A Dallas Moment

Some of you may remember the TV prime time soap drama,  Dallas. JR Ewing and his family were Texas oil millionaires with dysfunctional relations rarely seen in real life. One of the plot lines for a whole season occurred after one of the actors (Patrick Duffy, who played Bobby Ewing) left the show, and was not part of the TV family. At the end of the season, he must have missed his paycheck, and asked to be brought back, so the next season began with Bobby’s wife waking from a dream (and he in the shower) with this dream being the entire past season without him. All the viewers smacked their foreheads and thought “WTF?”, but then the show continued with him for a number of seasons, so it apparently didn’t affect the false reality created by the show.

Now consider the following:

# 475

Every once in awhile I check under the old WordPress dashboard to see what I’ve been doing. This here post is number 475, and falls a bit shy of the end of my fifth year of blogging. By the time I get to that particular anniversary (April 18), I hope to have received about 450,000 visits to the blog. I think that’s a lot, but in comparison to others, maybe not so much. Considering that about 425,000 are probably visits from Gideon, maybe I shouldn’t be so proud.

A Response

I wrote a response to this comment on my last post, but it got so long, I thought it would make better sense to make a separate post out of it.  SG suggested I read the comments on this post at Pharyngula, so I did.

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A Broad Spectrum Of Disbelief

Here’s something that’s been bugging me, so allow me a little rant.

It seems like every time an atheist makes a comment about some aspect of religion that bugs them, they are quite forcefully and specifically told to shut up. Religion is not a topic one is supposed to discuss in polite company (along with politics and sex, and we know how often that rule is broken). Atheists are made to feel like every time they criticize theism, they are stepping over some boundary of propriety. Due to my upbringing, I often find myself gauging the sensibilities of my listener to see if I might offend them, but I notice that never does a Christian (I don’t have much contacts with Hindus, Muslims and members of other religions) stop and think before they “thank god” or “god bless me” or otherwise inject their religious beliefs into a conversation.

My Christmas Post

If you like Tim Minchin, you’ll love this – and it’s Banned in Britain! Well, not really, but it was cut from the TV show it was recorded for, which is sorta like being banned.

But, he has a good attitude about it. I wish Americans had this kind of response.

It’s 2011. The appropriate reaction to people who think Jesus is a supernatural being is mild embarrassment, sighing tolerance and patient education.

And anger when they’re being bigots.

Oh, and satire. There’s always satire.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Christopher Hitchens ∞ 1949-2011

“What do you most value in your friends? Their continued existence.”  ~  Hitch-22

This is, according to WordPress, my 450th post. I was going to save it for an auspicious topic, but Christopher Hitchens seems to have pre-empted that, or should I say,  he made it superfluous and irrelevant. Of course this post will be about him.

Let’s Investigate Everything

In the Nothing’s-Too-Stupid-For-The-Republican-Party Department:

Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Santorum have all signed a pledge to form a commission to investigate the LGBT community if elected President.

FOX In A Box

When I was a child I used to have one of those little Jack-in-the-Box toys. Remember them? It was a little square box with a trap door on the top and a grinder on the side I would turn, causing it to play the song “Pop! Goes the Weasel”. When it got to the end of the song, the trap door would pop open on a spring mechanism and a clown would pop out.

I was reminded of my childhood toy when I read this article in Media Matters about FOX News (also known as Fake News, Faux News, Fixed News, Fictional News, False News, Bovine Feces News and numerous other more accurate descriptions.) A former employee of FOX has stated that FOX news is nothing but a propaganda machine.

…A Lot Of Truth In That

Our Secretary of State, on behalf of her employer, has rejected the notion that religion can be defamed. That’s the official United States position before the world. A resolution condemning religious defamation has been proposed before the United Nations General Assembly. Amazingly, this proposal actually was endorsed by the U.N. Human Rights Council, by a vote of 20-17 (with 8 abstaining and 2 absent). One wonders what kind of minds operate behind that particular council.

Why I’m Voting Republican

Check out the website.