David Atkins chimes in

I wrote a post the other day about the evil of Islamists destroying one-of-a-kind history and science documents and relics. Today, David Atkins chimes in on digby's site.

There is something deeply barbaric about casually, intentionally destroying humanity's heritage. Something terrifying, and something new to this world in the modern era. Something more inherently barbaric than run-of-the-mill murder or even mass murder.

Religion, at least of the Islamist variety, is the sworn enemy of mankind.

Religion is constant enemy of progress

Fleeing Islamist extremists torched a library containing historic manuscripts in Timbuktu, the mayor said Monday, as French and Malian forces closed in on Mali's fabled desert city.

"It's truly alarming that this has happened," he told The Associated Press by telephone from Mali's capital, Bamako, on Monday. "They torched all the important ancient manuscripts. The ancient books of geography and science. It is the history of Timbuktu, of its people." 

This is similar to events that occurred in the Dark Ages. Then, Christians took science books, bleached the writing from their pages, and painted prayers on them. Out with productive science, in with useless religion. We lost nearly 1,000 years of human progress then. Will we lose all of science today, as religion rears its ugly head all over the world?

I worry that, given a cataclysm such as a world-wide epidemic that reduced the human world population by half or more, religious lunatics would take over the world and disavow all scientific knowledge. It's very possible. This is one reason (among many) why we must rid the world of religion. It is and always has been humanity's enemy.

In case you thought Obama was rational

I'll bet you thought Obama would ease the ban on stem cell research. Silly you. When the bill came to him, he vetoed it. After all, we don't want anyone getting well through much-needed research.

Via digby:

The president said: "We must remember that embryonic stem cells come from human embryos that are destroyed for their cells. Each of these human embryos is a unique human life with inherent dignity and matchless value. We see that value in the children who are with us today."

"These boys and girls are not spare parts," said the President.

No, what they are is garbage, given the veto. Because that's what we do with these embryos if they aren't used for research. They're tossed in the garbage.

The president is not rational. I never thought he was.