Monthly Archives: August 2009

BillDo Teaches Us About Moral Absolutes

Posted on August 29, 2009 by arensb

BillDo in his 1998 annual report: March 25 Comedy Central’s “South Park” continued its notorious Christian-bashing, with an episode that linked Christians to Nazis as oppressors of homosexuals. In a segment describing homosexuality throughout history, the character “Big Gay Al” … Continue reading →

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Does the Pope Shit on the Woods?

Posted on August 29, 2009 by arensb

I keep hearing that atheists attack a strawman version of religion, that sophisticated theologians don’t make the sorts of simplistic arguments we attribute to theists, and the like. On Wednesday, the Pope gave a speech about the environment, in which … Continue reading →

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Truncated Headlines

Posted on August 28, 2009 by arensb

Specter Calls for Hearings on End-of-… – FOXNews Report: Obama Administration Missing … – FOXNews Mercury Marine union in Wis. rejects … – The Associated Press Poll: Harry Reid faces formidable foe… – The Associated Press Victims of Giant Wave … Continue reading →

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RIP Ted Kennedy

Posted on August 26, 2009 by arensb

As you’ve no doubt heard, Ted Kennedy has passed away. My earliest memory of him is from my college days, when he and Bob Dole had a five-minute debate program on WTOP that I enjoyed listening to on my way … Continue reading →

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Truncated Headlines

Posted on August 21, 2009 by arensb

For those who don’t know, when Google News creates an entry for a story in one of its RSS feeds, it picks an article from one of the newspapers that reported the story, and generates a title for the RSS … Continue reading →

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Bill Dembski Gets A Paper Published

Posted on August 19, 2009 by arensb

Huh. Looks like Bill Dembski got a paper published in IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part A: Systems and Humans, Volume 39 Issue 5, Sept. 2009. I haven’t had a chance to read this yet, but here’s the … Continue reading →

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Wednesday Playlist: Travel Edition

Posted on August 19, 2009 by arensb

For a friend who’s flying off to a vacation in the Caribbean today: Viva! Sea-Tac, Robyn Hitchcock Music for Airports, Brian Eno Aéroplanes, Serge Gainsbourg The Night Flight from Houston, Laurie Anderson Jetstream, New Order Learning to Fly, Pink Floyd … Continue reading →

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Some Bloody Obvious Observations About Health Care

Posted on August 18, 2009 by arensb

In all the recent talk about US health care reform, one comparison that hasn’t been made enough, IMO, is with public schools. Yes, US public schools have their share of problems (don’t get me started on students who can’t find … Continue reading →

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Some Meta-Arguments Against God, Part 1

Posted on August 16, 2009 by arensb

It’s widely acknowledged that it isn’t possible to prove absolutely that no gods exist, any more than it’s impossible to prove absolutely that no invisible unicorns exist. Every atheist I know freely acknowledges that. But at the same time, one … Continue reading →

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Secular Bible Study: Ecclesiastes

Posted on August 15, 2009 by arensb

Here are the notes (also in org format) for the Secular Bible Study presentation I’m going to be giving in an hour or so, about the book of Ecclesiastes.

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