Issue 159

News: Kirk Cameron/Ray Comfort's "Origin of Species."
In roughly a week, apparently on the 19th, Ray Comfort (a New Zealand evangelist so laughably absurd that it's hard for me to believe that he actually expects people to believe him), and Kirk Cameron (actor) are sponsoring a book handout of Darwin's "Origin of Species," in a special edition published by Ray Comfort's publishing company Living Waters. What makes this edition different from the many other editions published by Imprints like Signet, Dover, Penguin, Vintage Classics, and even Barnes and Noble Classics? Or the many etexts of the book? Well, it turns out that this is an abridged version (all other versions are unabridged), and in the place of the missing chapters, is a 50-page introduction by Ray Comfort. In the introduction, according to Kirk Cameron, is information on Darwin's dated views on women and race (please remember he was living in Victorian times, and not in the 2000s, and that even by those standards, his views were pretty advanced), the "undeniable link between Hitler and Darwin" (Jesus, where to begin: First of all, there is no evidence that Darwin had much of a significant direct influence on Hitler, second of all, even if there were, it should be clear to anybody who took the time to look into the theory that Hitler would have understood Darwin no better than he understood Nietzsche, Third: Are you really telling me that you can divorce the Antisemitism of Adolf Hitler from the Antisemitism of Christian Europe?, and Finally: None of this actually negates the truth value of the theory), and scientists who believed in God (it should be noted that of all the scientists Kirk Cameron mentioned in his video, only two were alive to read Darwin's book, and even those two likely had more nuanced views than Kirk implies, and even then all those scientists just had their names listed; no quote mining, just listing.) And, according to Kirk Cameron it presents a clear Gospel message; and they say that Intelligent Design isn't religious. And on Thursday, it will apparently be given to students in the top 50 colleges, and it seems likely that a lot of these copies will likely be discarded because "our future doctors, lawyers, and politicians" they hope to reach will likely realize that these editions (since they're abridged and the introduction is little more than drivel) are worthless. They seem to think that this will change the minds of people who have (apparently to them) never heard of intelligent design. Of course, the fact is that they have most likely heard of it, and if not from people like them, from shows like Family Guy or the Simpsons, which ridicule it. And apparently, Kirk Cameron appears to be hoping to see Darwin's works being banned. The fact is that book banning does not work that way. If a book is banned in a college, it really only means that their library has removed it from circulation. And, of course, there is no way that one of the libraries of a top college will accept it as a book in the first place, so there is no way it will be banned.

Band Name of the Day: The New Earth Army.

Film Idea of the Day: Already Written: a couple celebrating their 25th anniversary go to a diner and confront their inner demons.

Film Review of the Day: The Men Who Stare At Goats. This is one of the most quirky films of the year. It concerns a journalist who meets a soldier who claims to be telekinetic, and a soldier in a special Hippie division of the Army. He can allegedly kill a goat with a thought. Believe me, the movie finds a way for the premise to make sense. Incredibly, much of it is actually true. Go see it. I would think that the sheer oddness of the premise is enough to recommend it.

Quote of the Day: -Lieutenant Colonel Django used funds from the project's black budget to procure prostitutes...
-That's a lie!
-...and to get drugs for himself and his men.
-That... well, the hooker thing is definitely a lie.
_____________________________My favorite part of "The Men Who Stare At Goats"


Link: Here is the full text of Ray Comfort's version of Origin of Species (complete with introduction and missing chapters)

Issue 146

News: Dinosaur Tissue does not mean a young earth.
Well, so I haven't been making good on my promise to post more regularly. Some of the things that have been occupying me are the addition of several new projects coming my way in school, including my final essays in English and my Honors Seminar, and hopefully I should get them finished. Another thing that has been sidetracking me is a debate that has been going on in one of my forums (not Newspeak), where I have been debating two creationists who claim that recent discoveries of dinosaur tissue prove that dinosaurs co-existed with man, and that, therefore, the earth is young. Here is my summary of the problems with this reasoning, as given by talk.origins: For instance, the age of fossils is not given by how well-preserved they are, but by radiometric dating (which of course, is rejected by creationists), and it is the radiometric dating that confirmed the age of the bones, among many other methods. Indeed, if the fossils are as young as the creationists assume they are, why would this be news which they can use to trumpet their worldview? If they were, wouldn't we be be able to recover DNA from dinosaurs by now? Besides, we weren't even able to recover DNA from them. Indeed, for that matter, even if it could prove that Dinosaurs co-existed with man, and there is no evidence whatsoever for that conclusion, that would not have proven that the earth is young. The theory of evolution does not demand that organisms change over millions of years, and in an unchanging environment, they wouldn't. Hopefully, after classes are done next week, or probably after my Chemistry interim class, updates may become more frequent.

Band Name of the Day: DinoBlood from the title of the thread.

Film Idea of the Day: None.

Film Review of the Day: The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover. This movie, while certainly disgusting at many moments, enough so to making me proud to be prefer casual dining restaurants to the sort of opulent restaurants seen in the film, certainly treats its subject matter in such an amazing manner (especially in its cinematography and music) that I must say that I believe that everybody over 18 should see it at least once, with the key words being "Over 18" [non-negotiable, as the movie is currently rated NC-17, but I must admit that it is hardly as pornographic as the connotation of the rating implies], and, to a lesser extent "once" [I'm sure that for most viewers, once is more than enough.] The way that I'm interpreting this movie is not in the light of Thatcherism, although my general ignorance of Thatcher's government is probably to blame, but in a more generally cynical manner; Albert Spica, who seems to thrive on being anywhere from violent (ubiquitous throughout the film) or otherwise irritating to others (particularly when haranguing Michael for reading in the restaurant), is seen as a contrast with Michael, who seems to have very little interest in being around other people, outside of his lover Georgina and is likely the most sympathetic of the leads. Georgina and Richard are ultimately corrupted by their associations with Albert.

Quote of the Day: "And here's Marta, our subway sweetheart. Taking the A-Train to fashion. With her mustard socks and her ketchup sash. She is a real hot dog."
________Mr. T

Link of the Day: I am beginning to get interested in Baudelaire.

Issue 139

News/Review: Expelled: There's a reason it is.
In the last entry, I mentioned that I had wanted to see Expelled, mainly to write a column here to see how much bull it was, but my usual channels failed me. Finally, I looked on YouTube, and it was there, and so, I finally saw it. I was right, and even though I finally watched it, it was very much what I had expected it to be: a movie about Ben Stein griping about how Intelligent Design is "persecuted." What I didn't expect was that he would actually fail to try and give any real argument about why it should be considered at all more valid. The closest thing he comes to creating an argument was when he claims that the odds of the first life forming are somewhere in the area of 1 in 10^72, (of course, the "scientist" quoted does only say the word trillion six times). However, even if the odds of this happening were so small, this does not necessarily mean that this is impossible. I will show you exactly how this argument is flawed. Imagine a raffle at a high school with 1000 students in the raffle, and one student wins. Another student protests that the odds of the winner winning are 1000:1, and that the winner must have cheated, failing to account for the fact that the odds of anybody else winning are about the same. The only other argument that Stein attempts to make, that evolutionary ideas were a major influence on Hitler, is very flawed, because even if science hadn't long since repudiated eugenical ideas such as Hitler's, even if there was any evidence that Hitler was more influenced by evolution than his interpretation of religion, as much as it perverted the message of (or at least the message we attribute to) Jesus, even if not for the fact that a lot of ideologies actually used and abused Darwinian ideas, even if there weren't genocides long before Darwin's theories came onto the scene (many of which were doubtlessly inspired by religion), even if not for the fact that even if he was influenced, the idea that he would have to do anything would show a gross misinterpretation of Darwin on his part, and even if there weren't more "even ifs" I could write, this argument doesn't hold water because the argument holds no real value on its scientific truth. In the end, it should be noted that THERE IS A GOOD REASON PEOPLE DON'T TEACH INTELLIGENT DESIGN IN SCHOOLS, and it's for the same exact reason we don't teach psychologists to study the irregularities in people's skulls, or that very small solutions that often for all intents and purposes add up to little more than overpriced water is good pharmacology, it's because it's been thoroughly debunked. There's my review.

Band Name of the Day: The Casino of Life. From the Expelled movie, where they decide to put the odds at the first life forming.

Film Idea: Not an idea per se, but a list of some of the parallels that brought me to see how similar the movies Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Roman Holiday really were.
*Surprisingly, they are both 118 minutes long. This is, of course, a coincidence.
*In both films, the male lead is a journalist who is covering a story with an associate (in RH, a photographer, and in FLILV, his attourney.)
*These reporters end up traveling the city with their companions.
*Both of these reporters end up failing to publish the stories they were sent to write.
*Both of them end up spending much of the time pursuing their desires, in Peck's case, Audrey Hepburn, and in Thompson's case, "Every drug known to Civilized Man since 1544 AD."

Quote of the Day: "What Gods Don't You Believe in?"
_______________Ben Stein, Expelled. I hope that he was kidding when he asked this to Richard Dawkins, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't.

Link of the Day: Two entries ago, I forgot to link to this comic.

Tract Review: Papa. After watching the Pope's funeral, a man talks with his neighbor, who informs him about how Catholicism is somehow a continuation of the ancient Roman religion.

Issue 77

News: Teach what controversy?
The more that one looks at the intelligent design/evolution debate, the more one hears the phrase "teach the controversy." The basic meaning behind this phrase is that the creationists seem to be under the misaprehension that scientific support for evolution is falling and that support for creationism is rising, thus students have a right to know about creationism, because it may become the main belief of the scientific community in a short time. There is only one problem with this idea: It's absolutely bogus. One major reason this is so is because scientists no longer need to debate whether evolution is in fact occurring because by this point in time, scientists already have enough evidence to see that evolution does, in fact, occur. By now, one should know that I believe that the evidence for evolution greatly outweighs that of intelligent design, and certainly outweighs that of Young Earth Creationism. The main supporters of this phrase call themselves the Discovery Institute, who also maintain a list of roughly 300 scientists who apparently doubt evolution, although the language that the signatories had to agree to is vague, stating things like "random changes" are "dangerous", which may or may not be a poorly worded reference to Evolution being a dangerous idea. This petition has been spoofed by the NCSE's Project Steve, whose signed statement is less ambiguous about evolution, and has almost 700 signatories, all of whose first names are a variation of "Stephen". The implication here is that if a poorly worded statement about evolution can only muster 300 signatures, and a more consise statement among people with more or less the same name gets twice as many signatures, there is clearly no controversy to teach, except those of parents who are angry because it doesn't exactly line up with their religious beliefs.

Band Name of the Day: The Righteous Sinners. Oxymoronic phrases always make good band names.

Film Idea of the Day: American Band. In the film, a national battle of the bands takes place on the township, county, state, and national levels. This mostly focuses on the county levels of the American Band battle of the bands, specifically Cook County. The Niles Township representative band the MegaMinis, as a joke, spike the drink of the singer of a rival band with something which makes his voice sound like Tom Waits. After the audience laughs at him, the rival band's manager decides to ensure victory by any means necessary, including by murder. Fortunately, they manage to solve the problem and win the contest.

Film Review of the Day: Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters. This movie has a very long and convoluted plot which involves aliens, french fries, Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight", an Immortal piece of exercise equipment, and lofts on the South Jersey Shore. Despite this complicated plot, this must be one of the best movies I have ever seen in a theatre.

Quote of the Day: "We are drawn to the unescapable conclusion that Mr. Keeler writes his peculiar novels merely to satisfy his own undisciplined urge for creative joy."
_________The New York Times

Link of the Day: The website of a writer who writes the strangest horror fiction imaginable.

New Tract: Free At Last, an all-black version of Jack's recent and surprisingly Becketesque tract Set Free.

Issue 59

News: A modest proposal for the creationists.
This November marks the first anniversary of the state of Kansas saying that all public schools in the state should teach Intelligent Design as an equal theory to Evolution, which as longtime readers should know I believe is totally wrong, as Evolution has huge amounts of elevidence for it and Intelligent Design has little more than a book which seems to me to be no more believable than the work of the Brothers Grimm (in fact, if one uses one's King James Bible, one can find reference to Unicorns, as in Job 39:9-12). Many other counties have a sticker that is placed on all biology textbooks which says that evolution is a theory and not a fact (as if a theory is as close as science can get on many issues, like Earth's position in relation to the sun) and that it should be considered with an open mind. I think I may approve of stickers like this as long as those same people who are pushing for these stickers get stickers of their own. My plan is that, if the evangelicals must have their way to push their religion and their view on science by trying to discredit actual science as not a fact, they should feel free to have on their tracts a disclaimer stating: "The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is a theory, not fact, and one which should be studied critically with an open mind." Unfortunately, I know that this law could very well be unconstitutional, but then again, I highly doubt that constitutionality is what the people who stickered those textbooks had in mind, much less so in Kansas. The point here is that there is no real reason for Intelligent Design to be taught in schools, nor for Evolution, which has loads of evidence (much of which can be found at talk.origins, as well as a huge index of Creationist Claims debunked) to be denigrated.

Band Name: Evil Monkey- Watch More Family Guy and get it.

Film Idea of the Day: A stage version of the life story of Nick Drake, told with only two cast members: Nick himself and his psychiatrist.

Film Review of the Day: I'm Not Rappaport. It's a funny, if long, film about two 80-something men, one a communist philosopher, and the other a half-blind super of an apartment building. These people spend a day in Central park avoiding their children, smoking medicinal marijuana, and keeping out of nursing homes. I give it thumbs up.

Quote of the Day: "I think, personally, that Galileo did the right thing by giving up science for Christ."
____________Some Kid in Jesus Camp.

Link of the Day: The Video Album of one of my new favorite albums by Serge Gainsbourg.

Issue 47

News: Answers in Genesis, Part II: Electric Boogaloo.
If you read my previous article, You will know that I criticised AnswersInGenesis for their criticism of Richard Dawkins' Doco The Root of all Evil, which notably seemed to be that the reviewer did not even watch the entire film before reviewing it (and curiously, I actually had viewed it through twice) , and while I have said everything I can about their review of Dawkins' film (except for the fact that I believe he should have done an interview with Kent Hovind, infamous creationist and Chick Collaborator), but I intend to continue with a criticism of the site itself. One major thing of note on the site is a cleverly edited interview with Dawkins from 1997 which, at one point, shows him answering a question about proof of evolution (curiously, one cannot truly prove anything in science, but you can only either show that it is very likely, or disprove something) with 11 seconds of silence [actually him contemplating whether he should kick the interviewer out of his house] and a long rambling speech which has nothing to do with the question at hand. Naturally, this interview was shown to be a hoax by Australian Skeptic magazine (AiG is one of the few YEC groups not based in America). Another thing of note is their strongly anti-abortionist stance, claiming that life begins at conception, while not noting that life begins with the 2 cells before conception, and that Trees, Cows, Ants, and many other things also have life, despite Christians not clamoring for their "right to life", and that Mankind (out of the womb) is the only creature which truly has a right to life because of its use of reason to survive. (Thanks to www.abortionisprolife.com for that fact). Also, they claim that Darwinism is the sole cause of Naziism, Stalinism (the fact that one of Stalin's ministers had publicly renounced Darwinism notwithstanding), and Maoism, while conveniently writing off Christian Violence (ie, The Crusades, Salem Witch Trials, Wars of Religion, Manifest Destiny, the WBC, and The Army of God, etc.) as un-Biblical, not ewven noting the frequent commands by God in the old testament to obliterate entire towns (except probably the virgin women). One more thing is that they actually Condemn such shows as The Munsters, Looney Tunes, and Spongebob Squarepants, and films such as Lilo and Stitch, Sword and the Stone, and Fantasia, as being evolutionist propaganda for reasons known only to them.

Band Name: Injured. From a Mitch hedberg Routine where he's talking about Death metal band names.

Review: The Birdman of Alcatraz. This 1962 film about the life of Robert Stroud shows how a film can still be good despite glaring historical inaccuracies. The film shows a mild-mannered man who managed to rehabilitate himself from his murderous tendancies by becoming an expert of birds and curing several diseases from the (comfort?) of his cell. The historical facts, however, show a man who was an unrepentant killer who was largely locked up for his own good, due to the fact that he was an unrepentant killer, remorseless to the end, even with the public outcry for his release following the film's release.

Film Idea: The real Story of Robert Stroud, the fake version of which was the basis for the film reviewed above.

Quote: I went to see a heavy metal band in New York...called Monster Magnet. Man, they were heavy, boy. The lead singer was wearing no shirt and leather pants, and he had like a "Flying V" guitar. He got up on the monitor, and he said, "How many of you people feel like human beings tonight?" Then he said, "How many of you feel like animals?" And everyone cheered after the animals part. But the thing is, I cheered after the human being part because I did not know that there was a second part to the question. "Yes, I do feel like a human. I do not feel like a tree."
____________Mitch Hedberg.

Link: A site for a fictitious fundementalist church known as Landover

Issue 46

News: Root of all Evil, A rebuttal to an Answers in Genesis article.
For those of you people who don't know, "Answers in Genesis" is a site which seeks to prove that the Bible can be taken literally as fact. Recently, there was an article on the site wherein they review (Critically) a documentary on Religion by Richard Dawkins entitled The Root of all Evil. I doubt that it has been aired in the States, but I know it is on Google Video if you take the time to find and watch it. Anyway, it is mentioned that Dawkins constantly confuses operational science with Origins Science, with the former being tested and the latter not, although it has been tested and, despite everything the fundementalists say, new species have been observed, including several mutations of insects which are completely immune to bug spray. The author also criticized Dawkins for noting that the evidence overwhelmingly supports evidence, claiming that because he noted that the evidence is extremely in favor of Evolution, that he in fact has no evidence, citing his failure to note any evidence of citing points in his favor for it, despite the fact that the show is about the effects on religion on society and not a one-sided debate for Evolution. Then, he goes after churches, first going to Rev. Ted Haggard's church, at one point noting his line "Dr. Goebbels would be proud", which, oddly enough, wasn't spoken in as pejorative of a tone of voice as many of his other statements, and Haggard saying "I don't know anything about the Nuremberg Rallies, but most people think of it as a rock concert." AIG said he came off as a man of warmth and humility, which seemed true for the first thirty seconds of the interview, until Dawkins mentioned that the evidence that the world was created billions of years ago is much larger than evidence for a 6000 year-old earth. He ended the interview with a note which is found in the "Quotes" section.
Later, in the second half of the documentary, Dawkins mentions that there is a secular morality, although curiously enough, it seems as though the reviewer changed the channel during the Archbishop of Canterbury interview (Discussed below), as at the end, he reveals his theory on morality; Altruistic genetic morality. Later, he shows a British school with ACE (Accellerated Christian Curriculum) education, done to sidestep separation of church and state by mixing religion with all subjects, and letting the kids teach themselves. Dawkins interviews the Principal of the School (Adrian Hawkes), who AiG says gave a robust defense of his faith, despite noting that he doesn't know whether God created the world in less than a week, although he came across to me as a slightly drunken version of Paul McCartney, and using his interview to criticize his stance on the Bible itself, including Dawkins quoting several unpleasant sections of the Bible, including one scene where a mob asks to have sex with angels, when the man holding them hands over his virgin daughters. Curiously, the doesn't even mention the interview the true interviewee who prompted this rant; Michael Bray, Friend of Paul Jennings Hill, who was arrested for the murder of an abortionist. And so the review ends long before the film does, with Dawkin's interview with Archbishop Richard Harries of Canterbury, who has a fairly liberal and some would say, radical theology (denying the Virgin Birth, and being for Gay rights), while Dawkins criticizes him for calling himself a Christian at all, despite his theology. As I said before, the film actually ends with Dawkins explaining gene-based morality.

Band Name: "Q" is for Dr. Tran. This name comes from the film which is linked to in the links section.

Review: This week's film reviewed is the movie Toys, which is about how a military man takes over his father's toy company to create toys with built-in weapons. Robin Williams' Character, the Military Man's brother, goes out of his way to make sure that the company makes actual toys. The performances are very funny, whether they be from Robin Williams or LL Cool J. My personal favorite scene is the one wherein the father's funeral, a line expressing the attendee's sorrow is constantly interrupted by canned laughter, which he insisted on having buried in his casket with him.

Idea: Short untitled film about a diary of a fetus whose entries border on disturbing, ending with an abortion and the doctor admonishing the fetus to Shut up.

Quote: The parts that AiG mentioned are in bold, and the ones which I found particularly interesting are in italics.
"But you do understand, that this issue of intellectual arrogance is why people like you have a difficult time with people of faith. I don't communicate an air of superiority over the people because I know so much more. And if you only read the books I read and if you only met the scientists I know, then you would be great like me. Well sir, There could be things that you know well, or there could be things that you don't know well. As you age you'll find yourself right on some things and wrong on some other things, but please, in the process of it, don't be arrogant."
_____Rev. Ted Haggard, The Root of all Evil?

Link: A short film about a young boy who apparently is a huge movie star without even knowing it, named Dr. Tran.
The Blog Which inspired the Movie Idea

Issue 43

News: Flood Geology.
This following article was inspired by a re-reading of Jack T. Chick's tract "It's Coming!", a special about the "real" Noah's ark, and a mention in a Leonardo exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry wherein it is mentioned that he was one of the first people to realize that there was no evidence of a global flood. The tract itself shows Bob visiting an atheistic couple who do not believe in the "Great Flood", noting that it was a regional legend which grew as the religion did. Bob retells the story and the couple converts, as usual. As per usual for Creationist Chick Tracts, the "scientific Evidence" is presented by a "Creation Scientist" named Kent Hovind, who mixes Fundementalist Young Earth Creationism with Jurassic Park, claiming that humans not only coexisted peacefully with dinosaurs in the Garden of Eden, but still coexist today. One major problem with the idea of a global flood is that for the sea level to rise enough to cover land (over 30,000 feet), one would have to melt the polar ice caps, which would, according to the documentary, take temperatures of 10,000 degrees, which is just above the surface temperature of the Sun. Either way, if they did survive the sun-hot temperatures, there is one other point to make; The air pressure would wind up causing a person's lungs to implode (maybe i'm exaggerating, but at least the person would die without pressurized Cabins of some kind (which wouldn't be invented for milennia.) One logical point is that it is mentioned that there was put two of every species of animal on the world, and quite frankly, there is no way that the 450x75x45 structure mentioned in Genesis could fit the 20 million species of animals recognized by scientists today, or indeed even the dinosaurs Hovind claims were on the Ark (which could have been disposed of on the Ark, but Hovind won't allow so he can freely claim that he has "photos of Herman Goering riding a velociraptor like a horsie" [actually this is just to show how ridiculous many of his claims are, although he does claim to have drawings from the 15th Century showing dinosaurs performing brain surgery on people]), and one last point is that there are a significant number of aquatic animals who would doubtlessly survive with or without the help of anybody with a boat.

Band Name of the Day: I have two today. The first one is the Atomic Pizza and the second one is the Human Hamburger goes to Hawaii. Both come from the same episode of Green Acres where Oliver speaks to a high school class and a girl gets a crush on him. The two band names both come from movies mentioned.

Film Idea of the Day: It really is more of a play, but it is to be about a small class which teaches English as a second language. The First language of the students is, ironically Latin. The play goes on for 45 real-time minutes as the students go through a class and laugh at percieved double entendres in the English language.

Review of the Day: Actually, it is another TV series, but I managed to find the entire first season of the Jeff Foxworthy Show. As a big fan of Jeff Foxworthy, I was surprised to find it in a bargain bin. (I frequently search for films in the Bargain bins of stores; I once snagged The Maltese Falcon in one for $9, and Lawrence of Arabia for $8.) I decided to buy it and so far have seen the first nine episodes, and found it to be an interesting supplement to the Blue Collar Comedy Tour stuff which would manifest in his later TV series Blue Collar TV, including earlier bits which would make more sense in 1995 than in 2004, including Jeff ranting about the Olympics in Atlanta.

Quote of the Day: "Greeting's Yall! And Welcome all yuou dang foreigners from other nations.
Dear Lord please be with our guests and prepare them for the butt-whoopin'
they're about to receive"
________Jeff Foxworthy.

Link of the Day: The ultimate site about urban legends or mysterious emails.

Coming soon; The first anniversary issue about Statistics (specifically those about my blog.)

Issue 28

News: Big Daddy: The Rebuttal.
Inspired by an article at "The Jack T. Chick Museum of Fine Art" site, I will write my own rebuttal to the Tract "Big Daddy." In the first panel, the identifiably Jewish Teacher (Let's call him Mr. Roth) asks who in his new class believes in evolution. I doubt this happens in real life, because the teachers most likely assume that the students believe. Another scene just after shows the teacher becoming very angry at the Creationist Aryan boy, who could pass for "Hitler Youth Poster boy"(Let's Call him Ken), who remains calm. In the real world, it would most likely be the Ken who is angry at the challenging of his world. The rest of the tract focuses on "Mr. Roth" unsuccessful attempts to refute "Ken". His first challenge is about how only Micro-Evolution (among 5 other kinds) has been proven by science. Needless to say, Creationism has not been proven, but in fact disproved, by scientists. Later, he mentions the many "Pre-Homo sapiens" species of human. He first tackles Lucy, whom he believes that most experts believe is merely a chimp. Actually, all scientists tend to acknowledge her human status. Then he talks about Heidelberg man, who has, according to Chick, a very human-like jaw. Its existence has not been disputed by anyone else. Next is Nebraska man, who was built up from a tooth which turned out to be from a peccary. What he doesn't mention is that it never was considered to be a human ancestor ever, and was proven to not be so 5 years after its discovery. Then comes Piltdown man, whom was created from a modern ape's jawbone. It was the British Museum, evolutionists, who disproved the piltdown man. After this come the Peking Man. Chick Claims that all evidence of the discovery has disappeared. That is only partially true; While the bones were taken sometime during world war 2, there were casts made before they were stolen, and people are still studying them today. Then the Neanderthal, whom Jack Chick claims to be from one arthritic Frenchman, come from a lot of skeletons, some with arthritis and some without. Then There's new guinea man, which Chick claims to be a disproved step in evolution, obstensively 5,000 years old. Oddly enough, he was never considered to be anything but a 5000 year old man. Then come the cro-magnons, whom Jack fails to see the difference from Homo Sapiens. Of course, they are 4% larger. Finally comes Modern Man, whom Jack only says "This genius thinks he came from a monkey." After this, "Mr. Roth" mentions that the Coccyx is vestigial. "Ken" proves him wrong with the closest thing that he comes to anger in the entire tract. While he is right, there are other vestigial organs in the human body, like the Appendix, and (for men) the nipples. Finally, "Ken" asks "Mr. Roth" what the binding force of the atom is. After "Mr. Roth" says Gluons, "Ken" says just as quickly that they are a myth, saying that they have never been seen or measured (Oddly enough, they have), and because of this, nobody knows how the atom is kept together, but the Bible. He Quotes a Bible Verse out of context to say that Jesus is the binding force of the Atom. If you are dumb enough to believe this bullshirt, then become a Hindu, because most of the 3 million gods in the Hindu pantheon have 6 arms, and even then, they would be frustrated with anything more complex than a carbon atom, and moving even further away from any sane kind of organized religion, Neil from the Young Ones could even do a better job than the pantheon, for at least 30 seconds or so in the second episode "Oil" in which he is granted 12 hands. His stopping point: one Magnesuim atom. "Mr. Roth" becomes a creationist, and quits his job. The tract ends with the students reacting to the debate and "Ken" leaping at the chance to witness to the students.

Band Name of the Day: New Guinea Man. See above for explanation.

Film idea of the Day: Anthem 2256. After a nuclear war in 2101 AD, America is taken over by Christian fundamentalists who turn it into a Christian version of Saudi Arabia. 151 years later in 2256 AJ (The Calendar is pushed back to Christ's real date of birth, so it's 2252 AD), a man discovers a Black box of 10 LPs: Back in Black, Dark Side of the Moon, Led Zeppelin IV, Rumours, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Pet Sounds, smiley Smile, Highway 61 revisited, and Bridge over troubled Water. He, his wife, another couple, and a widower friend form a forbidden rock band. Eventually the government finds out, and they are sentenced to death by stoning. Just as the sentence is to be carried out, France invades and changes America back. The leaders wind up sentenced to death by hanging, and the band becomes a group of world heroes.

Film Review of the Day: Saved! This film is about a girl in a Christian fundamentalist environment (Jena Malone), who tries to have convert her gay boyfriend by having sex with her, and she gets pregnant, and he is not cured. As she starts to doubt her faith, her friends (played by Mandy Moore, among other people), turn against her. There is also a subplot about Moore's Brother (played by Maculay Culkin, in his return to the silver screen) trying to distance herself from his abusive sister with a relationship with Jewish bad girl, obstensively a stripper. This film will very likely be a big influence on my radio station film.

Quote of the Day: Hillary Faye (Mandy Moore): Mary, Turn away from Satan! Jesus loves you.
Mary (Jena Malone): You don't know the first thing about love.
Hillary Faye: I am filled with Christ's love!
(she throws a Bible at her)
Hillary Faye: You are just jealous of my success in the Lord!
Mary: This is not a weapon, you idiot.
______ From Saved! , the aforereviewed film. In this scene Hillary Faye tried to exorcise Mary.

Link of the Day: www.idrewthis.com
This is a webcomic about the author, an eagle, and their commentary on American society today. I previously mentioned a cartoon about intelligent falling on this blog, now, here's the entire thing. Enjoy.

Issue 23

News: Creation Science; Ain't no such thing.
After listening to my Western Civilisation teacher comparing The religious right's pro-creationism crusade to the crusades in the 11th-13th Centuries, I decided to write my next column about Creationism. In short, some people are claiming that The account taught in Genesis 1-2 (2 conflicting accounts), should be taught in public schools. Now, I don't care if you teach it in your home, or church, or private school, but, if our tax dollars are used to teach something a significant number of people believe is incorrect, as fact, there is something very wrong, and in addition, this violates the idea of Separation of Church and State which I laid out in a previous issue, because this benefits only The Fundementalists who believe the Bible is infallible and literally true, essentially violating the 1st Amendment. They try to side-step this problem by changing the name to "Intelligent Design". Some people are claiming that Evolution has not been proven as a theory, but of course Creationism only has a book with two different stories about it. Another thing that Creationists use to support their ideas is a story by a woman calling herself Lady Hope who claimed that she met Charles Darwin on his deathbed and saw him reading the Book of Hebrews and recanting his ideas of Evolution (which Galileo had actuially done) and asking her to gather Children so he could talk about Christ to them. This story has been debunked as an urban legend by his family and his contempt for Christianity which is visible in his Autobiography. Oddly enough, all signs point to Evolution. Of course, the idea of the Earth revolving around the sun is also a theory, but it also is one supported by science, and refuted by the Bible. I cannot end this spiel without a mention of the 1925 Scopes Trial. In this, which was re-imagined as Inherit the Wind, by the people who brought us Auntie Mame, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. In it, a twentysomething Tennessee substitute teacher named Scopes was arrested for teaching Evolution under the newly-passed Butler Act. This act eventually attracted the attention of longtime presidential candidate William Jennings Bryant, on the prosecution and Attourney Clarence Darrow, direct from the Leopold and Loeb trial, on the defense. After 7 sweltering days in the Courtroom, Darrow asked Bryant to the stand and reduced Bryant to a walking bundle of contradictions by asking religious questions, and Bryant eventually won, and died a few days. But, The #1 reason I'm against Creationism is because the grade school I went to endorsed this idea almost as much as anti-abortionism.

Film Idea: Ohio Girl. In 1970, A fashion magazine photographer photographs a girl on the street which becomes one of the most popular photographs of all time. Not based on a true story. Note: I intend this photo of Jackie Kennedy to be the model for the photo in the film

Film Review: The Wiz. This is a Blaxploitation version of The Wizard of Oz. I must say that for the original being good only for synching up with Pink Floyd, This Version is surprisingly Good.

Quote of the Day: Keeping with the Intelligent Design Theme, I have included a quote from Inherit the Wind.
"God created man in his own Image, and man, being a gentleman, returned the compliment."

Link of the Day: http://members.aol.com/monsterwax/chick.html
The site where I got the list of tracts I used for my Tract Reviews.

Tract Review: The Final Edition, in which I list the tracts I can't find online.
Breakthrough!- (A super-rare promotional tract urging the use of Wordless Gospels in Africa and New Guinea.) No copyright, but probably early 1970s. Return address is a Chino P.O. box, but called the International Gospel Literature Foundation.

Don't Read That Book!- (Satan doesn't want you to read 10 chapters a day of the Bible. Later included in the book "The Next Step.")

Four Brothers - (Four brothers attend a 1930's Revival meeting as children and accept Jesus. Each one is given a guardian angel to watch over them. But as the years pass, each falls from the grace of God and their angel leaves. Will any of the angels still be employed by the time the brothers are reunited in Heaven? Again, the crude style of later Chick art, and interestingly, the children have angels even before they surrender to Jesus - I guess after they accept Jesus the angels are just supposed to watch them closer. FG (Faceless God) appears at the end.)- From the SubgeniusSpice collection

Hit Parade (The prophets of doom and the last days are recounted.)

Kings of the East- (Anti-communist tract. The yellow menace is examined from a Biblical viewpoint.)

Kiss India Goodbye - (A super rare promotional tract urging the use of Chick tracts to reach the Indians before it becomes a Communist country.)

Last Missionary, The - (A tract aimed at getting missionaries to distribute more Chick tracts! Even after YOU are dead, this tract may bring someone to Jesus. If Commies can use cartoons to sway the minds of men, so can YOU!)

Losing The Old Zippp?- (A super rare promotional tract showing the effectiveness of passing out tracts.)

Lost Continent, The - (A super rare promotional tract discussing the threat of communism in South America.)

Macho- (Communist revolutionaries take over an embassy and confront a Christian man who warns them about Catholicism.)

Operation "Somebody Cares"-(A Super rare promotional tract urging the use of Chick tracts to spread the Gospel before Communist riots decimate the US.)

Poor Revolutionist, The - (Similar to "Fat Cats", revolutionary plots lead to hell- especially for commies.)

Pssssssst! Isn't it time??- (A super rare promotional tract pushing Why No Revival, This Was Your Life, and The Last Call.)

That Old Devil- Reveals one truth the devil wants kept secret...the blood of Jesus saves!

What's Your Score? (A super rare promotional tract showing the effectiveness of passing out tracts.)

Who Are They Gonna Remember?- (Another tract promoting Chick tracts.)

Wicked Magistrate, The- (A rare tract that featured an ancient Korean character on the front cover along with a Chinese looking title.)

Wounded Children- (Explains how a young kid can be turned into a homo by uncaring parents. But Jesus saves him in the end (of the story)

You Are About To See... - (Rare promo for the premier of Chick's 2003 film, Light of the World.)

I can predict that these are just as ridiculous as the ones I did find and review on the web.