Why does god speak in earthquakes and hurricanes?

"I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?'" ~ Michele Bachmann

"I don't want to get weird on this, so please take it for what it's worth, but it seems to me the Washington Monument is a symbol of America's power*. It has been the symbol of our great nation, we look at that monument and we say this is one nation under God. Now there's a crack in it. Is that a sign from the Lord? Is that something that has significance, or is it just the result of an earthquake?" ~ Pat Robertson

Weather activity and plate tectonics are still ascribed to god. 7,000 years ago this was a good scientific hypothesis, but today it is either espoused by the horribly ignorant or unscrupulous charlatans. Fortunately for the Republican Party these two demographics, along with chicken hawk cowards, punk ass bitches and bigots, comprise their voting base.

But, let's treat this as a hypothesis! Is it possible that god has sent the earthquake and hurricane towards the east coast over the past month?

So, the first question is answered. The cause is god. No what caused 'yahweh' to send these events? Gay Marriage was approved in New York on July 24th, Hurricane Irene didn't hit until August 28th. Bachmann cited that the "[G]overnment is on a morbid obesity diet". But, spending has been high since World War 2.

So what's the delay? Why doesn't god act right away? And why does god choose in the 21st century to communicate in phenomenon which can be misinterpreted? He didn't have a problem of sending more explicit messages in the past. He used to appear as giant swirling towers of flame or turn rivers to blood and even sent his own son/self to deliver messages in person!

Now, I could mention the post hoc ergo propter hoc (after this therefore because of this) fallacy or I could point out other weather phenomenon which have been explained without relying on the 'god did it' claim terrible heat wave and drought which gripped the god belt of America all summer of 2011. Or point out the earthquakes and tsunamis which afflicted Bam, Iran in 2003, Indonesia in 2004, Haiti in 2006 and Japan in 2011 but these incidents serve the Dominionist community by proving god is christ since each event killed thousands of non-believers.

Such discussion would require the faithful drop their ignorance and that is not going to happen. Instead the likes of Bachmann respond with "“Of course I was being humorous when I said that!"

But, sadly we all know that is a flimsy cover for her true beliefs shared by thousands of religious wackoos and Bachmann knows Jesus is Watching You and she (or Rick Perry) is the chosen one sent to speak for the god who is mad because of Pell Grants, the EPA and that poor Americans have refrigerators.

*- there is so much one can deduce about Pat Robertson from his comment. Shouldn't an obvious obelisk be thought of as a symbol of pharoh's power? And then layers one could uncover by delving into why Pat thinks a bright white phallus is the symbol of America's "power" could take an entire blog...

Whooping (Cough)! There it is!

What happened in Los Angeles when a vaccination ordinance was submitted to a popular referendum is typical of what would happen anywhere under the same circumstances. The ordinance was rejected, and smallpox spread through the town. - H. L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy, pg.57

Outbreaks of Whooping Cough (Pertussis) occasionally occur in America. Back in June California had an 5 deaths and 910 cases attributed to the highly contagious disease. The 5 deaths in June were infants of Latino parents and, most likely, had no access or inclination to seek out Health care and Vaccinations.

However, what we are witnessing today is a spread beyond the normal expected areas, as evidenced by the outbreak of 20 cases in two schools in the fabulous North Shore school districts in Wilmette and Winnetka. And thanks to the Anti-Vaccination Mob being moneyed is not a protection.

The Anti-Vaccination Mob has succeeded in reviving and strengthening vanquished diseases. And while the current Mob gained traction from the completely false and dishonestly written 1998 British Paper by the wholly discredited Dr. Andrew Wakefield in which he blamed Autism cases on vaccinations, a large part of the blame for the recent anti-vaccination movement is due to the steadily anti-science narrative, most often championed by Republican Party.

Most scientific theories have negative consequences for Republican Political Power, as such, those theories must be destroyed. But, ignorance doesn't merely belong to Republicans. Celebrities, most famously Jenny McCarthy, and liberals Bill Maher and Robert Kennedy Jr, immune to normal lives have thrown themselves behind the movement. The Anti-Vaccination Movement crosses political affiliation because it is based on the sloppy thinking, which is the natural state of the human brain. The Scientific Method isn't natural and had to be invented to overcome the human predilection to falsely ascribe patterns where they are none and to engage in fallacious post hoc ergo propter hoc thinking.

Many of the techniques used by the Anti-Vaccinators were garnered from the Anti-Evolutionists. I recommend going over the Science Blog Respectful Insolence by ORAC who examines and dissects the various and numerous Anti-Vaccination proponents who are engaging in propaganda, distortions, pseudoscience and outright lies.

Bill O'Reilly Science is Fascism!

I ain't never had much call fer... fer book learnin'. ~ SNL Skit staring Robert Duvall, Who's More Grizzled, 28 February 1998

Professor Richard Dawkins, "If a Particular Scientific Theory doesn't work do some better Science...

Bill O'Reilly, "NO!!!"



Professor Dawkins' reaction (at 4:11) to Bill O'Reilly declaration Science is Fascism will make you laugh. I guarantee it.

But, in O'Reilly's defense since Creationists have proved Biology and Evolution, a specific scientific field, are Nazism, a specific Fascist Ideology, it is a logical syllogistic conclusion then that Science, in general, is Fascism, in general.

White jesus makes me sad...

Global Warming is Baloney!

I have no idea if man made pollution can cause, contribute or affect climate change. However, it is of interest those who decry Global Warming also think Evolution to be false.

What I do know is under the Bush Regime protections for the enviroment were ignored or cut so companies which support The Toxic Republican Party could dump massive amounts of toxins, garbage and pollutants into our water, land and air.

BP acknowledged that for the last six years its Whiting refinery violated federal pollution limits on benzene, a highly toxic chemical linked to leukemia and other health problems.

BP reported that it had processed too much benzene at the refinery's sewage treatment plant, about 15 miles southeast of Chicago.

Last year alone, the company processed more than 95 tons of benzene waste -- about 16 times the amount allowed. BP also violated the 6-ton limit from 2003 to 2007.

This isn't the first time the Whiting Refinery has violated U.S. and Indiana EPA regulations. In October 2008,

Federal regulators say BP PLC violated the Clean Air Act by beginning to make modifications at its Indiana oil refinery along Lake Michigan to process Canadian crude without the proper permit.

The EPA said in November the modifications caused "significant increases" in sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, particulate matter and carbon monoxide emitted from the refinery.

So during the Bush anti-science Regime BP felt comfortable in violating the EPA standards and the Clean Air Act. It's no secret why because the bureacrats who care about maximizing profits had the Toxic Pro Human Pain and Suffering Party of Deferments morons using their power and position to declare any curbs on pollution is the equivalent of kissing Al Gore's butt.

Update:

The Two Truths Theory

The Enemies of Reason have a certain blind look. ~The Duelists (1977) directed by Ridley Scott adapted from the short story by Joseph Conrad.

The 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin approaches and those who seek to roll back knowledge to the Dark Ages are busily at work trying to litigate mythology into the teaching of Biology, Geology, Anthropology, Paleontology, Astronomy, Medicine and Education. Namely, science is false because it disagrees with holy revelation.

But, I do have a memo from the 12th century to the Creationists out there: Science and Religion are not incompatible.

At least so say the Medieval Scholastics. Those men when faced with reality and the newly rediscovered works of the Ancient Greeks understood revelation could not account for the observable world and, in order to reconcile their myths with reality, crafted several philosophical edifices to buttress their beliefs.

The most famous was the attempt by Thomas Aquinas to reconcile the "truth" of revelation with empirical observable fact by using reason to prove the existence of god. However, Aquinas is disingenuous because what he was attempting to do was shoe horn Aristotle and evidence from the real world into the corset of Catholicism. He already knows the "truth". His appeals to reason are to reach an already revealed conclusion.

More impressive than Aquinas were the Averroists, after the muslim Ibn Rushd, who created the the Dual Truth Theory of Reason and revelation. There is one truth shown by the observable world and another through holy revelation and the human mind is not capable of merging the two, due to it's inherent limitations. Of course, the muslin fanatics had him condemned for placing reason on par with faith and as a result the engine of scientific advancement passed from islam unto the West.

And there in lies the interesting parallel. For the modern creationists are attempting to accomplish the same work the Berbers of the 13th century. Destroy the upstart philosophers and return the holy word to prominence.

If, Darwin, Wallace and those who've built modern science upon their theories, disagree with the bible? Then, the theories are incorrect and need be burned.

Eviloution is a Communist Plot

It is a plot to Destroy Americans' belief in God. And when you follow down the slope (which may or may not be slippery) to Destroy America.

A clear piece of evidence emerged when The Chinese Communists concocted this latest piece of eviloution propaganda:

Scientists in China finds major dinosaur site.

However, the commies were quite, quite sloppy and some tidbits, which reveal this to be a fraud, can be found in the Commie's lackey media outlet the BBC:

The researchers, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, say they have unearthed 7600 dinosaur bones since March in Shandong province. Hmmm, since March you say? Obviously the Commies have been making fake bones, sticking them in the ground and uncovering them after aging them.

Detailed information on the fossil find is not expected to be published in scientific journals until later in 2009. And why? Because the clear falsity of the dinosaur plaster molds would be uncovered by William Demski or Denise O'Leary.

The scientists hope the find will help to explain why the creatures died out. Well, that can be explained very easily. World Wide Flood killed all the Behemoth(s) of the bible.

I can only hope as we delve into the Year of the Darwin (sounds strangely like the way the Chinese Communists use their calendar the year of this or that...) that Eviloution will be destroyed and children in all levels of schooling in America will be able to respond to every question with the ontological answer: God did It.

Global Warming

"You fool look around, the planet's destroying itself!" - William Shatner
"I know! Exhilarating isn't it?" - Christopher Lloyd
~ Star Trek III

Global Warming, as the result of man's actions, is not proved Science. However, like so many issues, the environment has been captured by political partisans and turned into an all or nothing litmus tests. Either you are a sycophantic Al Gore butt kisser or you must allow coal plants to directly pump smoke from their plants into day care centers.

The recent push has been Clean Coal Campaign. I know there are several types of coal and each grade of coal has differing qualities, minute contents and burns differently. I also know the cause of Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis (the infamous Black Lung Disease) isn't at all mysterious.

I think coal can be used but I'm conflicted because I know from reading and official statements many of those who fervently deny Global Warming also just as fervently deny Evolution and seem to be against any sort of regulation on air, water and ground pollution. And this leads to things of which I am not conflicted, say when British Petroleum successfully lobbies the State Government of Indiana to poison people by continuing to dump Mercury directly into Lake Michigan.

Mercury is toxic, people including Chicagoans drink water from Lake Michigan, people eat fish from the Lake. It is unacceptable for such direct poisoning of people to continue merely because a few grubby dollars have been thrust into the right hands.

Also, the quite ridiculous and now extinct Clean Coal Carolers didn't add anything constructive to the debate and fortunately superwoman Rachel Maddow corrected described what Frosty the Coal Lump really was:

"But what strikes me is that this is a PR technique that is aimed at the American consumer. This is broadly trying to make Americans like the idea of coal and feel cuddly about it." (From the Rachel Maddow Show 12/11/08).

What needs to be done is those wedded to the Right/Left divide need to expunge the fanatics and come together in attempt to dispassionately study the issue and come to some unbiased conclusions. Of course this will never happen and we'll be left with:

"If we don't help each other, we'll die here!" - William Shatner
"Perfect. Then That's the way it shall be." - Christopher LLoyd
~ Star Trek III

You Gotta Catapult the Propaganda

"When it came to that 'Bridge to Nowhere' I said thanks." ~ Sarah Palin.

That is the true quote for Palin. Of course, she took the money but why not lie. If you repeat the lie again and again eventually people will believe you.

And unlike the famous assertion a lie makes it halfway round the world before the truth gets out of bed, the problem of lies, lies in our big confused brains and the use of propaganda.

Those who like the Palin pick will not allow any kind of problems to confuse them. They know she is a righteous pick. Their minds are made up. So it doesn't matter how many times you point out the real record of the her accepting the monies earmarked for the bridge.

But the core issue here is the use of propaganda to confuse and control society. Humans have a sloppy memory system that is good at recall but not good at exact sources or rigid annotation. This is why as Carl Sagan elegantly pointed out in Cosmos,

2,500 years ago, there was a glorious awakening in Ionia... A new concept developed, one of the great ideas of the human species...

The Scientific Method. Which led to the great flowering of knowledge in Greece and to the creation of the modern world. Systematic thinking swept away superstitions, although some are reasserting themselves, and minimized human error and subjective and fallible human ideas.

But, then Obama is a muslim and Palin is God's choice...