Terror god obliterates Oklahoma town

Tragically, Moore, Oklahoma was wiped off the map by a tornado yesterday afternoon. I can't imagine what the parents of missing kids are going through. Like most Americans, I feel tremendous sympathy for those affected by this event.

Like you, I turned to CNN to monitor the disaster. We humans have a hunger to know what happened to other people, what it was like for them, how many were injured or killed -- and in what manner. This is normal and helpful, in that it focuses attention on the community and gets donations and other aid flowing in. There's nothing wrong with any of this.

But as is the case during every national tragedy, every other word the TV reporters uttered was "god". It's sickening. The last thing people need in times of tragedy is lies. It's not helpful. I even heard reporters say that viewers should pray for the people of Moore. It's that accepted -- anyone can call for prayer at any time in our country. Americans lap it up and scream for more. God, god, god, god, god. Good, good, good, good, good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. (Which eventually resolves into USA! USA! USA! for the simple reason that all American roads lead toward jingoistic nonsense. It's the American way. USA! USA!)

Okay, back to the TV coverage. This Christian viewpoint -- and make no mistake, that's what it is: Christian, not Muslim or Jewish or Wiccan -- saturates the media in times of disaster. It's useless and dumb and it makes no sense. Seriously, who is this creature they believe in, and how vicious is he? Let's think like they do, for a moment.

Looking at this event through the eyes of believers, god destroyed a largely Christian, American town. After all, nothing happens without god's explicit approval. But why did he do this? And did he really have to kill little kids? Why?

And there's another big "why". Why, after god destroyed the town, would people pray to him? What would be the aim of these prayers? Are they meant to calm the wrath of the avenger god who just destroyed the town, a hospital and two schools? (If that's the case, maybe they should also sacrifice a pet or two, just to be on the safe side.) Seriously, god just axed your town. And now you're going to get on your knees and pray to him? Why?

But of course, there is no god. Weather caused this tornado. Hot air, cold air and wind combined in a perfectly natural way to create a deadly menace. God didn't have anything to do with this or anything else. There is no god.

I don't get religious thinking. It never makes sense. Why don't religious people ask these questions? Wingnuts of the religious variety are fond of saying that Sandy wrecked NY because it's a godless place. So why did the "all-good, loving" god destroy this little town?

Prayer. It's nonsense. It's everywhere. It's America.

Irritating, braindead governor violates Constitution

This article lays out the story. An atheist was upset when "he discovered nine Gideon bibles in the cabin he had rented with his family at Amicalola Falls State Park in north Georgia. When he complained, park managers removed the Bibles while they sought a legal decision from the Attorney General's Office."

That was the right move: take them out. The bibles represent government sponsorship of a particular brand of religion. (And, surprise, surprise! That brand is Christianity! Who could have guessed?) Unfortunately, Georgia's braindead governor, Nathan Deal, reversed the decision and the Gideon Bibles were returned to the rooms.

Here's the fun part. When Deal did this, he said "any religious group was welcome to donate literature." Indeed. So now an atheist organization -- American Atheists -- has offered books on atheism and insisted they be placed inside the rooms, alongside the bibles. The state response is (ahem) allegedly forthcoming.

Listen, American Atheists is doing exactly the right thing. But those Gideon bibles should not be in Georgia's cabins and lodges. And nothing can make that right.

The only time a bible should be in one of these travel residences is when a dingbat religious person brings his or her own bible into the room. And then, as is the case with dog droppings, the religious person should be responsible for bagging the bible and taking it out of the room when they leave. You can't just leave filth behind for others to find.

Governor Nathan Deal is a caveman and he's violating the constitution. That should be clear to all.

God bless Aaron Swartz

This is important. There is now a new way to blow the whistle on evildoers -- despite president Obama's KGB-style war on whistleblowers. Now you can report "sensitive" information about the overlords in complete safety. No one will ever be able to track it back to you.

And best of all, Aaron Swartz -- the activist who was coerced into suicide by the US government -- invented the way to do this. Go, Aaron!

Hat tip: Ed Brayton.

I seem to be writing

The next novel calls. If I don't write it, you'll never read it. So I have to get cracking. Alas, this leaves little time for blogging. Have no fear -- I'll be back at some point. In the meantime, I want you to miss me terribly. Okay?

Consider this an open thread.

Why I'm an atheist

God.

Don't get excited. The truth is I don't have much to say on this topic. I'm an atheist because the concept of gods is absurd. It has never seemed even slightly appealing or real to me, though I was raised in a Roman Catholic household.

The rest of my nuclear family believes in the nonsense. So do most of the people who live on this planet. I'm shocked that this is the case, but it is what it is. People believe in nonsense that a little child should be able to poke holes through. And they bully and kill in the name of their fairytale "god". Could anything be more reprehensible? To kill for a nonexistent being -- there's really no behavior worse than that. And yet it's going on all around the world.

How could there be a god that created Earth "for" humanity, when there are childhood diseases that disfigure, cause pain and even kill? How? They talk about an all-good, loving god. Get real, folks. If your god is real, he is a psychopathic monster. Progeria, anyone?

So there was no moment when I turned my back on religion. Even when I was six years old, religion seemed a highly suspect enterprise. As far as I could tell, it was just a bunch of old men telling fairytales. That everyone can't see this is shocking to me. Logic, people. Think for a moment. (Oh, I forgot. You're not allowed to think. Never mind.)

There has never been a scintilla of evidence to support the idea that there is a god. Nothing. And everything around us, the very universe itself as revealed through science, assures us that reality came into existence without the help of a sky god.

And that's it, really. There is no need for a god. The idea doesn't make sense and it creates a race of slaves who don't value their lives (or ours, or our planet) because they believe the important stuff will happen after they die.

Duh. How can anyone believe in gods?

Walking as exercise

Walking is boring. In fact, it's deadly boring, at least out here in the sticks. I mean, what is there to look at? People's McMansions? Plants? The occasional bird? Meh.

I grew up in Manhattan, where walking was fun. There were always zillions of people to look at, new stores cropping up, and the occasional street event to stare at. I used to walk many miles on a daily basis in the city, like every other Manhattanite. It's what you do in the city: you walk. (Ever notice that city dwellers aren't as fat as suburbanites? This is why.)

But out here in the woods, walking is mere walking. There are no frills. Oy. Anyway, of late I've dragged my sister into my routine -- and that simple move fixed everything. Now, we talk as we walk. And as a result, we don't notice anything out there. Hooray!

I started walking because I didn't want to reach the PZ point, where my heart collapsed from lack of exercise (due to sitting at a computer all day, natch). Now that I've been walking for a couple of months, I must say I feel better. It's kind of weird. For instance, at night when I watch baseball games on TV, I enjoy standing in front of the TV. It just feels wrong to sit in a chair.

It's even weirder than that. My sister and I find ourselves wanting to take a second walk in the evening. So far, we haven't acted on this impulse. But at some point I think we will. Exercise begets more exercise.

Still, it ain't half the fun it is in Manhattan. Guess I'll always be a city boy at heart. Do you walk for exercise? Does it bore you? Do tell.

So what's Timmy been up to?

Cardinal Timothy Dolan is like shingles -- painful and popping up all the time. If he's not attacking gays, he's attacking nuns. And when he gets bored of the latter, he attacks politicians. Which brings us to the subject of this post.

NY's Governor Cuomo plans to enshrine (no pun intended) federal abortion rights within New York law. This way if Republican nuts manage to overturn Roe v. Wade, abortion will still remain safe and legal in NY. As a result, Cuomo has awakened the sleeping Timmy monster.

New York’s Timothy Cardinal Dolan warned Gov. Cuomo to be ready for a holy battle if he tries to strengthen state abortion-rights laws.

Always with the false religion, that Timmy. But wait, it gets better.

When asked how Cuomo could still consider himself a Catholic in good standing while also promoting abortion legislation, Dolan responded: “That’s something that I talk turkey with him about.”

Always with the threats, that Timmy. But wait, didn't that remark sound a bit too strong? Maybe he needs to have his emissaries pull it back in the media. After all, was he really going to threaten Cuomo with excommunication? That is the thrust of his remarks; this can't be denied. Or can it?

Dolan spokesman Joseph Zwilling later said the cardinal did not mean to suggest that Cuomo would not be a Catholic in good standing if he went forward with the bill.

Of course not! Heaven forfend. Dear, sweet Timmy would never say anything vicious like that. Perhaps he "misspoke".

“The subject he talks turkey about was abortion,” Zwilling said.

Uh, no. It wasn't. The question he was asked concerned Cuomo's status as a "Catholic in good standing". He was threatening Cuomo's soul.

Now, there's no such thing as a soul, of course. So these remarks were as meaningless as everything else that Timmy says. But he definitely was threatening Cuomo's soul. 

Dolan is a beastly creature. He shows this every time he opens his mouth. It's too bad he wasn't elected pope. He would have tanked the church in 20 years, tops.

Major Tom's touchdown

Using my iPad and the free NASA app, I watched the descent of the Soyuz space capsule last night. It was bringing our troubador astronaut back to Earth. I worried all the way down, watching this flimsy-looking parachute (two, actually) that was the only thing holding the capsule in place. Brrrrr.

But it all worked out. Major Tom is back on Earth. And hey, it was really nice to watch it live. I love my iPad.

Noted in passing

Religion is like Tinkerbell. If you don't applaud, it will fade away. So don't applaud.

Aliens, evolution and speciation

Let's call life a spark. It is that spark that somehow emerges from matter, making it move, making living creatures.

Using this definition, let's consider something. If you've studied evolution, you know that speciation occurs when a group of creatures become permanently isolated from another group of the same type of creatures. Think Darwin's finches on various islands. The conditions differ and this causes changes in the finches that live on each island. Given enough time, the two groups become more and more different until they can be said to be two different species. That's speciation, and it's the reason there are so many novel creatures on Earth.

Let's combine and stretch these two concepts (life being a spark, and distance allowing for speciation) and apply this to the universe at large. Somewhere out there, conditions are right for life to have occurred on many, many planets. And those planets now host a panorama of life as diverse as the range of life we see on Earth.

From our vantage point on Earth, we would call the resulting creatures "aliens". They would be wildly different from us. But really, if the spark of life that occurred on Earth billions of years ago was transplanted to another planet with conditions suitable for life, it would also have evolved into "alien" creatures.

The important point here is that the "life", in both instances, is the same. It is the spark, the beginning of movement and continuation and purpose. We still don't know how this occurs, but that it does is evident.

What I'm trying to say is that it's all an extended experiment in speciation. That planet is so distant from our own. And the conditions there are wildly dissimilar to those we find on Earth. Therefore the life on that planet conforms to the "alien" conditions it encounters. But really, this is just an example of speciation brought about by isolation.

If this observation is true, all life forms are our brothers. Because all life comes from the same source: the spark that is inherent in matter.