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Or, if "God controls the climate" and if he was suppose to be a magnanimous and loving God then why is he causing Global Warming that will soon destroy us all. Why did he create a global flood killing all mankind except Russell Crowe (who I think looks an awful lot like Utnapishtim of Epic of Gilgamesh Fame) and Jennifer Connelly and their three sons, Shep and Curly, and Moe, along with a girl who they picked up, who had an injury making her sterile who was later made able to be pregnant with a daughter. And we were supposed to believe that that infant daughter would be what started mankind all over again. But who would make her pregnant? And then, there is the matter of Curly who was pissed because he didn't have a mate so in the end, he went off into the wilderness and mated with??? Everything else is supposed to be dead...even all the sheep and apes. So the line of people that was supposed to be created by Curly must have been created by Curly who was a hermaphodite who got him/herself pregnant. But then what? And....Rock Monsters? I think Aronofsky was smoking some really strong dope when he made that movie!
So, you believe in the Easter Bunny, ghosts, goblins, leprechauns, magic? What about the ancient gods and goddesses? What about witches that fly past the moon on broomsticks or werewolves? Satanic possession? Le Plume de ma tante, eh Dimme? Oh, you don't believe any of those things...you believe in other equally ridiculous things...like reincarnation?
Who is being illogical..people who believe in such things or scientific thinking people who are logical. Propositions, before they can be considered facts have to undergo rigid, falsifiable, testing and retesting and have those tests repeated by any of their peers around the world.
Supernatural beliefs cannot be proved or disproved...they are not falsifiable because they only exist in the minds of people who chose to believe in them. I might claim that the Easter bunny lives in another galaxy far, far away but has the uncanny ability to travel to the earth and put eggs and candy in every child's back yard all in an instant. There is no way for anyone to falsify that claim.
Scientists may claim that there is no way that could happen because nothing can travel faster than the speed of light...except neutrinos* and it would take Mr Easter Bunny an extraordinary amount of energy to reach speeds necessary to even attain the speed of light...except that that galaxy far, far, away is many, many light years away. So what then? Maybe Mr. Bunny found a "worm hole" in space and once entered, can appear on our world in a flash. So, since there is no way to falsify the existence of Mr. Easter Bunny...you can neither prove or disprove his existence. But the burden of proof in such extraordinary claims are upon those who make them. And unless you can prove God exists, for example, there is no good reason to believe there that God exists. That's logical. Not: "I believe it... ergo..God exists". That's illogical!
True, it is not only the Vatican that has to change with changing scientific knowledge, even science, especially science, is constantly changing to modify what it understands our universe is all about. But one difference between religion and science is that religion fosters rigid dogmas and never questions the official dogma....whereas science would cease to exist if it were not for continually being challenged with newer and better models of the universe. Some people may claim they do not belong to any particular religion but they still have religious beliefs...religious beliefs entailing irrational superstitious beliefs in supernatural ideas. It is they who are illogical!
* http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44629271/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/n...
You would think the days of Pope Urban VIII and his geocentrist beliefs were laughably behind us. Think again......in the 21st century creationism is being passed off as science by the Christian Extremists in Public Schools, and is every bit as shocking as belief in geocentrism.
The "God controls the climate" comment reminds me of something else I read today. It was about a regular guy hanging out with God and the regular guy looks at God and asks, if you love mankind so much, why is there starvation, poverty, war, greed, pollution, untreated illness etc.? God looked back at the regular guy and said, "I was just about to ask you the same thing."
Is it no wonder those illogical superstitious people who rebel against science are the same ones who believe in "end-of-world-prophecy" heralding the second coming of Christ and will stop at nothing to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy? When 98% of scientists agree that global warming has been largely created by man, and none of the superstition-believing people believe it, what does that tell you about superstitious people? What about those superstitious people who believe in supernatural non-sense yet still believe in Global Warming? Are they picking and choosing, like they do when they read their contradictory and ambiguous holy books? They believe in science enough to believe that 98% of scientists are correct about Global Warming yet they disagree with science in relation to their superstitions? Doesn't it tell you something that science has always changed how people believe in their religious beliefs? It has dragged the Papacy into the 21st century...well, maybe the 18th century.
Perhaps, these religious nuts are trying to bring-it-on by stirring up old cold war tensions against Russia once again..in Ukraine? Perhaps, provoking a nuclear confrontation?
The US has sent in 600 troops to Poland and other countries around Ukraine and is not letting up on what they started in the first place when they helped to overthrow Ukraine to begin with. And then, they have the gall to accuse Russia of the same things the US was guilty of? What hypocrites!
The world may very well see a nuclear confrontation and any miscalculation would see many cities around the world turn to ashes.
Why wouldn't Russia feel justified in "protecting" or "controlling" Ukraine? Wouldn't the US do the same? They did in the Cuban Missile Crises, did they?
NATO countries have Russia surrounded and Ukraine is the penultimate domino. Russia, the last. And many of the US hegemonic jingoes, pushing for complete world domination, are largely backed by "end of world" religious fanatics. These crazy people are hoping and preying for the end of the world...thinking their Jesus will cum again...all they have to do is provoke it all. They are just about as crazy, maybe more so, than some of the fundamentalist Muslims who want to turn the whole world into one Muslim world..and they will kill many people to do it.
Why is it that the US has been involved in the overthrow of so many other countries. They have even supported Al Qaeda terrorists and now Nazis in Ukraine. They back the non-democratic monarchy of Saudi Arabia and overthrow democratically elected governments. What does that tell you about the US?
We been through this Pali, do we have to again? I think you should consult a psychiatrist about this, you are unnaturally obsessed - and illogical. There is, in fact, good reason to believe in the supernatural. There isn't "final" proof but there is some pretty strong evidence and I don't want to repeat everything from our previous conversation but your problem with the supernatural is obviously emotional not logical thus you are not credible. You are intellectually not honest and heavily biased. Your presumptions are not proven if they are indeed at all provable (just like those of the believing fanatic) you simply adhere to them because they are emotionally appealing to you (just like the believing fanatic).
There is good evidence of the supernatural and the rest of us on this blog proferred it to you but you stay in denial of it (just like a climate change denier).
I think believing in a flat earth and the sun rotating around the earth is cute compared not to think that there is a greenhouse effect caused by man.
What is illogical about "there is no good reason to believe in any of these things" when there is no good reason to believe in any of these things? There is no proof that any of the superstitions that I mentioned, and all that I haven't mentioned, are real except in the minds of people who choose to believe them. Hearing messages from electrical towers is no different than hearing messages from "God". None of those things can be proven to exist in reality. None are scientifically falsifiable. They are all in the same category as believing in Thor, Zeus, and the Medusa. All products of man's imagination. And so are Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and Jesus walking on water...all are make-believe myths. People who have supernatural superstitions are illogical not those who don't have supernatural superstitions.
And then there's atheist fundamentalism, equally illogical. The fundamentalists of belief and non belief are alike in the ways that matter - in their fanaticism. Each thinks that it has to be either all one way or all the other way with nothing in between. For this reason each misses an essential component of the truth.
If there is God then the Sun revolves around the Earth and there is no climate change. If the Earth revolves around the Sun there is no God, equally illogical.
You sure like to broad brush it Pali. You know you've become a fanatic when you no longer see any nuance.
Actually, I think Revelations predicts the World will end in fire - after first experiencing erratic weather conditions - as a result of human greed.
I just had an indepth discussion with Bigfoot the other day regarding evolution and he said that research validated the the human race was way behind in evolving as a species.
If people can believe in all of that other sanctioned superstitious nonsense, some of which is even printed on our dollar bills and included in our pledge of allegiance, then how can they condemn the flat earthers or geocentrists? Maybe it's just a case of: "my stupid beliefs are better than your stupid beliefs".
I recommend "Years of Living Dangerously" to everyone. The series is on Showtime. The first episode is free for downloading. Unfortunately, the second episode is not. In the second episode a fundamentalist climate change scientist addresses the God issue. She points out that God gave us the responsibiltiy to take care of the earth. The parishners accept that position. Don Cheatle then talks to one of the fundamentalist parishners and he points out to him how hard it would be for him to accept the reality of climate change no matter how true he thought the fundamentalist climate change scientist was. The basic problem was that if he thought climate change was real he would have to vote for Obama.
Kend -- I thought the tax policy that can be derived from what Thom said is that the progressive tax that applies to income should also apply to capital gains. Our current tax structure does allow a deduction for being over 65. The amount of income tax on 20K to 50K is minimal.
The nature of positive feedback loops (PFL's) is that, over time, the system changes at a faster and faster rate. Until --- the system collapses. We are now experiencing PFL's in both global warming and increasing wealth inequality. In an essential respect, the two systems are related since much of wealth increase is based on fossil fuel exploitation. My point, neither problem can be solved separately.
Sorry proctor but Thom wants to raise capital gains tax on everyone. i am pretty sure there is some seniors in America that have smaller amounts, $20,000 or $50,000 invested and that income helps them in there non working years if you tax all capital gains the same it will hurt those smaller investors. Wouldn't it?
"jproctor", you need only scan the blog archives to see that 99% of Kend's assertions are ridiculous and factless. Like most conservatives, he makes up his own "facts" to support his opinions. It's a conservative trademark! - AIW
Yes Chuck, I have noticed that. And here's something else I've noticed: these so-called "freedom" & "liberty" organizations have nothing whatsoever to do with freedom or liberty; just the freedom of the robber barrons to rip us off. - AIW
Tax rate. %
Chuck, I wish I had an answer to that question. The only thing that occurs to me is that if enough of us begin avoiding candidates funded by Big Bizness, we might be able to get more of the representation we need and deserve. - AIW
Did anyone notice that all freedom, personal liberty, free enterprise etc. organizations are started by and/or funded by billionaires?
AIW, Palin -- I certainly agree. The Northwestern study pretty much says whoever pays the politician is the way he votes. My point is with that environment how can I make my vote count the most.
As I'm not a rich Senior but an Independent Senior I find your statement so rediculous and factless it is just outright wrong. The super rich that Thom is referring too aren't the seniors that have modest savings in their accounts. You Teabaggers just can't seem to get a handle on reality of today in America. When the super rich and that excludes nearly all seniors pay 20% on unearned money that they didn't sneak off into some foreign tax shelter country. A hard working American that works between 40 and 50 hours a week and makes $55,000.00 per year pays 39% on the income and the super rich that have $55 million in a money making account that doesn't require any work pays only 20% on say he only gets 5% unearned money which is $2.75 million where is the balance in that system of taxaction You creatures that support the super rich that don't care about you in the least.
Capital gains are essentally gambling winnings and should be taxed at a higher rate than earned income.
Moving toward taxing capital gains the same as income from work would help to level the economic playing field. As pointed out by Warren Buffet, why should his tax rate be less than his secretary's. Many people say they want freer markets and want less government interference, but at the same time they want the government to give specialized tax breaks to capital gains. Taxing capital gains the same as income from work would allow workers to share in more of the productivity gains. With a lot of the wealth going toward the top, we don't need the government to give specialized tax breaks to the top. Tax changes could be done gradually, since sudden, big changes could be disruptive to the economy.
Kend, they may take a hundred years, they will not approve the pipeline because the informed, educated electorate will not accept it.
Loyalty to oil conglomerates is on the gulf coast. I told you you gotta stay sober.
The overthrowing of our Democracy by the top one per-centers is Treason, these traitors must be prosecuted according to our Constitution. Put an end to these billionaires that are overthrowing our government for a Fascist Oligarchy. An executive order would stop them from using their millions against our government. Move for executive order, backed by our Constitution and charge these Edleson-type Traitors with Treason against Democracy. American families have almost been completelyfinancially destroyed by the criminal banking foreclosures.These corrupt Banksters perpetrated fraud on over 500 million families. The middle class has no money for anything but they still have avoice and a vote, for now. The top one per-centers are even now taking away our ability to vote. The last ruling to disallow voters from using the bathrooms while waiting to vote, along with all the other restrictions to voting is all too obvious yet another ploy to take away our Democractic Right, to vote.