The rapture that wasn't

As a Christian, I find folk like Harold Camping.........challenging. Why in the name of all that is good do Camping and other deceivers like him troll about proclaiming that they have "secret knowledge" regarding the Second Coming, when scripture very clearly states, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." (Mark 13:32)?

I get a little bent over it, because of the impact it has on the deceived and the opening it gives militant atheists to bash Christians. But don't worry -- old Hal Camping is going to have his own little taste of hell over the coming weeks and months. Getting in the first shot is Ed Stetzer.

Harold Camping needs to publicly apologize for being wrong about his doomsday prediction and leading people astray, said a Southern Baptist leader.

The California radio broadcaster’s wrong prediction about the rapture and the end of the world reflected poorly on Christians, said Ed Stetzer, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Research and LifeWay’s missiologist in residence.

Stetzer issued a series of tweets about Camping’s eschatological prediction on Saturday, among which one noted that there was no earthquake in New Zealand after 6 p.m.

“Harold Camping, pls update www.family.radio.com w/your repentance statement & instructions to your now-broke followers,” Stetzer tweeted.

An hour later he tweeted again, “6pm here in Turkey. I’m standing at the Temple of Athena waiting for the Rapture. Nothing happened. ;-)”

Of course, given that Camping has made this self-same WRONG prediction before, in 1994, I wonder if he's capable of shame. Given that many of his followers blew their life's savings backing his lunatic assertion, I would say that anything short of donating every penny he has to his followers to make them whole again will fall far short of genuine repentance.

Or maybe he'll try again. Third time's the charm. [/sarcasm]

UPDATE: It seems my sarcasm was wasted: Camping IS going for a third time.

And, he decided to give it another go: on Monday night, in his first radio broadcast since his May 21 prophecy proved a bust, Harold Camping conceded he didn't plot his rapture prediction "as accurately as I could have." But, nevertheless, the elderly pastor rejiggered his apocalyptic calculations for five months from now: October 21st. So, look forward to rehashed Camping coverage beginning two weeks prior to the next non-event.

FFS.

A retraction of sorts

CAJim seems to think I owe him a retraction. It seems that the quote I cited in my last post, which I got second-hand from the Tizona Group, is misleading, and that both Tizona and I have misused the quote to misrepresent the meaning of the AGW-worshiper's words.

Ignore for the time being that the inclusion of "let's fight global warming" in an alleged expression of condolences to the Japanese people is a de facto piggy-backing of two unrelated calamities and leads to the impression that the warming-worshiper is linking the two. CAJim says I owe a retraction, and, by God, a retraction I'll give.

Okay, CAJim, Nilsson's comment doesn't link the earthquake and tsunami to global warming. But these "scientists" do link earthquakes and tsunamis to AGW.

Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and landslides are some of the additional catastrophes that climate change and its rising sea levels and melting glaciers could bring, a geologist says.

Note the weasel word "could". That's so that the "scientist" has plausible deniability when his patently ridiculous premise is dismissed by real scientists.

And, lest you think that the preceding comment was cherry-picked, there's this one.

Scientists are to outline dramatic evidence that global warming threatens the planet in a new and unexpected way – by triggering earthquakes, tsunamis, avalanches and volcanic eruptions.

Reports by international groups of researchers – to be presented at a London conference next week – will show that climate change, caused by rising outputs of carbon dioxide from vehicles, factories and power stations, will not only affect the atmosphere and the sea but will alter the geology of the Earth.

Of course, you have to read on to get to the part where the polar ice caps have to disappear and the glaciers melt away for this to happen...

But the question wasn't "Do AGW quack scientists attribute earthquakes and tsunamis to AGW?" It was, "Does this particular AGW quack scientist attribute a particular earthquake and tsunami to AGW?" The answer is, apparently, no.

So CAJim has his retraction. Who is CAJim, and why is he so adamant in seeking a retraction from your friendly, neighborhood Vulture?

CAJim is a common troll. He is a habitue of that den of bigotry, FLDS Texas. He wants to discredit the Vulture because I have written some extraordinarily mean (but true) things about his boyfriend, the Caput a Palos (hereinafter referred to as The Prickette). CAJim thinks that by discrediting anything I say he discredits the factual things I wrote about his butt buddy.

Sorry Jim. You lose. Nobody who reads this blog on a regular basis is going to believe you or your fellow FLDS Texas bigots over me.

Nobody.

A pseudo-religion self-parodies

Okay, Tizona Group beat me to this item. But that doesn't mean I can't add my $0.02.

Hours after a massive earthquake rattled Japan, environmental advocates connected the natural disaster to global warming. The president of the European Economic and Social Committee, Staffan Nilsson, issued a statement calling for solidarity in tackling the global warming problem.

“Some islands affected by climate change have been hit,” said Nilsson. “Has not the time come to demonstrate on solidarity — not least solidarity in combating and adapting to climate change and global warming?”

“Mother Nature has again given us a sign that that is what we need to do,” he added.

Are you effing kidding me? Seriously? Do these imbeciles understand that earthquakes are caused by plate tectonics, NOT by the weather? Attributing an earthquake to climate makes about as much sense as attributing an asteroid collision with Earth to climate.

As if there was ever any doubt, this is the final proof that Global Warming has absolutely nothing to do with science and everything to do with religion. Just as a believer in the Almighty sees God in all things, so an AGW believer sees warming in everything. Drought = warming. Flooding = warming. Severe weather = warming. Balmy weather = warming. Heat = warming. Cold = warming.

These AGW fetishists are so caught up in their superstition that no amount of evidence can convince them that there are things that happen whose occurrence has absolutely nothing to do with climate.

I recommend checking out the Tizona post. It's got some good stuff in it. The best part for me was this quote.

Global warming alarmists are to natural disasters what the Westboro Baptist Church is to military funerals.

You got THAT right.

Wiener of the Month - August

Last night I watched a special on the National Geographic Channel called 9-11: Science and Conspiracy. It was fascinating. NGC set out to examine via exhaustive scientific proofs the 9-11 Truth Movement's (Truthers) various theories on the attacks.

Two things quickly became evident during the course of the show. The first is that I should have gotten into a field where I could burn things and blow shit up. I was SOOOOO very entertained by the various experiments such as burning 700 gallons of jet fuel to see if it could weaken a girder (it could: in less than 4 minutes, as a matter of fact).

The second is that the so-called Truthers are impervious to, well, Truth. Each and every experiment rebutting one of their contentions was met with some lame-ass explanation as to why it was "irrelevent" or "incorporated massaged data". These people believe what they believe and neither Heaven nor Earth will move them from their wacky, tin-foil hat tenets.

The funny thing is, I'll bet the lot of them are atheists and deride believers in Jesus as being simple-minded morons. And yet each and every one of them shows the same blind "faith" in their ridiculous cause that they accuse Christians of showing with their believe in Jesus. The problem for them is that belief in Jesus makes a whole lot more sense and stands the scrutiny of the historical record a whole lot better than their little tin-foil hat conspiracy does. Ironic, no?

As someone who refuses to swallow the official government version of most events, I can understand the scepticism of the Truthers. Really, I can. But, c'mon folks! Have the decency to admit when you're wrong.

Truthers, you're the Wiener of the Month for August 2009.

It's on!

Apparently Ardwulf doesn't know me very well, or he wouldn't have written this in response to comments I made over on What I think you should read in defense of Harry's post there.

I can’t help but notice that you’re doing your ‘research’ at a climate change denial blog, which in turn has gotten its data (in both of the articles you linked,) from WorldNetDaily, a right-wing propaganda outfit with very shady financing, ties to white supremacist organizations and which has promoted, among other things, belief in the silly North American Union conspiracy theory.

If this is one’s definition of ‘research’… well, then I can understand how one might be unable to distinguish facts from lies.

Let's start from the beginning.

I don't do "research" at "climate change denial blogs". Here's a sampling of websites I've referenced for climate change/warming news.

AOL
Agence France-Presse (France)
Associated Press
Business Post (Ireland)
Czech President Vaclav Klaus (speech quoted by The Australian)
Discovery Magazine
Information Week
John Coleman, Founder, The Weather Channel (speech quoted by KUSI, San Diego)
KCRG Des Moines
Milenio.com (Mexico)
National Journal
National Post (Canada)
National Public Radio (NPR)
New York Times
Politico.com
San Francisco Chronicle (sfgate.com)
Senator Ben Cardin (2 letters)
Sify News (India)
Technology Review
Telegraph (UK)
The Daily Mail (UK)
The Guardian (UK)
The Heartland Institute
The Herald Sun (Australia)
Times Online (UK)
Washington Times
What I think you should read
Wikipedia
WorldNetDaily.com

That's quite the rouge's gallery of climate change "deniers", isn't it? Especially considering that the most damning of the articles cited from these sources came from NPR!!!!

I don't consider the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the AP, AFP, nor any of the UK sources to be extremist, anti-climate change advocates or deniers, do you? There's balance in my sources (something ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, and Fox might seriously consider).

And another thing, I consider your characterization of WorldNetDaily as a typical leftist "I can't refute your argument so I'll smear your source" attack. WorldNetDaily IS right-leaning. They also feature a whole raft of liberal opinion writers (Sarah Posner, Ellen Ratner, Bill Press, Roger Ebert, David Linderoff, Juan Cole, Glenn Greenwald, Congressman Barney Frank, Rob McKay, and Robert Parry -- and this is just Liberals featured since September 1st!). Contrast that with the number of Conservative or Libertarian voices featured by The New York Times (if you said more than 2, you aren't paying attention).

As for the totally unfounded (and unproven) allegation that WorldNetDaily has ties to white supremacists, follow this chain of recent accusations, if you will.

Leftist "White Supremacist" Accusations:
The editor of the Washington Times
Bill and Hillary Clinton
Lou Dobbs
Ron Paul
Michelle Malkin, who is Asian!!!
Novelist Stephen King
"Doctor" James Dobson

As you can see, rather than debate in a reasoned, thoughtful manner, the Left resorts to ridiculous name calling. Does anyone, ANYONE, REALLY believe that any of these people are White Supremacists? Anyone?

You wanna know why I treat climate change propagandists and "believers" the way I do? Because it's a fraud, that's why!!!!

Temperatures have been dropping for the last decade. The ocean temperatures are stable. 28,000 scientists question the "consensus" of global warming (vs. 3,200 who signed off on the UN's fraudulent "study"). All physical evidence points to a cooling trend. And the biggest proponents of drastic change to "combat" warming have a financial stake in said "change"!

But there's no convincing the likes of Ardwulf. They're believers. You might as well try to convert an Islamist to Christianity. Ardwulf may not realize it, but he totally made Harry's point.

Harry hits a homer

It seems that Harry over at What I think you should read has a pretty good grasp of the Official State-Sanctioned Religion.

The Progressive Movement that is marching across our Nation at this time is driven by Marxist and socialist ideology mixed in with the religion of Global Warming. GW is leveraged by the progressives to reach their goal. These “progressive” and “forward” thinkers like to whip on Christians and other religious Americans claiming that they are not as intellectually sound or enlightened. The progressives employ softer words than Karl Marx to bash religion as “the opiate of the masses” but generally share that view. This is sweet irony, for no religious fad I have ever seen or heard of has caught on like Global Warming. Not even Oprah’s religion is getting that kind of hysterical following.

Indeed Global Warming is a natural pantheistic movement that has as much hold on its followers as any Christian Church I know. Perhaps even more-so.

Harry then goes on to make a point-by-point comparison of Christian tradition and the equivalent tradition within the OSSR. I can't do it justice with excerpts. You gotta read it for yourself.

Things I would add to what Harry has written:

Dealing with unbelievers. The Christian version was the Catholic church's Inquisitions of the middle ages. The OSSR's version is to shout down competing voices, and ignore, marginalize, demonize, or destroy their opponents.

Cultivating belivers. In the Christian version, missionaries are designated to bring the Good News to every nation, tongue, and people. The OSSR's version is Big Media, which parrots the orthodoxy of its Priesthood (led by Al Goerbells) as incontrovertible fact.

Branson and Gore - a pair of phonies

I've said all along that Al Gorebells is nothing but an availability entrepreneur looking to cash in on the man-made warming hysteria that he has been a key part in fomenting. He makes a big deal about paying for "carbon credits" for his own profligate use of the planet's resources, but the "credits" he's "buying" are paid to a firm he owns!

Now there's news that another big name in the man-made warming hysteria crowd has joined Mr. Gorebells in the campaign to be the biggest availability entrepreneur.

The Virgin boss’s much trumpeted pledge of €1.9bn to tackle global warming is nothing but smoke and mirrors.

In September 2006, Virgin boss Richard Branson pledged €1.9 billion towards tackling global warming. For the next ten years, he announced, the profits from his aviation and rail businesses would go towards combating the biggest, most complex problem that mankind has ever faced.

The promise earned Branson headlines around the world. Media outlets carried photos of him, Bill Clinton and Al Gore at a Clinton Global Initiative press conference in New York. Adults, Branson solemnly told the assembled media, had a duty to pass a ‘‘pristine’’ planet on to the next generation. Politicians and campaigners were effusive in their praise for his imagination and generosity.

However, a look at the not-very-small print revealed that this amazing gesture would not be a matter of taking the profits from Branson’s polluting industries and using them to protect vast tracts of the Amazon.

In fact, the money would go to a new division of the Virgin conglomerate, called Virgin Fuel. Branson was simply gearing himself up to make more money. But as always, the PR spin was that he’d be doing the rest of us a favour in the process.

I'm telling you, people! There's only one way to know what's really up with these global warming cultists. You've got to follow the money. They say all of the right things about "saving the planet". But they're much more interested in using this faddish cause to line their own pockets.

By their fruits you shall know them. Gorebells: phony. Branson: phony.

'Nuff said.

The Cult of Evolution

Fred Reed is a curmudgeonly old so-and-so. He's one of those writers: when he's good, he's very, VERY good, and when he's bad, he's still readable. This week he was very, VERY good.

He writes this week on the "science" of evolution and, more importantly, the zealots who subscribe to that faith. As an FYI, I'm going to be beating on "science" quite a bit this week, because it's becoming something of a fraud industry.

Anyway, Fred starts off his column with a bang.

I think it a shame that discussion of evolution usually boils down to a pledge of allegiance either to Darwin or to the handling of snakes. This view admirably distracts attention from the observation that much of Darwinism doesn’t square with observation or even make sense. Religion has nothing to do with it, being an innocent bystander.

Not bad, eh? And the guy's an atheist!

Later he adds this zinger.

The entire Darwinian structure rests on the willingness to accept wild theories without examination.

You've got to read the whole thing yourself -- I can't do it justice here.

FLDS aren't the only ones who are brainwashed

Here's one for the ages. I was checking around to see what other bloggers are saying about the FLDS raid, when I came across this tool, an asshat who posts anonymously (Hey pal! Notice I don't hide who am, what I represent, and where I live? Grow a set, would ya?). Obviously a TBM (true-believer Mormon), this coward wrote an apologetic trying to distance the parent LDS church from the FLDS cult. Here's a sampling of this asshat's work.

The FLDS Church is to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) what the Protestant Church is to the Catholic Church.

Now let me share with you my response to that statement.

Are you serious? How brainwashed are YOU to even CONSIDER such a thought! Protestantism was a schism within the Christian church resulting from the mother church's deviation from biblical Gospel teachings. The FLDS is a cult whose sole purpose is to allow horny old reprobates to have sex with barely-pubescent young women. Only a brainwashed twit with no actual knowledge of what the Protestant reformation was about and the good that has come about because of it (even according to your own church leaders!) would say such a thing!

Then the chickens*** had the audacity to get whiny.

The term Mormon is a slang term that used to be completely derogatory that refers to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

My response:

Boo frickin' hoo! "Mormon" is NOT a derogatory term. It's shorthand for people who aren't familiar with the "LDS" acronym and don't feel like droning out the whole long-arse name of the church.

Step outside the box once in a while and see what's out there. Take off the blinders once in a while. You'd be amazed.

Here's the thing - I wasn't even being mean to this asshat. Trust me, if I wanted to be mean I could have pulled out whole buckets of vitriol. I've got 'em. People who've been on the receiving end can testify to that.

What a dick!

Victory over FLDS terrorists -- Update

From the Associated Press.

Officials still have not been able to identify the teen who made the call from the children being held at two sites in Texas.

The man alleged to be the 16-year-old's husband, Dale Barlow, is a registered sex offender who pleaded no contest to having sex with a minor in Arizona.

"I do not know this girl that they keep asking about," he told Utah's Deseret Morning News on Wednesday. "And I have not been to Texas since I was a young man back in 1977."

Like I said in my last comment in the original post. Fishy.

Victory over FLDS terrorists

The whole FLDS situation, with the government raid, the invasion of their temple, and the confiscation of their children, has DW waxing wroth.

I have been watching this whole deal with the FLDS and their practice of polygamy. In no way do I agree with any of their teachings. The outrage comes as this: since when does the State or Government or CPS have the right to invade what the FLDS believe to be sacred ground? I am referring to their Temple they had built and paid for on their own.

I understand there was a young girl, 15, that called. Texas law says you can be married at 16. So was she exactly 15 or was she 15½? Then through the corrupt CPS (Communist Party Service) they remove 400 kids? How did they do that? Through leading statements? Through lies?

Then the FDLS tried to ward off the state from entering their temple, but failed.

So what I am getting from all this is that we don't have religious freedom in this country unless you conform to the mainstream. Hey, why did the government not invade Rev. Wright and his congregation based on terror?

I am absolutely appalled that the government would desecrate their temple the way they did. So that means if any religious group does something that does not agree with the government, that the government can once again come in and show who is really boss.

Don't misunderstand here. I am very clear that the FLDS probably broke the law by six months and maybe more. That does not give anyone the right to invade their privacy. So all you Christians, Catholics, Jews -- if you have any place sacred, you are not safe. Like I said, I am in no way supporting the FLDS. I am trying to figure out what the Holy Hell has happened to our First, Geeeze, ALL our Amended rights.

Vulture, I am now with you 100% with your comments on the TSA. That is where it starts and now the Great (My Ass) State of Tex-ass has 400 misplaced kids ripped from their blood families based on the phone call of a 15 year old whom they can't find. Polygamy is wrong BUT doing what the CPS and Law enforcement did was very scary and has put this citizen on notice. I can't even think of a word to describe the anger I feel and outrage at this.

Well said, DW.

Look, I'm no fan of wacked-out cults. But that stated, there are some very valid and troubling points raised by DW.

• The FLDS broke the law
  
  Apparently it was common practice in this sect to "marry" off these girls as soon as they hit puberty. If true, it's an abomination and it's deplorable, and those guilty of having "married" these barely-pubescent girls should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
  
  They also broke the law with their practice of polygamy. Now, while I find said practice mystifying (Good God! Isn't ONE wife hard enough?), I find it laughable that der Staat wants to enforce THAT aspect of "marriage" while simultaneously pushing for legal status for Gay, Lesbian, and Trans-gender marriage. After all, where does the liberalization of marriage end once it ceases to be "one man/one woman/one lifetime" (which, coincidentally, is the model of marriage given to us in Genesis)?
  


• The over-the-top reaction of der Staat to the "threat" of the FLDS
  
  Whatever the case that can be made against the FLDS, the semi-militarized invasion of the group's ranch and temple was reminiscent of Waco. Way TOO reminiscent.
  
  After all, the Branch Davidians were a wacko religious cult practicing an unconventional religion. There was underage sex between cult leader David Koresh and many of the young women of the group. And they had a stash of weapons (Mein Gott! Weapons!) So the government invaded their compound, first unsuccessfully, then with chilling, deadly precision, with a show of force unprecedented in the history of this nation.
  
  The FLDS were smart not to resist the police invasion. They would have faired no better than the Davidians had they resisted.


• The invasion and desecration of the temple
  
  Regardless of how you feel about the FLDS in particular, or "sacred" buildings in general, this one needs to be addressed. Can you imagine the uproar if storm troopers of der Staat were to invade a "sacred" Muslim building? So.......why is there nary a peep about the invasion of the FLDS temple? Either we practice a policy of honoring the sanctity of ALL buildings considered sacred by the various religions, or we honor none of them. However you might feel about the FLDS, this violation of their rights is simply the prelude to the further violation of OUR rights. The fact that their religion is weird, that its practices may be abhorrent...that's not the point. I happen to think that Islam is weird and its practices (like burkas, fatwas, and jihad) abhorrent. That does NOT give me the right to invade their "sacred" buildings. By extension it does NOT give der Staat the right to invade them, either.


• The confiscation of the children
  
  I'm very deeply troubled by the whole "Child Services as judge/jury/executioner" trend. You mean to tell me that some piss ant government employee can just show up at a person's home and TAKE their children based solely on the judgment call of said government employee? And that's considered okay? If you need any further evidence that we're a nation of sheeple, this is about as definitive as it gets.
  

You won't hear any of these concerns expressed on the blathering heads shows on TV. You won't read any opinion pieces questioning the actions of der Staat's armored goons. You won't hear talk radio decrying the First Amendment violations. Why? Because, sadly, the vast majority of us believe that it's all right to violate the rights of those who are weird or non-mainstream when they're accused of criminal activities.

Oh, one last point, DW. The gestapo-like behavior by the government didn't start with TSA. It started with ATF (the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms). TSA is just the latest step in the journey from free republic to socialist dictatorship.