Fundies, Leave The Gays Alone

I really get bothered when religious Fundies whine about gay marriages and gay rights. Proud to Be A Canadian is all up in arms over the definition of family. Note to the Radical Right, we live in 2006 not the 1950's, when society norms were dictated by the big screen (where most of the actors in the 50's were gays pretending to be straight). Mad Zionist and his religious cronies speak think they are speaking for God. It bugs me when Jews who have been persecuted for years, turn around and persecute gays.
I was born a heterosexual, almost every gay person on this planet today wasn't. Get over it. With all the stigmas attached, why would someone choose to be gay? They can't help it, just like I can't help enjoying drooling at a beautiful woman.
I hate the God hates or at least dislikes gays argument. First off, prove there is a God. Secondly, prove that God hates or dislikes gays.
I also don't like the argument that homosexuality is wrong because it doesn't lead to procreation. I'm married to an older woman. We have no kids, and it is too late now. I'm fine with that. When two 70 year olds get married, it is fine with the Religious Right too, even though procreation is out of the question.
There is overwhelming evidence that homosexuality is natural. To be natural, it doesn't have to be a fifty fifty thing. Left handers are natural, but only make up around 10% of the population. There is no evidence that homosexuality is mainly due to nurture. None. Please show me a scientific study to back it up or STFU.
Here is some evidence that shows that homosexuality can be caused during fetal development:


Here is a pretty good lecture on homosexuality and morality:

I have two issues with this that I disagree with. How does he specifically define morality? Morality according to who? And secondly, he attacks the statement that "it isn't natural, animals don't do it" totally erroneously. Homosexuality is rampant in the animal kingdom, especially among the more developed animals. Of course, bonobos don't have the intellectual superiority it takes to read a bible and to know that God hates them and declares their behavior to be unnatural.

Here is a pretty interesting and controversial theory on homosexual sex and evolution. Homosexuality has been documented in over 450 different vertabrate species (why would God create such a travesty;)).
Evolution isn't just about mating and adapting, it is about surviving (not being food and finding food and shelter). In order for a species to keep going, there must be enough youngens who make it to the next generation. That is why so many social animals exist. There is a safety in numbers. Sexual bonding creates less tensions in many social animals, the bond also causes animals to be protective of one another. The vast majority of social insects don't exist to mate. And in the higher animal kingdom, there seems to be evolutionary benefits in homosexual behavior (albeit, most bi-sexual behavior).
Lets face it, if every animal on this planet successfully mated, and every sperm was sacred, we would have ran out of natural resources a long long time ago.
As far as family goes. Check out these dolphins:

Does God know what is going on in his oceans? I know, at least they aren't asking for equal rights or putting on a gay parade in the Dead Sea.....

One more thing, the idea of kids growing up in gay homes is frowned upon by many. I'm open to research. Right now, there just isn't enough. If it turns out that a statistically larger proportion of these kids turn out to be molested by one of the parents or "friends" of the parents, or if the kids turn into welfare dependants or criminals (like it is with single parent homes where the struggling mom is a heterosexual).....then I'd be against it.

Finally, an Atheist blogroll

Ever since I got rejected from the Blasphemy webring I have contemplated starting an Atheist blogroll. I'm a member of many blogrolls already, but there was a definite void in cyberspace. I gave up on the idea of starting one because it finally became apparent to me that I am far too lazy. But luckily, Mojoey at Deep Thoughts has shown some go-getter characteristics and started one.

For those Godless bloggers who don't about it yet, go here and sign up.

I'm thinking of purging Atheist blogs off my main blogroll to avoid being redundant. But I might be too lazy to do that.

More Evolution Stories In The News

More news to make the Fundies cringe.

This news about male crickets evolving flat wings from curved wings over just a few generations makes perfect sense to me. But to those who don't buy into evolution, this is just the devil's work. I'm curious what will happen to these crickets over time though, if the original curved wing music makers go totally extinct. And what will happen to the parasitic fly. This is why most species that have ever graced the earth have gone extinct.

The early bird may get the worm, but the first birds had four wings and used to glide.
'Scientists don’t know when in their evolutionary history birds switched from a "four winged" design to a two-wing one, but it's thought that hindlimb wings were sacrificed in order to free up legs for other functions, such as running, swimming and catching prey.'

Oh no. "Scientists don't know when," and "it's thought" are in the above quote. The first means that scientists don't know therefore God exists.

Scientists don't know YET, but they eventually will.

And finally, miniature animal remains found in Mediterranean islands have changed the theory as to why miniaturization takes place. It used to be thought that animals got smaller on Islands solely because of limited resources. Now research has led scientists to understand that lack of predators is another main cause that herbivores evolve to be smaller on Islands. If they don't need their size to survive, they will get smaller. Smaller animals tend to have more babies. Carnivores will get smaller if there is either a lack of prey or if the abundance of prey is smaller.
"Carnivores and herbivores don't respond to the same evolutionary pressures as far as their body sizes are concerned," Dr Shai Meiri added in an interview.
"Carnivores are affected by food availability and prey size, whereas herbivores are affected by the presence of other herbivores and also of predators."

In my world the above 3 stories make perfect sense. Do they make sense in your world?

Here is a Youtube Video I found today about vestigial organs. Kind of funny, and the points are valid.


I found the above video when I saw the comments made on the following video by this then 18 year old girl. No, I'm not a dirty middle aged old man, I was doing a Youtube search on "evolution" and watched it. Her video is sort of cry for help, and she makes very relative points about Fundamentalist Christians and proof. She does make statements that are wrong when it comes to "who knows?" and "there is no proof either way." This is where I disagree with the author of the first video who states "I don't consider myself an Atheist because I, like you, have conviction that we'll never have hard-core proof one way or the other."
That is only true if biology and fossil records can never be considered hardcore proof. But there will never be proof that God doesn't exist, because you can't prove a negative. Watch the video.

"The debate won't be solved because there's always gonna be religion and there's always gonna be science." Interesting. Hopefully she won't fall into the hands of a cultist. She seems to be on the right track.

I've Been Tagged Again

Here it goes again. I was tagged by Memoirs of a Gouda to do a movie meme. As you will tell by my answers, my days of going to the movies are in the past, so is my need to see current movies. I equate it to music. I’m stuck in the 70’s and 80’s.

1. The last movie you saw in a theatre, and current-release movie you still want to see.
This is really embarrassing, but I must add that my wife has a 10 minute attention span when it comes to movies, so I watch many movies by myself on my downstairs TV (I do subscribe to the Movie Network, ya know), while she is upstairs in bed watching some “Better Homes Than Yours” show. The last time we went to see a movie in a theatre would probably have been Southpark, Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. I made her go with me.
There are no current movies I know of that I can’t wait 2 year until I get it on the Movie Network, that I want to see.

2. The last movie you rented/purchased for home viewing.
That was a while back too. The Sixth Sense, I believe. I really don’t believe, but you know what I mean.


3 A movie that made you laugh out loud.
Lots. The first one I remember laughing out loud to in a theatre was Blazing Saddles. What would you expect from a 13 year old going going to such a gaseous movie with a bunch of friends?


4. A movie that made you cry.
Peggy Sue Got Married. I spent a lot of dough that night on a chick including taking her to the movie, and I think I wound up with just a peck on the cheek. That bitch.
Seriously, many movies filled my eyes full of tears. Usually feel good movies where the hero overcomes lots of obstacles and odds and winds up saving the world. Sometimes even romantic movies where the guy gets the chick in the end (I’m not talking porn here). I don’t remember ever crying, though I probably came close when Dorothy woke up from her “dream,” the first time I actually understood the movie.

5 A movie that was a darling of the critics, but you didn't think lived up to the hype.
Recently I saw Walk the Line. It missed oomph. Just an average picture.

6. A movie that you thought was better than the critics.
The Man With Two Brains. One of the funniest movies ever. At least that is how I remember it.


7. Favorite animated movie.
I really liked The Point when I was a kid. Probably saw it 7 times, but I haven’t seen it since I was 15 or so. If I remember correctly, it was quite existential. I did like Finding Nemo and the Southpark movie.



8. Favorite Disney Villain.
I’m definitely a Looney Tunes/Merry Melodies type of guy. The Disney shorts are for 3 year olds and under. But I’ve seen a few Disney movies. I always hated the villains, so I’m not sure what is meant by favorite villain. Lets go with the Queen in Snow White because she reminds me of my mother.

9. Favorite movie musical.
Gotta go with The Wizard of Oz. I hope it is considered a musical.


Favorite movies of all-time (up to five).
1. Planet of the Apes (the real version)
2. Goodfellas
3. The Man With Two Brains
4. Sleeper
5. Groundhog Day
6. I have to add Once Upon In America too. Screw the rules.

Now to tag 5 potential victims. Kathy Blog (this should be fun), Professor Kurgman (I want to prove to the blogosphere that Kathy and the Professor are two different people), Mad Zionist (I'm looking at this choice as being a science project where MZ is a lab rat), Doctor Boogaloo (this should be easy for him), and Big Dumb Chimp (I've been neglecting his blog the last couple of weeks and it is too good to neglect, even if he has that Big Dumb Black Background that I find so annoying).

WHAT BONDS JEWS TOGETHER: FAMOUS JEWS

When I was a kid, and I mean in my single digits, I used to watch lots of TV with my dad. When watching old movies (back in the 60's that would be movies from the 30's and 40's), my father's commentary during the movie would either be "he is dead" or "he is Jewish."
I'm not sure if it was pride or supremacism or a mixture of both. Or was it more like "can you believe that there are so many Jews on TV?" And yes, he was very guilty of saying "he or she doesn't look Jewish." I don't care what anybody says, there is a Jewish look. Even the Simpsons' acknowledged it when Lisa had a crush on the teacher voiced by Dustin Hoffman. She commented about his "Semitic good looks."
My father used to say that he was related to Kirk Douglas. Distantly related but related nonetheless. There is more proof that the Great Flood happened though.
I just can't put my finger on it. But I still get satisfaction if I find out someone famous is a Jew. Especially sports figures. I don't do somersaults or make a big deal out of it, but it does make me happier. Especially if I find out a famous person is an Atheist Jew, although I have mixed feelings about Woody Allen with the marriage to the step daughter thingy, and his love of France.
I wouldn't be that happy if I found out that a celebrity was a Jew if he or she believed in Young Earth Creation though. That would be a bummer.
I'm sure blacks and gays have the same type of pride/supremacy when a black or gay makes it big in the world. Or like when the blacks found out Lena Horne was actually black. That happened on the Cosby Show if I recall correctly.
Jewish inventors and scientists are big on my list, actors are pretty big too. But nothing beats professional athletes.

The video below illustrates what I'm talking about. This is really funny stuff. And none of the announcers are Jews (Denis Leary isn't a Jew is he? His name doesn't sound Jewish and he doesn't look it):


Notice how they didn't focus on the first baseman's religion. Is he a Greek? No. Irish?. No. He is a Jew. A Jew, as in ethnic Jew, not religious Jew. He could be religious, but he doesn't have to be. I just hope he isn't a Young Earth Creationist though.