Tattoo - Inspired By Junko Mizuno Art and Cephalopods!

I got a sweet new tattoo started today. The lines are all pretty much done. :D

Thanks a ton to my super buddy Casey for his hard work and my pal MG for giving me a ride!

*edit*

Here are some low quality cell phone pics of the full piece from multiple viewpoints. I am extremely happy with it. :D

THIS Is Why I Supported Everybody Draw Mohammad Day

I knew this was going to happen. It was inevitable. As soon as I heard that ridiculous 'we should all play nice' response to Everybody Draw Mohammad Day, I knew the Christians, Jews and other religious groups were going to jump onto the offended bandwagon. Why? Because religious people react to sympathy the way sharks react to blood in the water.

Not long ago, Comedy Central censored the depiction of the Islamic prophet Mohammad from their hit show South Park because a few Muslim extremists were so offended that they “warned” the South Park created could be killed. Now several Christian groups are feeling left out.

Comedy Central recently announced their plans to develop a thirty minute comedy cartoon called “JC” which depicts Jesus as an everyman trying to escape from his father’s shadow. This depiction, which seems to have more to do with parenting than religion, has offended several Christian groups. Now, the Family Research Council, the Catholic League, Parents Television Council, The American Alliance of Jews and Christians, and Radio host and Glenn Beck wannabe Michael Medved have come together to form a group called “Citizens Against Religious Bigotry.”

On Thursday June 3rd, the group released a statement calling for advertisers to boycott Comedy Central over depictions of Jesus. Their website specifically mentions the recent controversy over the depiction of Mohammad as a catalyst for this push to censor the depiction of Jesus.

So, all you jackasses who were trying to take some imaginary high road in regard to theists and their ridiculous beliefs being imposed on others, you better not respond to this group as if you don't agree with them. You better stand proud with your 'C.A.R.B.' brotherin in protest of free speech and the ability to ridicule ideas.

Because that's all a belief is - it's an idea that people have decided is something they hold true, for whatever reason. It should be enough for the people who have a belief that they believe it, no one else should be forced to agree or even forced to stay silent about that belief, especially in instances where it is being imposed on others via threats of violence. This group is suggesting forced silence which is a form of prohibited speech and it's not even a response to a real issue, it's a response to a bigotry that doesn't exist. No one is telling these people they can't believe what they want, they're just telling these people that they can't dictate the behavior of others based on a belief they personally decide is relevant.

I don't think it's relevant. I have the right to say so just like you have the right to disagree with me. Trying to force me to respect theistic concepts and rules will only succeed in me losing what little respect I still have for religions and the religious in general.

Daniel Dennett on De-constructing Religion

This lecture by Daniel Dennett is a must see. The more I hear from this lovely man, the more I find him to be, well, lovely! I know, I know, it's an hour long and the internetz hates anything longer than a minute, but he makes lots of good points about atheism, belief, and the issues that arise from the argument of the universe being designed.

I Ain't Afraid of No Possible Energy Trace

VJack over at Atheist Revolution wrote a post the other day about atheists who believe in ghosts. A similar argument to one I've at times posed myself came up, namely that the phenomenon people recognize as 'ghosts' might have a natural and explainable cause, we just haven't realized it yet.

From the comments, CroWrath wrote:

Man, I just posed this question on think atheist dot com. (Fireborn over there) I am an Atheist and I do 'believe' in and I have seen a 'ghost'. Long story short, met a chick at a bar, went back to her place, saw a 'ghost' dog, a few mins later she comes in and mentions 'the dogs'. Two dogs were killed on the property about A year (? +/-) previous.

Now yes, I had had a few at the bar. I was not 'drunk'. This was the FIRST incident of many, not just with witnessing the dogs, with that house. With THAT house ONLY. I have not claimed to have seen anything else before or since that house. But there were alot of things that went on in that house that could not be just explained away.

We both moved out of that house and my occurrences stopped. I can not say about her.

In my opinion, 'ghosts' are energy (in the electrical sense), with the new theory of quantum energy, there is obviously things we do not understand about energy

.

My response was this:

Sometimes I wax on about energy and the like, because you're right - we are learning more and more about energy and it seems almost natural that living creatures might have some kind of 'energy signal' or something that we currently attribute to ghosts, simply because we don't understand it fully yet. It's fun to think about, but it's not enough, even with personal anecdotal evidence, for me to actually assert that ghosts are real.

I work at a drive-in theater and everyone in the area, plus the majority of the people who work there, contend that the place is haunted. Personally, I've heard what sounded like kids laughing up in the booth at night and I've also been looking at a wall when a paper towel dispenser seemed to violently fall off and away from the wall I was looking at. My experiences added to all of the other experiences people have claimed to have seem like a mountain of evidence. In fact, it might seem like I'm almost willfully rejecting the possibility of ghosts, given that there are accounts, at times corroborated, that date back decades.

The problem, of course, is that there is already a predetermined expectation of paranormal activity that people have about the place, so when wind blows through the 60 year old, poorly maintained building and it makes a sound, people are already listening for kids giggling. When a paper towel dispenser falls off a wall that it's fallen off of several times because it keeps getting improperly mounted, people already have that idea of it being flung off the wall by some attention seeking apparition.

Anyway, I'm not trying to say my situation is the same as yours, I guess I mostly just wanted to respond because I can see the logic behind your speculations about ghosts and energy, I just don't think it makes sense to positively say that ghosts exist because we are learning more about energy and may possibly discover something about energy in the future that could scientifically explain ghost stories.

I think one of the hardest things you have to deal with if you are not a skeptic is the fact that anecdotal evidence is not logically acceptable for anyone but the person or people who were directly involved in the event/incident/whatever. Removing anecdotal evidence, the concept of ghosts seems to be reduced significantly to the position of a possibility.

Also, it should be kept in mind that regarding ghosts as some kind of energy or other natural phenomena is not an argument in favor of the supernatural. Rather it's a possible natural explanation for something which has been generally accepted to be supernatural. If at some point there is a way to prove the existence of what would be commonly considered ghosts, the very fact that it is able to be verified makes it no longer SUPERnatural.

But, when push comes to shove, all atheism means is a lack of belief in god. A lot of atheists feel that way because, like me, they've never felt that 'presence of the lord' people often talk about when they're explaining their own religious beliefs. I can understand if someone really believes they've seen ghosts that they believe in ghosts. As long as there isn't any ghost-based initiatives passed in my government, I don't really care what people believe in.

Atheist Parenting - Science and Music

Parenting while being an atheist raises some interesting issues. I avoid religiously focused activities and organizations as a general rule, and that rule is just as important in regard to my son as it is to me. Still, the fact is that I live in a somewhat religious culture and so my son sometimes comes up with the most interesting ideas about belief, god, and what he believes.

The other day he told me, "Mom, my god can fly."

"Wow, Tristan, that's cool. Is this your personal god, or is it everyone's god?"

"Anyone who wants to believe in him can I guess."

"Do you think this god is real, or is he someone you made up, like a pretend friend?"

"He's kind of a pretend friend. I don't know. I don't think he's real, but I thought him up so I could believe in god like James at school."

"Do a lot of kids talk about god at school?"

"Some people do. People at my school. James asked me and I said I don't know and he made a face like I was crazy."

"Do you think James knows for sure that there is a god?"

"No, I think he pretends like I do. I think pretend friends help you not feel lonely sometimes."

So, I feel like he's doing fine in his development in regard to god and religion in general. He's kind of interested, but at the same time he realizes that just because someone else believes something, that doesn't mean it is actually real or that he has to believe it.

One of the things I do make sure my son is exposed to is lots and lots of science. My son responds to anything in song form, so I've taken up watching They Might Be Giant podcasts and videos from their Here Comes Science CD/DVD. I can't recommend these guys enough. They're even scientifically responsible enough to have made a song which corrected an older song they released regarding why the sun shines. Now that's pretty awesome!

The Westboro Baptist Church To Protest In Portland

If there's one thing almost all people regardless of religiosity agree on, it's that the Westboro Baptist Church is super duper crazy pants.

Evidently the WBC is coming to my area, though they're still too far away for me to go and protest which kind of makes me sad. I would love to emulate the recent reaction to the WBC in other areas by standing across the street with a big sign that says "God Hates Flags" shouting things at passerbys like 'I think you're doing OK!', 'I like your shirt!', and 'You look like a good cuddler!'

Evidently they are coming to the Portland area to picket schools which they feel are too progressive when it comes to treating gay people like, you know, people:

WBC plans to picket outside Grant High School in Portland on June 3, and Heritage High School in Vancouver on June 1. Apparently both schools practice a progressive, humane and tolerant attitude towards the gay and lesbian community, an attitude which the hate group finds abhorrent.

What a delightful bunch.

If you're in the area, I encourage you to go stage a counter protest, and be sure to invite the news as well. Wear a funny hat or a costume, maybe bring some recorders, bucket drums and kazoos and turn it into a party. The worst possible reaction to these people is for anyone to act as though they're being taken seriously. Rather, use it as an excuse to get together with like minded individuals and have some fun at the expense of a group that fully deserves to publicly be made fun of.

Is Atheism Also Based On Belief?

Blah. You can skip this post. Why? Because if you read this, you're probably an atheist and so you've probably heard this before. Why then am I going to say what has been said to the point that I'm annoying myself by saying anything more about it? Because it keeps coming up! It's the point that will not die, the argument that has no end, the correction which is continually ignored!

To say that atheism is a lack of belief in god is not the same thing as saying that atheism is believing there is no god.

I know, I know. Sorry to waste your time, but evidently this is STILL an issue for some people:

Casey Doran of Seattle scolded me, as others did, for not defining atheism correctly. "I wonder how much you bothered to research what atheism actually is before you wrote this piece. Atheism is the rejection of the claim of a positive belief that god(s) exist, not the assertion that no god(s) exist. It's an important distinction, the default position is a response to a claim, not a claim in and of itself, and I would hope that the press (especially the print press) would work a little harder to get it right."

My exact words were: "Atheists simply believe there is no God, or no evidence to support the existence of God." Isn't "rejection of the claim" similar to a belief (claim) there is no God?

Atheists reject the positive belief there is a God. Well, I accept the positive belief there was a man called Jesus; that is my belief, but that doesn't necessarily hold true in some people's eyes.

Just because a person claims there is no God — that is their belief — doesn't necessarily make it true in some people's eyes.

Look, there is a big difference between saying 'you know, I just don't think, given what we know, that it makes sense to say for certain that a god exists.' and saying 'There is no god, no possibility, won't even consider it.' Trying to sell both versions of opinion as one in the same is not correct.

Given this, I think that the two last paragraphs about Jesus and belief amount to a strawman argument. Yes, claiming that there is no god is a statement of belief. But the majority of atheists don't claim to know for certain that there isn't a god, they state that there is insufficient evidence to believe that there is one.

Ahh, but what about those atheists who would self identify as a 7 on Dawkins scale? Though not representative of all atheists, the authors definition of atheism would apply to them. I'm not one, but I can understand their position of sure. Let's look at both sides of belief regarding god:

Some atheists feel comfortable stating that there is no god. Those atheists are stating a well supported belief based on what we know at this time to be true about the universe, the earth, etc., but a belief just the same. Theists claim that there is a god. Those theists are stating a poorly supported belief based largely on feelings, anecdotal evidence, or old books that are largely unverifiable.

I think it's incorrect for the author to try to insinuate that all beliefs are created equal when they obviously aren't.

Regardless, the initial definition of atheism that the author suggests - Atheists believe that there is no god- is incorrect. If they honestly don't understand the difference between saying something doesn't exist and saying that there is insufficient proof of something existing, that's a personal problem.

Republicans Launch Site - Internet LOLs

I don't do a lot of political or non-atheist posts, but sometimes I just have to step out of the box because sometimes, the universe just makes me happy. And I want to share.

While I was consumed in something random, my fiancé decided to watch what ended up being a commercial for this truly amazing new Republican-launched and endorsed website called America Speaking Out.

Zomg, this website is amazing.

The funniest thing about the site, of course, is that the Republicans who launched it seemed to think that they were somehow crafting some new, more dignified chunk of the internet out of some barren unclaimed digital land. They seemed to really believe that because they were the ones to launch this open to anyone who registers site, that it would be mainly used by Republicans and thus, reflect Republican ideals. They seemed to think that the rest of the internet was going to - for not reason at all - respect the fact that they were looking for earnest contributions and serious behavior.

Evidently in this case, the internet is serious business.

But of course it's not! I can't believe anyone is even trying to claim that at this point. What are you, new?

The commercial my fiancé was watching seemed to convey the message of - 'Hey, we found something really cool called 'The Internet'. We made a page! Come leave a comment! Republicans are awesome!'

Please tell me how that is essentially any different than, oh, every teenage goth and and self proclaimed 'poet' who has ever started a blog or website ever? Change the word 'Republicans' to the name of a school mascot and change the 'leave a comment' to 'sign my dreambook' and you have any given Geocities site ever made. Do you remember Geocities? Yeah, that was like 1995.

Pretty innovative, guys.

If the point of this failure of an experiment was to show, without a doubt, that the current political leaders within the Republican party are pathetically out of touch with reality - bravo! The guy on the commercial (Rep. Mike Spence) If I were a Republican, I would be embarrassed by this most recent failure to stay politically relevant. Of course, if I were a Republican, I would probably be used to the feeling by now.

Here are some of my favorite posts. I seriously encourage everyone to go take a peek. It's at least as awesome as LOLcats.

Aramaic as the Official Language of the US. We do this to respect two facts: this is a Christian Nation and Jesus spoke Aramaic, therefore, that should be our language as well. Anyone who refuses to speak the language of our Lord should be deported back to where they came from. This includes the Native Americans.

Gays are horrible, horrible people, but we can't pick and choose parts of Leviticus, so let's deny equal rights to all people who fall into the following group: Men who shave, anyone who touches a menstruating woman, people who eat pork, people who eat shellfish, people who work on Sundays. They're all horrible, horrible people.

Attach an electric dog collar to Glen Beck's neck, and deliver a powerful shock every time he tries to associate health care to Fascist Germany. THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SYSTEMATIC EXTERMINATION OF MILLIONS OF JEWS AND PROVIDING PEOPLE WITH AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE.

And I actually suport this last one:

We should pass a law that makes politicians replace their flag pins with the logo of their corporate sponsors.. It would make it much easier to determine who they are really representing

Terrorists, Christians, Privilege and Rights.

I am a self identifying liberal, so I was super delighted when my fiancé sent me a picture he took the other day:

Oh please, buddy, call yourself a wahhhbulance and shut up. I wish I could talk to this person and just ask him/her what rights they seriously feel terrorists have that Christians don't.

I have a sneaking suspicion, though keep in mind this is all conjecture on my part, that the 'rights' this person is referring to in regard to terrorists is something we would all identify as the rights outlined in the constitution while the 'rights' this person is referring to in regard to Christians is something everyone who isn't Christian would identify as 'privilege'.

The problem with privilege is that the ones who have it aren't going to be the ones who see it. Not until those privileges start getting taken away. Some Christians, like sticker person here, have a hard time dealing with the fact that while they are taught by their religious leaders that they are persecuted, there is a mountain of evidence that exists as proof to the contrary. Sticker person here seems like the kind of Christian that will earnestly argue that because their parents were allowed to say, pray in school, that they should be allowed to do the same and in fact, not letting them do it is somehow violating their 'Christian rights.'

But there are no Christian rights. In fact, the rights we have as Americans were pretty carefully spelled out so that they would apply to everyone equally. The very notion of Christian rights is entirely un -American.

I know, somewhere in Oklahoma a fundigelical's head just exploded.

Look, in the unlikely event that a known terrorist wanted to, for example, pray in school, guess what? He or she would be told the same thing as any other person - sorry, that's illegal according to the establishment clause of the United States constitution.

If a Christian were to commit an act of terrorism (and there are plenty of examples of Christian terrorists, by the way), they would be treated the same as any other terrorist - they would be arrested and put on trial.

I know, it's just a damn sticker and it's meant to be glib and snarky and if that's all it's meant to do, then ok. Nonsensical statements can be hilarious. But it seems like there's some point trying to be made as well and if that's the case, then somebody fill the bathtub cuz we got a fail whale coming in for a landing.

Hollywood 253 - Jesus 4 Less

I try to get involved in local atheist activities that I find interesting, especially undertakings which I feel are exceptionally broad in scope or are particularly challenging. Recently I was told about a movie being produced in my area, presumably by atheists though I imagine atheist friendly believers might be involved as well, and possibly just some people with senses of humor who are more interested in the project for its entertainment value than anything else. The premise of the film is as follows:

Aaron and Jeremy, two wayward twenty something atheists work at Jesus-4-Less, a downtown Tacoma Christian bookstore. They find themselves competing with Christ-Mart, their rival in the bible business, for acolytes and sales; and with each other for the affections of an irresistible and mysterious new co-worker, Michelle.

Amid protests, breasts, and homosexuality with the help of baby Jesus and a midget, the guys find themselves navigating the issues of fundamentalism, love, lust, greed, and marijuana in this dark comedy. Jesus 4 Less is sure to leave you wondering, offended, and most importantly laughing.

Right now the group seems to be in the midst of fundraising, which is always a tricky task to take on and requires a lot of work that often seems thankless. I'm happy to do my part in trying to promote them and their undertaking, and I hope to be able to continue to chip in any support I can along the way.

If you're in the area, I encourage you to come down this Wednesday, June 2nd to the Comedy Underground in Seattle and support this group. It's only 5 bucks, and you might win a spot in the movie (if that's your thing) or other prizes they'll be giving away as people come. If you're not in my area, I'd like to encourage you to look for projects in your area that you have interest in supporting and get involved. It's fun and it helps shape the face of the community to be more representative of the people that make it up.