pharyngula

It's hard to listen to this. It isn't just racist, it's stupid. I have to suspect that Limbaugh is back on the oxycontin. For a great communicator, he sure does have a knack for drawing out his discussion beyond what is necessary; pithy and cogent are not words to apply to Rush. Here's the…

It's the beginning of another month, and time to announce the Molly winner for October, and that sninily unique Pharyngulistan honor goes to…Mattir. No sooner do I announce one winner, though, than we just move on to collecting nominations for the next one. Leave your comments here declaring your…

Somebody needs to grab Bill Donohue by the ear and drag him to the Neues Musem in Berlin — all the way to the airport, during the long transatlantic flight, and on the taxi ride to the museum. Pinch hard, too, and make him squeal all the way. While digging a subway tunnel in Berlin, construction…

(via Paige Baker)

While Jerry Coyne is laid up, I guess I'll step up and dole out a picture of something furry for a change. That I'm stepping on his turf may reinvigorate him, too!

The Queen of England gets it right: The Queen, who is supreme governor of the Church of England, said: "In our more diverse and secular society, the place of religion has come to be a matter of lively discussion. It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue and that…

I've been poking fun at Kentucky this week, which is easy to do — investing in a theme park that has Biblical literalism as its centerpiece is embarrassingly ridiculous. But let's be fair. Ken Ham could have landed in Minnesota, if instead of aiming for a location within a day's travel of 40% of…

Oh, no. It's December. We're having another snowstorm. The thread of a thousand mysteries has filled up again. And people are singing Christmas carols. I'm not a fan of most of them, but this one at least is crude and funny. Don't listen at work. Warning, too: it's mostly an exercise in throwing…

Those porn sites you've been browsing? They've been slurping in more of your private data than you think. A paper has been published documenting the invasive practices of many websites. They're doing something called history hijacking, using code that grabs your entire browsing history so they can…

Oh, great. I get to be the wet blanket. There's a lot of news going around right now about this NASA press release and paper in Science — before anyone had read the paper, there was some real crazy-eyed speculation out there. I was even sent some rather loony odds from a bookmaker that looked like…

Some Kentuckians are not happy about my comments about their fake Ark-to-be. Ark This is a CHRISTIAN NATION if you hooked nosed kikes dont like it then get the hell out. If it were up to me we would have camp agin for you Christ Killing piles of human sh*t. You things are like acid on society you…

This ain't gonna be free: the state guvmint is kickin' in $37 million in tax incentives to help a gang of Bible-totin' theocrats build a fancy Disneyland for ignoramuses. This is what it's gonna look like, they think: Lookie there: the centerpiece will be a genuwine, life-sized, full scale copy of…

Bill Donohue is on a roll. First he bravely put up a billboard that reassures everyone that Jesus was real, which is no problem, as far as I'm concerned; it's not true, but he isn't interfering with other people's right to express themselves. But now he has really done it: he has successfully…

Who needs expertise and knowledge? In the bold new world of the Teabagger Republicans, all you need is a sense of privilege and outrage, and you too are qualified to do rocket science and brain surgery…or, at least, to complain about rocket science and brain surgery. Here's the latest brilliant…

(via SteveV, Death's Haberdasher)

The Guardian is running a series on the Heroes and Villains of 2010, and Richard Dawkins writes up Christopher Hitchens. As a hero, of course.

And an excellent title: Why do people treat us with the same contempt we show homosexuals, ask Christians. It's also a nice illustration of the stereotypical persecution complex, because we actually treat Christians much more nicely than the fundamentalist homophobes treat homosexuals.

We have at least a cursory account of the creationist press conference in Kentucky, in which Governor Beshear proudly announced the state's cooperation with Answers in Genesis in promoting lies to children. It's via Twitter, so just read it from bottom to top: joesonka Video of the press…

The Fort Worth transit system is running horrible, hateful ads on their buses: they say, "Millions of Americans are Good Without God." I know, pick yourself up off the floor, that's terrifying…how dare atheists be so offensive? The Star-Telegram is going to settle this by running a poll. Look who's…

He's in a snit. He refuses to participate in Tulsa's Holiday Parade of Lights because it doesn't have "christmas" in the title. "I did not do so last year because I'm not going to ride in a Christmas parade that doesn't recognize Christmas," he said. "I am hopeful that the good people of Tulsa and…

It's kind of like having my fashion sense chastised by the Insane Clown Posse…I'm not going to lose sleep over it. He's upset that I don't think a blastocyst deserves the same consideration we give to a child or an adult human being — that I have baldly stated that I'm pro-abortion. Unfortunately,…

Now the Catholic League — you know it's going to get ugly when Bill Donohue joins the fray — has bought a billboard near the American Atheists' billboard. The pro-superstition sign says, "You Know It's Real: This Season Celebrate Jesus". Isn't that sweet? It's just like the religious side to…

But, as we all know, complexity and the lack of intelligent design is no barrier to the evolution of the manifold thread. (Current totals: 11,431 entries with 1,199,051 comments.)

Answers in Genesis is planning to build an idiotic creationist theme park in Kentucky — we've known that for a little while now. The latest news, though, is that they've brought Steve Beshears, governor of Kentucky, on board to participate in a press conference announcing the latest accomplishment…

This is a fascinating way to present data about global and historical economies: I'm also kind of blown away by the fact that the BBC has a documentary about statistics. How do they get an audience without blowing things up or the occasional sleazy sexual affair?

You all remember Criswell, right, the amazing prognosticator of Plan 9 From Outer Space? Ray Kurzweil fits the mold: vague predictions, slippery, fuzzy statements, backtracking and excuse-making. The only differences are that Kurzweil is cold-reading technology rather than people's personalities,…

That is a billboard that's appeared in New Jersey, thanks to American Atheists. It is assertive and strong and clearly expresses an idea of atheism, that the tales we are told about religious ideas are superstitious myths, and I approve of that message. Some atheists don't. I was raised pretty…

Prime Minister Raila Odinga of Kenya has called for the arrest of all gay couples in the country. He's probably been listening to the American Christian evangelicals who've been busily poisoning Africa for the last century or so — the West has been such a blight on that continent for so long.…

This kind of says it all. That's the story we can expect to see played out every day for the next few years.

Hmmm. We may not be able to really skew this poll, since my sense is that readers here are somewhat divided on the topic — but here goes anyway. Obama wants to crack down on leakers, while Sarah Palin thinks we ought to hunt down Assange and treat him like a terrorist. So what do readers of the NY…