OMG! I've been mentioned on the Webz!!

And it isn't favorable. =( In regards to my post from back in June wherein I commented on the decline of chiropractors in Britain:

I have been wondering who sceptics were since I tried engaging with them on http://www.skeptics.org.uk a few years. One had to be impressed with their knowledge of anti chiropractic literature and their enthusiasm to debate it, particularly Blue Wode who is the administrator at EBM First .Where do the find the time?

Trouble is very few of them come out from behind their pseudonyms. My mother used tell me if someone cant put their name to what they are saying its probably not worth listing to. Sceptics have every right to have their views (even if their sceptism seems limited to the unorthoox ) and in a free country I was able to express my disagreement with Simon Singh writing to the Guardian and publishing my opinion on this blog. Simon has every right to have his views about me and chiropractic and should be credited for putting his name to his views, as has Joe Mc Kean below who proclaimed in his blog today “The end of chiropractic quackery in great Britain” .

What I dont understand is why the President of the BCA Tony Metcalfe had to hire a lawyer to wave a big stick at Simon and why the chiropractic profession is running scared of Joe et al, who probably needs to get out of his room more often. When I was seventeen all I thought about was getting laid with girls in small hot pants. Have things changed so much for the youth of today.

I only just found this (it was apparently posted on June 11) because, being the attention whore that I am, I was checking out my backlinks. I gotta admit, I don't really have much to say in response to this not-all-that-nice mention of me. As far as I can tell, the blogger (whose name I cannot seem to find, not that it matters) is annoyed that I'm a chiropractic skeptic – and that I'm 17. (But that's to be expected when you're a teenage blogger, I suppose.)

A couple of small corrections I'd like to make, though:

So it's our fault for the Iranian government's brutal slaughter of protesters

That's what Iran's foreign minister is asserting:

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The Iranian foreign minister is blaming foreign countries for the deaths of opposition supporters in Iran's post-election turmoil.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets since the June 12 presidential election, claiming the vote was fraudulent.

Authorities say some 20 protesters have died in the government crackdown on the protesters, although rights groups say the number is probably far higher.

Manouchehr Mottaki says Western "interventionist countries are accomplices in all the committed crimes and murders."

He didn't explain how they were implicated, but singled out Britain and said its meddling into Iranian affairs was the "worst."

Typical cowardly, hypocritical bullshit from a shitty country government. I'd really like to see the sort of reasoning he uses to explain how Western countries are in any way responsible for the slaughter of innocent and peaceful protesters decrying an obviously falsified election ...

Actually, scratch that. I don't even give a shit how he explains it. My best guess: a whining bitch playing the Blame Game. The end.

A miracle baby turns an atheist into a Christian (sorta)

Mariano from Atheism is Dead has a story that details how a baby's "miraculous" survival has changed its father from a nonbeliever into a praying, Church-going Christian. And apparently this is of "political and polemical" relevance. Mind explaining to me how so?

Stinson said he has found only one way to explain the whirlwind of events in the last week.

“I was an atheist,” he said in a lengthy phone interview from his Hamilton home. “Now I’m considering going to church and being a believer. There’s got to be someone up there who’s saving our little daughter.”

On Tuesday morning, Stinson got up and prayed for little Ava. That day, he and Paquette learned their baby had been taken off the ventilator the day before.

“That’s enough for me to be a believer,” he said…

All this proves is that a man who was presumably on already weak grounds in his atheistic beliefs was given a push towards faith from the admittedly miraculous survival of his child. It's a touching story that the kid lived, but as far as the battle between religion and atheism is concerned, it's completely irrelevent.

If the guy cannot find a good reason why his baby survived, how 'bout this: the doctors did a good job and the baby was lucky enough to pull through. "Miracles" (and I use that term for lack of a better one) happen all the time. They certainly do not require a godly source or inspiration. Sometimes, people really are just really, really lucky.

Allowing atheists to place bus ads in Indiana

You'd think bus ads were available for anyone who had a message to spread and cash to spend. But apparently, that was not so for the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign, who were forbidden to place their messages on Bloomington, Indiana city buses. And why (other than the obvious)?

The transit corporation previously said the proposed ads violated its advertising policy, which bans statements for or against "controversial public issues."

Right, heaven forbid someone come up and claim there is no God. Riots'll break out. Christians' faces will melt off.

And the message they want to spread in the first place? "You can be good without God". Oh, so horrible and inflammatory.

Well, good news for supporters of the First Amendment: they've caved in and allowed atheists the same bus-ad-placing rights as anyone else.

An agreement announced Monday evening at the Bloomington Public Transportation Corporation's building ends a federal lawsuit filed in May by the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign.

The Herald-Times of Bloomington says the agreement allows the group to pay standard rate for the ads, which they can post as often, and on as many buses, as they choose.

The transit corporation also agreed to reimburse the ACLU-Indiana for a significant portion of their legal expenses.

Again, the First Amendment allows you to spread whatever message you have to offer, regardless of how offensive or disruptive it may be. Only what is truly downright illegal (purely slanderous or dangerous) doesn't fit under the First Amendment. Asserting that you don't need God in your life to be a good person – hardly.

(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

Limbaugh truly is impervious to irony and hypocrisy

You really have to wonder how some people, usually the far-right wingnuts on the radio and such, can show such complete blindness to the hypocrisy and irony of their own words. It truly is staggering. Example, here's the latest from the Rush Limbaugh, referring to teh Libz and Obama supporters in general:

"And there are people in this country, who are Americans, and have the same view of totalitarianism that all the worst regimes in the world have had. They just are a minority -- or have been a minority. And they have to be stealth to get anywhere, because who's gonna vote for torture, who's gonna vote for tyranny, who's gonna vote for dictatorship? But we did. We did, and you see it slowly encroaching. And if they could move faster on this, they would."

... Says the guy who vouched with all his might for the Bush regime under which "torture" and "tyranny" were as commonplace as they were covered-up via thoroughly illegal methods. And not to mention that, of course, it's precisely Liberals (and Libertarians; anyone but the Right, basically) who would vote against totalitarianism and such.

The mind boggles.

(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

Palin's empty goodbyes

Sarah Palin briefly mentioned the oh-so-cruel media in her farewell speech:

"You represent what could and should be a respected, honest profession that could and should be a cornerstone of our democracy. Democracy depends on you, and that is why -- that's why our troops are willing to die for you. So how about in honor of the American soldier, you quit makin' things up."

Oh, those evil journalists – how dare they attack her for her incredible idiocy, when there are those heroic patriotic soldiers dying for something that's completely irrelevent to the media's coverage of incredible idiots? Ah, the festering gases of demagoguery. Always pleasant.

No wonder she's getting offers for her own right-wing radio show – she'd probably eclipse Rush Limbaugh, a feat that would be aided by the thorough ass-kissing he's always eager to give her.

(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

More corrupt thugs caught trying to frame an innocent motorist for their own fuck-up

Title says it all. Below is a video detailing how four cops from Hollywood, Florida, were caught by their own cameras and microphones attempting to manipulate evidence to frame a woman whose car they crashed into.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Seriously, it's one thing for cops to be crooked and intentionally screw someone over to try and hide their own incompetence, but to keep being caught on their own fucking cameras intentionally planting evidence and twisting the events – how stupid can these goons get?

(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

New First Story Take 2: Dark Horizons

This entry has been removed from Preliator and can now be found over at Creativitas. (See here for more info.)

From FictionPress to Scribd

I've been checking out Scribd.com as a better host site for my stories than FictionPress (hat tip to BuffaloWilder), and while at first it kept glitching and wouldn't let me upload any files, it finally seems to be working now. So, so long FictionPress. I prefer a host that lets me keep my formatting, for one thing.

Currently transferring my story (Dark Horizons) to Scribd. I'll update this post when I'm done.

Friday Canine: Cold-feet Husky

(via Feed Me Wallpaper)

Never let PETA defend animals in judicial cases

They just end up sounding stupid and contradictory. Example, here they decry zoophilia (sex with animals):

“It is shocking. It should be illegal in every state,” said Stephanie Bell with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. “It’s not a laughing matter. Even in cases where physical harm doesn’t occur to the animal, it’s still cruel.”

Um ... so no harm is actually done. But it's still bad. But it's not harmful. But it's still wrong. But ... uh ...

*Mind fizzles*

Another point one needs to add to PETA's ever-growing list of logical failures: nothing is universally bad or wrong. Nothing. Call me optimistic (or insane, either way, they do tend to correlate ...) but I cannot think of a single act that's usually wrong – pedophilia, incest, zoophilia, whatever – that can't be morally acceptable under certain circumstances. The fact that an act is usually wrong or cruel does not make it so 100% of the time. There's always grey area, no matter how small it may be.

Besides, I've already stated my opinions that sex with animals, while unsavory and frankly strange, is usually harmless to both humans and animals. You simply cannot rationally condemn something that is specifically harmless, regardless of how you feel about it.

Seriously, did he have ANY reason? At all?

A cop responds to an alarm that turns out to be false. He checks around, just to be safe – and then shoots and kills a family's Black Lab in their own backyard. His reason for it? Only he knows.

Feichter, her husband, and their two sons were visiting family in North Carolina when the shooting happened in the backyard of their Howard Street home. Feichter, 33, who runs a philanthropic consulting firm, said she can’t believe the officer had no choice but to shoot Ciarra.

“He could have said ‘Stop!’, he could have said ‘Wait!’, he could have pulled out Mace, he could have just stepped behind our garden fence, he could have fired into the ground,” she said. “Ciarra would have taken off and sat shivering in a corner. She’s very timid.”

[...]

Neighbors rushed over. Ashley Derrick and Alison Grounds picked up Ciarra and drove her to the vet, but it was too late.

In an email to members of the East Lake Neighbors Community Association, Derrick wrote that she arrived to find the officer beside the dog.

“I asked why he had to shoot her,” she wrote. “He could give me no answer.”

Cops and dogs: an equation that is becoming more and more obviously incompatible with a happy result.

Seriously, look at that lab from the family pic ... How the hell can that be of any danger? And who in their right mind would just shoot it dead – for absolutely no reason?

(via The Agitator)

Lucky kid

Hope Jacoby, a 24-year-old personal trainer, was caught having sex with a 16-year-old boy. However, this time the judge decided to go easy on her and gave her "only" three years of informal probation along with 240 hours of community service.

Why? Because it was a totally consensual relationship from both parts.

Jacoby admitted to having sex with a 16-year-old male student in her car and at her home on several different occasions throughout 2008.

[...]

All of Jacoby's offenses are considered felonies, but were reduced to misdemeanors on account of what Judge Jones considered "a totally consensual relationship." Judge Jones described the student as a "willing participant" and "somewhat enthusiastic" about his relationship with the defendant. He also noted that the student "engaged in deception" in an effort to have the relationship continue for as long as it did.

In which case I don't have anything against the judge's lenient ruling, either. I suspect the judge only sentenced her because he legally had to; otherwise he'd probably just laugh it off, as he should. Seriously: the kid wanted it, and he even did all he could to make it last as long as it did. I don't think he was traumatized unless "he sprained an ankle as he was being carried off on the shoulders of his friends", as Balko put it so well. If anyone should be punished, it should be him – though that's probably the case with his sexual partner in the news now. You also gotta be amused at the prosecution's warped reasoning in their attack against Jacoby:

"Women expect to be treated equally and expect equal rights, and we believe that if you perpetrate the crime, you should do the time," said Susan Kang Schroeder, the public affairs counsel for the DA's office.

What the hell do women's rights have to do with anything in this story? She was let off easy because she wasn't doing any harm (other than it's just illegal) and the kid wanted (and obviously liked) it just as much as she did, not because she's of feminine caste. Really, that's just stupid.

(via The Agitator)

Mariano Är Sannolikt Dum

Or, for those who haven't yet mastered Swedish: Mariano Is Probably Stupid. Now, disregarding the falsehood that is that sentence (there is no "probably" to it), you may ask why I wrote that in Swedish? Well, because it's cool, for one. And also because it's quite appropriate in response to the this post/screed from the moronic operator of Atheism is Dead, where the thug once again goes on a rant against a goodwill organization just trying to spread a peaceful message. And, as usual, where he claims atheists are positively drowning in expendable money. *Sigh*

The Swedish Humanist Association are the latest group of atheist who have such an overwhelming amount of money, and apparently do not know anyone in need, that they are purchasing ads.

Right, I bet they need to house their own saferooms to store all that cash. Either that, or they just ask for donations (the nerve, right?) and people accept to send some money their way (how horrible of them, in the middle of a recession!) to further a cause they believe in and that is specifically intended to help people live happier lives. Food for thought.

The rise of atheism in America is being celebrated by atheists who have tremendous amounts of money and nothing better to do with it than purchase bus and billboards ads.

Must ... not ... choke ... on ... hypocrisy ...

Seriously, before you besmirch your "enemies", it's probably best to make sure your own side hasn't actually done a hundred times worse previously. What a sanctimonious idiot.

Their ads are to read “Gud finns nog inte” God is not probable or perhaps more literally God exist probably not.

Actually, all the translators I've tried (okay, one or two) translated the phrase into "God Is Not Enough" or close variants, which doesn't actually touch on his existence per se. But we're not all Swedish linguistics experts so let's move on.

The Swedish Humanist Association is desperate to make their plight heard as from a population of 9 million Swedes ONLY 7 million are atheists (or “do not claim to be religious” funny, most bible-thumping-evangelical-fundamentalist-born again-Christians would not claim to be religious).

SayWUT!? How can anyone say two such fundamentally illogical and stupid things in a single sentence? First, I would think that 77% of a country's population being atheistic forgoes the need to place a precursory "only". Second – now that's just a weird thing to say. So "bible-thumping-evangelical-fundamentalist-born again-Christians" ... are not religious?

>_0

During a time of worldwide recession atheists in the UK, USA and now in Sweden are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations not in order to help anyone in need but in order to purchase billboards and bus ads in attempts to demonstrated just how clever they think they are—need any more be said?

If we examine that sentence – then no, I think you've pretty much dug yourself straight through the Earth's crust, bub.

Send me a postcard when you reach the core. Should be any day now – always wondered what it was like down there.

New First Story: Dark Horizons

This entry has been removed from Preliator and can now be found over at Creativitas. (See here for more info.)

I'M BAAAACK!!!

What, no applause? Dang.

Well, thanks to shitty hardware from Bell Canada (which I now invite you to royally flame the living crap out of in the comments section, or any other ISPs with whom you've dealt who've given you the type of service you wouldn't deem fit to flush down your toilet) I've been forced off the Net for the past few days (four? Five? Can't tell, it's to horrible). Now I think of all the stuff I need to catch up on and I feel like I wanna both throw up and/or cry. And all the stories I missed the chance to blog about ... EERGH.

*Plots devious plan to destroy Bell Canada with dynamite and voodoo*

Film Review: ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ – 8.5/10

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Written by Joé McKen on Sunday, July 26, 2009

Harry finds a rather interesting book which leads him into a bit of trouble in David Yates’ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Coming back from the theater, I asked my father what he thought of the film. He said it was “a lot more psychological” than previous Harry Potter films. I agree completely – and this change in format, focusing more on thought-provoking and emotionality over mere narrative, is what empowers Half-Blood Prince to become the best Harry Potter film yet, and by a fair margin at that.

Nature has a very dirty mind, it seems ...

At least this proves how perversity truly is natural. And I could come up with a dozen other jokes if I cared to, but frankly ... nah. Just take a look at these 15 "suggestive photos of nature". Nothing quite like natural innuendo. (Warning: mildly NSFW – at least, until your coworkers take a second look (which they will definitely do.).)

Oh, okay, one more: Here's nature ... au naturel.

Okay, enough of that.

(via Blag Hag)

Mom will buy me the weirdest things

But only 'cause I ask her so sweetly (and persistently).

The tool of multiple uses: looks sweet, people will help you 'cause they think you're a cripple, can be useful for certain martial arts (Cane-Fu, anyone?), useful to hook and reach stuff ... Plus an extra resemblance to a certain beloved crank is always fun.

The new haunt: introducing Preliator!

Welcome to Preliator pro Causa (or Preliator for short) – my new blog! I moved from Respectful Defiance because 1) I was tired of that ineffective and ineffectual name, 2) I'd mangled the template enough so that I couldn't modify it without screwing everything else up as well, and 3) it was just time for a change, I guess.

Preliator will be mostly the same deal: you'll get my two-and-a-half cents on events, random thoughts that cross my mind, new music I compose, and anything else I feel like sharing.

To get started, you could:
• Read a little about me and this blog in the About section;
• Check out my musical works in the My Music section;
• Peruse some of the questions and criticisms regarding atheism and atheists in the Atheism FAQ section (if you're curious); or [section removed – maybe try Top Myths instead?]
• You could Contact Me and share whatever words of wisdom, hilarity or whining you may have. =)

And finally: twelve Internet cookies to anyone who's able to pinpoint what the blog title is, and what it means. ;)

Edit (02/07/12 5:02 PM ET) – Fixed broken links.