Creationism = Paganism

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

Okay, here’s the quote of the day:

"Believing that God created the universe in six days is a form of superstitious paganism"

Now, it’s your turn.  Who made this claim?

Was it the ACLU?  Some atheist organization?

Nope.  It was…

The Vatican!

This not going to go down well with evangelicals:

Believing that God created the universe in six days is a form of superstitious paganism, the Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno claimed yesterday.

Brother Consolmagno, who works in a Vatican observatory in Arizona and as curator of the Vatican meteorite collection in Italy, said a "destructive myth" had developed in modern society that religion and science were competing ideologies.

He described creationism, whose supporters want it taught in schools alongside evolution, as a "kind of paganism" because it harked back to the days of "nature gods" who were responsible for natural events.

Brother Consolmagno argued that the Christian God was a supernatural one, a belief that had led the clergy in the past to become involved in science to seek natural reasons for phenomena such as thunder and lightning, which had been previously attributed to vengeful gods. "Knowledge is dangerous, but so is ignorance. That’s why science and religion need to talk to each other," he said.

So there you have it.  Scientists have always said that creationism is bad science.  Now the Vatican is saying that creationism is bad theology.

Can we declare creationism dead now and return to, you know, the 21st century?

AP Poll

Ken AshfordCongressLeave a Comment

31% of conservatives think that Democrats should control Congress.  When you think about it, that’s an astoundingly high number.

Friday iPod Random Ten

Ken AshfordRandom MusingsLeave a Comment

  1. Dancing Queen – Mamma Mia! Broadway Cast Recording
  2. Nobody Does It Better – Carly Simon
  3. The Boxer – Simon & Garfunkel
  4. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Elton John with Billy Joel
  5. Prologue – Renaissance
  6. Undertow – Suzanne Vega
  7. Our Lips Are Sealed (a capella) – Tufts Jackson Jills
  8. Rock The Casbah – The Clash
  9. Get Closer – Seals & Crofts
  10. Theme from "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" – from the movie of the same name

Definitely a late 70’s, early 80’s vibe coming from the podmeister today.

Marie Jon’s Romance Tips

Ken AshfordRight Wing Punditry/Idiocy, Sex/Morality/Family Values1 Comment

Mariejon0504Social conservative Marie Jon over at Renew America pens some advice for women:

Forty years of feminist philosophy has brought severe reproof for just about everything the male does. If we listen to the feminists, man is evil, stupid, and unjustly tyrannical.

When the truth is that women are evil.  To make this point, Marie links to an article entitled "Feminist Movement Betty Friedan Led Has Its Roots In The Occult, Necromancy, Demonic Spiritualism."

The feminist movement, which began in the early 60’s, has played a decisive role in denigrating the family. However, the main cause of family problems today is our self-centeredness.

Shorter Marie Jon: Feminism — with all its occult, necromancy and demonism — is terrible, but not as terrible as you, you selfish bitch.

God gives women affectionate power. Men are born out of a women’s womb. They spend their lives yearning for a woman’s acceptance and approval.

Right.  Being birthed from the vaginal canal of a woman made us guys feel rejected.

Man is putty in the hands of the woman he loves.

Use this to your advantage, girls!

Give him direct communication, respect, appreciation, good food, and good loving’ and he will do just about anything you wish, foolish or not.

Love’ that good loving’.

God made women verbal creatures, which can frustrate men with an overwhelming amount of talk. Instead of expecting her husband to be "a girlfriend," the wise wife should choose the proper topic and timing of discussions.

And leave incoherent rambling to her online columns at Renew America.

Take whatever he says at face value.

Because men always have a good bead on their feelings, and express themselves well.

Women tend to overanalyze men. They are not that complicated.

Well, that’s true.  We’re putty, remember?

Women need love just as they needs air to breathe.

Read that sentence in a Popeye voice.  It’s even funnier.

[Ephesians 5:31] commands a wife to respect her husband. Why? He needs respect as he needs air to breathe.

So both men and women need(s) air to breathe.  Thanks for the tip.

Men long for their wives attention, affection, and affirmation.

I think Marie Jon’s apostrophe ran away from this sentence, and set up shop next to "good loving" above.

Respect involves paying attention to what they do.

Spy on them.  Read their emails.  That kind of stuff.

Men and women have a different language of love. Every man and woman wants to be appreciated for who they are and what they do. Keep an "Appreciation Journal" to help remind yourself of the things your mate does that you appreciate.

Because otherwise, you’ll forget.  You’ll forget because you’re a ditzy selfish woman with no recall ability.

Thank each other for being faithful.

You know, if my wife came out of the blue and thanked me for being faithful, my suspicion meter would go through the roof.

Love your spouse with kindness and respect, and receive all the fantastic perks.

You see, love works on a barter system, girls.  Pure economics.

When love, respect and appreciation are openly expressed, a happy home is it’s own rewards.

Also — when love, respect and appreciation are openly expressed, grammar and punctuation just don’t seem to matter anymore.  In fact, proper grammar and punctuation probably have their roots in 1960’s feminism.

The American family needs to return to godly principals.

Because we have too many ungodly principals, like that awful Mr. Skinner on "The Simpsons".

Republican Priorities

Ken AshfordBush & Co., Congress, Republicans, War on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

Josh Marshall notes that Sen. Elizabeth Dole has remarkable candor when it comes to expressing Republicans’ priorities lie this year :

It all started earlier this evening when TPM Reader HH was on the receiving end of one of Dole’s blast emails begging contributions for the Republican senate committee.

Says Dole, in her pitch: "If Democrats take control of the Senate in ’06, they will cancel the Bush tax cuts, allow liberal activist judges to run our courts and undermine all Republican efforts to win the War on Terror. Even worse …" Now, here you know it’s got to be bad. Even I got a little worried and considered sending in some money since losing the War on Terror for America would already be a pretty bad thing for the Democrats to do. But … well, let’s rejoin Dole in mid-moonbat. "Even worse, they will call for endless congressional investigations and possibly call for the impeachment of President Bush!"

You read it right.

What’s "even worse" than losing the War on Terror?  Investigations into Bush!

Laura Bush Takes A Strong Principled Stand

Ken AshfordForeign AffairsLeave a Comment

Her views on the National Anthem in Spanish:

Asked her opinion on Wednesday in an interview with CNN’s John King, Mrs. Bush said, "I don’t think there’s anything wrong with singing it in Spanish."

She noted that "we are a nation of many, many languages" and that the country has already heard many versions of the anthem "like at the Super Bowl."

"What people want is it to be sung in a way that respects the United States and our culture," she said.

Now, the punchline:

But when it was pointed out that this position differed from her husband’s, Mrs. Bush had a different answer.

"Well, I think it should be sung in English, of course," she said.

So she was for the Spanish National Anthem before she was against it … just seconds earlier.

UPDATE:  Think Progress says it’s got be a record for flip-flops: only 25 seconds.

Comet Watching

Ken AshfordScience & TechnologyLeave a Comment

The fragments of 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann, a comet, will be visible with the naked eye in the nighttime skies over the next few weeks.

No, it will not hit the Earth and destroy life as we know it.

If you can wade through the geekdom, this web page may help you determine when and where to look (scroll down past the news section).  Alternatively, the charts here may be easier to understand.  Remember, because the comet is breaking up, there are several "components" (or fragments) which have different tracks and viewing times.

The picture below is a recent shot of Fragment B:

073pb_20060404rl

American Idol: Down To Four

Ken AshfordPopular CultureLeave a Comment

Paris voted off which means Elliott dodged a bullet (yet again). 

I can’t imagine him lasting through next week.  Catharine will get a pass (at least for one more week) because she’s the only girl left.  Chris and Taylor are too strong.  But who knows?

Unfortunate about Paris.  She had spunk.  The best under-20 of the whole crowd (she’s 17).  Her best performance was early in the series, when she sang "Midnight Train To Georgia".