Pseudoscience is embraced, it might be argued, in exact proportion as real science is misunderstood…Religions are often the state-protected nurseries of pseudoscience.

From The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan.

He goes on to say that religion need not be involved in the propagation of pseudoscience — it happens anyway, naturally, just based on the fact that we can’t know science if we are not taught science. It’s not innate knowledge. The subtitle of Sagan’s book quoted above is “Science as a candle in the dark.” This is the point that is so important and so rarely comprehended: science has given us SO much. We live like kings because of science. The scientific method is one of the greatest inventions of humankind and it has paid ridiculous rewards to humanity.

Science is not the answer to everything but nor is it ever our enemy.

Carl Sagan Blog-a-thon

Free Josh Wolf

This kid is not a danger to society. At least he should be out on bail. Someone has a gigantic stick up their ass about this case and they should be fired. This is ridiculous.

First of all, let me say that I think everyone can and should celebrate their holidays however they want. Go nuts.

Second, to me, Christmas is a secular holiday. Rudolf, Santa, Christmas trees and Christmas lights, presents — all of it is fun stuff for children and adults alike and it has largely nothing to do with Christ. Even when I was a devote Christian (ok, maybe “devote” is a bit of an over-statement) I did not really associate Christmas with Christ. Even then I saw it as a bunch of mythology. Humans have celebrated the return of the sun for millennia. Traditions where you get together with family are fun whatever the reason.

Like I said, if Christmas is some big, profound religious holiday for you, fine, great, whatever. For most of us, it’s not. It’s secular.

I don’t believe in Christ, but I take no offense if people say Merry Christmas or have Christmas trees or any of that crap. I think most non-Christians have no problem with any of that. So the so-called war on christmas is a non-issue, in my opinion.

In fact, I think the secularization of Christmas is a good thing. Who says you can’t put little colored lights on your house if you are a pagan, a Jew or an atheist? In fact, I have a Christmas tree and little colors lights on my house this year because my son thinks they are pretty.

So Christians, go nuts. Merry Christmas us until you are blue in the face. The rest of us, enjoy yourself in whatever manner you choose. To me, it’s all about the pretty little colors lights.

You don’t have to be Christian to acknowledge that the Bible is the source of America’s values…America derives its laws from its Constitution. It derives its values from the Bible.

That’s our retarded friend Dennis Prager again.

This is completely false. For some reason, Christians and Jews like to believe that is the case. It’s not. The Bible is full of all sorts of stuff, some of which is the antithesis of American values. Some of it is in accordance with American values. You can basically get the Bible to agree with anything you want if you look hard enough.

I agree that historically speaking, our founders were theists. I also believe that they could foresee the troubles that were unavoidable if the government they formed was denominational.

America is made up of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindu, atheists and lots of other ideological bents. It is not helpful nor correct to claim that Christians and Jews embody the moral basis for America.

We live in a secular country. This was a brilliant idea by our founders. We shouldn’t let guys like Pranger trick us into thinking otherwise. I am a moral person and my values are shared by most Americans. I do not believe in the Bible. This is not a contradiction.

How ’bout giving America and Americans the benefit of the doubt for once?

Why indeed. Here’s a few thoughts.

1. A healthy suspicion of government is a good thing. Governments need watchdogs and skeptics. Absolutely they do. Such skepticism is not un-American.

2. A healthy concern for minorities of all types is a good thing.

3. We can’t go around saying we are the greatest country in the world unless we are humble, contrite and self-deprecating. We have to actually BE the greatest country in the world. That means we have to set examples of moral behavior and fairness. We have to take the interests of others into account.

For some reason the Right, which historically has a healthy suspicion of government, loses that as soon as their guys are in power. Only now are we seeing the Right get critical of Bush and co.

For some reason the Right thinks we can selfishly defend our best interests, ignoring the best interest of others and yet cry foul when others do the same (e.g. France).

For some reason the Right will stubbornly be on “America’s side” even when America is wrong. For example, the world now perceives us as a country willing to torture people.

Finally, the Left is concerned with what Thomas Jefferson called the tyranny of the majority. Majorities can run amock. That is my concern, for example, with this whole business about the Bible. Yes, a majority of Americans are Christian. That does not mean we are a Christian country when it comes to our laws or who can represent us in public office.

So I think the Left wants to make the country better and the Right is willing to let us slide on a lot of shit.

Lest anyone think I’m taking sides, I don’t think our congress men and women should put their hand on any religious book when they are sworn in. Or, to take a step back, they can put their hand on any book they want when they are sworn in.

But this retarded opinion is moronic and un-American. America, my friends, does not have a state religion. In fact we put it in our god damn constitution that it is illegal to have a state religion.

Prager says:

Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don’t serve in Congress.

Fuck him. Only Christians and Jews are allowed to serve in Congress? Fuck him. You better go brush up on the Constitution of the United States of America. I think the Koran is just as dumb as the Bible, but I believe in religious freedom, unlike much of the radical right wing.

There was a very interesting segment on Democracy Now! about this story. Amy Goodman interviews two of the men involved. While it is just one side of the story, it is pretty darn compelling. I think this was fear and paranoia in action.

I do understand that fear and paranoia may be high on airplanes right now. The major injustice that US Airways committed was to not fly these guys after the FBI had cleared them after 5 hours of interviewing them. I do blame the paranoid passengers, too, though. I think people incorrectly equate terrorism with Islam. As usual, I am surprised that atheists like me are the ones standing up for these guys. You know the crazy left, all obsessed with civil liberties and shit.

Well I got good news and bad news on my car. Volkswagen agreed to pay for the new transmission but are requiring that I pay for the new clutch. This is kind of odd because the clutch was destroyed by the failed transmission. Still, it reduces my bill from $3600 to about $900.

I do appreciate that they were willing to help me out on this. Technically, they have no legal responsibility to do so. On the other hand, it is very worrisome that, from my experience, a Volkswagen tranny is only good for about 30,000 miles.

I love this car for a lot of reasons. I think the human engineering is very well done. I’m a little worried about the technical engineering now, though.

Does Volkswagen suck? I guess I’d have to say….kinda.

From UTI we get this new low in ridiculousness: Woman faces fines for wreath peace sign

A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.

Some residents who have complained have children serving in Iraq, said Bob Kearns, president of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs. He said some residents have also believed it was a symbol of Satan. Three or four residents complained, he said.

…

Kearns ordered the committee to require Jensen to remove the wreath, but members refused after concluding that it was merely a seasonal symbol that didn’t say anything. Kearns fired all five committee members.

IT’S A FUCKING PEACE SIGN! When did that become a symbol of Satan? When did sentiments of peace turn into a divisive issue during the holiday season?

Bob Kearns now joins our fucktard hall of fame!

I’ve been a big fan of Volkswagen but we are at a crossroads. I have a 2001 Jetta that I bought new. When it had about 25,000 miles in it, the transmission blew up. It was under warranty so I didn’t worry about it too much. They fixed it for free. On Sunday night it just blew up again. I have under 70,000 miles on it. I’m averaging 35,000 per transmission. That is fucked up.

I had a 3rd party extended warranty, but that expired last February. The power train on these is warrantied for a long time, but they say that they won’t fix the same thing twice under the warranty? I asked about goodwill and he sounded like I may have a shot at that but I have to wait until the manager guy gets back after Thanksgiving.

The repair cost for this is $3600. I think Volkswagen should pay for it. If they don’t, they are lame. I did not abuse this car. I did all of the scheduled maintenance. The dealer is the only person that has touched that car, except for an oil change or two.

OK, VW, time to put up or shut up.

I’ll report back.