Chariots of Iron

A new PR campaign has been launched in the UK, “Science: So What? – So everything”.

It is my sincere hope that Obama and his new administration would strive to bring something akin to this campaign to the US. Ignorance, mistrust and misunderstanding best describe the general population of the United States’ attitudes toward science and scientific research.

With 2009 being the anniversary of a couple great scientific landmarks it is far beyond time that not only scientific research got the federal funding it deserves, but also an effort is made to educate the public in the value of such research. If the US is to keep a shred of it’s dignity a new generation of scientists and engineers is going to be absolutely vital, we need a new “inspired generation”.

Just as my generation was inspired by David Attenborough and Carl Sagan, new public faces will be needed. Unfortunately the over-saturation of media is a difficult obstacle to overcome. Cable came late to the small town I grew up in, and even then cable television was only tens of channels instead of the hundreds available to me now. How do we get children and adults to see the message when there’s a dozen christian broadcast channels and 24-hour Reality TV networks?

I don’ t know how to overcome these obstacles, but I feel it is necessary, perhaps entertaining and educational science videos sponsored by the National Academies mandatory in school science classes?

This fundig is just as important as the money going to directly fund research, in the long term it will pay back tenfold, ensuring a higher quality of life in prepetuity, not just for americans but around the world.

LISTEN IN WONDER as we project to you news of the insane, the marvelous and the MILDLY RETARDED! GASP as we spin a tale about the ancient and undeniable wisdom of the Advertising Standards Association. EXPERIENCE explosive vomiting as we relate the sordid details of a doctors visit GONE HORRIBLY WRONG. FEEL the uncontrolled rage build inside you as we weave the piteous narrative of a mother’s rights ABRIDGED! CLENCH your hand tightly around your newspapers… THE NEWSPAPERS THAT THEY ARE TRYING TO STEAL FROM YOU. ROLL YOUR EYES at the account of church accounting GONE UNACCOUNTED FOR… and TEAR OUT YOUR NOSE HAIRS IN DISBELIEF as we have a pissing match about PRESIDENTIAL POSTER-CHILDREN.

In our main segment you will be stricken with TERROR as we are faced with the MACABRE HORROR of listener mail. You will MARVEL at our witty discourse on the topic of new-age beliefs and the idea of “ancient wisdom.” THRILL as we discuss the arcane, esoteric, mysterious and otherwise redundantly-adjectival practices of Sacred Geometry. SLAP YOUR OWN FOREHEAD as we bumble through a discussion about the practices of native cultures. FLAGELLATE YOUR HOUSE PETS as we… oh screw it, just listen to the show.

Stream this episode!

Lamar got food poisoning, but we have guest host Bizket joining us. We dumped the main topic this week and went for an all news extravaganza because Lamar took the show notes with him to the bathroom and none of us were brave enough to go in after them.

Al Sharpton elbow-drops religious people, atheists fail the “so help me God” block, Bush tapes his tainted name to religion forever, God fucks up some guys new lamp and tossing out some crackers is apparently worse than genocide. Also: religion makes prostitution interesting, atheism is no longer an obstacle to being a christian, to some faithful faces are like boobs, Colonel Sanders may be the Catalyst for all life on earth, we determine that most of congress probably listens to our podcast and apparently “turn the other cheek” now means “beat their ass with a Louisville Slugger.” We missed Lamar, but it was a great show with Bizket sitting shotgun.

Stream this episode!

In the news this week: the Indiana Star newspaper has some bad news for its christian readership, Oregon proves once again that it is totally awesome and Mississippi proves again that it is a sucking, black hole of iniquity. You will also totally not be shocked by the news that George Bush is STILL a retard and that religion makes crazy people even crazier. But, on the bright side, it looks like the Atheist Bus Campaign has taken over the UK entirely and we can soon look forward to a very pertinent ruling from the ASA on a hot-button topic we’re all interested in (and no, it’s not sex. Pervert.)

And for the second part of our discussion about crazed mass murderers, we turn to the red team and take a look at Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, et al. Did atheism cause them to kill millions of people? Does atheism make anyone do anything? I am pretty sure it’s the reason that I have so many unpaid parking tickets. Will that fly in court, do you think?

Stream this episode!

Jews world wide are in a particularly awkward position at the moment. In Italy, local trade unions are calling for a boycott of Jewish made goods; a move criticized by politicos as wrongheaded for the fact that they are Italian Jews and not Israeli’s. Meanwhile, in Britain, pro-Israeli ralliers clashed with pro-Palestinian protesters. The ralliers were calling for peace from Hamas and it’s organizer called it  “an inspiring display,” and a said that it was a stark contrast with the Palestinian protesters.

Meanwhile, across the pond, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa tossed his hat into the ring in defense of Israel despite Muslim organizations urging him to abstain on the grounds that he did not know enough about the conflict to make a public proclamations on the matter and on the grounds that it is his job to bring the diverse people of Los Angeles together, not to divide them.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles seems to agree with their mayor and issued a statement of support for the actions of Israel.

On the other side of the fence, Assistant Professor Reuben Roth of Laurentian University wrote a letter to a Palastinian support rally in which he criticizes Zionism and Israel’s claims that it represents all Jewish people.

In Germany, a number of Jewish organizations are claiming that anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish sentiment is peaking due to the actions of Hamas and further claim that the German media is paying too much attention to the plight of those killed by Israel and not enough attention to rockets fired by Hamas.

But in Toronto, eight Jewish women entered the Israeli consulate and staged a sit-in protest of the actions of Israel in Gaza. One of the protesters said: “Israel purports to represent all Jews worldwide and these atrocities are not being committed in our name.” The same article also mentions that pro-Israel rallies will be occurring at nine different synagogue among nine of Canada’s largest cities on the same night.

As an atheist, I don’t suppose that my point of view necessarily has to be different from any of the other ones that I have seen and shared here. There is little on the surface that is particularly religious about what is happening in Gaza. But there is one thing I’d really like the world to do as a favor to me. All of these people on both sides of the argument need to differentiate between people who are Israeli, people who claim to be racially Jewish, those who were raised culturally Jewish. Israel needs to knock it off with the “Jewish” shit. It’s a UN nation and it likes to frequently point out that it’s a staunch ally of the US. Well, if they are going to suckle on the teat of the United States, they need to quit playing at being a theocracy. Israel should be a nation for Israeli people. If Jewish people want to go there and become Israeli people: more power to them. If not, even better.

I don’t think that the Italian trade unionists are right in this case. But they aren’t wrong either. If people wish to boycott pro-Israel businesses, there is no problem with that at all; but simply boycotting Jewish businesses is a little harsh. On the other hand, if enough people did, Jewish people that did not support Israel nuking Gaza might tell Israel to fuck off with all the “we represent Jews everywhere” mumbo-jumbo.

It’s a confusing thing. The Italian trade unionists should ultimately be the bigger people in this case and leave the local businesses alone, but if Israel claims that it represents all Jews and the vast majority of Jews are more or less content to allow them to do so, then  it shouldn’t come as a huge shock that when Israel kills 460 civilians with rockets (over 150 of which were children) people who don’t agree with that particular action are going to be tempted to boycott Jewish businesses.

Either Israel owns the patent on the word “Jewish” or it doesn’t. There needs to be a line in the sand somewhere.

Figure it out.

Soon.

_____________________________________________

1/10/09 – Update:

Naomi Klein says we should boycott Israel and I have a hard time arguing with Naomi Klein. While Eli has a plutonic brain-crush on Rachel Maddow, I have one on Naomi Klein.

No more matzah ball soup for me.

We’ve heard it before but a recent comic nabbed by PZ Myers over on Pharyngula makes it more clear than ever. The attempts by biblical literalists are not just aimed at defending their precious scripture but at undermining science and the public’s trust of science at its very core.

This is not some pot shot “we disagree”, this is an orchestrated propaganda campaign focused at the very heart of science because, the truth is, that literalists are losing. Every year brings numerous discoveries which contradict literal scriptural interpretation while at the same time improving the quality of human lives. The mountain of evidence is so huge now that those on the defensive can no longer refute every individual piece of evidence, the only tactic left to them is to destroy the foundation.

The bronze-age myths of the past are being swept away, the reality is there for anyone who bothers to look. We are the Greeks who have reached to top of Mount Olympus only to find some rocks and lichen. If, of course, that lichen cured disease and those rocks contained veins of precious metals.

The gifts of science are numerous, on my desk alone are literally over one hundred of examples of the ways science has improved our lives, from the computer I type this on to the latte in my coffee cup to the metallurgy which allowed this pair of scissors to be both effective and cheaply manufactured.

The gifts of religion are much more ephemeral, and could all be done away with and replaced by philosiphies which are much more liberating and less divisive quite easily, it is a decision made at the individual level, all we have to do is accept it.

As usual, we begin with the news: Atheists and “The War on Inagural Addresses,” Kent Hovind told to piss off by the court, what happened in the Year in ID? Not effing much. We also talk about how dangerous it is to take the bus in New York with a church lady, the romance between Italy and the Vatican is over, and we scoop “Heads V,” Fifth Annual Meeting of Heads of National Nontheist Organizations. Say that five times fast.

It’s a recent trend in Christian rhetoric to lump Adolph Hitler in with Mao, Stalin and Pol Pot when blaming godlessness for the immorality of these nationalistic monstrosities. We talk about Nazi Germany, Martin Luther, Hitlers personal beliefs and we weigh in on the idea that hitler was an atheist. Did Hitler really kill millions in the name of atheism? How is this even a question?

Stream this episode!

Episode 16 is in the can and will be posted shortly. I know I’ve been pretty quiet with the blog posts recently, but I chalk this up the the weather and the holidays. Now that it’s officially 2009 and the family isn’t calling on a near-daily basis I can turn back to wasting the time of complete strangers.

After recording this past weekend Bo and Luke were discussing how they’d like to spend a bit more time on the show ripping apart religious arguments. As I’m all for this I thought I’d jump the gun a bit and post here soliciting arguments from our readers and listeners. So if you’ve heard/read or have your own arguments please post a link to or the full text of the argument you’d like to hear us shred to this post, or alternately you can email it to us (if you listen to the show, you know the address), or even post it over on our group at Atheist Nexus (where this message will be cross-posted).

Hopefully, with the combination of our listeners and the google-fu of the Charioteers, we will have enough inanity to fill years worth of shows in the span of a couple months. We will of course choose the more recent and novel arguments above the old and tired ones.