A Message To Christians

I’ll tell you what you did with atheists for about 1500 years.

You outlawed them from the universities or any teaching careers, besmirched their reputations, banned or burned their books or their writings of any kind, drove them into exile, humiliated them, seized their properties, arrested them for blasphemy.

You dehumanised them with beatings and exquisite torture, gouged out their eyes, slit their tongues, stretched, crushed, or broke their limbs, tore off their breasts if they were women, crushed their scrotums if they were men, imprisoned them, stabbed them, disembowelled them, hanged them, burnt them alive.

And you have nerve enough to complain to me that I laugh at you. 

Madalyn Murray O’Hair

Interviewing Techniques

Famous British actor, Noel Coward, had arrived in Australia for the first time and ABC radio invited him into the studio for an interview. Before they went to air the reporter confessed that he was extremely nervous about doing an interview with someone so famous and wondered if Mr Coward had any hints.

Mr Coward quickly put the reporter at ease: "Don't worry about it my boy," he said. "You start the interview by saying, 'Mr Coward I guess there have been many amusing incidents that have happened to you during your career,' and I'll take it from there. I have plenty of stories and they will easily carry us through the whole program."

So they went into the studio and after the on-air introductions the reporter said, "Well Mr Coward, I guess you have experienced many amusing incidents during your career..." And Noel Coward said, "No."

Merry Christmas Everybody

God decided to take a holiday but he couldn't figure out where to go.

"Maybe you could try the Andromeda Galaxy?" suggested one of the angels.

"Too far away," said god.

"I hear the Orion Nebula is nice at this time of year," said another angel.

"A bit too dusty for my liking," god replied.

"What about planet Earth?" suggested yet another angel.

"Hell no," said god. "I'm never going back there again. I was down there about 2,000 years and slept with some woman named Mary - and they're still talking about it!"

Documentary Film Makers Will Fuck You Up

I saw these documentaries many years ago and the details in this blog are based on my own fallible memories, but I can assure you that the gist of each story is extremely accurate.

-----

I saw an Australian documentary featuring an uncontrollable child. The mother complained that boy (about ten years old) was continually throwing tantrums and sometimes got violent. She was at her wit's end and hoped this documentary would highlight her plight and convince the government to investigate the situation and hopefully provide a solution.

At one point the boy had gone into the lavatory so the camera crew moved into position and focused on the door while the mother opened it to reveal her son sitting on the toilet with his pants around his ankles having a shit! The kid screamed and yelled and shouted at them to go away while the mother turned to the camera and said, "See. That's what he's like. That's what I have to put up with." [And that's where I turned the TV off.]

-----

In an American documentary they were discussing the life of a problem gambler who had overcome his addiction and hadn't had a bet for five years. At the prompting of the interviewer, the gambler was explaining that he could never have another bet; the next bet would probably get him started gambling again and all the work of the last five years would be undone.

The interviewer expressed admiration for the gambler's effort to turn his life around and suggested that maybe the gambler had finally beaten his addiction. The gambler agreed that he had done very well to keep away from the casinos for the last five years and was almost tempted to think that maybe he had, indeed, beaten his addiction.

"Well then," said the interviewer to the gambler, "Maybe it's time to put yourself to the test. Maybe it's time we took you to the casino and you can demonstrate your ability to withstand the urge to make that dangerous first bet." The next scene showed the gambler and the interviewer in a car with the camera crew in the back. The car was just pulling up in front of a brightly lit casino! [And that's where I turned the TV off.]

-----

In another Australian documentary the reporter was interviewing a female rape victim who was expressing relief that her rapist was locked up in prison and could no longer get at her. The reporter seemed extremely sympathetic and praised the victim for her courage but wondered what the situation might be like when the rapist was finally released. The victim said she was very nervous about what might happen, but took consolation in knowing that while the criminal was in jail she was completely safe.

"Oh," said the reporter, "Didn't you know? The rapist was released on parole at 10 am this morning." A look of horror and fear spread across the stunned rape victim's face. [And that's where I turned the TV off.]

The Height Of Intolerance

Imagine that this year your birthday falls on the same day as the football grand final. You know your friend loves football and you know he has tickets to the big match, but even so, you still invite him to "skip the football" and come to your birthday party instead. 

How do you think your friend would react? Would he accept the offer, or would he say, "Thanks, but 'no thanks'." It would be one or the other wouldn't it? You certainly wouldn't expect your friend to suddenly start hurling insults at you - and if your friend did do that, you'd start wondering if he is drunk, or maybe going a little bit potty!

So let's see how Christians react when an atheist suggests that maybe they should "skip church" this Christmas.

Billboard erected by American Atheists in Raleigh, North Carolina and Colorado Springs, Colorado

• New Atheist Antichrist Campaign Displays Height of Intolerance
• Atheists love mocking Christians celebrating Christmas
• Atheist-driven billboards mock Christianity and the birth of Christ
• The billboards seek to belittle Christians for their beliefs
• And makes a mockery of the most holy birth in history
• They are disrespectful and intolerant of those with deeply held beliefs
• And they belittle the true intent of the season
• The billboards are the epitome of intolerance

All the details here:

http://www.charismanews.com/us/53780

A polite refusal of the offer would be appropriate but instead the Christians choose to hurl insults. Not quite the reaction you would expect from people who claim to "love their enemies" and proudly boast of their ability to always "turn the other cheek". Even more surprising when it is remembered that Jesus himself (whom they worship as their god) is reputed to have said,

'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these.

No commandment greater - but they go ahead and hurl insults anyway!

-----

Preacher Franklin Graham took exception to the atheist's suggestion that we "just be good for goodness sake". Graham says Christianity has nothing to do with goodness:

It’s not about being good; it’s about being saved
https://www.facebook.com/FranklinGraham/

That's one of the big attractions of Christianity. People like Graham can lie and cheat and break the law as often as they like, but if they eventually accept Jesus as their saviour, then they can still go to heaven when they die. Meanwhile, those who are just being good for goodness sake; well they can go to hell.

Megachurch

I saw this picture of Joel Osteen's megachurch and imagined what an old-fashioned "call and response" sermon might sound like in this monument to greed and gluttony. 

Jesus walked on water. 

"Amen brother." 

Jesus changed water into wine. 

"Amen brother." 

Jesus cured a man possessed of demons. 

"Amen brother." 

Lazarus rose from the dead. 

"Amen brother." 

"Sell all you have and give to the poor." 

"Come on brother! Now you're just being silly."

Don't Mess With The Pastor

Years ago I used to do volunteer work at a Day Centre for the homeless and one of the regulars on the staff was a Christian pastor who did whatever he could to help the clients sort out their problems. He rode a Harley motorcycle and looked like your typical outlaw bikie - bearded, six feet tall and weighing about 250 pounds; not the sort of guy you'd pick an argument with.

In reality, as you've probably already guessed, he was a gentle giant and not even slightly dangerous.

There were occasions, however, when a fight would break out, and the pastor was able to use his height and weight to get things calmed down fairly quickly. When a couple of skinny little street fighters see a 250 pound bikie lumbering towards them they quickly decide that it might be a good idea to sit down and behave themselves.

My favourite memory is the day I saw the pastor talking to one of the more belligerent clients. I have no idea what they were arguing about, but just as I walked past them I heard the pastor saying, "If you keep on talking like that, I'll rip your fucken head off and shit down your neck."

Postscript:

Of course the pastor had no real intention of using violence. He was just sending a message to the client in a language the client understood.

You Can't Tell A Book By Its Cover

Some Dutch atheists took a Christian bible and changed the cover to make it look like the Muslim Koran.

Then they highlighted various cruel, nasty, horrible texts and read them to the people they were interviewing and all agreed that the texts were cruel, nasty, and horrible. Certainly not the sort of thing you'd expect to find in a holy book. At the same time, however, most of them weren't surprised to find the Muslims believing such rubbish.

Then the atheists took off the false cover and revealed that all the cruel, nasty and horrible texts came from the Christian bible! Every bad thing the interviewees had just said about Muslims now had to be taken back and re-applied to their Christian friends and relations.

Not Guilty On A Technicality

When it was discovered (many years ago) that Robert Trimboli was hiding in Ireland, the New South Wales police force immediately set off to arrest him and have him extradited ... but they didn't really want to arrest him for two reasons:

1. He had bribed them to let him stay free.
2. He had information that could embarrass the police force. 

But now that the whole country knew where Trimboli was hiding the police had no option but to serve the arrest warrant. A couple officers hopped on a plane with all the official paper work and off they flew to Ireland. And then, oh dear me, what a surprise! The arrest warrants hadn't been signed properly! The poor, befuddled, police officers couldn't understand how it happened, but it had happened and now Mr Trimboli was free to go. Dear oh dear, what a shame.

More recently the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) began an investigation into Crown prosecutor, Margaret Cunneen. The investigating officers knew there would be plenty of incriminating evidence stored on her mobile phone (text messages etc) so they immediately got a warrant to seize the phone.


Oh no, wait a minute, they forgot to get the warrant; they just seized the phone without a warrant! What a bunch of silly-billys they must be.

Even I know that you need a warrant before you seize personal items for use in a legal investigation.

You knew it too didn't you?

But not the silly old officials at ICAC. They had no idea!


So what does that mean? it means that every piece of incriminating evidence on that phone cannot be used in the court room. The evidence is now inadmissible and the investigation has come to a halt. Margaret Cunneen has been exonerated.

Now what do you think?

Were the ICAC officials so inept that they didn't know they needed a warrant to seize the phone? Or so incompetent that they just forgot to get the warrant? Or did they deliberately break the law in order to make sure that the evidence could NOT be used in court, and Margaret Cunneen would be exonerated as a consequence?

It's good having friends in high places. Saves you from all sorts of trouble.

The NSW corruption watchdog has been accused of illegal conduct and "oppressive maladministration" in its ill-fated investigation into Crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen, including seizing her phone without a warrant and releasing almost a decade of her personal text messages.

In a scathing report into the Independent Commission Against Corruption's aborted inquiry into Ms Cunneen, ICAC Inspector David Levine, QC, said it was a "low point" in the history of the agency and the watchdog had engaged in "unreasonable, unjust, [and] oppressive maladministration".

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/icac-acted-illegally

America's Answer To Terrorist Attack

Gun control? 

How would that help?

What Is The Common Denominator ?

I came across these lists on
Kevin Sorbo's Facebook Page

What is the common denominator for all of these terrorist attacks?

Shoe Bomber

Beltway Snipers

Fort Hood Shooter

Underwear Bomber

U-S.S. Cole Bombers

Madrid Train Bombers

Bafi Nightclub Bombers

London Subway Bombers

Moscow Theatre Attackers

Boston Marathon Bombers

Pan-Am flight #93 Bombers

Air France Entebbe Hijackers

Iranian Embassy Takeover

Beirut U.S. Embassy bombers

Libyan U.S. Embassy Attack

Buenos Aires Suicide Bombers

Israeli Olympic Team Attackers

Kenyan U.S, Embassy Bombers

Saudi, Khobar Towers Bombers

Beirut Marine Barracks bombers

Besian Russian School Attackers

First World Trade Center Bombers

Bombay & Mumbai India Attackers

Achille Lauro Cruise Ship Hijackers

September 11th Twin Towers Attack
Answer

All of the terrorists were Muslims

What is the common demoninator for all of these organizations?

Islamic Jihad

ISIS

Al-Qaeda

Taliban

Hamas

Hezbollah

Boko Haram

Al-Nusra

Abu Sayyaf

Al-Badr

Muslim Brotherhood

Lashkar-e-Taiba

Palestine Liberation Front

Ansaru

Jemaah Islamiyah

Abdullah Azzam Brigades
Defenders of Islam
Answer

They are all Muslim terrorist organizations

After reading this post some people might think it is a little biased against the Muslims so I decided to make it as fair and balanced as possible. I decided to also draw up a list of every atheist terrorist organization, plus all of the terrorist acts they have committed. And what do you know? Nothing!

Update
A new addition to the list
(A terrorist attack that took place earlier today)

The Inland Regional Center in San Bernardin0
(14 dead, 17 wounded)

The terrorists were:
Syed Rizwan Farook
and Tashfeen Malik

Will they turn out to be Muslims?
Or atheists?

What do you think?

Things People Say

God, I hate atheists. I don’t think there can be a group of people on earth more convinced of their own rightness, more dismissive of other people’s interests and beliefs, or more dogmatic and humourless about their own massively unappealing and totally irrelevant weltanschauung than the “I don’t believe in God” squad.

But it’s not the nihilism, the soullessness, the lack of poetry, the moral and physical ugliness, the shallow iconoclasm or the vainglory of atheists that bother me most. It’s the boringness.

Is there anything in the world more boring than an atheist?
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/

The Times is asking $26 before I can read the rest of the story - so I decided to give it a miss.

-----

For a while I was wondering where a Christian might get the weird idea that unbelievers are soulless nihilists who are both morally and physically ugly - and then I remembered Psalm 14:1,

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.
http://biblehub.com/psalms/14-1.htm

That's the inspired word of the Lord God Almighty so it must be true.

Christians Always Welcome

It's Not Terrorism When Christians Do It

A police officer and two civilians died Friday after a man wearing hunting gear and armed with a "long gun" went on a shooting spree inside a Planned Parenthood clinic here, police confirmed Friday night.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/11/27

It's usually Christians who shoot people at Planned Parenthood clinics so I'm guessing that will be the case in this particular incident. However I don't expect to see that information widely reported by the news media in America. Nor will the incident be regarded as a terrorist attack. In America the word 'terrorism' is attached only to Muslims; rarely Christians.

Update:
ABC TV (USA) has proved me wrong. Two days after the terrorist attack the news anchor quoted somebody who refers to the incident as "domestic terrorism". Most news services, however, are still referring to the terrorist as merely 'the gunman' or 'the shooter'.

Also his ex-wife verifies that he is a devout Christian: “He believed wholeheartedly in the Bible. That’s what he always said; he read it cover to cover to cover.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/us/robert-dear

Laquan McDonald

In October, 2014 a teenager named Laquan McDonald was walking down the middle of the road with a knife in his hand. Police were called and they were immediately attacked by the crazed teenager. 

"He's got a 100-yard stare. He's staring blankly," said Pat Camden, a spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police. Camden went on to make the following points:

• Officers remained in their car and followed McDonald as he walked.
• Police tried to box him in with two squad cars.
• The police had called for a Taser to use on McDonald
• They were trying to detain him long enough for it to arrive.
• But McDonald attacked.
• He punctured one of the squad car's tyres with his knife.
• He also damaged the front windshield of the car.
• Only then did the officers get out of their car.
• They asked him to drop the knife but he lunged towards them.
• Police had no option - they shot him - sixteen times!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/

A security camera was located at a nearby Burger King restaurant and the police quickly took possession of the video. Unfortunately they had a bit of an accident and unintentionally deleted a full 86 minutes from the recording. By sheer coincidence it was those 86 minutes which would have contained pictures of the incident with Laquan McDonald.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/

The coppers did not, however, delete the video from their own police cars. More than a year after the killing, the following video has been released. Watch closely as the lunatic teenager attacks the police cars, punctures the tyre, damages the windscreen, and then lunges toward the poor old policeman who could do nothing else but draw his weapon. It was a case of kill or be killed. And remember, sixteen bullets hit the body - it was that serious!

Original video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zz03rvyhIk

The Vindictive Words Of A "Loving" God

If you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands ... then I will do this to you:

• I will bring on you sudden terror
• wasting diseases 
• fever that will destroy your sight
• You will plant seed in vain
• you will be defeated by your enemies
• those who hate you will rule over you
• you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.
• Your strength will be spent in vain
• your soil will not yield its crops
• nor the trees of your land yield their fruit.
• I will send wild animals against you
• they will rob you of your children
• I will bring the sword on you 
• I will send a plague among you
• you will be given into enemy hands.
• I will be hostile toward you
• You will eat the flesh of your sons 
• and the flesh of your daughters. 
• I will destroy your high places,
• I will abhor you.
• I will turn your cities into ruins
• I myself will lay waste the land
• your cities will lie in ruins.
• you will not be able to stand before your enemies. 
• You will perish among the nations
• the land of your enemies will devour you.
• Those of you who are left will waste away
 

Thus spake the all-powerful, all-loving, Lord God Almighty. Leviticus 26:14-39 

The adults do the sinning so god kills the innocent children and then makes the parents eat their dead flesh! Thank Christ he's not my god. I can do without that sort of "loving".

Religious Zealots

Muslim fundamentalists have threatened to drop a bomb on the USA. One of their leaders has written:

We intend to remove Christianity from the face of the earth  and then bomb New York off the face of the earth without concern for collateral damage so the Christians know once and for all that our God is far more powerful than their own. It’s harsh, but they’ve been asking for it for over 2,000 years, and it’s time they got it.

Oh wait, I got a bit mixed up - it wasn't a Muslim threatening to annihilate America, it was a Christian (Burt Prelutsky) threatening to annihilate the Muslims! Here is Prelutsky's diatribe as it appeared on World Net Daily:

My own politically incorrect suggestion is that we remove ISIS from the face of the earth, hopefully as a joint effort with every other nation it has threatened or attacked, and that we then bomb Mecca off the face of the earth, not concerning ourselves in the least with collateral damage, letting the Muslims know once and for all that our God is far more powerful and, yes, vengeful than their own puny deity.

It’s harsh, but they’ve been asking for it for over 1,400 years, and it’s time they got it. 

http://www.wnd.com/2015/11/bomb-mecca

Come on now - all you Christians who thought the first part of this post was absolutely horrible and terrifying - how many of you quickly tried to come up with an explanation as soon as you discovered that it was actually a Christian threatening to kill Muslims?

How many of you have already decided that he is "not a real Christian"?

How many of you understand what is meant by the statement: All swans are white if you don't count the black ones.

Don't Blame Islam

Heavily armed gunmen shouting "Allahu akbar" stormed a Radisson Blu hotel Friday morning in Bamako, the capital of the West African nation of Mali, seizing scores of hostages and leaving bodies strewn across the building.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/21/

Once again the politically correct are advising us that the terrorists are not real Muslims and they don't represent the religion of Islam. [All swans are white if you don't count the black ones.]

Hell Is Just A Separation From God

For most of Christian history the church had preached a fire and brimstone theology: If you come to church every week and pay your tithes then you can go to heaven and hang out with Jesus, but if you don't kow-tow to the preacher then you will burn in hell for eternity.

This is how bad it got. This is a book (The Sight Of Hell) written by Father John Furniss in 1855:

The whole book can be downloaded here:

https://ia800503.us.archive.org/5/items/sightofhell661furn/sightofhell661furn.pdf

The book was written especially for children and includes this recommendation from the Vicar General in Dublin:

I have carefully read over this Little Volume for Children and have found nothing whatsoever in it contrary to the doctrine of Holy Faith; but, on the contrary, a great deal to charm, instruct and edify our youthful classes, for whose benefit it has been written.
William Meagher, Vicar General, Dublin

So let's see how Father Furniss attempted to charm the youthful classes in his little volume for children - but hang on to your hat because it's going to be a wild ride. 

XX. A Bed of Fire 
The sinner lies chained down on a bed of red-hot blazing fire! ... Now look at that body lying on the bed of fire. All the body is salted with fire. The fire burns through every bone and every muscle. Every nerve is trembling and quivering with the sharp fire. The fire rages inside and the skull, it shoots out through the eyes, it drops out through the ears, it roars in the throat as it roars up a chimney.

XXVI. The Third Dungeon - The Red Hot Floor

Look into this room. What a dreadful place it is! The roof is red hot; the floor is like a thick sheet of red hot iron. See, on the middle of that red hot floor stands a girl. She looks about sixteen years old. Her feet are bare, she has neither shoes nor stockings on her feet; her bare feet stand on the red hot burning floor. The door of this room has never been opened before since she first set her foot on the red hot floor ... Oh, that you could hear the horrible, the fearful scream of that girl when she saw the door shutting, never to be opened any more.

XXVIII. The Fifth Dungeon - The Red Hot Oven

It is a pitiful sight. The little child is in this red hot oven. Hear how it screams to come out. See how it turns and twists itself about in the fire. It beats its head against the roof of the oven. It stamps its little feet on the floor of the oven. You can see on the face of this little child what you see on the faces of all in hell -- despair, desperate and horrible! 

Do you think our Father Furniss might have been some sort of sadistic pervert with a special interest in the horrific torture of children? Yeah, me too. And back in those days he was popularly known as "The Children's Missioner" so he had access to plenty of potential victims. He certainly fucked their minds. I wonder if he also fucked them physically. I'll bet he did; that's what Catholic priests do. They're famous for it.

-----

So that was the situation in the 19th century. "The Sight Of Hell" remained in print for the next fifty years and the preachers continued to deliver fire and brimstone sermons right into the early 20th century - but then something happened. I don't know what it was, but, for some reason, many of the mainstream (non-Catholic) churches did a complete back-flip and declared that hell does not exist!

According to this new theology, the submissive Christians could still go to heaven when they died, but the 'sinners' would not be able to join them; the 'sinners' would just be dead. Not in hell; not burning for eternity - just dead - separated from God.

That message, though, doesn't come from the bible. Here is what Jesus had to say on the subject:

Anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matthew 5:22)

If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell (Matthew 5:29)

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matthew 7:19)

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)

The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:41-42)

This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous  and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:49-50)

And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. (Matthew 18:9)

In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:34-35)

Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. (Matthew 25:41)

They will go away to eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46)

So the fire and brimstone preachers were right: The bible says that hell really does exists and the sinners will be tortured for eternity - which means that the mainstream Christians who deny the existence of hell are the heretics. They are the sinners and they will burn in hell !  It's a funny old religion isn't it?

The Good Old Days

During my travels around the Internet I came across this picture of St Lambert's Church in Munster, Germany. At first it doesn't seem to be anything special but there is something strange in the steeple above the clock.

Zoom in a bit and you can see three metal cages hanging there. What could they have been used for?

Blimey! The cages look to be just big enough to hold a human being. Surely they weren't used for that purpose.

Yes, they are cages for humans...

Back in the 1530s the Anabaptists took control of the town of Munster but they were immediately besieged by the Catholics and eventually the bishop was able to raise an army to retake the town.

The three leading Anabaptists were tortured to death in front of the church and their bodies were place in the cages and hauled into position on the steeple.

They've been there ever since!

The bodies of the three men rotted away and their bones were removed fifty years later but the Catholics decided to leave the cages where they were as a nice little reminder for any passing heretic - don't mess with us because we will hunt you down.

The tower was originally topped with a dome but in 1881 it was demolished and replaced with the steeple we see today. The cages were taken down during the rebuilding but in 1888 the peace-loving Catholics demanded their return - because how else are you going to frighten the heretics unless you can show them the instruments of torture.

They are still there today - and nicely polished too by the look of it.

The Sport Of Kings

Earlier this month saw the running of the Melbourne Cup race. It is a 2 mile handicap race with prize money of about $6 million and draws a crowd that usually exceeds 100,000. It is as famous in Australia as the Kentucky Derby in America. All across the country people stop whatever they are doing to watch the race on TV or listen to it on the radio - which has led to it being called "the race that stops a nation".

Years ago I used to go to the races every Saturday - and nearly always lost my money but felt confident that one day I would make a fortune. It took me twenty years to realise that it wouldn't happen. Anyway, way back then, I would be up in the grandstand and most of the races started over in the back stretch so it was hard to see (and impossible to hear) what was going on until they had rounded the turn and hit the main straight.

Every now and then, however, one of the longer races would actually start in the main straight right in front of the grand stand and you could easily see and hear everything that happened. Actually you couldn't hear very much because nobody spoke. Occasionally a jockey might call to the starter, "I'm not ready Sir," but never much more than that. Then the gates would open and all we could hear were thundering hooves.

But one day I arrived late at the track and was held up by the officials  on the back stretch because a race was about to start. I was only about five metres from the starting barriers and at first everything was as quiet and genteel as it had always been, but - oh boy - was there a difference when the gates flew open.

No need to put on a show of politeness in front of the public this time because (way over here on the back stretch) the only observers were the race track officials and me. You should have heard it: "Get out the road you cunt...Give us some fucking room you bastard...I'll smack your silly head in...You idiot..."

I was shocked! Shocked I tell you. I was betting money on these yobbos?

Terrorist Attacks In Paris

Written as events unfolded

First reports say dozens killed and scores held hostage during a series of coordinated attacks across Paris.

Who could have done it? Could it be atheists do you think? Or Christians? Or Hindus? Or Sikhs?

It could be anyone couldn't it?

But deep down we already know don't we? As I'm writing these words I am watching the massacre on TV. I can see the people running and I can hear the guns being fired, but even so, even at this early stage, I already know who the gunmen are - and so do you! It's the Muslims again. The Islamists who claim to follow the religion of peace yet spend their days plotting the deaths of innocent civilians.

Even the most politically correct - even those who have consciously decided not to accuse any particular group until all the evidence has been collected - they still know (deep down) that it will definitely turn out to be Muslims. 

I'll wait a couple of days for the investigations to be completed and then I'll add some links to news sites which tell us for certain who massacred the Parisians. (It will be Muslims for sure. I know it, and so do you.)

Update (8 hours later)

Didn't even have to wait a couple of days.
ISIS has already claimed responsibility! 


ISIS 'claims responsibility' for Paris attacks 
after hundreds killed across French city

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/619363/Islamic-State-ISIS 

Paris attacks: ISIS gunmen shouted 'Allah Akbar' 

as victims were slaughtered in co-ordinated attacks

 http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/paris-attacks-isis

Update (24 hours later)

129 dead, 352 wounded, 99 critically

The sad thing is that the Muslims will never change. They boast that they love death more than you love life and they really mean it. Right now their jihadist friends and relations are sitting at home and thinking to themselves, "When it is my turn to go on the attack I hope we kill more than the 140 who died in Paris. I hope we kill thousands." That's what happens when you combine a Neanderthal mentality with modern weapons.

But surely not all Muslims are terrorists?

No, of course not - but where are all the peace loving Muslims when the mad mullah stands up in the mosque and calls for "Death to the infidels"? Are they inside the mosque demanding that he tone down the rhetoric, or are they sitting at home thinking to themselves, "Well it wouldn't be such a bad place if Muslims  ruled the world and all the infidels were gone."  

And what happens when the infidels are gone?

Well the Sunnis will kill the Shiites and the Shiites will kill the Sufis and the Sufis will kill the Baha'is and the Baha'is will kill the Ahmadi and whoever is left will kill anyone who looks at them funny!

 -----

Muslims have taken to Twitter to show support for Parisians affected in the attacks, and to show that the terrorists are not a part of Islam after the attacks in Paris on Friday night.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/

But the terrorists are a part of Islam.They kill for Allah and the Caliphate.

There's an interesting skit on the subject here:
http://www.faisalalmutar.com/2015/11/16/

-----

Earlier in this post (written while the victims in Paris were still being murdered) I suggested that while the moderate Muslims publicly declare their opposition to the terrorists, many of them are secretly hoping that maybe the terrorists will win. Well it's nearly a week after the murders and at a football match in Turkey the fans were asked to observe a minute's silence for the Paris victims. The moderate Muslims couldn't quite manage it.

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/

-----

And now it's three weeks since the massacre and moderate Muslims from Goldsmiths London University attended a speech given by Maryam Namazie. She was heckled throughout her speech but this is that bit that highlights the point I have been making in this post:

When she referred to the atheist bloggers who have been hacked to death in Bangladesh, the moderate Muslims started to laugh. One of them even went through the charade of doubling over and finished up with his head almost between his legs.

Think about it. Moderate Muslims are reminded that people are being hacked to death by extremists - and moderate Muslims laugh! Do you see why I doubt their professed opposition to the terrorists? Seriously, where do you think they will stand when the revolution comes? Will they protect you from the terrorists or will they hand you over to them?

Original video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1ZiZdz5nao

This incident occurs at the 11'20" mark

Projection - Ben Carson Style

Twenty years ago Ben Carson wrote a book containing a lot of stories about his early life.

This last week the reporters have been checking up on those stories and discovered that they cannot be verified. Some reporters have even called Ben Carson a liar.

But look how Carson tries to dismiss the problem when he says: 

There’s got to be a scandal. There’s got to be some nurse he’s had an affair with. There’s got to be something. They have gotten desperate ... Next week, it will be my kindergarten teacher who said I peed in my pants. It’s ridiculous.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ben-carson

He tries to make it sound like the reporters have been making up false stories about him when, in fact, the reporters are actually accusing him of that very thing - fabricating stories about himself! Carson completely ignores what the reporters are saying and seems to be projecting his own behaviour onto the reporters.

I wonder if Republicans have noticed how deftly he side-stepped the issue? I wonder if they are now thinking that he is the victim of defamatory stories invented by reporters?

Different Strokes For Different Folks

Google News results for "atheist"

Google News results for "youth pastor"

Winning The Debate

Politicians and Christian apologists often try to avoid embarrassing questions by changing the subject as quickly as possible. When asked about a particular subject they will often begin their reply with something like, "I think what you're trying to say is (blah blah blah)..." and off they go on a completely different subject. In this National Review article, Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry took the art form to a new level:

The Errors of the Militant Atheist 

by Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry November 6, 2015 4:00 AM 

The thought that most frequently pops into my head when I read diatribes by militant atheists is “Why won’t you read a book?”
[...]
Take the theoretical physicist and public speaker Lawrence Krauss ... Krauss recently received the 2015 Humanist of the Year award and delivered himself of a speech attacking religion; before that, he wrote a piece for The New Yorker that went viral, calling on scientists to attack religion.

So how did Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry answer this attack on religion?

There is no such thing as “religion.” Some words are fine to use in everyday discourse, but become completely useless if one is trying to be conceptually precise. “Religion” is one of them.
[...]
Any generalization that begins with the word “religion” is ipso facto meaningless.

How easy was that?

Source:

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/426668/atheism-science-religion

The God Haters

When I came across this photo of a book cover I thought it was a Poe, but

then I discovered that Don Boys is a real person and "The God Haters" is a

real book. You can see a 30 page preview here:

http://thegodhaters.com/firstlook/TheGodHaters_Excerpt.pdf

I liked this bit on the 'Contents' page.

Introduction ....................................................................................... 1

God Haters: Shallow, Silly, Sarcastic | New Atheists Are Tyrants

Preface ................................................................................................ 5
Childish Name-Callers | God Haters Put Up Straw Men

In the Introduction the author engages in some childish name-calling when

he refers to atheists as haters, shallow, silly, sarcastic, tyrants.

Then, in the Preface, he accuses the atheists of being "childish name-callers".

Probably the best example of projection I have seen this year.

Ben Carson: US Presidential Candidate

BuzzFeedNews has just reminded everyone of a video uploaded to You Tube in 2012. It contains the 1998 commencement address give by Dr Ben Carson at the (Seventh Day Adventist) Andrews University in Michigan. These bits made me feel quite weak:

About the pyramids he said:

My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids in order to store grain. Now all the archaeologists think they were made for the pharaoh's graves but...Various scientists have said, 'Well, y'know, there were alien beings that came down and they had special knowledge and that's how they were - you know - it doesn't require an alien being when god is with you.

He carefully failed to name the scientists who say that. I wonder why?

About scientists he said:

I have many arguments - I guess you could call them discussions - with so-called scientists who think that I should not believe in god.

So-called !?

About abiogenesis he said:

There were about 8 or 9 panellists - they were all Nobel Prize winners - and the question came up, how did life originate? And after all their machinations they finally came to the conclusion that life emanated as a result of a bunch of promiscuous biochemicals getting together. That was the best they could come up with.

I think that was Carson's conclusion, not the conclusion of the Nobel Prize winners.

He asked a "well known physicist" about the Big Bang theory:

Would you reconcile these two things for me - the Big Bang and entropy? Well, of course, he had no answer. You know they never have an answer...

Carson is a fibber! Physicists do have answers.

But apparently Ben Carson does have the answer - all of the answers - to everything! He said:

That's the wonderful thing about having a relationship with god. You know God has already told us what happens so we don't have to come up with fanciful theories.

And there it is. One of religion's main attractions. You don't have to work; you don't have to study; you don't have to do anything too strenuous. You just hold the bible under your arm and the knowledge of the universe soaks in through your skin. You are right up there with god almighty himself. You know everything about everything. All you have to do is think about something and it is automatically true (because god wouldn't let you think it if it was untrue!).

Original video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrqShRhxJBM#t

Bonya Ahmed Expects No Justice

In the previous post I mentioned Dr Avijit Roy who was murdered on February 26, 2015. The attack occurred during broad daylight on a public street and he was not the only victim that day. His wife, Bonya Ahmed, was also slashed by the machete wielding Defenders of Islam. Here is how she describes the attack:

That is how audacious they've become these days. The don't need to hide in darkness anymore. They wield their cleavers in well-lit streets, in front of thousands of people, in front of the police. I myself stood in the street, with four cleaver-inflicted head wounds, my hand gushing blood from a lost finger, begging for help from hundreds of people. Did anyone in that crowded street come forward to help? Before Jiban, the journalist, came to help me and Avijit, other people surrounded us in a circle to watch the spectacle. There were policemen in that circle.

She now realises that there is no justice for non-Muslims in the Muslim world. The politicians are too greedy for votes and the ordinary citizens quite enjoy the idea that infidels can be killed at any time by any one who chooses to do so. Bonya writes:

We have no demands for this government. Our only request to them is please stop wasting your energy by constantly shouting "We are the secular party." You might as well stay silent until your aims are fulfilled

Stay silent and go on oiling the fundamentalist cleavers, otherwise you might lose a few votes. You know very well that it is your silence that is allowing them to hone their weapons. 

[The Defenders of Islam] are glorying in this mad festival of murder after murder. We are all of us helpless, stunned at this dance of destruction.

This oppressive machine of state has silenced us so successfully that we grow inert in fear. Like deer caught in headlights, we watch this bloodied nation and just stare. I've heard from many people that these days those who come forward trying to help are eventually harassed by the police. 

The murderers know they have nothing to fear. They know their refuge is spreading. They know they will be awarded with the garland of state of silence.

We have learned that in this country there is no justice in the courts.

You can read the full letter here:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/bonya-ahmed/ 

About 800 years ago in Europe a gang very similar to today's "Defenders of Islam" began to murder dissenters in the public square. They referred to themselves as "Defenders of the Faith". They were the Catholic priests and their cruel Inquisitions tortured and murdered millions of innocent victims for 600 years before they were finally stopped.

Let's hope the situation in Bangladesh doesn't last so long.

Islam Is the Religion Of Peace If You Don't Count The Murders Committed In The Name Of Allah

In 2014 the 'Defenders of Islam' gave the Bangladeshi government a list of 84 people (mostly atheists) and demanded that all of them be arrested and jailed for blasphemy. The government wasn't really interested and took no action.

"OK then," said the Defenders of Islam, "We'll kill the bastards."

• November 15, 2014, Shafiul Islam was stabbed to death by Muslims.
• February 26, 2015, Dr Avijit Roy was hacked to death by Muslims.
• March 30, 2015, Oyasiqur Rhaman, was killed by Muslims.
• May 12, 2015, Ananta Bijoy Das was hacked to death by Muslims.
• August 7, 2015, Niloy Neel, was killed by a gang of six Muslims
• October 31, 2015, Faisal Dipan was hacked to death by Muslims.

When the Bangladeshi government was asked to comment, the Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the attacks were "isolated incidents" and the situation in Bangladesh is no worse than it is in other parts of the world.

http://www.thedailystar.net/country/attacks

Millions upon millions of Muslims around the world will agree wholeheartedly with that pathetic explanation. The rest of the world knows the truth: 

These are not isolated incidents at all. The 'Defenders of Islam' drew up a hit list with 84 names on it, and told the government they intended to kill everyone on the list. The government realised it couldn't retain power without the votes of those who follow the 'Defenders of Islam' so the politicians decided to simply turn their back on the problem: Let the 'Defenders of Islam' kill the atheists and get the votes of their followers in return. Everybody's happy! Well maybe not the atheists but who cares about them?

Play Them At Their Own Game

Where I live there is not much nightlife but if you do happen to be out late at night you can always get a snack at the pie cart. As you can see in the picture, the pie cart is a converted caravan that has been fitted out to serve hot pies and cold drinks. It is usually towed into position at about 10pm, just as the regular restaurants are closing, and it stays there until about 4am.

The streets are usually deserted during those hours and very often the only people to be seen are the few poor souls standing around the pie cart.

Well I turned up one night and was immediately surrounded by three tough looking guys who tried to bluff me with a proposition bet. One of them waved a ten dollar note in front of my face and suggested we should bet $10 on the toss of a coin. Heads I win $10 from them. Tails they win $10 from me.

I quickly figured out what their routine would be. If I refused to accept the bet they would move in closer and try to intimidate me to the point where I became so frightened that I would accept the bet just so they would leave me alone.

And when I did accept the bet, even if the coin landed Heads up (which meant I had won ten dollars from them) all three guys would declare that it had landed Tails up so I had to pay them ten dollars. Three against one! I'd be forced to accept their decision (or maybe risk getting bashed).

So I decided to pull a bluff of my own. I guessed they didn't have much cash between them and would not be able to match anything above the ten dollars they had already suggested so I told them, "I'm not fucking around with miserable $10 bets. I'll bet you a hundred dollars instead. Let's see your money."

I was right. They couldn't cover the bet and they backed down immediately.

[I didn't have $100 either, but these small time grifters thought they were doing all the bluffing and it never occurred to them that one of their marks could get the better of them.]

They're Gonna Blow Up The Moon

October 1957 and the Russians had launched Sputnik into orbit around the Earth. It didn't do much; just went "beep beep beep" but we were fascinated all the same. Each night we went outside and looked up into the sky - and there it was! A tiny speck of light actually moving across the sky. I could hardly believe I was lucky enough to be alive during such an exciting period of Earth's history.

One night our neighbours came into our yard to watch the satellite with us. As usual we stood there marvelling at the scientific wonder of it all until the woman from next door spoke:

"Oooh, I don't like what they're doing these days."

"What do you mean?"

"Well this sputnik thing," she said. "If they keep going like this it might blow up. It might knock a piece off the moon and then where would we be?"

That was the day I realised that adults were fucking stupid and sometimes us kids were smarter than they would ever be. 

-----

This is my favourite rockabilly song from that period - Sputnik (Satellite Girl) by Jerry Engler:

Original video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owaJjwHGMOk

And that wasn't the only one. Back in those days the hit parades were full of songs about satellites and sputniks:



Rock Old Sputnik - Nelson Young

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZb1boVtKXc

Satellite Baby - Skip Stanley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd7UmBdSTHU

Beep Beep Beep - Bobby Day & The Satellites
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEtzHdZs74M

My Satellite - Jesse Belvin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28skmNYKslk

Rockin' Satellite - The Three Honeydrops
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpzDbTkLx5I

Sputnik Rock - Ralf Bendix (German)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXIzbLN6khM

Part way through the previous song, Ralf Bendix sings the words, "Cindy Oh Cindy" which refers to a song of that name recorded by Eddie Fisher in 1956
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jZVpTtYyPs 

There Goes Sputnik - The Teen-Clefs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pSLM_afETc

The Sputnik Story - Bill Thomas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR2c24mxKsA

Sputnik Rock and Roll - Rock Krister and his Kristals (Swedish)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K7IGblkglI

Sputnik Dance - The Equadors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_fARQcrL6c

Shake It Over Sputnik - Billy Hogan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P_qQM1Fdnw

Sputnik - Los Loud Jets (Mexican version of the Jerry Engler song)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx7wstnjS_U

Sputnik And Mutniks - Ray Anderson & The Home Folks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tTXu6hkCm0

Gonna Ride That Satelite - Jimmy Gartin & The Highlanders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LqyR5i-jsY

Beep Beep - Louis Prima
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IAZsprQzoI

Satellite Fever & Asiatic Flu - Lonnie Miley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhUKnmve0pE

Satellite Rock - Jimmy Copeland & The J-Teens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhi7qmfW3Wg

Satellite Rock - The Rebelaires
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UikCoxo6Mc

Satellite Love - Lil Randolph (aka Madame Queen)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klBWOw3jIcU

Gonna Git Me a Satellite - Little Ernest Tucker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9_IbEp_TDQ

Satellite - Teresa Brewer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hi8wPYJjCI

Satellite Rock - Joe Tate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch3wW9kTUUA

Satellite Baby - Roosevelt Sykes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdfiB3y6bTA

Rockin' Satellite - Ray Sawyer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgGH0NyDJCw

Science News (21st Century Style)

click to enlarge

The Ratbaggery Of Religion

Have a look at these masochistic clowns:

Pakistani Shiite Muslims flagellate themselves with knives attached to chains ahead of Ashoura day, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 23, 2015. Ashoura is a Shiite Muslim commemoration marking the death of Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson
http://www.usnews.com/news/world/

But the Sunni Muslims hate the Shiite Muslims and both sides love killing each other. Here's what happened the day after the photograph was taken:

A suicide bomber has killed at least 22 people taking part in a procession by Shia Muslims in southern Pakistan.

At least five children are among the dead. Dozens of people were wounded in the attack in the city of Jacobabad.

It was the second attack in as many days targeting celebrations of the Shia holiday of Ashura in Pakistan.

On Thursday a suicide bomber killed 10 people at a mosque in Balochistan province. A radical Sunni group had threatened violence during the holiday.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34622989

Now that's what I call the ratbaggery of religion. Is there any religious fanatic out there who would like the defend the actions of either the masochistic Shiites or the sadistic Sunnis? I'd like to see you try.

What Goes Around Comes Around

Authorities in the Aceh province of Indonesia began tearing down a number of Christian churches on Monday at the demand of hardline Muslims, as religious tensions have risen in the province in recent weeks.

According to Reuters, government workers in the Aceh Singkil district used axes and sledgehammers to dismantle several small Christian churches after many hardline Muslims in the area demanded that at least 10 Christian churches be demolished.

BBC reports that over 200 police officers and military personnel protected government workers as they destroyed the church buildings on the grounds that the structures lacked the proper building permits.
http://www.christianpost.com/news/

The Christians got their start in the very same way:

When they gained political power in the 4th century AD they immediately set about destroying the pagan religions; burned their libraries; demolished their temples; exiled the followers of pagan gods; murdered those who spoke in favour of paganism, and denied employment to anyone who did not accept Jesus as their saviour. The terror campaign went on for hundreds of years and ended in complete success for the Christians. They were cheering then. Now, in Aceh, they are crying.

What goes around comes around.

Oops!

A Deutsche Bank junior employee accidentally sent a hedge fund client $6 billion while their boss was on holiday.
 
A payment mistake by a junior banker has nearly cost Deutsche Bank billions at a time when it is already under intense scrutiny from regulators.
 
The junior staff member was working unsupervised for the foreign exchange sales team when they accidently sent $6 billion to a US-based hedge fund client. The employee mistakenly processed the order as a “gross figure” instead of as a “net value” while their boss was on holiday this summer, according to the Financial Times.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/

When I was working as a factory hand I couldn't get $5 out of the petty cash tin unless the leading hand approved it. Any more than $5 and I had to ask the foreman.