That's Not Cool, More Atheist Haters

OooooKkkkaaaayyyyyy. Team Atheist, as you already know, we are hated-what else is new...well, I'll tell ya...we have also been framed. If you thought xenophobia was only for minorities and Islamophobs-n-shit, well think again.

Pastor Frank Moore, of Mcelroy Road Church of Christ, commissioned a Christian billboard with the very Christian-y message "There is no god. don't believe everything you hear." Uhh (yeah!)..thanks pastor...for doing some good atheist work. If you think it sounds like a billboard from Freedom From Religion Foundation or American Atheist that is because it does. Pastor Moore intentionally designed his believer-y billboard to mimic the awesome atheist billboards.

The thingy about it is that Christian peeps are getting mad (and can ya blame them). Moore intended the message to be something like "those stupid atheist billboards say things like this, don't believe them. Jesus is Lord (my words, not his). Well, apparently Moore's message is not understood (because it sounds like one of our billboards) and believers are hella mad.

In other news, but related to the hate of atheist here in American...Pastor Mike Stahl, head of Church of the Living water wants to make a national registry for, da da daaaa, atheist. Why you ask...

"Brothers and Sisters , I have been seriously considering forming a ( Christian ) grassroots type of organization to be named “The Christian National Registry of Atheists” or something similar . I mean, think about it. There are already National Registrys for convicted sex offenders, ex-convicts, terrorist cells, hate groups like the KKK, skinheads, radical Islamists, etc.."

Yeah, just think about it. So dude compares us to terrorist, the KKK and hate groups, why, because we do not believe in dudes specific Gawd. Sheez. If anything, we need to stop Baptist Predators. The hate of atheist is so stupid pants, and you can quote me on that one. There is not "good" or reason to inform the public that individuals do not have the same belief as others. WTF. Distrusting atheist is comparable to distrusting Japanese peeps in WWII or not trusting Islamic peeps right now. I'll say it again...WTF.


Well, I heart ya guys. Team Atheist forever.

What Is The Backlash About Anyways

My chubby east Coast  sister that blogs for USA Today (and I'm so proud of her).

Many say that because of 9/11 The New Atheists had emerged and since has become a verbal force to be reckoned with. Personally I think it was the Bush era that. That doesn't matter. What matters is that because of the New Atheists religion is no longer exempt from criticism. The free ride is over and if religion is a gonna (try) influence the history and science classrooms, politics in general, as well as women's bodies and the rights of GLBT, then in all fairness you will be scrutinized and criticized. After all that is fair, is it not. Well, not if you are a religious blogger or commentor.  Recently the New York Times Op-Ed article correctly ask's that political candidates be "grilled" on their beliefs. The backlash among the religious is tremendous...and stupid.

Religion is the most important umbrella topic that concerns the world today. There are religious wars where innocent civilian lives are being lost, people are being displaced and every important topic you can think of (stem cell research, environment, Israel etc...) has a religious element somewhere inside of it. Just look at one paper, USA Today, and see how many times the topic of religion comes up on any single day, everyday.

Muslim Americans in American after 9/11. Islamophobia is on the verge of going all Japanese xenophobia alla' WWII. All Muslims are not terrorists (as some on the right want you to believe), in fact, most are moderate.

Convicted young girl fucker Warren Jeffs is in a coma (and no one cares).

Then, aides for Michele "Crazy Eyes" Bachmann said that Crazy Eyes was making a joke when she recently said that the East Coast hurricane was a result of, guess...Gawd. Yes, it is pretty funny that Gawd killed many people and destroyed hella stuff. I'll vote for ya, not.

Guns, Gawd and babes. Two outta three is not bad, err, or good.

The backlash against the NYT Op-Ed article is dookie pants. You betcha politicians need to be "grilled" on there beliefs. The new buzz word is 'dominionism' (evangelical Christians and their duty to rule the world), if that is not important, then I do not know what is. Isn't it important for voters to know if a candidate holds the bible in higher regard than, let's say, that constitution thingy that people keep talking about. I think it is.

The "backlashers" against the mere idea of questioning presidential candidates on their beliefs tells me that some are still stuck in pre 9/11 thinking. The New Atheist (that's us folks) demand a place at the political table and dagnabit, you betcha we can question religion.

Keep your awesome atheist noses to the secular grindstone peeps. There is lot's o' work to be done.

* New Yorker Op-Ed article

* The always great Religion Dispatches. The Pundits and Dominionists.

Galileo Galilei Was Wrong (?)

The world revolves around me. Wait, I'm the erffs.

I always mention that conservative Christians still debate things like Roe v Wade and the Scopes Monkey Trial and evolution in general...but this takes the cake. There a Catholic peeps that are bringing back that good 'ol model, and by that I mean incorrect, of an erffs centered universe. Forget science, the Catholics are speaking.

"Heliocentrism becomes dangerous if it is being propped up as the true system when, in fact, it is a false system," said Robert Sungenis, leader of a budding movement to get scientists to reconsider. "False information leads to false ideas, and false ideas lead to illicit and immoral actions — thus the state of the world today.… Prior to Galileo, the church was in full command of the world, and governments and academia were subservient to her (LA Times)."

Maybe Islam is correct. Ya know, turtles and elephants.

So it's not science, it's a conspiracy to take away the power of the church, after all these centuries...and experiments...and that proof that skeptics and scientist keep talking about...it a conspiracy. Luckily every sane person that was interviewed for the article says, don't trip...we are sun centered, or heliocentric.

And then again there is this wiki quote...

A proportion of the public still believes in the geocentric model. Approximately one in five Americans and Britons believe that the Sun revolves around the Earth, according to surveys in 1999, 2006.^[75][76] Approximately one third of Russians believe in the geocentric model, according to a survey in 2011.^[77]

Howz about everything revolves around this.

I dunno call me crazy...I believe science.

*LA Times article on the loonies that want to return to an erffs centric model.

Voting, Dominionism and the Northern California Chocolate Snake

I dunno why peeps keep sayin' she's hot. I'm hotter than she is.

I heart my chubby, protestant, East Coast sister and her blog for USA Today. She blogs about politics but she just reports the facts (like a real journalist, not a blogger). In her article today she talks about how Michele "Crazy Eyes" Bachmann recently said something like...the hurricanes and earthquakes on the East Coast is Gawd punishing us. So come on people, let Gawd back into politics and the public square (my words not hers, but that is the 'jist' everyone always talks about). Needless to say, that is very dangerous.

Was it on Saturday, @vjack over at Atheist Revolution made his Idiot of the Week none other than Pat Roberston, again (BTW, check in every week for his I.o.t.W). The Pat-Man recently said...

"Ladies and gentlemen 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 say this is one nation under God. Now there’s a crack in it, there’s a crack in it and it’s closed up. Is that a sign from the Lord? Is that something that has significance or is it just result of an earthquake? You judge, but I just want to bring that to your attention. It seems to me symbolic. When Jesus was crucified and when he died the curtain in the Temple was rent from top to bottom and there was a tear and it was extremely symbolic, is this symbolic? You judge."

Dude are ya praying or trying to pinch a loaf, or as we say in Nor Cal...searching for the Northern California chocolate Snake.

And a couple of months back everyone's favorite news person, Bill "The tides go in, the tides go out" O' Riley said he doesn't know why or how the tides work, so it must be Gawd, right (actually it is the gravitational pull of the moon).

So here we are with a very important election cycle coming up and within a matter of months three separate and super stupid remarks from the Christian and Conservative Right. Traveling the Mighty Atheist Blogosphere and reading hella newspapers and magazines a day, it seems as if the prog-libs have already declared victory in the next election. The reasoning is how can the public vote for such weirdo's (Perry, Bachmann and Palin), this will be an easy victory. I have one word for people that believe that...remember the Al Gore election. We were supposed to win that one right. Remember.

Really peeps, the candidates are saying that plate tectonics and weather patterns are unknowns and that magically it is their particular Gawd that is creating havok, because why...because we have rejected him and need to bring him back to the public square. My last post was about dominionism and American exceptionalism and that is what Perry and Bachmann are showing. They are ignoring the science and they are substituting superstition in it's place. We know better and we should know better, but that is not the case all the way across the board.

Lately I have been asking, are there more of them, or are there more of us. Are there more science minded skeptic, nonblievers out there that will vote liberal, or are there more believers-believers that will vote for Gawds party no matter what policies are debated. I live in Nor Cal and it is the mecca of atheism and liberalism (even tho the Tea Party launched their "tour" in beautiful Napa last weekend), so I do not know what it is like in the rest of the nation. That is why I have fear.

I fear that the prog-libs will lose this next election and we will go back to Bush era democracy (please not another Texas president). Will we go Al Gore in this election and stay home and not vote because we know in our hearts that we will win.

We can't let that happen. It too important.

Dominionism And The GOP

Wow, just read an epic article at Religion Dispatches about Lisa Miller's op-ed article criticizing "left" leaning journalists and how they are unfair to criticize GOP candidates that are openly and overly evangelical Christians. Miller's claim is that the "left" is unfairly demonizing GOP candidates because they are all Christian-y. Gasp! A complain like that is equivalent to a rapist complaining that the person dude raped is speaking up. One of the beauties of The New Atheists is that the era of Christian privilege and the "no no" of questioning and scrutinizing religion is over. Apparently Miller did not get that memo.

By all means the GOP candidates, and any candidate for that matter, should be questioned about their beliefs; esp. the likes of Perry and Bachmann and Palin. They all subscribe to American Exceptionalism and, my newly learned term, dominionism

American exceptionalism is the (incorrect) belief that America is naturally better than the rest of the world because, get ready for this...Gawd said so. Dominionism is...

 "...in the context of politics and religion, is the tendency among some politically active conservative Christians to seek influence or control over secular civil government through political action, especially in the United States. It is also known as subjectionism.^[1] The goal is either a nation governed by Christians, or a nation governed by a conservative Christian understanding of biblical law. The use and application of this terminology is a matter of controversy (wiki)."

It is like Christian sharia law. It is elitist in nature and exclusive. It is our way and beliefs, or the highway to heck. This kinda philosophy is unforgiving and you cannot be patriotic unless you subscribe to that thinking. The Seven Mountains theology, dominionism, is what we are up against. "They" have entire universities, radio and TV stations and they are specifically training their Christian warriors to be capable of dominating and taking over. Business, media, the arts and entertainment are all within the plan to take over. Their intent is to defeat the "enemies of faith" which is everything from secularism to the Obama administration (or anything that is not them).

While it is true that the average peep does not know what dominionism or American exceptionalism is that does not mean that the leaders do not. Increasingly the GOP (Gawds party) is using vocabulary that is directly or indirectly conditioning the American public to their beliefs. Often times we hear the reference to "the shining city on the hill." That is Mathew 5:14 that says, " You are the light of the world. A city that is set on the hill cannot be hidden." It is an early example of American exceptionalism and just like so many other bible passages...it is used to separate and divide. It is used for "us v. them" and the propagation of "we are better than you".

You can't rob a bank and complain that you only got so much money. You can't punch someone in the face and complain that dudes tooth cut your hand. You can't claim discrimination because one job out of ten went to a woman or a minority. And you cannot claim that "left" leaning journalist are incorrectly doing their jobs because they are reporting on the beliefs and philosophies of presidential candidate...just because you don't agree with them. Unless you are Miller.

Sheez.

* Super good article from Religion Dispatches.

* The Lisa Miller article on Washington Post On Faith where she complains about the "left" leaning journalism and how they are unfair to Christian GOP candidates.

* Dominionism wiki.

* A Christian Plot For Domination? The Daily Beast.

* American Exceptionalism wiki.

* The Dominion Process. Very good explanation of what it is and just might be a post unto itself. Maybe.

* City upon a hill wiki.

Christian Warriors In The News Again

Thank you Spanish police. 

Shame on the mainstream media for not reporting this and thank (nonexistent) Gawd for the super awesome Twitter (otherwise I would never have heard of this.).

Last week Spanish police arrested Jose Perez Bautista because he was a gonna go all Christian Warrior and, ya know, go all sarin gas on peeps protesting Pope Benedict XVI. The peaceful protesters are pissed because the Spanish government is spending 50 million euros, that is tax payer "skrilla" in dire economic times, on the super powerful and rich Pope.  But not on the 24 year old Mexican chemistry students watch, well, at least until he posted his intentions online and the police got involved.

Team Atheist doesn't do stupid things like this. What is that great saying, something like...People can do bad things, but it takes religion to make people do really super bad fucked up things (ya know the one, right). Time after time the elitist nature of bad extremist religion comes to the surface in the form of killin' peeps that think something different than what they believe and think. And yet we are called militant and extreme. Please!

From the comments in USA Today's On Faith Blog. The article is about the creepy Christian republican candidates for president and "if" religion matters in a candidate (and obviously it does).

North Ireland
Israel/Palestine
Iraq internal unrest (Shiite vs Sunni)
Bosnia Herzegovina
Kyrgyzstan
Iran
Côte d'Ivoire
Cyprus
East Timor
Sri Lanka

This is from the super powerful brain of Austin Cline. If you don't go to his About Atheism you should start going there, like, yesterday.

"So it's secularists and atheists who are "militant" and "fundamentalist," but they are the ones targeted for terrorist attacks and police brutality. You don't see any atheists trying to launch poison gas attacks on Catholic events. You don't see atheist police bashing Catholic heads at World Youth Day."

We are not militant, we write and read books and don't believe in your particular and specific God(s).

* On Faith USA Today. I really love going to all the faith blogs and religion news roundups and reading all the epic comments from Team Atheist. We totally dominate the comments sections.

* The 'iffy' Mail Online which is the 'biggest' paper to have an article on this. could be others, but I didn't see it.

* The brainiac Austin Cline

"Christians Can Jihad Too"

I Googled Christian Warrior and this came up.

I was gonna take today off (sorry so many breaks lately) but this is too good to pass up. A self described Christian Warrior has been accused of ranting (and being a super weirdo) leading up to him , ya know, firebombing a mosque in Oregon. Cody Crawford wanted to go eye for and eye style and f-up the mosque of the dude that, guess what, plotted to go all car bomb-y in Portland.

The judge in the case said that "this is an attack on religions (and I agree)." The Christian Warrior told police that Osmam Mohamod, get this...looks like the president. OK (?).

“You look like Obama. You are a Muslim like him. Jihad goes both ways. Christians can jihad too,” a court document quotes Crawford as telling a McMinnville officer Dec. 14."


OoooKkkkaaaayyyy. Any who,only Christians understand him, that is what he also said.

“only Christians could understand him, that he was a Christian warrior that they were persecuting,” and that “you will never know the truth about the mosque.” (Wow crazy, much)

And yet he claims innocence (frackin' rich I say. This guy is amazing.). Of course the neighbors say that he was always nice and even a kinda quiet guy (and those are the ones to watch out for, right). But the police and the family say otherwise. He had several run ins with the law and his own sister says that he told her that he works for the FBI. She also said the word "delusional." 

OK, so dude is innocent, or he is crazy. After all he did say that he didn't do it, right.“They’re all just normal people. We are all people.” 


So...WTF.

Look kinda epic (not the one in the article tho, just random). 

* Article at Washingtom Post On Fatih, which is really good for the religion news stuffs.

* This font size changing random thingy is...well...not that bad.

Get Your Feminist On...I Do.

I've been fortunate lately to have discovered some good feminist reading. Team Atheist should team up with the women's movement and the GLBT movement. Both have a great history and the New Atheist can learn a thing or two both from their histories and their organizations. Let's get right down to it, folks.

I could be wrong but blackfemlens is the blog of Sikivu Hutchinson. It is that or they just reprint her articles. Hutchinson is the answer to the question often asked, "Where are the female, black atheist.?" She also appears in the Black Agenda Report. Check both out.

I just discovered skeptifem just the other day. I was really impressed with the article Feminist Opposition to Porn v. Religious Opposition To Porn. The difference is that one has concerns about women being abused and the other has concerns about men and sinful thoughts. Guess which is which.

A little while back there was discussion in the mighty atheist blogosphere about the lack of female biblical scholars. Honestly I do not know if this person is a biblical scholar but she is going through the bible and posting about it from the female perspective. This One Shall Be Called Woman tallies the number of times the ladies are mentioned in the bible and under what circumstances (usually mentioned in the way that people talk about cattle and property. sheez). Quite an admirable task and I am admiring.

I was a gonna try and not mention sites that I have talked about before (so don't your feminist panties in a bunch if I have mentioned you before.sorry) but this one is too good. Feministing is a good hub page for everything feminist. If you go to one feminist site, this should be it (but of course you should go to more than that).

Feminist are in the minority as well as atheist, but if we team up, then our numbers will be greater. We have a common opponent in biblical literalism and institutionalized sexism. They claim moral superiority and have hijacked everything that is good and just. And that kind gentle and very good looking readers is what we, together, are going to take back; for the sake of secular society and for the sake of world peace.

Join us.

This is what my feminist six pack looks like. Just so ya know.

Get Your Vote On

Mmm, I missed this one the other day from the Chicago Tribune. Author James Kirk Wall asks the very important question who should Team Atheist, Team Secular and Team Skeptic vote for in the next election. There are obvious factors that all of American society must consider in this next election cycle like the economy and the environment, but it very well could be that the votes of the nonbelievers could tip the scale either way. We have concerns though.

The first one Wall introduces is...we are here and we are many. One of the great achievements of the New Atheists is that we are now recognized and dagnabit, we want a place at the political table. Our vote counts and it is many. 12% of the population is millions and millions. It doesn't matter if you are blue or red, if you are a nonbeliever that is your team and like I said earlier, we can tip the scales either way.

GLBT rights. The younger generation is so over hating the gay. That is something our parents and grandparents did. It just doesn't make sense to the younger generation to hate on same sex couples. As the numbers of religious peeps diminish, the numbers of GLBT supporters rises. That younger generation that I keep talking about just isn't going to church and they are not adopting the hate of their mothers and fathers.

Creationism in the science classroom, as I have said many times, is the first thingy that look at in a candidate. If you believe that creationism is equal to evolution and should be taught side by side in the same classroom, then you have to be very spectacular in other areas to get my vote. Richard "Papa Bear" Dawkins wrote a very eloquent letter to Gov. Rick Perry on this very topic.

The separation of church and state is violated left and right all of the time and I really wish the media would call politicians out on that (well see if that happens in this next election cycle). Let's see gov. Rick Perry just had his huge faith hoe down and the armed forces continually proselytize evangelical Christianity to the troops in the form of the super stupid spiritual fitness test, rock concerts and bible inscriptions (in place that they don't belong). This is why I keep pumping the idea of a secular society. Secular is for everyone. To promote one religion over another is just so unfair.

It doesn't matter if you want tax cuts or increases, or big government or small government, these secular issues go across the board. The education of the next generation will greatly effect this great nation on the global stage. Do we really want to teach creationism to children that are going to compete with India and China for jobs in science and technology. More than ever our vote, Team Atheist and Team Skeptic, is important and yes...it does count.

* Article Chicago Tribune.

Why indeed.

Glenn Beck, Israel and Armageddon

This holy-est of unions is, well...evil. Unfortunately Glenn Beck is back in the news (that was a very pleasant break, if not too short) because dude is in da da daaa, Israel. So what the heck is a Mormon doing in Israel. Christian Zionism of course.

Basically Christian Zionism is the belief that the formation of an Israeli state is in accordance with biblical prophecy that states when Jewish peeps return to the homeland (Israel) and then all hell breaks loose in the form of world war (and the destruction of the Jewish peeps), then American Christianism can finally start dinner because guess who's coming...Bejebuzz, err, Jesus.

That is correct folks. In order for the man who has been 2,000 years late for dinner (that book says he would return in the writer's lifetime) is a gonna make his second appearance. After that his dad will destroy the world and the lucky Christians that happened to practice the correct Christianity, out of hella Christianities, will literally rise into the air to live in cloudville.

When Armageddon happens we will all wear shorts like this.

It's quite pathetic that the Israeli government's only friend is Glenn Beck and the other American evangelical weirdos. The rest of the world hates them. Their friends, the evangelical American Christians, provide them with a lot of tourism money and even campaign contributions. There are some Israeli peeps that are, like, "no way," while there are some (to my surprise) that say things like "well, we do have a lot in common." Beck has been accused of bigotry and antisemitism by the Anti-Defamation League not once, but twice. So WTF.

Personally I wouldn't want to chill with someone that is only friending me at the moment so they can chill in a place called heaven, without me, and after dudes dad destroys the world. Sarah "The Barracuda" Palin and Michele "Crazy Eyes" Bachmann also believe in this type of end of times scenario. So don't be surprised when on the campaign trail they totally support Israel and perhaps, make a Glenn Beck type trip there.

* Good LA Times article.

* Yes Mormons consider themselves Christians.

The War On Science Funding

What happened to the GOP? Fo sho they are the party of "no", but now they are becoming the party of lies, untruths and deception. The war on science, and in this case science funding, has been going on for a while but it is in recent years, with the Christianization of the GOP, that the battle for research funding has become a war.

In these dire economic times politicians justly want to pinch pennies, after all good people are unemployed and families are struggling. But when the propaganda machine is rolled out and voters are deceived, then that is lame-o pants. Recently Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) made the claim that half a million dollars of tax payer money has been spent on shrimps on a treadmill. It would be totally bad...if it were true. The lie is that scientists spent money exercising shrimp, the truth is that shrimp on a treadmill is only part of the research and that the half a million dollars was spent on legitimate research.

Biologist Lou Burnett, "...and it suggests that much money was spent on seeing how long a shrimp can run on a treadmill, which was totally out of context." But voters wouldn't know that coming from the senator.

Another example from the Traditional Values Coalition (why do they always have names like that) claims that researchers spent 9.4 million to study, get ready for this...penis size. OK(?). The reality is that researchers were investigating sexually transmitted disease and no tax payer dollars were spent. Unfortunately once a group makes a statement like that the damage is already done.

The average voter doesn't have the time, or energy or even the want to investigate claims like this. Politics is learned through sound bites, one liners and emotion. The sad reality of it is that people do not even know why they know something (epistemology). They just hear a sound bite and think "yea, those scientists are wasting my money," or "Them dam immigrants are stealing jobs from good red blooded Americans (as if the average American would work in the fields. Right).

I used to have respect for the old school republicans. I was down for agreeing to disagree, but not anymore. When the GOP got hijacked by evangelical Christianity the battle emerged in the science classroom (evolution v  intelligent design), the history classroom (American exceptionalism and founding fathers) and now the battle to fund science.

There is a war going on peeps and we can't lose this one.

* NPR Shrimp on a treadmill.

Sitting On The Fence

Well my project called Nu Kriss Summer/Fall2011 is going crap-ola. The same goes for my project Nu Kriss: The Phoenix Arises From The Ashes...But I'm Still In The Ashes Part. This reinventing myself (to kill time as I wait for the meds to kick in) is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Let's what I have done so far.

I no longer follow sports. It has been months since I've watched any sports  or even read the sports section. The real test will be the upcoming football season. Forty Niner's, we had some good times baby...but the shit is over.

I'm not going to any more three day hippie camp out festivals. I can't explain how bad the last experience was and as of now (while waiting for the meds to kick in) I'm just not up to it. I could have worked at one this last weekend (lineup looked lame anyways) and one two weekends before (with a really great lineup), but I opted to be a homebody. There are two coming up that I can go to, but it doesn't look good. Super weirdo thing, I'm not even listening to music for pleasure right now and I'm certainly not playing any (thinking about giving my guitars and amps away). Music we have had a great history, but the shit is over baby.

With that is also the drugs. Oh my precious drugs. I'm really gonna miss that. Beautiful pills that let you feel relaxed and pain free (it sure is hard being a 42 y/o athlete) and perhaps I'm making this up but...I sure can drink more when I'm high on pills. Any who, that is Old Kriss. In fact it looks like me and Mary Jane are also a thing of the past. Peeps keep giving me weed, but it's too strong and it doesn't make me feel good. In fact it makes me feel bad. So c'ya later Mary, "E", mushrooms, mali, coke and anything else. Nu Kriss is sticking to the Prozac and delicious beer...and that is it.

1,000's of naked hotties and drugs...c'ya later.

OK, I'm babbling. There really is some atheism that I want to get down to concerning Nu Kriss. Change, letting go, redefining yourself whatever you want to call it, it doesn't come easy. Stuff like cutting my hair is still on the chopping block (and other stuffs) but the one I've been thinking about a lot is whether I should be a full fledged angry atheist or should I just stick to my Obama-esque, middle of the way, acomodationalist atheist stance.

Religion is a force of good and bad. I really do believe that if we had a truly secular society, then there would be world peace. And if religion is put on the shelf right next to folklore and mythology (which I do not think will happen in my lifetime), then the world will be better off. What is stopping me from becoming the Filipino Christopher Hitchens is the little old lady that goes to church on Sunday and is a good person. What has she ever done to me. There are many good religious people. So what the fuck. I'll tell y'all what the fuck.

When the super awesome Greta Christina came to our humble Sac Town a couple of months ago I asked her about this. Basically she said there has been too much harm done. And it's true. Just look at how women and the GLBT communities have been treated and it is easy to see the harm done. I guess it could be seen like, err, if you had a homie that was abusive to his g-friend or a danger to himself, then wouldn't you say something (I would). The same goes for religion. If I belonged to a group that was totally hating on some of my friends (like Christianity v GLBT), then I would try and do something. If I was Israeli I would speak up for Palestine.  If I was Catholic I would speak up for gay rights. I couldn't be a part of something that does so much harm.

Nu Kriss is a gonna draw the line in the sand very soon. I'm going Humpty Dumpty but I don't know if I'm falling on the side of angry atheist or acomodationalist. The difference as I see it is an angry atheist wants to end religion. It is all bad, and yes there are good people that are believers, but the whole overall thingy of it is bad bad bad. The acomodationalist can differentiate between a terrorist that is Muslim and a Muslim-no terror. There are Christians that are socially just like me except on Sunday they go to church and I watch football (shit I don't know what I'm a gonna do now). Then again there are pedio-priests and pastors and groups that propagate hate like Westboro Baptist Church.

What to do...what to do.

* The best of Hitchslap This vid really pumps me up and edges me to angry atheist. So frackin' good.

Dangers New Name...Rick Perry

Yea, let's vote for this guy.

Well, that was an interesting blog break. Any who, I've never thought that I would say something like this but, Texas Gov and presidential candidate, Rick Perry, makes G.W. Bush look like an intellectual; not really, but pretty close. Perry has made headlines this week and that it not a good thang.

First dude said that he does not believe in global warming, then he said that evolution has "gaps" in it and then, one more 'then', then he said that in Texas they teach creationism and evolution in schools and it is up to you to decide. OooooKkkaaay. I decide to believe scientific evidence over the bronze age thinking and believing of, da da daaa...the bible.

First of all they do not teach creationism in Texas schools, well at least not part of the official curriculum. It is my understanding that teachers in Texas, if they so choose, can talk about intelligent design (which is and is not creationism) but only evolution is part of the official curriculum. Second, evolution does have gaps in it...so what.

Evolution does have "gaps" in it but it is still the best explanation of how life evolved here on erffs. If the other "theory" is genesis, then the theory of evolution whomps all over it because the "theory" of genesis is a hole, in it's entirety. It's not even a theory. It's folklore. A scientific theory is tested and peer reviewed. Genesis cannot stand up to that scrutiny.

What scares me about Perry's statements is that there are voters out there that do not know that. There are voters out there that will not, or cannot, think critically. When peeps hear that the theory of evolution has gaps in it, I fear that they will instantly poo poo it and dismiss it (but they will not turn the critical eye on genesis).

 Perry recently said, "God is how we got here." If that is not a dangerous statement, then I do not know what is.

The Scientists...What Can I Say

One review calls The Scientists the super cliche "A tour de force", which it is and for lack of original words to describe the work by John Gribbon...sure, why not. The thingy about this book is that it is totally epic in scale and scope and why not describe it as such. After all, it is about the history of science and the scientists, as well as the technology, so anything less than a 'tour de force' would be lame pants-and that is not good.

So what is 'lil old me supposed to do, with my lame pants reviewing skills (if you have not read one of my book reviews b4, then, well...it's not very epic or detail-ish), and my not attention to detail...bullet points off the top of my head of course.

* The first thingy I noticed very early in the book is that the church f*cks up the early scientists and poo poo's any knowledge that is not Genesis or in the bible in general...then they kill you.

* The second thing I noticed is that scientists do not do much partying. In fact all they do is....science (which is good for the general public, but not very exciting reading. There was one womanizer but I 4got who that was, and I don't approve of that behavior anyways...).

* The book (aprox 700 pages w/footnotes) is a dot to dot history of everything science. The peeps, their discoveries and their boring lives. Covering 500 years is kinda epic and Gribbon goes over the well knowns and the not so well knowns. Sure well all know the Galileo's and the Kepler's, but dude comprehensively goes thru the dudes that make the smaller discoveries that made the bigger discoveries.  That is awesome sauce.

* They were all sickly and weak, not an athlete amongst them and then they all died early. In fact everyone back in the day died early. In fact they all had hella kids because it was common for kids to die early. In fact in fact, it was common for the wife to die during childbirth and then scientists dude would remarry...because they all died early.

No reason, I just like lemon head kitty. Meow meow.

* The coolio thingy about science is...is that it is self correcting. For a long time they thought this thing, phlogesten (basically chi), was fer real. Later they corrected that, and that is the beauty of science, as opposed to the bible. The bible is etched in stone, it never changes. Science changes with new knowledge, that that is a good thing.

* Technology was toooootalllly a factor. Some things had to wait to be discovered, that is until the technology got better. I'm talking microscopes, telescopes (actually lens technology) and vacuums.

* Did I already say that the church would fuck you up if you came up with something that contradicted what they believed ('cause they did). In fact, sometimes peeps kept the information to themselves because they knew that the info was too advanced for the feeble minded believers of the time (and they didn't want to be killed).

* Money was always a problem. Not only for the research, but for everyday life. Often times the scientists had to take teaching jobs or, nonexistent heaven forbid, they married into money. The division between rich and poor existed back then, as it does now, and not only that...the dollars for research have always been a scarce commodity.

* Germ theory.

Whoa Nelly, I can just go on and on with my vague off the top of my head bullet points, but y'all get the picture. One thingy I notice about the book is that once the ball got rolling, then the discoveries kept coming at exponential rates (what is that called, I forgot). The scientist right now that are struggling to get funding for, let's say, stem cell research, are totally like bro scientist back in the day. The same religious oppression that they experienced back in the day is still happening right now.

Scientists have done tremendous good for all of society (hello, germ theory) while the believers with their bible and set in stone beliefs have held back humankind. Not only is the book The Scientists a tour de force...the endeavor of science is a tour de force.

Thanks scientific homies. Have a beer. You deserve it.

Justice At The DMV

You go...Amber. Awesomenes.

Remember last...Friday December, 2010 when I wrote the post titled The DMV IS Hell, of course you do-that is why I call y'all my very kind gentle and good looking readers (w/great memories). Well, the case of harassment has been resolved finally.

Let's recap first: Amber got a sex change and wanted to change her drivers license, dude by the name of Thomas Damatini processed the paper work-and didn't say squat, a couple of days later Amber received a letter from dude talking about "eternal damnation" (at her house no less) and a DVD from The Most Holy Family Monastery (and on that it talks about "hellfire" for anyone possessed by "demons of homosexuality".) Got all of that.

I Googled the monastery and this came up.

 Sooooo, dude was suspended with pay from the DMV but he quit in December. Amber won a 55,000 legal settlement which is 40 from the state and just 15 from the weirdo. So dude couldn't keep his religion to his self and he used the states data base to get Ambers address so he could send a letter and a DVD to her place...I guess to save her. 


The thingy about it is is that dude wasn't saving her he was harassing her and being all stalky creepy. What if we sent out DVD's to all believers that said something to the extent "Hey, believers..you can pray away your hetero," or "Your hetero lifestyle is wrong and you have to give it up or be punished forever." Wouldn't that be nice.

I dunno know, I think dude got off to easily.

* Article SF Gate

The Ultimate Cockblock

Only a nerdy goober gets excited about a book and only a member of Team Atheist gets excited about a book about the sex lives of insects. I have not had this much excitement since I read Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice For All Creation (which I'm sure I reviewed, but I can't find it. le sigh).  This new book from Marlene Zuk is everything you wanted to know about the sex lives of insects, but ya  didn't ask because ya really didn't want to know. Any Who...

I haven't read it, yet, but I did listen to the interview on NPR. What is it about the sex lives of nonhumans that intrigues us. I remember when Sex Advice came out and all the water cooler talk was about those bottle nose dolphins and what sexual freeks they are. Sex On Six Legs looks like it will give us much to talk about in the days, weeks, months to come. Like...

Damsel flys do the ultimate cockblock. I thought the average bro dude downtown at the Friday Summer Concert Series was pretty petty and testosterone-y, but the Damsel fly puts the human counterpart to shame. Fly bro literally scoops out the sperm of the previous fly bro from his pretty lady. This is called sperm competition. Dude scoops out your sperm and replaces it with his own, thus ensuring that your genes go on to the next generation.

Some species of male insect give a protein pack to their lovely ladies to munch on. I see spermatophylax (the protein pack) is similar to me hanging a piece of chocolate from my neck when I go to a party-to attract the downtown fashionista species of Sacramento ladies. While the pretty lady insect is munching on the protein pack, the bro insect is, err...ya know.

If I said it a million times, I've said it....anyways. I'm a-gonna save up for this book. If it is anything like Sex Advice, then it will be well worth it.

Asweoemenss.

* NPR article Sex on six legs.

* Dr Tatiana (helllloooo) Sex Advice. Check it out, ya know you want to.

Updated List Of Female Atheist Bloggers Aug 14th, 2011

I Googled 'female atheist bloggers' and this is the first pic to come up. WTF.

I just updated my Twitter list of female atheist bloggers and you should follow it. The atheist blogesphere is mighty and awesome, in fact it is a mighty awesome place. The thingy about it is...it is male dominated just like any other endeavor in the wide wide world. That is why you should follow my list, or create your own. Let's get right down to it.

OK, I forgot who EmptyIdentiy is, but you should check her out. Really good digital art. And of course, she is on Team Atheist. Awesome.

GodlessNurse is awesome and she is close to my age (what can I say, I'm single). Nursing is a tuff job:underpaid and under appreciated, and she is an atheist.

BlondNonbeliever is my favorite new grrl on the block and I'm jealous...She lives on the beach (Dammmmm grrl, can I come over). Also, I have recently achieved aprox 74,000 hits on my blog and she recently achieved 250,000. Me, no I'm not jealous (congrats buddy).

Apparently, Heather Henderson is made of awesome because she has two cool sites to go to. Heather Henderson is awesome and Dissident Radio.com ask's "Are you an ardent atheist?" Check it out, yo.

@religionbites is an awesome atheist mommy and on her site it says "You can be happy with out religion: peace, love, serenity and happiness." Religionbittes.org.

@DCdebbie is my prob-lib Tweep. She totally kills it on twitter everyday and it is so awesome. Tales of a 7th Street Geisha is her place. Awesomeness.

Currently, I am drinking my precious beer and I lost my notes (I do not want to look fer them) so I forgot what is the up with Momma Heathen...Just check her out (sorry buddy).

Hello, Dr. Leslie Cannold, it's me Kriss. Yes, I have this problem with my heart and the hearting can you help me with it. No. It doesn't hurt to ask.

OK, howz about one honorable mention. Fo sho I must have mentioned Dr. Kikki before, right....right. I just tweeted to her...."Gentlemen prefer blonds, but we remember redheads."

Sowz there it is tweeps and peeps, an updated list of female atheist bloggers, fer now. The thingy about it is that....the atheist blogesphere, just like any and all endeavors, is all male dominate-y. When we get a chance to promote the ladies, we should take it. There has been much ado, lately, about everyone's roles in the movement and stuffs like that and I agree...What about the ladies.?

We need to push sexism to the side and fergitabbutit. The ladies are on our team and that is Team Atheist. They are our sisters and our cousins, mothers and aunts. The rest of society is all oppress-y on them and dagnabit...I will not be like that.

We have this job. We have this battle for secular society and I am very serious about it. I believe that we are on the correct side o' history and all that shit and that we will and must emerge victorious, but....

We need our sisters fighting on our side to make that shit happen...for all of us.

Join me.

I Still Love You After All These Years...

Us previously. Different and yet in love.

I still love you after all these years, but I want you to know the last couple of months has been so hard, ya know with the depression and anxiety (plus that excessive worry that leads to anger, frustration, then me kicking things). The 'zac' has helped, but not enuff and not fast enuff. It was my hope that after a month on the meds that I would return to you and return to the way I used to feel; both felling good, loose and carefree like the Kriss I/you/us knows, and positive feelings for you. Just like with me sitting on the fence as whether to become a full fledged angry atheist v. being an accommodationalist atheist, I'm sitting on the fence on whether to return to you.

I'd probably cry right now, but the tear shipment doesn't come till Tuesday.

 You hurt me so much. It is cliche to say but you crushed my world. When Eva and I broke up that rocked my world (being that she was the first g-friend of my life and all) and when Cleo died, I was devastated (I still think of her to this day.). When you hurt me it was those things multiplied and squared to infinity. If a prophet told me how much I would suffer because of you, I would have laughed in dudes face (and then told him about the New Atheism). There is no way I would have ever thought a tuff guy like me could suffer this much. I'm still in denial and shake my head "this can't be happening, this can't be happening," as I cry in public places and people stop and stare.

I'm an expert at having nervous breakdowns right now and I do not want to be. I can be hanging out with friends and then I feel it coming on. I go down my list of good and positive things: I'm healthy, happy, I have lot's of friends and people that love me. Why, then why am I falling apart right now. Why do I start crying, at any moment, on anyday, for seemingly no reason. I'm so hurt by you.

I keep talking about Nu Kriss and how a change or transformation is going to happen. I dunno about that shit. I think I'm just trying to keep myself occupied, get my mind off of things and kill time while I wait for the prozac to kick in. I keep saying that I'm going to cut my hair (and my new thing is to shave my entire body. Why? I dunno. It doesn't make sense. I do not make sense), and the hair is certainly on the chopping block, but seriously, I don't think I can do that. I'm just sayin'. I'm just killin' time. I'm just waiting.

We don't have to kiss. That would be weird. I would like to be happy, tho.

The past couple of months has been torture. To say that I have suffered is just the beginning of it. I don't know a better word than 'suffering' to describe what I have gone thru. I do not think that a word exists that can describe how torturous it has been for me. Irrational is pretty good. I've never been violent or even been in a fight, but I had to give my gun away because I started have crazy irrational thoughts.  I have never thought about the 'S' word (and, actually I can say it...suicide, suicide, suicide.), but honestly, before I got the meds, there was a moment where I thought that if I went to sleep and I never woke up...then that would be cool (that's not suicide, that is sleeping and never waking up (1).). At that time, I had given up hope.

What am I trying to say....The past couple of months (and actually the depression started in December-ish) has been the tuffest period that I have had to go thru in my life. Suffering and torture begin to describe what I have felt and experienced. I've had many crazy and random thoughts go thru my head because of the excessive worry, the anxiety and depression and finally, now, it is starting to get manageable (I'd say I'm around 85% back to normal, whatever normal is.). What am I trying to say...I'm ready to move forward.

I'm ready to leave the irrational-ness behind. I have never had this much hate in my heart (and frustration and pain etc etc etc...) and it kills me to feel this way. History tells me that this is not what I am like (am I wrong?). Even when I left my biological family I did not feel as (negatively) intensely as I have the past couple of months (and ya know how much I hate them). You hurt me. OK.  I would like to move forward now. I can't live like this. No...no longer will I live like this. I want to be happy. I don't want to suffer anymore. No one should suffer like this, not even an enemy.

I'm babbling now. What is it I'm trying to say...Whether I'm ready or not, and I don't care if the Prozac is working or not (it is working, but not as strongly or as fast as I want it to), I want...no, I need to change this. This is no way to live. Ready or not...I'm moving forward.

Cleo, I still think about you, but missing you doesn't compare to the suffering of the past couple of months. I so badly wish that you were still here, esp. now. I really need your company. I'll make it, but I'm just sayin'. 

(1). Really, look at how honest I have been. I let it all hang out and I don't care about what's or why's. I've never lied and I am always honest even if it means I will look bad. On this blog I've been honest about my love(s) and about my drinking and my drug usage (as well as in life). When I do not know something, then I say it. When peeps call me out about some of the information I write about...I admit when I'm wrong. So that suicide thingy. I've never contemplated that.

I believe that there is a difference between planing on taking ones own life and feeling that (because of intense suffering) if I went to sleep and died of natural causes, and then I never woke up-that would be OK. Is it a loophole and for the first time I'm not being honest? There's a first time for everything, but I don't think that that is the case.

I plan on living and I plan on being happy.