeo

LGF points to Krauthammer's comments on "Intelligent Design" and says "me too". I point to Charles and say "me too". I've felt this way about Creationism and "Intelligent Design" since I was about 10.

Over the years I've gone through several phases in how I think about God and His creation, but I've never been able to see what all the conflict is about. Science is about the How, the What, and the When. Religion is about the Who and the Why. There is no logical intersection that I've ever been able to detect. The main difference I see between the religionists and the non-religionists is that the non-religionists are more likely to answer the "Who" and "Why" with "Nobody" and "No Reason", or maybe "who cares?" while the religionists have more specific ideas about those answers and their importance.

Non-religionists tend, like most debators try at times, to caricature their opponents using Pat Robertson and friends and smear that over the rest of us. Pat and friends tend to want to drag the Who and the Why into the observable universe and bend the meaning of science.

Pat Robertson and his ilk should try to understand that when they spout this nonsense, they hurt not only their own cause, but that of all conservatives including the ones that try to leave religion mostly out of it (except as a set of guiding moral principles, of course).

This also hurts the Left, but in a more subtle way. Do Kos, Atrios, and the rest of those guys even realize how stupid they look when their main argument is "well, you're a conservative, and look at Pat Robertson, he's a conservative too. He's a moron." My only response to this can be "why, yes. Yes, Pat Robertson is indeed a fine example of what I would call an extremely unintelligent man. Your point?" Can you say "straw man"?

If I pointed to a guy like Kos and said "see, Ben, your fellow inhabitant of the liberal side of the political spectrum is a moron. Therefore, your entire political view is shite and you probably are too," he'd absolutely skewer me, and rightly so. He'd also probably do it in a way that only he understood how clever and witty it was, but by now you're probably used to that.

I even have family and friends who cling tightly to literal Creationism, and they tend to look at me blankly when I try to get them to point out exactly where the conflict even is, too. I love them and want to give them every benefit of every doubt, but COME ON.

Apparently this disease afflicts both sides of the equation in roughly equal proportions.

Many who are now repeating the mantra "Bush Lied" have, shall we say, taken liberty with history. Here's an outline that matches my recollections and thoughts much more closely than things you hear in the news and so forth today, like "we knew Saddam had no weapons", or "Baghdad was no threat to anyone".

Mind you, I'm not arguing that mistakes haven't been made, especially in postwar planning. They clearly were...and I'm still waiting for an example of a war that was ever fought by anybody where huge mistakes WEREN'T made. But the silly things people are saying now make my jaw drop.

As per my earlier post, it's like NOBODY seems to know what google is or how to use it, or that it's recording their words for playback when they change their story. I don't argue that people can't change their minds about things, but they sure can't say they believed something in 2001 or 2003 when they clearly did not by their own writing or spoken words at the time.

...but of course so did everyone else (Kennedy, Clinton, http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2005/11/hardly_seems_fa.htmlGore, et al), so let's not let facts get in the way, m'kay?

Honestly, these people should google themselves once in awhile for a look in the mirror. Of all people, you'd think Gore would understand the internet, since he created it and all.

I thought I had heard them all. Guess not.

Right here. (hat tip LGF)

When we start seeing more gestures like this and less of the steady stream of hatred out of the usual Palestinian and Arab media organs, I will most definitely be ready to support my government leaning on Israel to make more concessions.

Thing is, I have a strong feeling that if this was a more common attitude among Palestinians, there would be far fewer boys being used as tools by the terror gangs to attack Israel and far less need to shoot a boy with a gun that may or may not be real. There would be no need to pressure Israel to ease checkpoints, carry out fewer raids and so on because Israel would recognize that strong-arm tactics are no longer necessary for their survival.

Israel-haters should try, just once, to understand what Israel has been up against. Look at a map showing the size and positioning of Israel versus the size of the surrounding Arab world that is sworn to its destruction for no real reason other than that it is Jewish. Read something other than Democratic Underground, Daily Kos or the Yellow Times. Read the firsthand reports that are all over the web. Find out what the Palis are doing that is provoking those Israeli responses they so detest. Advocate for a "right of return" of Jewish refugees to their former homes in Arab countries with the same vigor you use in advocating that right for the Palestinians in Israel. The Palis weren't the only ones displaced when Israel was created, you know.

I hope that if I'm ever unlucky enough to be in a similar position, that I would exhibit as much true class as this Pali family is showing.

Does THAT make me a racist too?

The San Fran freakin' Cisco PD comes out against a handgun ban. Put another way, the main law enforcement organ of the heart of communist West Nevada has broken ranks with the lemming knee-jerk do-whatever-is-perceived-to-be-liberal crowd and sided with the NR freakin' A.

I think the four horsemen of the apocalyse must be swinging up into their saddle about now, and the fat lady is running through her warmups. This is something I never, ever, EVER thought I would see. Good sense out of anybody official in a major metropolitan area in California.

Anybody else been paying attention to the rapidly-developing debacle that is Paris over the last week?

I think it's time for the Chirac administration to step back, take a deep breath, and be honest with itself about whether its ill-considered occupation of France has been worth it. They've suppressed the rightful expression of the French people long enough! How can they expect a downtrodden people to simply accept the hegemony of such an arrogant administration?

The best thing the imperialist colonial "French" government can do at this point is to admit they've made a mistake and immediately begin a strategic withdrawal from France, and let the French people decide what's best for themselves. They don't need these "elected" "leaders" to tell them how best to govern themselves.

Speak truth to power! Power to the People! Flower Power! All those other stupid Leftist slogans!

I got yer "religion of peace" right here.

UPDATE: It seems that the picures linked above were from a staged photo shoot. I think. English must be someone's second language. Whatever the case, stuff like this goes on in Iran, it's just not often that we get the pictures. I should have known.