HULK SMASH!!!
Fuck Bush
Third! and heading for home
Home Run!!
Skipped Second: Still a home run
morning all
or all DWD's
no one wants to come out to play
drat
Hi folks. In & out this morning: the divine watertiger is coming for a visit, and the children have trashed the guest room. It's the only double bed in the house Young Thers likes to jump upon, and jump he does.
Well, it's early. And a Saturday.
I hate to monopolize but the lure of internet fame and all . . .
(Morning, folks. Nice to see the morning crew though Her Eyes has been missing a while - she is fine, I wrote and asked)
Good morning. Did you remember the scratching post for watertiger?
Hmm, maybe too early to be googling INTELLIGENT DESIGN, but here's a link
http://
www.intelligentdesignnetw...Explanation.htm
This is what goes around to the folks making decisions about science teaching in various states. There is one thing I think they've gotten right. Theory of evolution has its dogma, too.
I always was bothered in science class about "theories", such as "the big bang". Obviously a theory is not ultimate truth, but you have to start with an assumption in order to test it.
The ID people are biting off a big assumption, ultimate truth. I always thought this was beyond words. Good luck to them.
Quick! What noun seems to be missing entirely from this excerpt of the AP story about Plan B?
The agency's independent scientific advisers overwhelmingly backed over-the-counter sales for everybody, not just adults, in December 2003.
FDA rejected that move, citing concern about young teens' use of the pills without a doctor's guidance....
Ummm. Morning after pill?
BTW, GWPDA, Lovely to see you again. I missed your wit, wisdom, and damnable enticements to be hungry.
GWPDA,
We're going to let her use a tree.
NY Mary
Enjoy your visit with WT. She is without a doubt one of the most talented and funny people I have met in a long time.
I was so afraid of meeting Atriots and being disappointed. Instead, it was a treat. (It is really hard to type with a cat that insists on keeping his nose firmly on the upper left hand corner of the keyboard.)
HEY! I can hear you!
(on my way out the door, NYMary!)
We're going to let her use a tree.
NYMary
Oh, that's good, she'll like that. An outside one, I take it?
First! Well, this is probably the firstest I'll get today!
Hey did you all get a chance to look at my outfit I was thinking of wearing to EschaCon?
wt,
We'll try to keep Young Thers from jumping on the bed while you're in it, but feel free to tackle him.
Katrina is now forecast for a direct hit on New Orleans as a cat 4 hurricane. Anyone in that area should follow local emergency guidance and prepare immediately.
Stay safe...this looks very bad.
NYMary,
I shall threaten him with the Pillow . . . OF DOOM!
my exit music.
The Kansas theofascists tried to introduce creationism in the schools a few years ago and were not successful. The fundie school board members were voted out and reasonable people took over. When the brouhaha died down, the fundies ran again and managed again to take over the school board. Hence the drive now to introduce intelligent design in Kansas schools. I wonder, if we finally manage to drive these people out if the same thing will happen. Will we stop paying attention and allow them to take over again. Since they have the appartus in place, it is not that difficult for them.
GWPDA - Has Arthur calmed down?
I.M. Meteorologist | 08.27.05 - 8:09 am | #
thanks for the heads up.
oldwhitelady
Saw your outfit eeeeeeeeeeeeeeearly this morning. It is stunning, and quite appropriate. And, yes, it does make you look just a tad overweight. 
GWPDA - Has Arthur calmed down?
ql in ny - Arthur, The Easily Agitated Dog (tm) has now switched over into the "off" position and is snoring over his breakfast biscuit. He slept in his own room last night tho, so he wasn't really too concerned.
Katrina is now forecast for a direct hit on New Orleans as a cat 4 hurricane. Anyone in that area should follow local emergency guidance and prepare immediately.
CRAP!!!!
Buck Fush !!!! There, I got it out of my system for today. Now, maybe, I can concentrate on more productive means to screw him over as he has done to this nation and world.
"When the brouhaha died down, the fundies ran again and managed again to take over the school board."
They call themselves the KKK here in PA and we do have them on school boards in abundance. Trash!
el
Careful with that word 'dogma'. There isn't any statement in the theory of natural selection that is not open to honest inquiry. That's a major problem with these intelligent designers. They can't grasp the concept that a system of thought can be without dogma. They think science is a conspiracy, failing to realize that anywhere a hole appears in the body of science, legitimate scientists are on it immediately, hoping for their own recognition.
ql
This morning in salon, mention of the Discovery Foundation, which generates ID (theofascism) "research". Bill Gates is funding a transportation study, nothing to do with ID, also through the Discovery Foundation.
Mixing business as usual with fundie agendas makes it hard to track them.
September Song?
I think the first couple of weeks of September, when the congress critters return with the disgust of the country for the Chimp's policies, are going to be interesting.
So much to be disgusted by it is almost diversionary.
Morning, all.
GWPDA, I was scrolling throughlast night's thread, and one of your posts with the phrase "Gott strafe England" caught my eye.
I remember my father telling me that was a common greeting in Germany, post-Versailles treaty. Instead of saying Guten Morgen or Guten Abend, people would just say "Gott strafe England"(God punish England)
Good morning ~ Anyone care for a thunderstorm?
DWD, I blame you. You sent it to us.
Good morning, ql in ny.
Thank you for being so honest. I may not wear it, but just having the option is always fun!
Democrats should not concern them-selves with any political matter until the electoral system is fixed. Under the present system just 16% of the population elects half the Senate.(Economist/8-10-02/p.27) Red states will continue to run this country until something is done and we will continue to be under the tyranny of the minority. For other egregious facts read Fixing Elections by Steven Hill. The game is fixed and rather than participate in this sham Democrats should simply boycott the whole election.
Roadrage
I thought they had a point here, what I referred to as "dogma"
Clause (B) (1) focuses on the need to appropriately explain the "historical nature" of origins science. Although experiments are used to validate certain conclusions and explanations, many of the fundamental explanations of evolutionary biology can not be tested by experiment because it is a historical science that seeks to explain singular past
events,,,
In the historical dimension
I think the first couple of weeks of September, when the congress critters return with the disgust of the country for the Chimp's policies, are going to be interesting.
So much to be disgusted by it is almost diversionary.
DWD
Morning, rational people.
Yup, when the Congress reconvenes they'll have a full plate.
The Senate has the Roberts nomination, Social Security, Stem Cell Research, and several other bills that haven't quite made it out of committee.
Same-same with the House.
This just might be fun, especially with the Plame investigation still hanging.
Buck Fush !!! ... Don
I'm going to say it the other way, too! Fuck Bush! Now, I can head out, in a better mood, to work.
As a precautionary measure, after Pat Robertson's call to assassinate him. Hugo Chavez has suspended permission on all missionaries from entering Venezuela.
I so do not have time for a hurricane. Mr lb leaves Thurs for 10 months in Hong Kong - and I head the same day for a month away to install and train the s/w package I spent the last year of my life writing.
Of course, we are no where near ready to leave. No bills paid, nothing packed, I don't even have the last of the s/w documentation together. Mr. lb is still writing lectures. Ah, this is hopeless and we are doomed.
So, I've decided to hang out here until I'm washed into either the lake or the river.
How's everyone?
Karin - good morning, and it surely wasn't I. Altho the phrase was in use - not a very encouraging viewpoint, was it? Lissauer's Hasslied, of 1914 was the genesis of it of course, but it carried forward quite a long distance.
French and Russian they matter not,
A blow for a blow and a shot for a shot;
We love them not, we hate them not,
We hold the Weichsel and Vosges-gate,
We have but one and only hate,
We love as one, we hate as one,
We have one foe and one alone.
He is known to you all, he is known to you all,
He crouches behind the dark grey flood,
Full of envy, of rage, of craft, of gall,
Cut off by waves that are thicker than blood,
Come, let us stand at the Judgment place,
An oath to swear to, face to face,
An oath of bronze no wind can shake,
An oath for our sons and their sons to take.
Come, hear the word, repeat the word,
Throughout the Fatherland make it heard.
We will never forego our hate,
We have but one single hate,
We love as one, we hate as one,
We have one foe, and one alone --
ENGLAND!
Take you the folk of the Earth in pay,
With bars of gold your ramparts lay,
Bedeck the ocean with bow on bow,
Ye reckon well, but not well enough now.
French and Russian, they matter not,
A blow for a blow, a shot for a shot,
We fight the battle with bronze and steel,
And the time that is coming Peace will seal.
You we will hate with a lasting hate,
We will never forego our hate,
Hate by water and hate by land,
Hate of the head and hate of the hand,
Hate of the hammer and hate of the crown,
Hate of seventy millions choking down.
We love as one, we hate as one,
We have one foe and one alone--
ENGLAND!
As a precautionary measure, after Pat Robertson's call to assassinate him. Hugo Chavez has suspended permission on all missionaries from entering Venezuela.
Karin
God truly does work in mysterious ways.
The game is fixed and rather than participate in this sham Democrats should simply boycott the whole election.
So we'll go from having a minimal voice to no voice at all? I don't think so.
Vicki, sorry about the storm. I slept through it. But Mrs DWD said, in her still-sleeping voice, it was terrible. (Mrs. DWD is perfectly capable of carrying on a conversation while sleeping. A lot of what she says is, well, different. I think it is the conduit to her inner self so I do not like to encounter it: finding out what one's life-long partner really thinks can be enlightening - and a bit frightening.)
joe d | Email | 08.27.05 - 8:23 am | #
re: election fixing, I'm livid that John Kerry is wimping out in Ohio. PDA has been in my mailbox, encouraging folks to get after Kerry to finish his lawsuit, he's threatening to withdraw.
4 states passed laws demanding paper trails, it's a beginning, cleaning up election corruption.
"Brian Mayes, a Republican political consultant from Dallas, said Sheehan's efforts have only motivated the "far left" activists who are "looking to relive the '60s hippie movement."
"She is equally motivating the conservative base of the country as well as turning off the middle-of-the-road people who view her as a radical, left-wing activist," Mayes said."
Because this asshole says so, it is so? Naw, don't think so.
No, not you personally-it was Morgenthau quoting something Talaat said.
"He's English, isn't he?" answered Talaat. "Then I shall do as I like with him!"
"Eat him, if you wish!" I replied.
"No," said Talaat, "he would go against my digestion."
He was altogether in a reckless mood. "Gott strafe England!" he shouted-using one of the few German phrases that he knew.
As a precautionary measure, after Pat Robertson's call to assassinate him. Hugo Chavez has suspended permission on all missionaries from entering Venezuela.
Karin | Homepage | 08.27.05 - 8:25 am
I've known people who have done these missions, and some had great intentions of educating third-world folks about clean water and such. But a great many of these "missionaries" are condescending fucksticks who believe that they must save the "heathens."
Yes, that was mine. Talaat - whatta guy....
I posted this below, but it seems appropos here as well.
A recent assessment from the influential and scrupulously nonpartisan Cook Political Report reads: Opposition to and skepticism about the war in Iraq has reached its highest level, boosted by increased American casualties, a lack of political progress inside the country and growing signs of an imminent civil war. Given the centrality of the Iraq War to the Bush presidency and re-election, a cave-in of support for the president on the war would be devastating to his second-term credibility and influence.
"She is equally motivating the conservative base of the country as well as turning off the middle-of-the-road people who view her as a radical, left-wing activist," Mayes said."
Wishful thinking on their part. They can't deal with the reality that Cindy is getting a majority of Americans to wonder about the questions the liberals have been asking all along.
So let's try again. Here.
NYMary and Vicki: I am truly sorry about not finding a way to Eschacon; I think next year will be better.
The truth is that too many factors worked against my coming, but I believe I will be able to control them next year.
I hope everyone has a great time and appreciates each other as much in person, as they do as cyber compatriots.
Oy. I am way too old for this. The kid went out last night, but said she would be returning. She did not. She is 26. Last time she went out with this friend, she just decided to spend the night at her apartment. I assume that is what she did last night, but I really don't like this.
"Brian Mayes, a Republican political consultant from Dallas, said Sheehan's efforts have only motivated the "far left" activists who are "looking to relive the '60s hippie movement."
I've always been bothered by the "consultant" title used by many, many people who are quoted in articles like this. Who the hell do they consult? What is it they consult about.
As far as I can tell, these guys are little more than message coaches. I probably ought to go down and get me a DBA and hang my shingle as a "political consultant." It seems to involve little more than repeating canned strategy talking points to whoever will listen . . . sounds pretty easy.
DWD ~
It just changes my plans on when to hit the farmers market. Of course, if I go now in the rain, I get the best picks of the crops.
The most obscene irony of all is that Bushboy & his fellow thugs on the religious right (Pat "the Killer" Robertson, et. al.), constantly quote Jesus or wrap themselves in the mantle of "Christianity" to justify their criminal actions.
Now, I'm not a follower of Jesus (or any theology) but I can dig his central thesis which was often stated, "Love thy neighbor!" And by this he didn't mean screwing your neighbors attractive spouse (as rightwingers seem to do).
He meant that if your neighbor needed food or shelter or clothing you would do whatever was necessary to provide it, including sacrificing what you have.
If the so called "Christians" in America actually believed in Christ would they allow Bushboy to make war in Iraq or give tax cuts to the rich???
Methinks not!
joe d | Email | 08.27.05 - 8:23 am | #
The distant rumblings, my 13 year old heading to the bushes to smooch at her theater camp. I second the oy.
ql in ny | Email | Homepage | 08.27.05 - 8:38 am | #
sorry, oy to ql, not joe
Nothing like having to get up on Sat. morning and have to work. Bah. At least I don't have to leave the house.
ql in ny, I know exactly how you feel. She's probably fine. What I hate is not getting a phone call early in the evening letting me know "the plan."
If the so called "Christians" in America actually believed in Christ would they allow Bushboy to make war in Iraq or give tax cuts to the rich???
Methinks not!
Rudy | Email | 08.27.05 - 8:40 am
That would be the hippie-crushin' War Jesus. I heard that after he got down from the cross he morphed into Rambo.
Cindy Sheehan unnerves the Goopers because she's asking America to question authority.
Bushboy's reign of error/terror has run amuck with nary a whimper or a whine from most Americans and certainly not from it's mainstream media.
If Americans ever stopped and thought (assuming that's still possible) about the mess Bushboy has made of things, the justifiable outrage could leave the Gooper party in tatters.
Let it come to pass.
What I hate is not getting a phone call early in the evening letting me know "the plan."
mer
Okay, all you Mothers - here's the plan. I'm taking my neighbour to the airport now. If I'm not back in an hour, I'm missing. Call CNN and the AZ Animal Welfare League....
I can dig his central thesis which was often stated, "Love thy neighbor!"
________
that is "love thy neighbor as yourself", actually a subtle idea, to have the same reactions when its not you, but somebody else.
QL, Just sent young DWD back to college and do not miss the worrying about where they are and what they are doing. He did the same thing this summer. Always disquieting.
not you, but somebody else.
That is, if somebody else is not a brown person.
Bushboy's in a religious twit
'Cause he's a christian hypocrite
He makes war
with Shock & awe
Killing like a homicidal nitwit!!!
So what if you go in the rain. Wouldn't be the first time ya got wet, would it? And, from what I see you haven't melted yet...
There are some universal truths. One is that even calm parents worry. Yes, DWD. Somehow when they are not home you do not worry. So far, this has been the only wrinkle in a month long visit. So I will shut my mouth and grin and bear it.
Rudy, I know you are not a follower of religion, but this particular passage of the gospels is one that they assiduously avoid: because of this, they should be confronted with it on every occasion. Forcefully.
"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels . . .
Good morning.
[Yawn. Stretch.]
Any fresh outrage today? I need something to wake me up.
I am certain that this has been discussed at length here, but I'm just now reading about Fox News' incorrect disclosure of someone's home address on the air.
I can't quite wrap my mind around the utter sickness of this. Cro-magnon scum have actually gone out and vandalized these people's home?
The guy they intended to summon a lynch mob on [who had since broken off affiliation with the organization following a disagreement on their harsh ideology] has had to go into hiding?
Un-fucking-believable. How is this not a major scandal for Fox?
There's a short time left to save Walter Reed Hospital. Please read, also, if you're someone with any special memory of Walter Reed -- and/or photos -- please email them to me if you'd like to include them on my site. Thanks. Have a great weekend y'all.
http://greatscat.blogspot.com/20...d-
veterans.html
The kid went out last night, but said she would be returning. She did not. She is 26. Last time she went out with this friend, she just decided to spend the night at her apartment. I assume that is what she did last night, but I really don't like this.
When a rich person approached Jesus and asked what he needed to do to please God, Jesus told him to sell all his belongings, give the money to help the poor eat, cloth and shelter themselves and follow him.
Can you imagine any of the rapcious, greedy, fatassed Christians like Falwell, Dobson or Robertson doing this?
Most American christians think that "God helps those who help themselves," is from scripture.
It isn't. It's from Ben Franklin's "Poor man's Almanac."
Once again, MoDo got me off on the right foot.
The former stateside National Guardsman who was sometimes M.I.A. jumped the shark by landing on that "Mission Accomplished" carrier. (With Tom Cruise cockiness.)
Then, as president, he jumped the couch by pedaling through the guns of August - the growing carnage and chaos in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He did do a few minutes of work this month, calling a Shiite leader in Baghdad a few days ago to lobby him to reach a consensus with the Sunnis, so Iraq doesn't crack apart. But the Shiites and Kurds ignored the president and skewered the Sunnis.
Iraq, it turns out, is the one branch of American government that the Republicans don't control.
And now I know why Camp Casey invited the President to their barbecue:
W. had a barbecue for the press on Thursday night. (If only the press had grilled him instead.) He mingled over catfish and potato salad with the reporters, who had to ride past Cindy Sheehan's antiwar encampment to get to the poolside party.
And why we call it the "SCLM":
Dan Froomkin wrote on the Washington Post Web site that many of the reporters "fawned over Bush, following him around in packs every time he moved." W. chatted about sports and the twins, still oblivious to the cultural shift that is turning 2005 into 1968.
Always a lovely day somewhere.....
I caught about 20 minutes of the National Geographic documetary on the history of hte event leading up to 911. The part I saw dealt with the Mujhadeen in Afghanistan. The discussed the rise of OBL, the influence of Pakistan, and som bits about Saudia Arabia. Notably lacking was any discussoin of the billions of dollars funneled to the anti-soviet warlords by the US or anything having to do with the Reagan Administration.
The piece was clearly scrubbed of anything that would give pause to our friends in the lunatic Right and inerfere with the cannonization of St. Ronnie.
Does anyone have a different perspective?
=
Dan Froomkin wrote on the Washington Post Web site that many of the reporters "fawned over Bush, following him around in packs every time he moved."
I'll be the chinless Dana Bash had her nose up Bush's ass so far she was suffocated. Including the Fax News WH "reporters", she is Fawner in Chief.
Most American christians think that "God helps those who help themselves," is from scripture.
It isn't. It's from Ben Franklin's "Poor man's Almanac."
Rudy
I find few people, Xian or non, who know very much about Scriptures.
But they are all convinced they are experts with deep insight into scriptural stories ignored by mere mortals.
They remind me of the church member I had who took me aside and told me he'd read the Bible in college, many years earlier, and he didn't need to read it anymore or hear about it again, so would I please stop preaching from it.
Ignorance is a very determined kind of bliss.
Not all opponents of Evololution are right-wing crackpots.
Most scientists admit that the theory of evolution has flaws and gaps. If we refuse to admit this, it makes us look foolish. Then, unfortunately, we are denying reality, and thereby hand a huge whopping victory to the proponents of intelligent design.
I recently was reading about a debate in an internet discussion group. In response to specific questions about various holes in the theory of evolution, the response was juvenile name calling and personal attacks, rather than actually answering the question. This behavior is what I would expect from the radical right. Instead, I see it coming from the left. We really need to stop this type of self-defeating nonsense.
DWD:
Is that from the sermon on the mount?
I particular approve of the injunction by Jesus that it would be harder for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.
How come these fatassed, rich Christians aren't paying attention???
Because it's easier to believe that selfishness and self satisfaction are approved by God or Jesus as per the Franklin quote, which has no scriptual validity!
Does anyone have a different perspective?
=
jri
It was National Geographic.
I expect nothing less.
Most scientists admit that the theory of evolution has flaws and gaps.
Nobody denies this. All our theories have gaps. That's why science is an ongoing process of skepticism, experiment and discovery.
DWD--
Interestingly, they ignore that passage from Matthew, and cling to the last verses, the so-called "Great Commission."
They'd rather convert the world to Xianity than lift a finger to feed or clothe or comfort one poor person. The consequences of that, per the parable, are clear.
And the most plaintive words in all Scripture are in that parable: "Lord, when did we see you?" Plaintive, because it's too late, and because by the time they realize it really wasn't all about them, they can't fix it.
You makes your choices, you takes the consequences.
I particular approve of the injunction by Jesus that it would be harder for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.
Perhaps RMJ can disabuse me of this notion: I have always understood it that a camel passing through the eye of a needle was a mistranslation. Camel = rope.
I recently was reading about a debate in an internet discussion group. In response to specific questions about various holes in the theory of evolution, the response was juvenile name calling and personal attacks, rather than actually answering the question. This behavior is what I would expect from the radical right. Instead, I see it coming from the left. We really need to stop this type of self-defeating nonsense.
Jim
I find most debates on Internet discussion groups degenerate rapidly. I blame the medium, not the message.
Sadly, it seems to be the nature of the beast. Usually generating a great deal more heat than light.
Most scientists admit that the theory of evolution has flaws and gaps. If we refuse to admit this, it makes us look foolish. Then, unfortunately, we are denying reality, and thereby hand a huge whopping victory to the proponents of intelligent design.
No. What makes us look foolish is having to defend science against non-science arguments.
The theories in DNA replication, viral development, and such all have flaws and gaps. Science itself is an evolutionary process. The debates involved in those arcane subjects don't bring out nutballs and loons - take those out of evolutionary biology debates and you erase the need for name calling and the other things that have your panties in a twist.
Not all opponents of Evololution are right-wing crackpots.
You're right, many are well-funded think-tank operations and pandering politicians.
I particular approve of the injunction by Jesus that it would be harder for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.
Perhaps RMJ can disabuse me of this notion: I have always understood it that a camel passing through the eye of a needle was a mistranslation. Camel = rope.
NTodd
I've even heard that the "eye of the needle" was a narrow passage into Jerusalem, that an over-laden camel could not get through. A very American middle-class interpretation, IOW.
No. He meant just what he said. Camel, eye of sewing needle, rich man (i.e., someone not destitute). In Jesus' day, especially, you were rich or poor; no comfortable middle class between. So clearly "poor" meant poor, not "not quite as well off as Donald Trump."
A lot of the parables are that way; stating the impossible or the disagreeable as the true standard. It's Jesus' way of telling you "Everything you know is wrong," without giving way to Socratic irony. (Well, now I'm jumping the couch....)
Rudy, No that is the exhortation of Jesus to his followers as documented in Matthew, chapter 25.
In truth, the Fundies sort of skip over the gospels and head right for Paul's letters and then to Revelations.
The words that Jesus spoke were harsh and direct. What is really amazing though is this: if someone said the things that the historical Jesus is credited with today, he would be called a rebel and a liberal and destined to be condemned to Hell.
N-Todd
It was eye of THE needle. A gate in Jerusalem that was very low. Anyone wishing to bring a camel through the gate into that part of the city had to get the camel to crouch down and continue to walk at the same time. Apparently no mean fete especially if traveling alone.
They remind me of the church member I had who took me aside and told me he'd read the Bible in college, many years earlier, and he didn't need to read it anymore or hear about it again, so would I please stop preaching from it.
RMJ perhaps you can recall who it was that said "The only problem I have with Christianity is the Christians"
The words that Jesus spoke were harsh and direct. What is really amazing though is this: if someone said the things that the historical Jesus is credited with today, he would be called a rebel and a liberal and destined to be condemned to Hell.
DWD
One of my favorite songs on that point is Jackson Browne's "The Rebel Jesus."
"The only problem I have with Christianity is the Christians"
Sounds like Bertrand Russell!
America is supposedly 85% "Christian."
That's more than Israeli is Jewish (77%).
When you consider all the selfish mythology that has been inculcated into this group from childhood and how much misinformation they are given at church services each Sunday and how many were exhorted to vote for Bushboy (under pain of hellfires and damnation), it's no wonder America has become as fucked up as it is!
RMJ perhaps you can recall who it was that said "The only problem I have with Christianity is the Christians"
FeralLiberal
Could have been me, if I'd gotten here first.
But sorry, absent a Google search or a handy Bartlett's, I can't confirm who said it.
Okay, I have spend enough of my writing time, not writing. I am only on chapter five of the rewrite and if I want to get it done in time for holiday sales: I had best be bookin'
Later, Moonbats
I think it was Ghandi who professed problems with Christians who he said were appalling unlike the "Jesus" they supposedly worshipped!!!
Good morning ~ Anyone care for a thunderstorm?
DWD, I blame you. You sent it to us.
Vicki
please! sky leaked for 5 mins. this a.m. I need 3-4 inch rain, so send it on down.
N-Todd
It was eye of THE needle. A gate in Jerusalem that was very low. Anyone wishing to bring a camel through the gate into that part of the city had to get the camel to crouch down and continue to walk at the same time. Apparently no mean fete especially if traveling alone.
Klyde
IN all three passages (Mark 10:25, Matthew 19:24, and Luke 18:25), the Greei word is "rhaphis," which the standard lexicon defines as "needle, esp. one used for sewing."
There is no warrant in the text for any other explanation. But Jesus makes the point in Mark, when everyone asks: "Well, then how can anyone be saved?" (because then, as now, wealth = blessing from God, and so salvation): "For mortal's it's impossible, but not for God; after all, everything's possible for God."
Camel/needle
iirc, one of the gates into ancient jerusalem was called 'eye of the needle,' because it was small, and not designed to accomodate large ungulates such as camels...
it was, therefore, difficult (though not impossible) for such beasts to pass through it...
even as it is difficult for the rich toe enter the kingdom, albeit not impossible...
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haloscan and I are no longer on speaking terms...
"Greei"? Good grief. "Greek"
Gonna go brew a cup of espresso now....
I have always understood it that a camel passing through the eye of a needle was a mistranslation.
Next you'll be telling us that Jeebus didn't speak English.
iirc, one of the gates into ancient jerusalem was called 'eye of the needle,' because it was small, and not designed to accomodate large ungulates such as camels...
As I say, a popular anecdote with no warrant in the text, designed to remove the sting of the original words.
"Most scientists admit that the theory of evolution has flaws and gaps."
What in the fuck are you talking about?
Flaws and gaps in what? the evidence that life today evolved from earlier forms? Are you insane? Or simply trolling?
How pathetic is a religion that rests on aan ever diminishing lack of detail in scientific explanations for natural phenomena?
=
Re camels, needles etc:
* Noohra: The GAMLA means camel, the GAMALA means heavy rope. It is no place in Jerusalem called Eye of Needle (academic viewpoint) and we don't know semitic idiom like this. So it is probable it is mistranslation of GAMALA.
* wiki: A popular explanation of the figure, dating back at least to the 9th century, was that Jesus was referring to a well-known gate in Jerusalem called Needle's Eye, that was built so low that a camel could only pass if it entered kneeling and unencumbered with baggage. The lesson would then be that an eternal inheritance awaits those who unburden themselves of sin, and in particular, the things of this world. Although there is no historical evidence that such a gate ever existed, through frequent repetition the idea has attained the status of virtual dogma in some circles.
Some scholars have suggested that the word camel is in fact a mistranslation of the Greek original, and should instead read rope. On the weight of this, some English versions read "cable" instead of "camel".Citation needed An obvious advantage of this is that it puts the eye of a needle in less ridiculous proportion compared to the threading material, and it still makes the point of how difficult it is to acheive salvation, although in much less colorful terms. However, there is no support for this reading in extant manuscripts; the observation that καμιλος (camel) differs by only one letter from καμηλος (rope), lent credibility to the speculation that the word in surviving texts might be a corruption of a lost version.
Sounds like Bertrand Russell!
NTodd I think you may be right.
I've written an analysis of John Bolton's proposed amendments to the upcoming UN statement. Interesting to see what "reform" really means. Comments welcome.
el
I realize this is way downthread (gone all day) but hope you see it. All of natural history is singular, (tho' often repeated) limiting its scientists to restrictions much like those faced by criminal detectives, unlike physicists & chemists who can find universal truths via repeated & convergent experimentation. The singularity of natural history is what makes it vulnerable to charlatan attack. Nevertheless, in both science & crime, a case can be made far 'beyond reasonable doubt' by overwhelming though circumstantial evidence. If that's not good enough, then we can have no natural science whatsoever.
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