Archive for January, 2010
“So, in short, while such appeals to mindless naturalistic mechanisms don’t exclude God, they do remove the need for God or any other sort of intelligent input beyond what mindless Nature Herself can achieve.
For example, William Provine, late professor of biological sciences at Cornell University, gave a very interesting speech for a 1998 Darwin Day keynote address in which he pointed out the following:
“Naturalistic evolution has clear consequences that Charles Darwin understood perfectly.
- No gods worth having exist;
- No life after death exists;
- No ultimate foundation for ethics exists;
- No ultimate meaning in life exists; and
- Human free will is nonexistent.
Provine, William B. [Professor of Biological Sciences, Cornell University], “Evolution: Free will and punishment and meaning in life”, Abstract of Will Provine’s 1998 Darwin Day Keynote Address.
Provine also wrote, “In other words, religion is compatible with modern evolutionary biology (and indeed all of modern science) if the religion is effectively indistinguishable from atheism.” – Academe January 1987, pp.51-52″
Source: Email from Dr. Sean Pitman
“Pursuant to a unanimous ruling issued in favor of The Center For Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR) by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Los Angeles County Sheriff�s Department, several of its deputies, and a middle school official in the Los Angeles County School District were forced to pay $260,000 in costs and fees for infringing on CBR�s constitutional right to demonstrate with graphic abortion images on the public streets in California. CBR attorneys at The Thomas More Law Center yesterday announced the processing of the Los Angeles County attorney fee award payment.
Ironically, while the Los Angeles County Schools argue that its students are old enough to obtain abortion without parental consent, school officials argue that its students are not old enough to see abortions without parental consent. Ironically, while the Los Angeles County Schools are supposed to be teaching students to respect the Constitution, school officials are being rebuked by the Federal Appeals Courts for flagrantly violating CBR�s constitutional rights. Ironically, while the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution, Sheriff�s deputies are being rebuked by the Federal Appeals Courts for flagrantly violating CBR�s constitutional rights.
In addition to CBR being threatened with arrest for showing students the truth about abortion, CBR volunteer James Pullion was recently shot and killed for showing students abortion photos outside a public school in Michigan. …”
Read More: http://abortionno.org/blog/
“If you want to see where the U.S. is headed if we continue to indulge in dangerous and tyrannical political correctness, and indulge in the multicultural folly that Islam is the moral equivalent of Christianity, look no further than Europe. And if you question whether Islam is a religion of peace, you will get an answer in the same place.
Politically correct goons in the Netherlands want to put parliamentarian Geert Wilders in jail on a “hate speech” conviction for having the temerity to speak the truth that Islam represents a clear and present danger to Western civilization.
Islam is a religion of violence and war, and proof positive can be found in that Wilders has been living under 24-hour police protection since producing the film. He has been the target of numerous death threats, and Al Qaeda is calling for his head (literally, as the Prophet of Allah commands them to do).
Contrast this with the response of a Christian nation, followers of the Prince of Peace, to the writings of Richard Dawkins, who frequently and loudly condemns Christianity and the Bible as nothing more than a collection of superstitions and myths. He travels and speaks freely, with nothing to fear. Why? Because Christianity is a religion of peace and Islam is not.
Wilders has called for a stop to Muslim immigration into the Netherlands and for the deportation of jihadists, in an effort to preserve what is left of Western values and culture in his native land. He is also calling for a ban on the Koran, just as the Netherlands bans Mein Kampf, and for the same reasons: it is a dangerous and subversive book. …”
Read More: http://action.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147491
“One year ago, Washington D.C. was preparing for Barack Obama’s inauguration. Hope and change were finally here! Or not. Now, a year into Obama’s presidency, things aren’t looking quite so rosy for Obama. Trillions of dollars in spending, an unpopular healthcare bill, fiasco after fiasco, falling approval ratings, an uprising on the Right and a cooler attitude from the Left have marred this first year of the ‘new era in politics.’
Not only is Obama suffering in the polls, Democrats all over the country are showing vulnerability for the upcoming 2010 elections. Not even ultra-blue Massachusetts, a stronghold for liberals, the state of the Kennedy’s, John Kerry, Barney Franks, is safe from this outrage at Obama’s policies. A Republican is poised to win the Massachusetts special election for Ted Kennedy’s seat. A year ago no one in their wildest dreams would have suggested that a Republican could wrest a Massachusetts senate seat away from the Democrats. One of the main reasons that Massachusetts is turning purple is the outrage over Obama.
How did Obama fall so far so fast? Real Clear Politics lists the three main reasons.
- #1. A Lack of Bipartisanship. …
- #2. Installing Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid as de facto prime ministers …
- #3 Pursuing an agenda that doesn’t fit the times. I’m talkingabout health care reform here.
Read More: http://action.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147491227
“PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti- Thousands of Haiti quake victims are struggling to board buses to flee hunger and violence in the shattered capital, hoping that food will be easier to find in the countryside. But both gasoline and food are scarce in Port-au-Prince, and bus drivers have hiked fares, forcing some to pay more than three days’ wages for a seat.
“Thousands and thousands are leaving, I’ve never seen such a rush, even at Christmas,” said driver Garette Saint-Julien, who was trying to manage the crowd Monday in front of his bus at the Portail Leogane, a suburb where buses gather for trips to Haiti’s southern peninsula. Most of those fleeing said they were heading to small farms run by their relatives, pressed on by the specter of starvation because foreign aid has failed to reach much of the population.
“We’ve got no more food and no more house, so leaving is the only thing to do,” said Livena Livel, a 22-year-old street vendor who was traveling to her father’s house near the town of Les Cayes four hours south of Port-au-Prince. “At least over there we can farm for food,” she said, carrying her 1-year-old daughter, Othmeline. …”
Read More: http://www.onenewsnow.com/Headlines/Default.aspx?id=859626
“A study published in Science Magazine today presents new evidence supporting the abiotic theory for the origin of oil, which asserts oil is a natural product the Earth generates constantly rather than a “fossil fuel” derived from decaying ancient forests and dead dinosaurs.
The lead scientist on the study ? Giora Proskurowski of the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington in Seattle ? says the hydrogen-rich fluids venting at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in the Lost City Hydrothermal Field were produced by the abiotic synthesis of hydrocarbons in the mantle of the earth.
The abiotic theory of the origin of oil directly challenges the conventional scientific theory that hydrocarbons are organic in nature, created by the deterioration of biological material deposited millions of years ago in sedimentary rock and converted to hydrocarbons under intense heat and pressure. …”
Read More: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=45838
“A project trumpeted as a potential solution to America’s energy needs is on the verge of taking off with the U.S. military, but government bureaucracy is causing frustrating delays and a chokehold on funding, raising out-of-pocket expenses for the company spearheading the technology.Bell Bio-Energy of Tifton, Ga., has developed a groundbreaking process that rapidly converts virtually anything that grows out of the Earth into all sorts of hydrocarbon fuel � from gasoline and diesel, to home heating oil and jet fuel for fighter aircraft such as the Navy’s F/A-18 Super Hornets.
“There’s certainly nothing from a basic science point of view that’s wrong with the idea,” said Dr. Charles Krauter, a soil and water professor California State University at Fresno familiar with Bell’s technique. “Obviously the process worked. He’s just doing it in an artificial enviroment and speeding it up. They’re not doing anything that natural microbes haven’t been doing for 100 million years.” …”
Read More: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=121955
“In the early morning hours of Sunday, September 13, Linfen Church members were jolted awake by rowdy, screeching intruders. A mixed mob of 400 police officers, local government officials, and hired thugs beat the church members who were sleeping at the construction site of their new church building. Heavily bleeding, more than 20 members were severely injured and hospitalized.
Local officials instructed the hospitals not to give the victims blood transfusions, forcing them to be relocated to regional hospital care. The next day, church members looked on at the massive destruction: 17 buildings on the Good News Cloth Shoes Factory property destroyed; TVs, refrigerators, and appliances looted or smashed personal belongings including money, Bibles, and church documents, pilfered or destroyed. The work of two shovel front-loaders and a bitter and evil mob reduced the new Fushan Church building to rubble.
Yet on Monday, September 14, 2009, only the sweet sound of singing pierced the cloudy day, as over 1,000 members gathered in the pouring rain to pray for Linfen Church. The destruction of Fushan Church, which served as one of 30 church homes to the 50,000 members of Linfen Church in Shanxi, marked the climax of a long-burning hatred by local officials for the vibrant and socially-conscious Linfen House Church community.
Linfen Church leaders called on the government to repay the damages to their property and issue a public apology. The Fushan government responded by installing state police guards at numerous house church sites, and banning members from gathering to worship. Water, electricity, and all communications were cut off for neighboring churches, including three-story house church Jin Dengtai (Golden Lampstand) in Linfen.” …”
“Mercy killings have increased in the Netherlands as the number of euthanasia cases rose by 200 for a total of 2,500 last year, but because reporting cases to the government is voluntary, exact figures are not available.
“Even under the self-reporting, it is acknowledged by the Dutch at least that…not everybody’s reporting,” says Rita Marker, head of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. “And yet that was their very reason that they gave for legalizing euthanasia because it had been practiced for years. And then when they finally legalized it they said, ‘Well, this way we’ll have a better handle on it. We’ll know what’s happening. It will be more carefully done’ — and in fact, that isn’t what’s happened.”
Marker notes that people have become desensitized and no longer blink an eye at euthanasia, and she feels that is an important point of concern because assisted suicide is now considered to be “medical treatment” in three American states. She is also troubled about the possibility that healthcare reform may lead to assisted suicide.
“Whether they foresee it that way or not, there is the law of unintended consequences, and when something becomes a medical treatment and it is the least expensive medical treatment, it’s just carrying it to its logical conclusion,” Marker explains. “So while someone who votes for the healthcare reform bill may not have that in mind, it is inevitable once you transform assisted suicide into a medical treatment.” …” Read More: http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=855636
“Religious broadcaster James Dobson will leave the �Focus on the Family� radio program in late February but will continue on the airwaves through a new ministry. Officials at the Colorado-based ministry that Dobson founded three decades ago say they don’t see his plans, which Dobson announced on his Facebook page, as competition.
In his announcement, Dobson said his new 30-minute daily program, which will be called �James Dobson on the Family,� will begin in March and feature his son, Ryan, as co-host. �The program will be much like what you have heard on Focus on the Family for the past 33 years,� said the 73-year-old broadcaster. �It will deal with marriage, child-rearing, family finances, medical and psychological concerns, national issues, the sanctity of human life, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.�
Dobson’s announcement included a request for donations toward the estimated $2 million first-year costs for his new ministry, including radio airtime. But he also urged continuing support of Focus, saying it �must not be allowed to languish in the days to come.� …”
Read More: http://www.adventistreview.org/article.php?id=3064
“MSNBC television and syndicated radio host Ed Schultz declared that he would stuff the ballot box in Massachusetts if he could to prevent Republican Scott Brown from upsetting Democrat Martha Coakley in the race to fill the state’s Senate seat formerly held by Edward M. Kennedy. Whatever it takes to keep “the bastards” out of power.
“I tell you what, if I lived in Massachusetts I’d try to vote 10 times,” said Schultz on his Friday radio show. “I don’t know if they’d let me or not, but I’d try to. Yeah, that’s right. I’d cheat to keep these bastards out. I would. ‘Cause that’s exactly what they are.”
Schultz’s statement was broadcast on “The Ed Schultz Show,” which is aired weekdays, 12-3 p.m, as well as on satellite radio. His show’s website boasts Schultz is “the most listened-to progressive radio talk show host in America” and “the first progressive talker to hit 100 affiliates, both satellite networks and the Armed Forces Radio Network.” …”
Read More: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=122290#
“In the ruins of the Port-Au-Prince cathedral, gathered beneath shattered stained glass for their first Sunday Mass since Tuesday’s earthquake, survivors were told by their priest, “We are in the hands of God now.” But anger mounted hourly that other helping hands were slow in getting food and water to millions in need.
“The government is a joke. The U.N. is a joke,” Jacqueline Thermiti, 71, said as she lay in the dust with dozens of dying elderly outside their collapsed nursing home near the airport. “We’re a kilometer (half a mile) from the airport and we’re going to die of hunger.”
Water was delivered to more people around the capital, where an estimated 300,000 were living in the streets, but food and medicine were still scarce. Pregnant women gave birth in the streets. The injured arrived in wheelbarrows and on people’s backs at hurriedly erected field hospitals.
Authorities warned of looting and violence. In downtown Port-au-Prince, where people set bonfires to burn uncollected bodies, gunfire rang out and bands of machete-wielding young men, their faces covered with bandanas, roamed the streets.
In the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Delmas, a crowd gathered Sunday around the bodies of two accused looters, who had been beaten to death by angry residents. Onlookers said they were known criminals who had escaped from the main prison when it collapsed in the quake. About 4,000 inmates escaped. …” Read More: http://www.onenewsnow.com/Headlines/Default.aspx?id=858222
“Arguments over teaching biology are but one small manifestation of a much bigger problem facing the Adventist Church in North America: it is trying to progress on its chosen path in the 21st century while clinging to a 19th century theology. There is a heavy cost in talent and money, associated with this. If this larger problem is left unaddressed there may still be (my apologies to Rick Rice) Believers and Behavers but there won’t be many Belongers.
There are three steps people follow when leaving the church: they leave first with their mind, then their money, then their feet. There are a great many people who have completed the first step, and a great many who are poised on the brink of the third step. This does not bode well.
In my view, the Adventist Church in North America is at a tipping point. It is too late to keep it from tipping. Hopefully it is not too late to influence in which direction and at what rate it will tip. We know, from both complexity theory and real-world examples, that when a very large and very complex system is at a tipping point, it can behave catastrophically in totally unexpected and unpredictable ways. Achieving stability again can take a long time and be very costly. …”
Read More: http://www.atoday.com/content/battle-hearts-and-minds-north-american-adventism-tipping-point
“Pat Robertson, the evangelical Christian who once suggested God was punishing Americans with Hurricane Katrina, says a “pact to the devil” brought on the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Officials fear more than 100,000 people have died as a result of Tuesday’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Haiti.
Robertson, the host of the “700 Club,” blamed the tragedy on something that” happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it.” The Haitians “were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever,” Robertson said on his broadcast Wednesday. “And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.’ True story. And so, the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal.’ ”
Native Haitians defeated French colonists in 1804 and declared independence. “You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other.” Robertson has previously linked natural disasters and terrorist attacks to legalized abortion in the United States. …” Read More: http://action.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147491128
“Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) — Drew Schlosser tried for two years to sell his three-bedroom Punta Gorda, Florida, waterfront condominium for less than he owed on its two mortgages. The deal only went through last month when Wells Fargo & Co. agreed to take a $165,000 loss on the loans.
Even after he had an offer of $155,000 for the property, it took five months for the San Francisco-based lender to approve the purchase, a so-called short sale, in which the bank accepts less than the balance owed on a property. Schlosser said earlier offers had fallen through as bidders lost faith the bank would take less than the $320,000 in two mortgages. “It was just kind of a mess,” said Schlosser, 31, a market research company director living in Estero, Florida. “You really have to get buyers who are patient.”
Banks are beginning to go along with short sales in increasing numbers, three years into a U.S. housing slump that pushed the economy into a recession and cut resale values by 30 percent from the peak in July 2006. Short sales almost tripled to 40,000 in the first six months of 2009 from the same period a year earlier. Yet for each short sale, there were 25 foreclosures started or completed in the first half of this year, according to data from the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. …” Read More: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20603037&sid=a_NoPFp0r8Y4