Carnivalia and an open thread

An atheist defends Christian values

...
I am an atheist and have been one for a loooong time. I was an atheist long before it became "hip" to be one. I hope that I am, nevertheless, a moral man - due in part to my early exposure to things like the Ten Commandments and due in part to being raised in a primarily Judeo-Christian society.
...
In a society, religion is absolutely essential to provide a common foundation of ethics, morality, decency and LAW (regardless of Sandra Day O'Connor's asinine position). I have never, until recently, had any problem with another man's religious beliefs. (The recent exception is Islam.)
...
Recently I have noticed a tie between what the book of Revelation calls the Great Apostasy and the rise of communism in this nation.
...
I also wanted to say that, despite my atheism, I am as disturbed and frightened by the rampant spread of this "anti-theism" or "New Atheism" as most religious people are. To me it is more than just a sign of a lack of faith in God - as this would not disturb me - it is a lack of morality, ethical behavior, rational thought and, generally, saneness.
...
David Fuhs

Even a "Raving Atheist" Can Be Pro-Life - Interview

Editor's Note: The following, until now unpublished, interview was conducted with the popular blog personality "the raving atheist". The blogger, a lawyer who will not divulge his real name, has nonetheless acquired pseudonymous fame. He is featured, as "the raving atheist" in the anti-Christian documentary film 'The God who wasn't there". His pro-life convictions are based solely on scientific evidence for the life of the unborn.
...
This made it easy to gloss over the inconvenient, undeniable scientific embryological fact that human life begins at conception in favor of specious arguments regarding church/state separation and accusation that religion "is being forced down our throats."
...
I've seen more of a reliance on science - embryology, ultrasound - on the pro-life side than on the pro-choice side.
...

Hundreds of photos, taken over time, of a photobooth owner/maintenance man:

http://startlingmoniker.wordpress.com/2007/10/05/357photoboothpix/

"To me it is more than just a sign of a lack of faith in God - as this would not disturb me - it is a lack of morality, ethical behavior, rational thought and, generally, saneness."

All right, fess up: who among us has been immoral and unethical and irrational? Anyone been caught soliciting sex in a restroom? Hiring prostitutes? Taking bribes? Engaging in cronyism? Vetoing bills to expand health insurance for kids?

Really? Not Dawkins OR Hitchens? Not even that guy with the Blasphemy Challenge? They've just been writing stuff? Appealing to ethics based on human experience? Huh.

What an Uncle Tom. Seriously. And for Bob's sake, learn to write. The word is "sanity".

All right, fess up: who among us has been immoral and unethical and irrational?

Apparently it was Richard Roberts and his wife.
Scandal brewing at Oral Roberts U.

I'm a sad little agnostic here (not hardcore enough to be an atheist, I suppose), and I submit that I live a fairly moral and ethical life, even more so than many "true" God-believers I've known. ;)

Aside from the juicy financial & sex scandal at Oral University (who names their kid Oral? Come on...and meet his sister, Anal?), which by now we all expect from the fundies anyways, the thing that really made me gag was the throwaway references to the "university jet". What real university can afford a jet? How many real professorships would the cost of a jet pay for at a real institute of learning? Why is it that these dirtbags have all the fucking money, while the rest of us are scratching around for grants? Society as a whole has to stop rewarding the hawks in this hawk/dove game.

Ann Coulter has a new book out.

"If we took away women's right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democrat president. It's kind of a pipe dream, it's a personal fantasy of mine, but I don't think it's going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women."

Deepak Chopra will be bending spoons by psychokinesis in an upcoming New York event. Please click on the following link. And ask Deepak Chopra at Intentblog about the event schedule.

http://www.intentblog.com/archives/2007/10/my_last_message.html

Happy Thanksgiving, eh?

Deepak Chopra Spoon Bending.

My last message to Skeptisch

I have always maintained there is no such thing is supernatural or
paranormal. All observed phenomena, if accurate, are natural and
normal. We call something supernatural or paranormal when we can't
explain it. Once we know theexplanation, its science. Before that it's spooky. Everything I
write about can be understood if you understand non locality and non
local correlation and the inseparability of mind and matter as
different expressions of consciousness. Let's not waste any more time
on spoon bending. For millions of people it's now a trivial example of
mind and matter as inseparably one.Love and God bless!
Deepak

Deepak Chopra's Offer to Skeptisch:

Dear Skeptisch, please come to NY at your own expense and I will make
sure you can experience spoon bending for yourself. If you can't, or
don't want to do that, then stop talking over and over again about the
same thing. It's boring.

Here are some interesting comments:(Skepticsh doesn't accept the offer. He makes a counter challenge:)

Deepak, there is an easier way to make believers out of us skeptics.
Next time you are on "Larry King", just put a spoon on Larry's desk and
bend it with your mind and without touching it. If successful, you will
shut up most of us skeptics.Another alternative would be you taking up the James Randi
Educational Foundation's paranormal challenge and earn a million
dollars in the process. This challenge is open to anybody:randi.org/research/challenge.html

10. Posted by
Skeptisch

It would have been more impressive if Deepak had said: "Come to New york, all expenses paid!"Rgds.

13. Posted by
Ron Saywack

For now, spending time at the science centre or planetarium with my
grandsons is much more rewarding. They are free from any supernatural
dogmas and savour the world that really is. Remote cutlery bending is a hoax no matter how you look at it.However, under the right circumstances, hop on the New York non-stop any day of the week is no problem.

18. Posted by
Skeptisch

Regarding Chopra's offer to Skeptisch to come to NY and witness
spoon bending for himself, I encourage him to take up on the offer.Chopra will prove he's all talk by backing out somehow, especially
if Skep invites James Randi and a camera crew along to the demonstation.The offer was made under the condition it was at Skep's own cost to
ensure he wouldn't come. I say call his bluff Skep... in fact, I'll
join you at my own expense and cover yours.I'm entirely serious.

19. Posted by
Son_of_Skeptisch

Dear Skeptisch,Please take this challenge. I dare Deepak Chopra to take your
challenge. Do not worry about the travel costs to New York. I will
support you. Please let me know the date of the event. I will be there.I will see that all the major TV networks from all over the world
are there to record the event and once for all prove/disprove his
hypocrisy and charlatanism. It would be interesting to invite American
Physical Society and Randi et al for the event.I am serious. And if Deepak is serious and not all BS, he should
respond to you here in his own safe territory of Intentblog. He should
go to Larry King show to bend spoons. He should face Randi to earn a
million dollars. I will bring my spoons and ladles too for him to work
on!

24. Posted by
Friend_of_Skeptisch

Dear Skep,I think you should consider the merits of the offer to the Big
Apple, and, should you decide in the affirmative, please let us know, I
shall endeavor to make it there, if possible, to bear witness to this
increidible "phenomenon." You can bet that the the cameras will be on!Cheers!

P.S.: Dear Kate, should it come to fruition, I do very much look forward to meeting you there, at long last?

29. Posted by
Ron Saywack

Skeptisch: it looks like you really got under Deepak's skin this
time. I think his offer is meant just for you, not for all the " *us*
skeptics" you mentioned in your #10, so your counter-offer of Larry
King or Randi is really not applicable (in my opinion). After all, you
are one of his most vocal critics, and certainly the most persistent
one here at Intentblog. If you're now going to turn him down with a
"Remote cutlery bending is a hoax no matter how you look at it", that
doesn't sound very scientific or reasonable to me. I really do admire
your persistence and the rigor behind your views and beliefs, but it
appears to me that you've now got what you've been asking for, and that
it's put-up-or-shut-up time. Just my $0.02.

30. Posted by
sWORDSman

WHAT DO YOU MEAN, DEEPAK? WILL YOU BEND
SPOONS FOR HIM USING YOUR MIND FORCES WITHOUT TOUCHING THE SPOONS? OR
YOU WILL TEACH SKEPTISCH HOW TO BEND SPOONS. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY
"EXPERINCE" HERE?
ARE YOU READY TO BE SUBJECTED TO RANDI FOR YOUR SKILL/NONLINEAR AND
NONLOCALITY ABILITY/MAGIC. YOU ALSO CLAIMED EARLIER IN SOME OF YOUR
WRITINGS THAT WHILE IN DEEP MEDIATATION, YOUR BODY MOVED ITSELF A FEW
FEET AWAY FROM YOUR ORIGINAL POSITION
BEFORE THE START OF MEDITATION. WILL YOU ALSO SHOW THIS HOPPING PHENOMENON IN NEW YORK WHEN SKEPTISCH COMES TO MEET WITH YOU?ARE YOU READY FOR THE WORLD WIDE PRESS AT THE EVENT? WE, YOUR ARDENT
INTENTBLOG READERS AND YOUR FOLLOWERS, WILL MAKE SURE THAT THE EVEN IS
WELL PUBLICIZED WELL IN ADVANCE. REMEMBER CAMERAS WILL BE ON YOU, FROM
MANY ANGLES, IN SLOW MOTION.PERHAPS WE CAN SELL TICKETS FOR THE EVENT AND GIVE TO CHARITY OF
YOUR CHOOSING ALL THE MONEY MADE AT THE EVENT. DO YOU AGREE TO THIS OR
YOU WANT TO KEEP THE MONEY FOR YOURSELF?FUNDS HAVE ALREADY BEEN SET ASIDE FOR EXPENSES BORN BY SKEPTISCH'S
TRIP TO NEW YORK ANY TIME. WOULD YOU PLEASE GIVE US ENOUGH TIME BEFORE
THE EVENT FOR PUBLICITY? PERHAPS FOLLOWING THE EVENT, YOU CAN SIGN YOUR
BOOKS, TO BE SOLD BY THOUSANDS.TO SOME OF YOUR READERS IT APPEARS YOU WANT TO SHUT UP SKEPTISCH BY
HIS UNWILLINGNESS TO MEET WITH YOU IN NY AND YOU ARE ONLY BLUFFING.
WHAT DO YOU THINK, DR. CHOPRA? ARE YOU SERIOUS? IF SO, BEING A MAN OF
INTERGRITY YOU WILL ALSO ACCEPT SKEPTISCH'S CHALLANGE TO BEND SPOONS AT
LARRY KING SHOW. SHOULD WE MAKE ATTEMPTS FOR SUCH AN EVENT AND CONTACT
CNN AT THIS TIME? I AM SURE BBC WILL ALSO BE INTERESTED AS YOU HAVE A
LARGE AUDIENCE IN EUROPE.PERHAPS LIKE GELLERS'S SPOON BENDING IN THE 20TH CENTURY, YOU FEAT
IN THE 21 CENTURY WILL BRING THE SCIENTISTS TO AN AWAKENING OF THE
SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS OR WHATEVER YOU CALL IT.WE ARE GETTING EXCITED THATTHE WORLD WILL SOON SEE WHAT YOU BEEN
SAYING ALL ALONG AND PROVE ALL HARD CORE SCIENTISTS WRONG ONCE FOR ALL
BY SHOWING THE POWER OF YOUR MIND OVER MATTER.PS: SIR, WHY YOU SAY THIS IS YOUR LAST MESSAGE TO SKEPTISCH? HAVE
YOU BEEN CHALLANGING HIM EARLIER TOO AND SENDING HIM MESSAGES THAT WE
ARE NOT AWARE OF?

35. Posted by
Friend_of_Skeptisch

.....I will jump on a plane any day if
Deepak is willing to say: "I will put a spoon on a table in front of me
and bend it with my mind without touching it and for the whole world to
see". But let's not forget, all he said was "...please come to NY at your
own expense and I will make sure you can experience spoon bending for
yourself." There are millions of skeptics and critical thinkers out there and
proving anything to a single one only helps a single one. So, if you
really want to convince as many doubters as possible, why not call
Larry and bend that spoon on his desk? I will gladly call CNN, if
Deepak is ok with that.Maybe this will lead to the honest and sincere discussion about truth, reason and evidence, so many of us are longing for.

67. Posted by
Skeptisch

Skeptisch, you are local, Deepak is non-local.
Your locality is his non-locality.For you mind and matter are different things. For Deepak, mind has
matter, matter has mind. Consciousness lives in space, enters mind,
leaves mind as God pleases.So mind your business. Leave Deepak alone. He can bend spoons.He can levitate himself in air.And he can perform many many other miracles - perfectly understood in his theory of non-locality.Like in Ali Baba and his 40 thieves, a famous Arabian fable, he says
to a spoon in his mind,"Bend you little spoon, bend." And the little
poor spoon bends. So what's wrong with it. It happens non-locally in
the matter of mind, ie., in the mind of matte.The matter and mind of the spoon, of the master and of the observer
are the same. In other words, your mind is a spoon, and a spoon is your
mind, inseparable non-locally!So put up or shut up. Otherwise he might catapult you from
Vancouver, Canada to Chopra Center in Manhattan, NY in no time. Before
you know, you will be in NY and we all, including the BBC, CNN and a
host of all other news networks will miss the event of spoon bending -
that is not going to happen anyway. You have been bullied, it appears.It is a matter of your honor know, to accept Deepak's challenge. But
it is not a matter of Deepak's honor to accept your challenge - God
does not accept challenges, he shuts up people, he does whatever he
wants. No one can dishonor God. For God is God. He can silence you as
Deepak silenced you last Christmas telling you you wanted his attention
but he had no time for you and went to spend Christmas holidays with
his family. Did you forget it?Skeptisch, my friend, are you a chicken? An irritating brat? You insinuate Deepak, irritate him and then, then...Disappear.So put up or shut up. Take his challenge. dare him to your
challenge. Or be a chicken. Choice is yours - lose a lifetime's
opportunity you worked so hard to come by. Or you lost it already as
Deepak will never talk to you again, only bend spoons for you to
convince you of his non-locality, whatever it is but perfectly
understood in whatever he says, he writes, he preaches, he sells.

75. Posted by
Friend_of_Skeptisch

To be a spoon or a ladle, that's the question.To bend oneself, ass facing his face, that's the question.It's local or non-local, that's the question.Do things happen before they take happen, that's the question.When in doubt, to think one's mind is a spoon, that is the question.Rest is all ego centric mental eroticism, is it
not the answer to above all questions?

87. Posted by
Friend_of_Skeptisch

What gets me is that Skeptisch himself apparently loves posting on the
blog. In fact, this blog is his preference (not one designed for
skeptics).
That tells me that he is a rat with sick ulterior motives for being on this blog.
Todd

89. Posted by
level7

Someone called my friend a rat.
Who is he? A weasel!
Mustela Negripes - a ferret!
Just a question.

101. Posted by
Friend_of_Skeptisch(After a lot of coercing, 100 comemnts and a day of thinking, Skeptisch takes up the offer! ...calls the bluff?)

Let me assure Deepak, I will be in New York at his convenience.

104. Posted by
Skeptisch on
October 4, 2007 12:41 PM

Skep, I am glad you accepted his challenge. What about Deepak? Did he accept yours?Please keep us posted and give us an advanced notice so that the
news media be made aware of the event. Perhaps the reporters from the
local Vancouver TV stations and newspapers would love to accompany you
to New York.Cheers. You are our man of the hour!Perhaps Deepak is considering to use the event for his self promotion to...If news media does not gather at the event, don't worry, there will
be scores of camera clicking and later many YouTube videos for the
whole world to watch.BTW, who will moderate the event? Deepak himself? Or his buddy Avtar Singh or some other nonentity.
Richard Dawkins would not grace Deepak's presence, that we all know.

119. Posted by
Friend_of_Skeptisch

After much thought, doing this spoon-bending demo on Larry King
appears to be the best and most practical option, as it would be seen
by a worldwide audience who, for practical reasons, cannot all make it
to NYC!For good measure, I would suggest that both Deepak and Skep appear on the show!Rgds.

122. Posted by
Ron Saywack

REQUEST TO DEEPAK CHOPRA*************************Deepak, please inform us about the dates, so that we can make our preparations and follow the event with keenness. I also request you to consider an OPEN INVITATION no just for
Skeptisch(or skeptics) but for anyone who is interested and is willing
to make it to NY City.*************************

147. Posted by
Steve

I second Steve's request. Dr. Chopra's
refusal to Steve's request will give an implications of some sort of
magic, that is some fraudulent practice employed in bending spoons -
not by the force of Dr. Deepak's mind but by some trickery employed by
him. And Dr. Chopra must allow TV reporters and all of us to record the
event on cameras and videos.-------------------

148. Posted by
Friend_of_Skeptisch

If he refuses to demonstrate in public
his spoon-bending feats - and perhaps next time his levitation in air,
will it not be the same as putting his foot in his own mouth instead of
shutting up Skeptisch? And what would happen to those "millions of
people (for whom the spoon-bending) is now a trivial example of mind
and matter as inseparably one"?******************

153. Posted by
Friend_of_Skeptisch

"I hope you won't keep impossible or restraining conditions on Skep
prior to your meeting, like "you should believe in God wholeheartedly
before I set forth to convince you about this phenoemna(otherwise it
won't work). etc...please.."~Dhuwa
*******************It would be foolish of Dr. Deepak Chopra to do so.Dhuwa, I too have been waiting to hear something from Dr. Chopra. But then, he has already
sent his last message to Skeptisch - in the title of his post.Do you really think Dr. Chopra really means what he says. If he
does, he will never correspond with or talk to Skeptisch, and I hope in
that case, Skeptisch never stops tearing off Deepak's bogus teachings
and exposing his hypocrisy and misunderstanding of physics.******************

158. Posted by
Friend_of_Skeptisch

I hate to rain on the parade, but the Chopra/Skeptisch spoon-bending meeting is not going to happen.While I'm sure Skep's accepting of the offer is genuine, I am doubtful Chopra's offer was sincere.But maybe if we all pray for it to happen, it will.All together now... close your eyes, breath deeply, click your heels
together and say "There's no place like home, there's no place like
home,..."But you have to mean it when your doing it, or the wizard won't appear.

161. Posted by
Son_of_Skeptisch

"Skep, few months ago you posted an event at Intentblog wherein Dr.
Deepak Chopra bent spoons by the force of his mind and his wife was
present there at some gathering as a witness. Would you please recount
that event. It will establish Dr. Deepak Chopra as a spoon-bender. And
further it will verify his theory of non-locality that he says explains
that mind, matter and soul are one and the same thing".Deepak writes in his "Peace Is The Way":
"I am grateful for stories like the following from one of the
spoon-bending participants: Some friends of ours have a twelve-year-old
son. We were talking about the spoon-bending course one night after
dinner. As we were talking, their son decided to see if he could bend
one of his mother's heavy-duty nice silver spoons. And he did! It bent
in a weird way - not at a natural thin place. It actually freaked him
out to be face to face with a realty that his culture tries to deny."He also writes:
"Dear Skeptisch, I was not skirting the issue at all. My wife Rita and
I have had several spoon bending experiences as have thousands of
others. We have a collection of bent spoons as well!. James Twyman is a
good friend and does extraordinary work in the area of Peace
Consciousness all over the world particularly in the Middle East. I
have great respect for Richard Dawkins and his work I'm aware that he
coined the word memes in1976. I and Richard Dawkins were speakers at a
TED conference several years ago where we had disagreements on the
origins of Consciousness. Regretfully I ended up calling him a bigot
and a fundamentalist albeit a scientific one, before a live audience.
We have had no further communication since then. I think he is of the
opinion that I'm a charlatan. He is not alone,
love deepak"

164. Posted by
Skeptisch
"My wife Rita and I have had several spoon bending experiences as
have thousands of others. We have a collection of bent spoons as well!"

~Deepak Chopra

*******************

Dear Dr. Chopra,Would you please be kind enough to post at the Intentblog the photos
of spoons bent by mind forces of others and yours with brief notes as a
prelude to the oncoming event in NY where you will bend spoons once
again for the whole world to watch on TV and YouTube.Or will you be bringing that young man with you, the son of your
friend, who bent the spoons for you and your wife Rita as quoted by you
earlier and documented by Skeptisch in comment #164 in the current
thread?You state: "As we were talking, their son decided to see if he could
bend one of his mother's heavy-duty nice silver spoons. And he did! It
bent in a weird way - not at a natural thin place. It actually freaked
him out to be face to face with a realty that his culture tries to
deny."

Dear Sir, your culture and intellect might accept this reality, but
ours does not. We respect you. Would you please make us believers in
your miracles by coming face to face with Skeptisch in New York? We can
hardly wait.******************

171. Posted by
Friend_of_Skeptisch

People with the ability to have blind belief in something (in this
case spoon bending), typically pride themselves on believing things
that are hard to believe. To them, facts or evidence are trivial or
irrelevant to making the case for something. Someone's word in a book
or blog is enough to deem it to be true. Often, these people have grown
up in an environment which trains them from very young to resist the
need for fact and evidence, and to blindly believe in something (e.g.
an organized religion of some sort).Whether this belief has them believing in a god, a guru, the boogie
man or spoon-bending, there is little that will convince a person with
blind belief that something isn't true, if they do not want to believe
it is not true. They are too heavily invested in what the answer is.On the other side, you have the skeptics who have difficulty believing anything without reasonable facts and evidence.Bottom line, there are those that require no facts or evidence to
believe something, while others need facts or evidence to believe
something, and what is happening here is an exchange between these two
camps.On one extreme side you have the skeptics, who view Chopra as a
charlatan who makes false claims about things like spoon bending, and
who takes advantage of his gullible and weak-minded followers for his
own personal benefit (e.g. wealth, power, etc.). The skeptics have a
desire to expose this.On the other extreme side, you have the Chopra camp, faithfully
defending their leader and beliefs from what they feel are harsh
attacks by the skeptics. This side has less of a need for fact and
evidence than the skeptics, and likely has strong reasons for believing
in spoon bending and whatever else they believe in.The recent activity here, and the passionate nature in which these
two sides are posting here, is the result of both sides seeing an
opportunity to "win" this ongoing "war" through a spoon bending
demonstration which Chopra has offered to provide to Skeptisch.The skeptics hope this will expose Chopra as a charlatan. And the
Chopra followers hope they can finally shut the skeptics up.
Unfortunately this will not happen, and both sides will be disappointed.The reason is, regardless of whether he is a charlatan or not, Chopra won't follow through with his offer to Skeptisch.While the skeptics among us may feel a small sense of victory and
think this supports the view that Chopra is not a man of his word (a
charlatan), the Chopra camp will passionately defend his actions with a
variety of reasons for backing out.And in the end, who will really wins? The Chopra camp... because with
all the activity this debate is causing, and the website traffic and
exposure it is creating, Chopra is getting richer. Amongst the visitors
there are both skeptics AND followers, and both are potential
purchasers of his books.Pretty funny. Well done Deepak.

178. Posted by
Son_of_Skeptisch

"Pretty funny. Well done Deepak."~Son_of_Skeptisch #178************************So this challenge of Deepak to Skeptisch, was it all BS by Deepak? Deepak wanted only publicity to sell his books?Perhaps not. He would not stoop down to such low levels, I think, to
gain publicity. He has millions of ignorant followers in the world who
buy his books.I think Deepak got trapped in his own foolishness in an attempt to
shut up Skeptisch. Once he realized what harm the NY meeting will do to
his reputation and sales of his books, he seemed to be backing off by
not responding and now switching to some black box genie of genes to
divert the attention of the Intentblog readers.His backing off will not stop Skeptisch and others
on proving charlatanism of Deepak through spoon bending and through
Deepak's floating in space when he is in deep meditation which he
claims that if mediation is done properly one could levitate in space.
He admits to having an experience in which his body hopped itself a few
feet away during his trance like deep meditation and when he opened his
eyes, lo! he was not where he was before the beginning of his
meditation. He explains all this on the basis his non-linear theory and
accuses others for maligning him as they do not understand the
non-linear theory of physics as he understands in his head.Well, let us wait and see if Deepak keeps his promise or walks with
a blackened face for the rest of his life for not keeping the promise
and saying things that he does not believe himself. In that case one
could rightly call him a hypocrite, a charlatan and what not!***********************

187. Posted by
Friend_of_SkeptischDeepak Chopra in catch 22 situation.Will he keep his word?What would he do?Your thoughts!You can read/partcipate the original post and the on going comments thread here:http://www.intentblog.com/archives/2007/10/my_last_message.html

David Fuhs: "Hillary Clinton's Communist Health Care proposal"

That there are stupid atheists like David Fuhs is nothing new, nor certainly there are stupid Christians like Reginald Selkirk who think that such arguments from bad authority will impress anyone here.

"This made it easy to gloss over the inconvenient, undeniable scientific embryological fact that human life begins at conception"

"when human life begins" is not a scientific concept, unless one is referring to when the species arose.

"If we took away women's right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democrat president. It's kind of a pipe dream, it's a personal fantasy of mine, but I don't think it's going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women."

Ann Coulter wouldn't know a circular argument if it were knawing on her Adam's apple.

What real university can afford a jet?

My state school has a university jet. Mind you, it doesn't go anywhere and it's part of our degree program in aeronautics.

Or gnawing (I plead phonetic sanity).

I wasn't sure if everyone knew about this already or not, but NBC is teaming up with Uri Geller and Chris Angel (Mindfreak) to do a new reality/game show called Phenomenon. It premiers October 24.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5sRA6typn4

I've seen more of a reliance on science - embryology, ultrasound - on the pro-life side than on the pro-choice side.

Of course! This applies not just to abortion, but to contraception as well. It was the Sanctity-O-Meter which determined that every sperm is, in fact, sacred.

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=…

NEW YORK The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette carried details last week of the rather messy divorce involving rival publisher, and conservative funder, Richard Mellon Scaife. Now attorneys for Scaife have filed court papers demanding the paper return documents related to the divorce.

That there are stupid atheists like David Fuhs is nothing new, nor certainly there are stupid Christians like Reginald Selkirk who think that such arguments from bad authority will impress anyone here.

Then there are stupid people like truth machine who make unwarranted assumptions about the religious affiliation of others, when those others may be informing rather than endorsing. I was rather thinking "amuse" than "impress."