Sam Harris answers Reddit's questions

Noam Chomsky on the political system in the United States

Conservapedia challenges Penn Jillette to a debate on the existence of God. They kick it off by calling him fat.

Conservapedia has an entire article trying to link atheism with obesity. All I have to say is that if this is how God punishes those who don't believe in Him, then He's really gone soft since his glory days in the Old Testament. He had Job's entire family killed because he believed in Him.

The entry points out specific atheists by name, calls them fat, and posts pictures of them. Of course, they ignore atheists with normal weight like Richard Dawkins, or Sam Harris, or myself, or pretty much every atheist I've ever met. Likewise, they point out good God-fearing Christians as prime examples of how one's body should look, while ignoring overweight Christians like every person you meet driving through the Bible belt.





I know what you're thinking, and no, this is not a joke site. Conservapedia's founder really believes this shit.

Well, Penn Jillette was made aware that Conservapedia mentioned him by name, and he made a video about it. Here it is.



Welp, in typical high school internet fight fashion, Conservapedia responded to Penn's video.

Conservapedia was informed that the atheist Penn Jillette made a video response to Conservapedia's atheism and obesity article which was entitled "Are you a fat atheist?". I wish I could offer a link to his video, but unfortunately Mr. Jilette's "response" was laced with profanity. However, should he decide to muster a good faith bona fide response in the future to Conservapedia's atheism and obesity article which contains no profanity I will most gladly link to it.

See? This proves the immorality of atheists. You don't see Christians using bad words. Christians once again prove how morally superior they are by calling people fat and displaying pictures of their fatness.

But that wasn't enough, apparently. Before seeing any response from Penn, they've decided to challenge him to a debate.

Without any further ado here is my debate challenge to atheist Penn Jillette:

I challenge Penn Jillette to a written debate. The debate will be between Penn Jillette and two atheists of his choosing and myself and two Christians of my choosing. I prefer written debates as I believe they offer the audience the maximum amount of information to render a decision.

The subject of the debate will be: "Does God exist?". The content of the written debate will be offered to the public as public domain content.

It continues with Five suggestions to Penn Jillette:

1. Please be ready to offer proof and evidence that atheism is true.

2. Please be ready to answer the "15 questions that evolutionists cannot answer" which are featured in Creation Ministries International's Question evolution! campaign.

3. Consider reading Conservapedia's atheism article and the Conservepedia Christian apologetics article to better prepare you for the debate. You may find you want to change sides and debate on the Christian side of the aisle given the abundant evidence for Christianity and the lack of proof and evidence for atheism. [...]

4. Please consider losing some weight. I certainly don't want you to claim you could have done better in the debate if your body and mental acumen had been operating at "full atheist power". I am giving you 150 days to shed your flabby physique and replace it with a "mean, lean, atheism debating machine". Given the "superior atheist intellect" which you no doubt possess, I am sure if you put your mind to it that you will be able to lose the weight. However, if you need more time, I can certainly accommodate you. I have put some helpful resources below which offers some of the best information from medical science, exercise science and nutritional science as I know that many atheists purport to love science. Plus, according to medical science, there are a number of health risks associated with being overweight which are cited in Conservapedia's Atheism and Mental and Physical Health article.

5. Although you might want Richard Dawkins to be a debate partner, please consider this information:

In a letter to fellow atheist and evolutionist Richard Dawkins which was subsequently quoted by The Daily Telegraph, fellow atheist Dr. Daniel Came wrote concerning Dawkins' refusal to debate the Christian apologist Dr. William Lane Craig:

"The absence of a debate with the foremost apologist for Christian theism is a glaring omission on your CV and is of course apt to be interpreted as cowardice on your part."

I would encourage you to ask Richard Dawkins to be a debate partner, but please do not be disappointed if he declines as he often is reluctant to leave his "intellectual bunny hole".

lol you should read my website so you'll convert to christinarty, oh and also you're fat fuck

Sunday Youtube Post

Does NBC Stand for "No Believers (Especially) Christians"?

Spoiler alert: yes.

Actions speak louder than words. At NBC, those actions meant removing the words “under God” from the “Pledge of Allegiance” last weekend. Under God? Clearly, NBC thinks it is over God. Thankfully, the rest of America doesn’t agree.

I like how he says "actions speak louder than words," and then he endorses a pledge of allegiance to a country, and the words "under God" in that pledge.

As a result, NBC (perhaps it should now stand for "No Believers [especially] Christians") has had to issue two apologies, the second no better than the first. The offending U.S. Open segment included children reciting nearly all of the pledge, interspersed with patriotic images. Afterward, Dan Hicks said, during the broadcast of the golfing action that “regrettably, a portion of the Pledge of Allegiance that was in that feature was edited out. It was not done to upset anyone and we’d like to apologize to those of you who were offended by it.”

NBC employees commit an act of religious bigotry designed to offend people of faith. But that’s just editing. No, it was done twice. The first time three words were removed. The second time five. Both times, “under God” was cut out by the anti-religious lefty loons of NBC.

Lolllll I don't even know why I care about this shit anymore. This guy isn't an idiot. He's a propagandist using kneejerk emotion and empty phrases to turn Fox News fans against one of the their competitors. THIS WAS DESIGNED TO OFFEND YOU! YOU ARE OFFENDED NOW! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

This should be common knowledge by now and I don't know why I'm bothering to repeat it, but 'Under God' was not added to the pledge until 1954. The first amendment separates church from state, and it is against the law. Whether or not the majority supports it is irrelevant. It's unconstitutional. End of discussion. You're offended that your belief system was not reinforced in an empty collection of words endorsed by your government? I'm offended that I have to put up with your endless bullshit 24/7. Not every American believes in God. Did you know atheists/agnostics outnumber Mormons? Why can't you fucking deal with that? As if pledging undying allegiance to a country wasn't dumb enough, you really feel like we're obligated to pledge our allegiance to your Christian God against our will? Fuck you. Do you realize what the definition of totalitarianism is? Do you understand why we fight this so hard? In your entire life, have you ever said anything that 90% of the those around you were not repeating? Have you ever thought for yourself?

The Case for Socialism with Sherry Wolf

"Let's talk about socialism. … I think it's very important to bring back the idea of socialism into the national discussion to where it was at the turn of the [last] century before the Soviet Union gave it a bad name. Socialism had a good name in this country. Socialism had Eugene Debs. It had Clarence Darrow. It had Mother Jones. It had Emma Goldman. It had several million people reading socialist newspapers around the country… Socialism basically said, hey, let's have a kinder, gentler society. Let's share things. Let's have an economic system that produces things not because they're profitable for some corporation, but produces things that people need. People should not be retreating from the word socialism because you have to go beyond capitalism."

-Howard Zinn

I blame Obama. I would never have sought this out had he not moved "liberal" over to center-right.

As someone who has never been exposed to what socialism actually is, I at first found it a little hard to believe I was sitting down and watching this. Then I found myself agreeing with every word, labels be damned. This still doesn't explain what socialism is. I'll probably have to read for that. But it's an extremely effective and damning criticism of capitalism, and I don't think any rational person would be able to sit through this and not be convinced by the end that the system isn't working. It's good.

The Case for Socialism w/Sherry Wolf from Steve Ramey on Vimeo.

Famous Democratic Socialists:

• Martin Luther King Jr.
• George Orwell
• Albert Einstein
• Ernest Hemingway
• Hellen Keller
• Noam Chomsky
• Howard Zinn
• Jack London
• Bernie Sanders
• Cornell West
• Lewis Black

Sunday Youtube Post

Anthony Weiner to resign

One of the best Congressmen America has seen in years announced today that he's going to resign over sexy photos and texts he sent to a number of women. To many politically frustrated liberals like myself, Weiner's anger and passion was a breath of fresh in a government that embraced right wing extremism and left wing apathy. I'm really pissed off at him for doing what he did, but 1) He didn't bone anyone, 2) This doesn't affect his job, and he broke no laws, and 3) He had previously said he was going to take a temporary leave from Congress to get help, which I would've been satisfied with.

At the same time Republicans are calling for this guy's head, their shining star Newt Gingrich is running for president and nobody cares. Gingrich has been married three times, and cheated on two of his wives. One of them was dying of cancer in a hospital. Yesterday, the GOP held a fundraiser for David Vitter in a fancy townhouse owned by a lobbyist. In 2007, it broke that Vitter enjoys having sex with prostitutes in adult diapers.

I wouldn't be surprised if Weiner comes back in a few years after all this dies down. The majority of his constituents do not want him to resign, and he still has a lot of supporters. I sorta think he's doing this for himself more than anything.

Anyway, here's a 'best of' collection, showing why his constituents love him so much. Watching all of these again, it's not entirely surprising that the establishment in Washington and their lapdogs in the media seized the opportunity to get rid of him. Best of luck to you and your wife in the future guy, you will be missed.

Anthony Weiner rips Republicans apart for politicizing the effort to take care 9/11 first responders



To remind Republicans that they must obey procedural rules, Anthony Weiner reads a children's book on the House floor to help explain things to them



Republican Scott Garrett reads a memo about health care which he claims was circulated around to Democrats. Anthony Weiner tears him apart for reading a fake memo as if it were real.



"You don't know what socialism means."



"Make no mistake about it: every single Republican I have ever met in my entire life is a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry."



Anthony Weiner makes fun of the GOP because they proposed a bill that would defund NPR



Republicans tried to redefine the definition of rape so that it would be harder for victims of rape to receive abortions. Anthony Weiner works his magic.

Today I learned about "The Response"

A prayer event organized by Governor Rick Perry for August 6th in Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. Or, another sociopath politician is abusing religion for personal gain.

The Response Promo from The Response USA on Vimeo.

Seriously, watch that video. It’s scary. The actors in it name off some of the problems America is going through, and then argue that the solution is gathering in one place and praying together. That’s gonna change everything.

I don’t even know where to start tearing into this bullshit. First off, this was not put together by a religious leader. This was organized by a politician. Shouldn’t that raise alarm bells for Christians who are considering going to this? This is blatant manipulation, and it couldn’t be more obvious.

And speaking as an atheist, this is just plain idiotic. You want to know why I care so much about politics and current events and junk? Or why I drove four hours to Madison a few months back to take part in a protest with over 100,000 other people? It’s because there is nobody looking out for us, and no one is going to change anything except yourself. If you think you’re going to fix the world by closing your eyes and talking to yourself, then you are beyond saving. Stop wasting your life asking your imaginary friend to save the day, take some responsibility for yourself, and get in the fucking streets. King, Malcolm, and Gandhi were all extremely religious, and even they knew as much. This is just pathetic.

Monday Youtube Post

Interesting Reddit thread of the day: What social norm do you hate?

Some of my favorites:

• The fact it's considered rude to correct someone (even politely), but it's not considered rude to endlessly inject uneducated, unsupported and even provably wrong opinions into our shared discourse in the first place.

  It's like bitching not when someone shits in the pool, but when someone scoops it out. And worse, it's magic shit that - if it gets anywhere near them - makes other people more likely to shit in the pool themselves in the future.

  Continue that for long enough, and sooner or later the entire pool's more shit than water... and yet we unthinkingly defend the thoughtlessly incontinent, and instead usually bitch out the people doing the dirty, thankless job of trying to keep the pool clean in spite of them.




• Getting drunk as being the pinnacle of “having fun”.



• The way it’s normal for people to spend 5 out of every 7 days of their lives working long hours in a job they hate just to be able to survive.

  Also the attitude of “Your lucky to even have a job”




• Telling people their baby is cute. Babies are not cute. All babies look like Winston Churchill.



• I hate that the ignorant are prideful about said ignorance.



• We ignore the corruption/campaign finance issues and instead focus on what politicians are doing with their genitals. We’ve got some fucked up priorities.



• Not being able to talk to a woman I find interesting without her/the people around assuming I have a sexual motive. :(



• How drinking is so involved in socialization of my age group (18-25).



• God, I fucking hate this. I’m 26 and don’t drink at all. Whenever I decline a drink from someone they look at me like I’m a mutant. They can’t fathom a person who doesn’t drink. Then you get those assholes who keep nagging you about being a pussy for not drinking even though you’ve explained several times why you don’t drink. It’s gotten to the point where I’d much rather stay home than deal with being ostricized out in public.



• Getting smashed, vomiting, having your judgement compromised and doing something completely stupid and then waking up with a hangover is perfectly acceptable. But smoking some pot makes you a pothead.



• Diamonds. It used to be that all I had to buy was a ring (a symbol of commitment) but NOW I have to buy a diamond and nobody seems to understand that it is a huge rip off. This is the product of an extremely successful marketing ploy to sell more diamonds at a higher price from the 1930’s. If you’re in marketing, kill yourself…



• Men lose respect among their peers for not being misogynistic.



• Women not layered in make-up are unattractive.



• Men may not, under any circumstance, show emotion.



• I hate that a large portion of the American voting population actively celebrate their blatant ignorance. These are the people that are willfully unaware of current events and geography,and suspicious of science. The people who are racist, or homophobic or xenophobic and believe that anywhere that isn’t the US is some backward third world full of mud huts. These people vote based on their “core values” which is a code word for jesus and will elect the candidate who plays the christian fiddle the loudest.



• Dichotomous gender roles.



• Religion.



• People are allowed to have opinions on things they don’t fully understand and vocalise them like their opinion matters (ie someone who has never read a book before calls reading boring, people who don’t enjoy sports constantly saying that they’re boring ect).



• society discriminates against the creatures of the night. fuck you, day walkers!



• That knowledge and wisdom are positively correlated with age.

  Similarly, that my opinion is irrelevant and easily dismissed simply because I’m young. Particularly when it comes to politics. Even though I just graduated in the subject from one of the top schools in the country, people (who seriously have no idea what they’re talking about) brush off anything I say because I’m ‘young and don’t know anything’.




• I abhor that I am constantly asked “how things are with the ladies”. That I have to fool around with multiple women. That I must live a lustful life of many sexual conquests with women or else I am a homosexual.

  I don’t care about sex. I care about the elegance and agility that that cat outside my window shows as it hops from rooftop to rooftop, walks on ledges and thin walls with ease.

  I want a woman to have meaningful conversations with, to share my every experience with. To care for and be cared by. Share my hobbies with and to have her cook me dinner because I am a horrible cook. Not to just fuck senseless and leave on her cum stained bed as I walk out, already lusting for the next woman.

  Maybe we will fuck each other senseless. But I don’t want that to be the basis of our relationship.




• I’d prefer if cooperation was the norm instead of competition.



• Having kids. I get nagged all the time and told that I’ll change my mind…. but I don’t want any. Ever.



• The one thing that bugs me most is that you need a license for every possible thing, but every moron is allowed to have a child.



• The ‘Live to Work’ mentality and the mentality that anyone that doesn’t is a worthless slacker.

  I work to put a roof over my head, to feed myself, and to buy the things I enjoy.

  Being a cog in some machine is not my purpose in life; it’s how I support my life. Passing on working double shifts during the week and then two singles on the weekend does not make me lazy, it means that I value my life and have enough money to save at an acceptable pace. I may not be considered the ‘hero’ that the managers love for not having to have 2 extra people on staff because of me, but I’m not going to look back at my life when I’m 60 and say that I have nothing to look back on fondly because all I did was slave away all day every day.




• I find it a glaring indictment of American culture that owners are presented the trophy at the superbowl.



• The idea that logic is somehow “cold,” “inhuman,” or even a difficult specialization that only some people need to do.

The Obama administration fought to keep the minimum wage in Haiti at 31 cents per hour, or, Yet another reason not to vote for Barack Obama again

=Wikileaks has revealed that the Obama administration fought to keep the Haitian minimum wage from rising by 30 cents, so the prices of jeans in the United States would not go up.



Fuck Obama and fuck every "liberal" who's going to vote for him next year. Fuck everything about this. Fuck me. I voted for Barack Obama. I enabled this. In 2012, I'm just going to write in whoever the socialist candidate is. I don't even give a shit. Democrats are fucktards and Republicans are fucktards. Stop supporting them. They don't fucking answer to you. They answer to Wall Street, and this story proves it. Fuck them in the fucking neck. The two party system manipulates Americans into thinking they have a choice, and if the only way to fight back is by not participating, then so be it. Fuck fuck fuck.

And don't give me that "you're not going to agree with every issue, just suck it up" bullshit. That is such bullshit okay. Here. I've made a list. This is your Demoratic candidate:

• Barack Obama extended the Patriot Act for four years, violating the Constitution.
• He held Bradley Manning in conditions that violated the Constitution (until April 2011, when 295 legal scholars signed a letter saying his conditions were violating the Constitution). Manning continues to be held indefinitely without a trial, violating the Constitution.
• Because of him, both parties are now pro-war. There no reasons why we're still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and our soldiers continue to die there in vain.
• No global warming legislation could ever be passed in the United States anymore.
• When BP caused the worst environmental disaster in the history of the United States, Barack Obama called for more drilling.
• He refuses to pursue those responsible for the economic meltdown.
• He refuses to pursue any sort of meaningful legislation to fix the economy, and instead digs our hole even deeper by enabling billions in tax cuts for the rich.
• The military industrial complex continues unopposed.
• He fought to keep the minimum wage in Haiti at 31 cents per hour
• Not only is he keeping Guantanamo Bay open, he's also having the prisoners held there tried in military courts rather than civilian courts. It's been three years since Bush and they continue to be held indefinitely with no trials..
• He continues to stand by and do nothing as the only liberals left in America are forced to fight for their rights on their own in Wisconsin and elsewhere.
• When the Democrats practically controlled the government, he dropped the public option without a fight, and instead passed a health care bill bloated with corporate influence, no different than the one Republicans proposed in the 90s.
• His government is trying to plant evidence on Julian Assange, and is attempting to bribe Wikileaks staff.

If I need to suck it up and vote for someone I don't like because I'm never going to agree with anybody 100%, then why aren't any liberals telling me to vote for Ron Paul? I don't like Ron Paul, but I find myself agreeing with him on more issues than I'm agreeing on with Barack Obama. I would never vote for Ron Paul. So why the fuck would I vote for Barack Obama?

If any liberal is still considering supporting this guy, I have a question for you: where do you draw the line? Are you just going to stand there and keep letting the line be drawn for you? Because you guys are really starting to sound like Bush apologists. If you're completely okay with voting for a conservative posing as a Democrat, then have fun. I'll be busy not being a fucking tool.

Amazing Jon Stewart interview with Maziar Bahari, who was imprisoned and tortured by Iranian authorities

The embed code isn't working, so here's the direct link. There's a part 2, so be sure to check that out as well.

I hate people who vow to ignore stories about Sarah Palin. More specifically, I hate the reddit community.

I'M DOING SOMETHING.

Sunday Youtube Post

Existential Star Wars

Shakespeare: "Hell is empty and the devils are here."

Here's some irrelevant religious fascist tying 9/11 to gay marriage.



Renewing American Leadership chairman Jim Garlow:

“Our President gave a speech a few days ago in which he said, ‘the tragedy of 9/11 was that it robbed so many children of having a mommy or a daddy. Well, you know something Mr. President, your failure to defend marriage and to redefine marriage means that everybody who is under that redefined marriage will lack either a mommy or a daddy and that is morally wrong.”

What a nauseating sack of shit.

How about this: you are continuing to rob orphaned children of loving parents because you don't think gay people should be able to raise children. And what for? Seriously, I want someone to fucking answer that question. Because if you think children growing up without families is a better solution than gay people taking care of them, then you are a fucking monster and you can go fuck yourself. Seriously, go choke. Why do you hate gay people so much? Because homosexuality is not 'natural?' What is natural, and why should we strictly adhere to it? Did you know medicine is not natural? And refrigeration? And plumbing? Out of the 1,500 species that humans have extensively studied, we've observed homosexual behavior in almost a third of them. I don't know what your definition of 'natural' is, but if you had any sort of sense, you wouldn't have a problem with reexamining your position after reading that. What is 'traditional marriage?' Half of marriages in America end in failure. Why aren't you crusading against divorce? You know what else wasn't traditional to religious fascists? White people marrying niggers.

Source

Here are four of the arguments [used by opponents of interracial marriage]:

1) First, judges claimed that marriage belonged under the control of the states rather than the federal government.

2) Second, they began to define and label all interracial relationships (even longstanding, deeply committed ones) as illicit sex rather than marriage.

3) Third, they insisted that interracial marriage was contrary to God's will, and

4) Fourth, they declared, over and over again, that interracial marriage was somehow "unnatural."

Why won't you people just shut the fuck up already? Really. Stop trying to rationalize your hatred with these bullshit arguments, and just admit that the only reason you hate faggots so much is because your book tells you to do so. That's all it is. There is no argument to support you, and there never was. The debate is over. Stop kicking. You want to impose your terrifying views on those who don't agree with you, and there's nothing more to it than that. Future generations are going to look back at people like you in horror. Of all the great causes you could've attached yourself to, you felt that this was one of them, and that it the most pressing one at hand? You honestly feel that a "loving" God would want you to do this? How would you feel if gay people tried to take away your right to get married to whoever the fuck you wanted to? Are you so insecure with your own sexuality, or your own marriage, that you become so enraged at the happiness of those who are different than you? What do you possibly have to gain from this? Why does this concern you? What did these people do to you? Either leave them alone and let them live their own damn lives, or move to Uganda where religious fascists like you are trying impose the death penalty on them. Or even better, just follow my advice from earlier and go fucking choke on something. Because your life holds absolutely no meaning other than bringing pain and suffering onto others. I'm sick of hearing about your shit, and humanity would be better off without dumbfucks like you trying to drag us back into the dark ages. And fucking apologize to those 9/11 families, god damn it. Piss. Cock. Nipples.