#44827: coturnix — 10/20  at  10:25 AM
He needs to put up a button (amazon or paypal) - this kind of service must not go unrewarded.

#44832: IAMB, FCD — 10/20  at  10:59 AM
I've had several offers of beer. That will work just fine ;-D

Really, I did this for the benefit of the human race as a whole (it hurts less if I keep repeating that particular mantra).

I just hope that whoever shows up for my psych evaluation is nice enough to let me go. Blogging in a straightjacket might prove difficult...

#44836: Kristine Harley — 10/20  at  11:47 AM
Something I've oten wondered...

Okay, let's say just for the sake argument that God exists, and He created the universe exactly as Duckter Kent Hovind says that he did. This removes blind chance from the universe, right?

Wrong! By whose authority is this God God? Was He always God, and therefore there through no plan (by chance), or did He become (or evolve) into His Godliness (by chance)? If there's just Him and no one else, how does He keep from going insane, or is He actually certifiable and gets His rocks off by creating and destroying species at will (and inspiring certifiable IDiots to make tacky videos)? And how is His situation any different than that of an evolved human being who must face up to the fact that "no discernible reason that we had to evolve in the first place, and there is no guarantee that we shall continue to evolve successfully"?

There's just no way to avoid the disquieting facts. It's like a Christian unable to face the question of where the devil came from. Chance is their devil.

#44845: Orac — 10/20  at  12:31 PM
I've been reading the series all along and couldn't believe that anyone would subject themselves to so much stupidity in the cause of rationalism. He ought to get a prize of some kind.

I just hope the Hovind stupo-rays haven't affected him any, or, if they have, that he recovers bully by November 10. That's when he's scheduled to host the Skeptics' Circle, and I need him!

#44852: — 10/20  at  01:19 PM
Well, I just donated my Miracle Jeezus Chip to Jason, so I guess I will just have to locate another miracle to donate to Morgan. I DID see a roadkill oppossum on the way to work this morning that looked a lot like Behe, but I don't think it will net much on E-Bay. I am sure The Good Lord will come up with another scam for me to pass on, I mean creat a miracle for Morgan, although, it seems to me that it is a REAL MIRACLE that he survived the excrutiating experience of getting Hovined...

Thanks Morgan!

#44856: IAMB, FCD — 10/20  at  01:26 PM
Morgan is the "Supersize Me" guy.

I, the Hovind guy, am Matt (though we both have conducted self-destructive experiments for the good of the species). I guess the confusion, in this case, can be forgiven.

#44862: — 10/20  at  01:52 PM
Well, Matt, I think you deserve a medal, several pints of good beer, and whatever support you need to regain what sanity you may have lost in the process of watching those videos. I couldn't have done it. Bad theology, bad science, and conspiracy theories all make me twitch.

#44875: — 10/20  at  03:59 PM
My wife is a devout Christian who knows virtually nothing about evolutionary biology. Her executive summary of a Hovind video shown at one of her church 'education' events: "Con-artist."

I really, really wonder about the people that get suckered in by this stuff. It's like reading one of those Nigerian scam e-mails, then reading about people who lost their life savings after falling for one. It's just incredibly puzzling how someone can survive to adulthood without learning to smell the BS ...

#44878: — 10/20  at  05:03 PM
"It's just incredibly puzzling how someone can survive to adulthood without learning to smell the BS ... "

I think they call that 'blind faith'...works for faith healers (the Benny Hind Blowjob(tm) comes to mind).

#44895: Heathen Dan — 10/20  at  08:37 PM
There once was a man named Kent
Whose mind was seriously bent
Belief in his preachings
Belies science teachings
And insures a life ignorantly spent

From snoiduspoitus (iidb.org)

#44897: — 10/20  at  08:50 PM
If there's a left wing Irrationalist gravy train, I think these people will be signing up:

Swedish feminism put to the test
By Ivar Ekman International Herald Tribune
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2005

STOCKHOLM As one of the world's most gender-equal countries - a land where 80 percent of the women have jobs, where about half of the members of Parliament are female - does Sweden need a feminist party?

Many people thought so this spring, when a number of high-profile Swedish women began Feministiskt Initiativ, or Feminist Initiative. Polls then showed that almost a quarter of the electorate would consider voting for the party in parliamentary elections next year.

Six months later, however, that backing has imploded as Sweden rethinks the politics of sex.

Feminist Initiative is in disarray with the loss of several founding members who abruptly departed over the radical direction the party was taking. At its recent founding congress, for example, instead of tackling a mainstream platform as planned, the party presented proposals to abolish marriage and create "gender-neutral" names.

#44933: — 10/21  at  09:39 AM
'I think they call that 'blind faith'...works for faith healers'

It's all blind faith, there is no other kind.

#45017: arensb — 10/22  at  07:20 AM
I confess that I'm like Matt. I occasionally download his MP3s and listen to them, just for yucks.

I find that it's fun and instructive to read a list of logical fallacies just before listening to Hovind: I'll be listening, and thinking "Non sequitur, non sequitur, begging the question, argument from undesirable consequences, non sequitur, argumentum ad baculum...".

#45029: — 10/22  at  11:45 AM
"If there's a left wing Irrationalist gravy train, I think these people will be signing up:"

Perhaps, perhaps not. It is true that Feministiskt Initiativ has many left wing members. The leader has been a leader for the Left Party, a former Communist party that has undergone revision to socialistic. But they seem to tend to people from all over the political field.

Or at least they did before that infamous founding congress.