Monday, September 27, 2010

Friday, September 17, 2010

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The Tattlesnake – Serious As A Fake Heart Attack Edition

"I recognize you – you're the guy from the ads for the heart attack drug on TV."

"Ha, ha – yeah, that's me."

"Congratulations on recovering so well from your heart attack."

"Well, actually, I never had any heart attacks, thank God. I'm just an actor playing the role of a man who had a massive heart attack and recovers taking that drug. I can't tell you if the drug works or not."

"Ask your doctor if this drug is right for you, huh?"

"Ha, ha, that's right."

"Does that bother you? I mean that some people watching that might think you're a real heart attack victim?"

"Well, I thought there'd be some disclaimer on the ad, letting the viewer know we were actors – that's the way they used to do it. Then I saw the ad on TV and realized there was no disclaimer – that kind of bothered me, but it was too late to do anything about it."

"How do they get away with it?"

"Some new law says they don't have to tell the audience they use actors anymore."

"Those ads are on all the time – you must be doing pretty well from them."

"Oh, yeah, the residuals pay very well, but my career in TV and movies is over."

"Really, why?"

"Because when people see me they think, 'Isn't that the guy from the ads for the heart attack drug on TV?' and, anyway, I've got a rider on my contract that prohibits me from working on any other TV shows for a year after they stop running the those commercials, to preserve the credibility of the spots."

"That's tough."

"I'm not complaining. I was going to retire anyway. And there's always dinner theater, ha, ha."

© 2010 RS Janes. LTSaloon.org.

Thursday, September 09, 2010

The Conservapedia Delusion of Andrew Schafly

As Stephen Colbert remarked during a speech at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner at which a visibly uncomfortable 'President' Junior Bush was on the dais, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."

To counter that perceived 'bias' at Wikipedia, Eagle Forum nutcase Phyllis Schafly's kid, Andrew, mounted a dimwitted Christopublican-Free Market-Literal Bible site in 2006 to spread the neoconservative message with bile-laced faith-based delusion, the same delusion that's damn near destroyed the country, and may succeed in tearing it apart yet. But, hilariously enough, even the Bible as it's written is not conservative enough for raggedy Andy – he actually launched a 'Conservative Bible Project' to rewrite those portions he considers too 'liberal.' (One would guess that would be any passage expressing kindness for the homeless and poor, berating the rich and telling them to give their possessions away, or asking the reader to forgive one's enemies and renounce the judging of others.)

Here, Bob Carroll of the Skeptic's Dictionary drags the little Liar-For-Jesus and his buncombe-packed 'encyclopedia' over the glowing hot coals of rationality:

The Conservapedia Delusion

By Bob Carroll
The Skeptic's Dictionary Newsletter (Skepdic)
Vol. 9 No. 9
September 3, 2010

The group of Christian conservatives (led by Andrew Schafly) who run Conservapedia call their confabulations and rewriting of history, biology, and everything else under the sun, an alternative to "liberal" Wikipedia. Worse, they call their own set of fairy tales "the trustworthy encyclopedia." They swear to it on a stack of Bibles so it must be true. Their delusions are matched only by the paranormal evangelicals at Skeptical Investigations.

The Conservapedia folks have an entry for "Skepdic," where they chide me for not listing global warming and evolution as "junk science." To these puerile jabberwocks, vorpal swords in hand, theology is the queen of the sciences. Under the "contents" heading for their Skepdic entry, they note: "The website also contains articles attacking Biblical history such as Noah's Ark." The story of Noah is literal history to these choir boys.

I'm referred to as a "militant" atheist, whatever that is. If you click on "atheist" you find these neo-con confabulators writing: "Unlike Christianity, which is supported by a large body of sound evidence, atheism has no proof and evidence supporting its ideology." A man could crack a few ribs with falling-down laughter at the claims these clowns make. By proof and evidence I suppose they mean faith. They get very nasty--nasty as only an idiotologist can get. The nicest thing they say about atheism is that it is an ideology. It isn't an ideology, by any definition, but correct usage of terms is as irrelevant as getting the facts straight to these theocrats. The rest of their diatribe against atheism qualifies them for the Phil Plait certifiable-dick-of-the-year-award.

Dumbest Website Ever

It would be impossible to identify the dumbest website ever, but in addition to Conservapedia I would put Saberpoint in the top ten. Saberpoint's motto is "riding roughshod over the asinine and idiotic" while "supporting the conservative cause and the tea party movement."

© 2010 Bob Carroll.
While I'm not necessarily an atheist – deeply cynical agnostic is more like it -- and tend to agree with J.B.S. Haldane's quote: "Now, my suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.… I suspect that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of, in any philosophy," I admire Bob Carroll and his Skeptic's Dictionary for attempting to bring some needed rational and scientific enlightenment to a country that's drowning in revisionist history, goofball religious gullibility, and pure idiotic tripe.

© 2010 RS Janes. LTSaloon.org.

Saturday, September 04, 2010