Is it just me or does the second season of Discovery remind you of classic Trek?

David1955 comments on Mar 11, 2019:

Yes, they're trying to connect back to the TOS better than season 1. With mixed results. I like it, but it's a hotch potch really. I can't really love it. Engineer Anthony Rapp and his boyfriend doctor story line is boring beyond belief, Missy or Prissy or whatever that babbling redhead is called, likewise. Anson Mount as Chris Pike was a great choice, however. Why oh why did they kill off Jason Issacs? Great talent. Such a big effort show, but honestly I find The Orville is more Roddenburrian in theme and intent.

In the Bush - Gore election (2000) the Florida race was too close to call.

David1955 comments on Mar 10, 2019:

Your Democrats should have challenged and appealed and fought that all the way. They're too damned nice and have needed to grow a pair for a long time. Only way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them. Hope they've learnt.

At the risk of branding Star Trek fans as Social Democrats, I'm going out on a limb and say I would ...

David1955 comments on Mar 5, 2019:

Make it so, No1.

Well, this was a weird glitch.

David1955 comments on Mar 4, 2019:

It has to learn the word 'wont' and know the difference between this word and the contraction of 'will not'. Mine does the same thing, and with other similar words to contractions. It is annoying. I have to correct the auto correct by typing the word again. I just noticed that when I put the word 'wont' in the site changes it to won't when I enter. I have to put it in quotes. The site autocorrects! That's weird.

Bernie’s launch. Speech was a barn “berner.” Democracy is coming to the USA? [facebook.com]

David1955 comments on Mar 3, 2019:

Make America Bern Again! Build the Bern! Lock Trump up! We in the rest of the 'civilised' world are hoping our American cousins will get it right next time.

Intuition is a constant.

David1955 comments on Mar 1, 2019:

It's amazing how prevalent the kind of New Age pseudo-religion is these days, a bit of vague science, add some thinly disguised religious concepts, like afterlife and spiritual knowledge, wrap them up in "sciency" sounding terms, and away we go! Vague enough to make you feel good, but not specific enough to actually mean anything or allow any serious discussion. Followers of this kind of thing kind of hope they'll eventually be like a Buddhist Hamburger -- One With Everything.

So the cardinal has been outed.

David1955 comments on Feb 28, 2019:

Can I just say, I loathe George Pell. I loathe the Catholic Church. I loathe people like Pell in the church, reactionaries, anti modernists who thwart change. I would not be surprised if he were guilty of such crimes. At first I was pleased that he was found guilty. But, as I've read about the details of the alleged crime, and the proceedings, and the flimsy evidence, I would not be surprised if this verdict were found to be "not safe" as the legals say, on appeal. If this happens it will give encouragement to those who think many alleged cases of abuse are made up. I hate to say it, but I have a bad feeling about this. Whatever we might think about cases like this, or people like Pell, the outcomes have to be beyond reasonable doubt. This case is far from over.

Dual senate?

David1955 comments on Feb 28, 2019:

Fragmenting the Senate by creating a second 'Precious' Senate? I think not.

Michael Cohen delivers devastating congressional anti-Trump testimony

David1955 comments on Feb 27, 2019:

Cohan is not a John Dean. But on the other hand Trump is far worse than Nixon ever was, so it needed someone pretty bad to describe his dirty deeds. I see comparisons more with mob bosses whose enforcers cut a deal and expose the dirt and crimes. Bet you it won't a bit of difference to the Trump Cultists though.

So-Called ‘Atheist’ Doesn’t Even Barge Into Churches Screaming ‘You’re All Brainwashed ...

David1955 comments on Feb 26, 2019:

No, as an atheist I've never done that, though the thought has crossed. I would like to burst into a Trump rally and shout that out, however. :-)

I just wanted to say that I have really enjoyed Agnostic and all those whom I've had conversations ...

David1955 comments on Feb 26, 2019:

Yes, more of us should be saying this. With the squabbles and debates about blocking and so on that gets too much attention here, it's easy to forget that most people here do the right thing, even if they disagree on points.

The Dems have real trouble going into 2020.

David1955 comments on Feb 24, 2019:

I think journalist Mark Shields said it right. When your Democrats create an execution quad, the first thing they do is form a circle. And he's a Democratic supporter! They're busy forming circles at the moment. Odd system you have. For months contenders kick the crap out of each other, then when one is left standing they say, vote for us and our united party.

The most distant object ever detected is GN-z11 (As far as I'm aware) at 13.

David1955 comments on Feb 24, 2019:

A side issue for me on this question of the age of the universe is we often think of the universe as very old at 13+ billion years, so there must be lots of species out there like us. But compared to the projected life span of the universe, in trillions of years, it could be considered "young". Evolution of species like us might take billions and billions of years, so maybe we're the first, or amongst the first to evolve. I don't know, as it isn't my field, but I've seen references to this possibility in documentaries, and I find it interesting, especially when you hear people say they think the universe must be full of other beings because of the 13+ billion of years. Maybe not.

Don't say I haven't been trying to warn you about the dire future that awaits us.

David1955 comments on Feb 23, 2019:

I think it's often a case of preaching to the converted here on this site, given the general site profile. I don't say that as a criticism, and please keep your great posts going. Also sorry for the religious saying. But it's the elites who run the world that need conscious changing. Also everyday people who continue to believe mainstream bullshit.

Any pro-wall atheists out there?

David1955 comments on Feb 20, 2019:

The only people who believe that the "crisis" at the border necessitates building a multi-billion dollar wall, are the same ones who thought The Caravan was coming to swamp and over run America. That is to say, stupid people. Haven't heard much lately about The Caravan..Even Stephen Colbert has stopped making jokes about it. Did they take the wrong turn at Albuquerque like Bugs Bunny?

The Bern man is in, man.

David1955 comments on Feb 20, 2019:

Go Bernie Go! I wonder how the US Ruling Class will screw him over this time?

Known universe just got bigger by 300,000 more galaxies [businesslive.co.za]

David1955 comments on Feb 20, 2019:

And the best part is, the maker of all those billions or trillions of galaxies, and all the billions and trillions of stars, and billions and billions of planets (channeling my inner Carl Sagan here) around the billions and trillions of stars, turned up in the First Century AD by impregnating a women so he could bring a message that we are "saved" from the sins he created in the first place, along with everything else, and then promptly had himself tortured and killed. Or so millions and millions of Christians believe. Well why wouldn't you believe that?

There is no agnostic vs. atheist! The peeve I have...

David1955 comments on Feb 17, 2019:

@silvereyes. Is it not true that this flame up between agnostics and atheists has mostly subsided on this site, compared to the first months of the operation of the site? Seems to me that the two "sides" have accepted that while differences exists, sometimes irreconcilable differences of opinion, that amongst the coalition of the non-religious, we are all ultimately on the same side?

There is no agnostic vs. atheist! The peeve I have...

David1955 comments on Feb 17, 2019:

How does this keep turning up as a new post, when in fact it's the Halley's Comet of the Community, the Old Faithful, the Oh No Not You Again!, Oldie but a Goodie, just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water..post? For the record, I commented eons ago, stating my atheist credentials on it. Can't remember when, but I know I had more hair back then. :-)

Massive python removed from laundry room - UPI.com

David1955 comments on Feb 17, 2019:

I guess he was all washed up. :-)

MEN ONLY: What is your race/ethnic origin?

David1955 comments on Feb 17, 2019:

These are just broad racial groupings with a couple of specific ones, like Native Hawaiian etc. It's also US centric. I am no authority on racial group analysis, and while I'm not questioning your motives, I think this is not well conceived.

Pretty much...

David1955 comments on Feb 17, 2019:

A perfect definition of Right Wing Government, and sadly too often left of centre governments which have been corrupted by right wing thinking.

At what age should children be exposed to religious instruction?

David1955 comments on Feb 16, 2019:

I'll join the chorus: Never! I'd like children to be exposed to religious history, but as history, not instruction, so the history and practise of religion is known to them, all the stuff the religions hide or ignore.

Fellow agnostics, how do you feel about believers joining?

David1955 comments on Feb 16, 2019:

This has been raised and discussed almost from the day the site started, so it's hardly new. That's the first point. My view can be easily stated: I don't think believers should be banned from the site, but I wish they wouldn't join. My only qualification is that I do think sometimes individuals join who are notionally believers but leaning towards secularism and away from religion, and this is a place where they can engage with non believers and explore their doubts anonymously. Not many like that, but some. I'm happy to encourage such people.

Do you remember back in the 70's blowing out birthday candles, a lit cigarette 6 inches from your ...

David1955 comments on Feb 16, 2019:

Ah, the 70s, before the various fundamentalists, political, economic and religious, and lunatics took over to make mess we are now in.

AOC is Under Fire Because She is Right

David1955 comments on Feb 15, 2019:

I like her. But make no mistake, the US Ruling Class, you know the elite who actually tell the Deep State and their minions what to do, will be out to neutralize the rising progressive tide in US discourse. I'm waiting for it - some "crisis", some calamity, some invention or false flag that will turn the tide against progressive voices. US history, which I've studied a lot, shows this, whether it's neutralizing organized unionism, hippies and the youth challenge to authority, anti Vietnam war, and alike. It's *their* Republic people, which they own, and don't you lefties forget it! Wonder if they're thinking they can dig up Charlie Manson and give 'Helter Skelter' one more try. Worked in 69 a treat.

Energy saving tips around the house: The Kitchen

David1955 comments on Feb 14, 2019:

All duly noted. Why can't we have Star Trek replicators so you can just say, "Tea, Earl Grey, Hot" and there it is. Perfect use of energy and no waiting or cooking. I was born too early, no doubt about it. :-)

I argue politics entirely too much.

David1955 comments on Feb 13, 2019:

I watched a bit Trump's rally this week. There were all these people, young, old, various racial groups, jumping around with Trump hats on and banners, cheering every word. After all we now know, I asked myself, who are these people? Are they real? Are they just Rent a Crowd? What goes on in their heads? I saw these young women jumping around. Why would they support a creep like Trump? I honestly think that if they are real, they are like religious fanatics at a religious event. Clearly facts, truth, evidence and even reality means nothing to them. Just like religious fanatics. I've gone beyond the Michael Moore type explanation about marginalised people looking to shake the system up through Trump. Those people have left. What are left now are pathetic and just need to be dismissed. If they finally see the light about this grifter phoney President, no arguments based on fact will have helped. The enlightenment will have to be internal.

Do you believe in UFO's?

David1955 comments on Feb 13, 2019:

Yes, I do believe in UFOs. I believe that people photograph and film things called UFOs. What I don't know is what they are. I would like to know what they are. And the problem is I have absolutely zero confidence in governments, military, mainstream media, organisations like Never A Straight Answer NASA, or compromised scientist performers like N De G Tyson, who say, there's nothing to see here folks! I do note that with mobile phones producing a lot of material now compared to just a decade ago, that the authorities have given up attributing these things to ball lightning, Jupiter, and funny clouds. So they just say nothing and hope it'll go away. So, I just keep an open mind and hope for definitive proof one way or another. By the way, I saw ball lightning once, on an island of Thailand. I must say, it was impressive, but I looked up and thought, oh look, ball lightning! I didn't look up and say, oh look, little green men from Mars!

How many of us here in the Senate have read the phrase, "I came here to find love, and stayed for ...

David1955 comments on Feb 13, 2019:

I came for the one thing I can't do in everyday life: interact with a community of (mostly) free thinkers and secularists, to help keep me sane in a world of the ignorant, the reactionary, and the confused. It's worked a treat, apart from the occasional agnostic I disagree with, the odd religionist, including new age types, and a few grumpy old conservatives, who, frankly, I find a pain and a distraction. My only real annoyance is the interminable debates about blocking members, which, I confess, may be more of a problem for female members at the receiving end of poor male behaviour, which I condemn utterly. If anyone knows a better online community for free thinkers and secularists, I'd like to know about it. I doubt there is.

The reasons the industrialized world will never get off fossil fuels until a crash causes an ...

David1955 comments on Feb 11, 2019:

I often think that the issue of climate change and fossil fuels is an Achilles Heel issue for humans. We are very good at long term change. We've gone from horse and buggy to the space age in less than 150 years and adapted in ways that our recent ancestors would find incredible. We are also good at responding to short term threats and challenges, the fight against fascism in the 20th Century, even going from barely being able to launch rockets to walking on the moon in a decade. But this issue is the worst possible challenge for us: medium term but catastrophic. Too quick to adapt slowly, and not immediate enough, for skeptics, to rally to the cause and deal with it. Like the people in the church in High Noon, they just want Will to go away, and they'll worry about the noon train when it arrives. Maybe it won't? We know it will, with Frank and his boys ready to shoot the town up. I fear you are right, Professor. Great post.

It's interesting to see all the new atheists

David1955 comments on Feb 10, 2019:

While it is an interesting journey you have described, I'm a little perplexed by two, to me, inconsistent statements. The first, antitheist in 2007, and the second that we're all, religionists and non believers alike, going to the same destination just different paths. And what is that common destination? Religionists and fellow travellers believe in some afterlife of some kind. Non religionists reject this belief. Hardly the same path either; mysticism on the one hand and reason on the other. Also, 'universal consciousness' in my view is a new age reference to God, by another term. I agree about the growing and I think global trend away from religion, with common reference to authors and books and arguments. But you don't seem very anti theist to me, if I may say so.

God does exist .

David1955 comments on Feb 9, 2019:

You know, this is the kind of New Age pseudo religion that many fall for. They take religious themes, give it a coat of bad science, and it seems cool. For example: God = Energy. Angels = Astro Travellers. Afterlife |Heaven = Parallel Universes, Alternative Realities. Spiritual Knowledge = Universal Awareness. Death = Energy Transference. And if they can throw in Relativity and Quantum Theory as well, then great, all without the benefit of actually being qualified in these fields. Like all religious stuff I suppose it produces feel good chemicals in the brain.

God does exist .

David1955 comments on Feb 9, 2019:

Are you trying to convince us, or yourself? The latter, I suspect.

Now that my hard work has put me in office, we're going to have some changes around here.

David1955 comments on Feb 8, 2019:

Oh jeez, what next? Prescriptions, senators floating in the Tiber, lining the Appian Way with the crucified? Well, my name is Gracchi, and I'm for the populace. Power to the people!

Poor Javert...he was only doing his job :'(

David1955 comments on Feb 7, 2019:

Inspector Javert, the James Comey of the 19th Century. "Shoot me now or shoot me later Every schoolboy to his sport Death to each and every traitor I renounce your people's court!"

If you could pick a birth name for yourself (hypothetically) at the time of birth, what would it be?

David1955 comments on Feb 7, 2019:

Matt. Personally, I don't like it. But woman love men called Matt. They love to have a boyfriend called Matt. They love to boast that they are seeing a guy call Matt. They look for men called Matt. Men called Matt score big time with women. Why? I don't know. But there it is.

For all of you Ted Cruz fans out there. 😏

David1955 comments on Feb 6, 2019:

That guy is truly pathetic, and I don't mean Al Lewis, AKA Grandpa Munster.

Too many "rules".

David1955 comments on Feb 6, 2019:

Agreed. I just let all that stuff wash over me like a wave while underwater, but yes the moaning about other people is tiresome, unless it's truly an issue of fraud or harassment. I hate to say this, but some people just like drama in their lives, real or cyber. A good outrage makes them feel better. I'm the very opposite.

What if there actually was a "second coming".

David1955 comments on Feb 6, 2019:

Hah! If Jesus turned up and started talking about the meek, the poor, the down trodden, the powerless, and the subjugated, as per the supposed myth about him, the right wingers, conservatives, and reactionaries of the world, including Christians, would label him a leftie, a socialist, a commie, and a liberal with crazy notions and ideas. The disconnect between Christians, and their politics and economics, and the supposed myth of their core historical 'radical' figure always gets me. The last thing most Christians want is a real Jesus turning up. Since he almost certainly never existed, or if he did, in some form, he most certainly died, as in gone and ain't coming back, like all deceased people, there's no chance of that.

What’s your favorite movie quote?

David1955 comments on Feb 4, 2019:

"The Truth? You can't handle the truth!" Anyone who doesn't know this quote shouldn't be on the site. :-> In one quote, Aaron Sorkin captures perfectly the attitude of Power *everywhere*. We can't handle the truth, so we shouldn't be told the truth. But the real truth is they can't handle the Power and shouldn't have it.

Caesar’s Messiah: “the Roman conspiracy to invent Jesus” (YouTube) The gist is, the Romans...

David1955 comments on Feb 4, 2019:

You mean God didn't impregnate a woman with himself to have himself born so he could sacrifice himself to himself in order that we might be saved from the sins that he himself invented since God created everything in Heaven and earth? Dang! :-) Actually, would the Romans have gone to that trouble, I mean to create a fake news Messiah? They were more your 'send in the legions and kill enough people til the occupied people were bent to Rome's Will' kind of dudes. I think the 'God Man' meme took off in the first century and evolved over the new few centuries until it took a life of its own, as mythologies do, only in the 4th century a group decided he was real and killed anyone who challenged that. The rest, as they say, is history. A history of blood and death cult.

I was thinking about Australia's political parties and how so many Australians don't believe a ...

David1955 comments on Feb 3, 2019:

Of course. I see no hope unless the labor party abandons electoralism, focus group politics, right wing discredited economics, and factionalism based on right wing unions, and embraces a truly progressive agenda, not dressed up focus group based targetted short term policies, and think longer than winning an election and enjoying the lurks and perks of office. The Hawke Keating ideological gutting of the ALP continues to this day. They have forgotten how to be a party of the Left, so corrupted by 'New Left' thinking of the 80s and 90s that has been ruinous to working people. As for the parties of the right, they have only one goal, and that is to protect and enhance the power of Capital. That will never change.

We have 2 quite radical anti Semite Muslim congresswomen who are calling for the destruction of ...

David1955 comments on Jan 30, 2019:

Perhaps it's headed away from crazy right wing thinking. That would be good.

Trump has been a lot better president for business than Obama ever was as Obama was a regulation nut...

David1955 comments on Jan 30, 2019:

I was thinking @Trajan61 that it would good to have a time machine and go back to the so-called GFC of 2007, which I call the CCC - Cyclical Collapse of Capitalism - and observe your reaction, and others like you, to capitalism almost destroying itself. I bet it was "Government please save us..!..." "Oh please government please bail us out!!!" "Please save our banks.... Please save us.... Do something..!!!" "Only you can save us!" Frig knows how many goddam right wingers, including free market economic rationalists, and their ilk, who were thumping right wing economic bullshit right up to the crisis, who suddenly became converts to "Only Government can solve this now." A decade later and that's all forgotten, including the friggen mess that Obama inherited. Goddam hypocrites! And I expect Trump and his brainless party will leave another economic mess that some poor bastard will have to fix, getting no credit from the likes of you and your ilk, just like before. Am I right? Of course I am.

Trump has been a lot better president for business than Obama ever was as Obama was a regulation nut...

David1955 comments on Jan 29, 2019:

I'm sorry to inform you, but after consideration of your posts and comments, I am obliged to place you in the Right Wing Troll category. Bit sad, but there it is.

It has just come to my attention that the 26th of January is not only the date Australia celebrates ...

David1955 comments on Jan 29, 2019:

As always happens, there is the real person who lived, and there is the mythologised figure that people create afterwards. Reagan, Jesus, and yes Churchill. On it goes. I agree with you. Not just Gallipoli, but WW1, the Lusitania wasn't it? Sacrificed because Churchill wanted the US in the war, then covered it up at the enquiry. What Churchill was, was a sacrificer of poorer people because he thought the noble cause was worth it. But not him and his class.

I never get tired of watching the car chase scene in "Bullitt". Never.

David1955 comments on Jan 29, 2019:

Steve McQueen wasn't the nicest guy by all accounts, but his movies in the 60s and 70s were really something.

It's public holiday here today.

David1955 comments on Jan 28, 2019:

I support change. Australia Day is really Anglo Australia Day. It's time to recognize the other side of the equation, from the view of the Aboriginal people, and the great diversity of Australia. Anglo Australia biased conservatives will resist this to the end. They already see their Anglo-ized Australia changing all around them. This is another nail in their coffin, as they see it.

Does anyone here watch The Orville???

David1955 comments on Jan 27, 2019:

Yes yes yes, love it love it love it. How McFarlane manages to get it made at Fox with his anti religious themes, lordy only knows. The great Gene of Star Trek himself would approve. Watched last episode last night where an alien species, quite advanced, reached out to the stars, but when Seth and the georgeous Adriana, his No 1, arrived, they discovered they still believed in astrology and persecuted people who fell under a star sign. So they had to knock that nonsense out of them. Now that's what I'm talking about. Star Trek, a positive future, yes with some problems, but science, reason and logic. And it's funny. Seth has created a great show there. Please may he keep the secular themes. Love it.

Wanna see something reeeally scary?

David1955 comments on Jan 27, 2019:

Well, at least Roger Stone didn't dress like a Gotham City villain from Batman, like he does now. They look like all their names should be "Paulie" and they're waiting to see the Godfather.

I think this is the play list for the whole series.

David1955 comments on Jan 25, 2019:

Left out "Q turns up to hit on Janeway again." Also, "7 wears an even tighter uniform to make her bust look even bigger."

We can only hope!

David1955 comments on Jan 25, 2019:

Yes well, Lindsey Graham is a shiver looking for a spine to run up, a perfect candidate for a backbone operation, as in actually having one for the first time. If Trumpism can be defined as a catchable disease, this guy proves the point.

Albert Camus once said "People should reject god defiantly in order to pour out all their loving ...

David1955 comments on Jan 25, 2019:

Great quote. Great writer. A major influence on me.

I was just asked to approve a comment from a new member, as you sometimes are, so I did.

David1955 comments on Jan 24, 2019:

I've always felt a little awkward about the "Do you Approve?" feature. What basis am I approving or disapproving it on? Is it that I agree, disagree, that it is a worthy comment, that it meets the "standards" of the site, or some other subjective basis? I recognise the intention here, but I've neve quite been comfortable with it? What happens if you do neither? Does it go to someone else?

That's why I don't have an iPhone

David1955 comments on Jan 23, 2019:

Love it. I'm an android guy. iPhone people are like a cult. It's scary.

Just bear with me.

David1955 comments on Jan 23, 2019:

I understand that a lot of her policies on taxation are going back to the days in the past before the age of right wing economic rationalism, and the US did very nicely and didn't have the extremes of inequality that right wing economics produced, so consider that.

What do you think of raising the level to contact other members to level 4 or 5?

David1955 comments on Jan 23, 2019:

This kind of thing doesn't affect me personally, so I'm kind of "agnostic" about it (wow, me using that word about myself!) but it's a fair point, and raising to level 4 seems appropriate and reasonable, having the intended effect hopefully.

Are morality and empathy basically the same?

David1955 comments on Jan 22, 2019:

You make a lot of black and white assumptions. Many people conflate empathy and morality? You often demand hard evidence when commenters offer opinions on things, including me, so, where is your evidence for this? Well, maybe it's just your opinion. Ok. Empathy is restricted to cases of personal contact. Really? Consider the very large number of people in the US who oppose and protest Trump storm trooper approach to asylum seekers. Same here in Australia where children of refugees are psychologically damaged in off shore detention centres, mainly to serve right wing political aims. As f'ing always. Large numbers of people, like me, are appalled. Never met them, but lots of empathy, and impact on voting. That's not empathy? It is true that sociopathic and similar people have empathy only for people they know, and little for the "hordes" they neither know nor care about. But that's them, not all of us. Your last paragraph seems like a thinly veiled defence of rules of morality. But who decides them? Religious types think consensual adult sex out of marriage is immoral. Gay people, immoral. Etc. I don't. I think multinational companies that screw the planet and people over, are immoral. I think right wing rich people who have great health coverage while opposing health programs, medication and treatment for poorer people, so they die, is immoral. And so on. So, what are your agreed "abstract rules", how would they be generally agreed upon, and what purpose would they serve anyway being "abstract"?

Charles Manson’s top follower is now a ‘friendly’ upstate neighbor [nyp.

David1955 comments on Jan 22, 2019:

That girl is as pathetic a person you could ever see. The core half wit girls at the centre of the Manson Cult were classic cult followers, as brainless as they were complicit, even after the fact, in crimes they never were charged with. The terrible truth is the authorities never pressed them about what they knew because they didn't want to know, happy as they were to have a few core culprits and a show trial. And these aging cult leftovers linger on to today. Like Sergeant Schultz, of course, they know "nothing.....noooothing..."

Huh, you don't say.

David1955 comments on Jan 21, 2019:

Well, there you go again.....

What do you wear to bed?

David1955 comments on Jan 21, 2019:

A Dickensian long white night gown, with a hat and a pom-pom, and a candle to guide me, the shutter banging at the window, whether windy or not, and the Raven on the perch, glaring menacingly, as the candle flickers and casts an eerie glow on the paintings of the ancestors, their eyes following with every movement. Another good night's sleep.

We are born as atheist, without the influence of others and society , everyone will be atheists.

David1955 comments on Jan 21, 2019:

I think your post is a well intentioned but grammatically confused statement which wants to be a second conditional hypothetical. I'm not being pedantic, but I can't respond without clarifying it. I believe the conditional intended is: "If people were born and raised without the influence of religion and religious influences in society, then everyone would be an atheist." I vote disagree, but not because I want to, because I wish it were true. I'm just not sure it is. I have concerns about people who seem predisposed towards religion, due to their psychological make up. Not all, but enough. It's an interesting subject and I often consider it. Many atheists, including me, like to think that if religions and religious influences were excluded from the post birth socialization process, then there would be no religions and religious people. I'm just not convinced that is true. My view is subjective, based and experience and observation, but it is honestly how I see it.

Reframe your way of thinking

David1955 comments on Jan 19, 2019:

The growth of anti neo-liberalism and anti economic rationalism is such a threat to reactionary forces now, whether in the US or even here in Australia. Ms Ocasio-Cortez is a good example of how this progressive politics can no longer be subverted with the usual "liberals!" "Socialists!" attack. Is it possible to dare to hope to see the end of "private enterprise does everything better", "free enterprise and free markets solve all problems", and notions that the less tax the wealthy pay and the more obscene wealth they accumulate, the more wealth trickles down to make a fair and just society. I truly hope so.

Who would like to see sam harris vs reza aslan again? Why,

David1955 comments on Jan 17, 2019:

Harris has said he believed he had a good public relationship with Azlan and even respected him, but that's gone. Azlan's attacks on Harris have been severe and personal. In my view Harris has been able to scratch Azlan's public persona of the liberal moderate Muslim, and reveal a religionist with a thinly disguised defence of Islam and its weaknesses.

Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies,...

David1955 comments on Jan 17, 2019:

Why doesn't Mueller release an initial broad finding report now? I know he's very professional, but he could surely release an interim report confirming that Trump interfered with justice, or collided with the Russians, or is a co conspirator in a range of crimes, etc and then he can release a full report later with the fines and executions to follow. That happened to Nixon. Also Clinton. I think Mueller is making a big mistake working towards one Big Bang at the end. The great majority of Americans are desperate to know if he has good evidence to charge, indict, or implicate Trump. If Mueller is not careful his own professionalism and 'by the book' approach will be his undoing. It seems to me that Trump's crimes, up to and very possibly including treason, make Nixon look like a kid stealing from the corner shop.

Why did religions originate in the first place?

David1955 comments on Jan 17, 2019:

No it's not a natural by-product of human cognition but a distortion of human thinking due to ignorance, a commonly accepted neurological disorder, reinforced by the theatre, architecture and performance of religion from which it draws false respectability. Altruism? The more we look at the religion, the less real altruism there is to be found. They are businesses, and business has nothing to do with altruism.

Humpty Trumpty wanted a wall Humpty Trumpty is gonna fall All of his lawyers and all of his ...

David1955 comments on Jan 16, 2019:

Hah! Yes, Trump is going to make America walled again. How did it come to this - a crook, grifter, lier, cheat, retrobate, backslider, Russian apologist, or worse, become President of the US, and potentially destroyer of the western alliance and the values underpinning it? As a student of history I truly hope the judgement of history on Trump and that dispictable Republican Party will be savage.

The 4 stages of my atheism.

David1955 comments on Jan 15, 2019:

David1955 4 Stages of Atheism: Stage 1. I think all this religion stuff is crap. Stage 2. Now I'm sure this religion stuff is crap. Stage 3. Now I not only know that this religion stuff is crap, I'm angry at the awful things it does to our world. Stage 4. I'm so angry about religion in this world I'm going to do anything I can, even in a small way, to help rid the world of it. I thank you.

'McJesus' sculpture sparks outrage among Israel's Christians

David1955 comments on Jan 15, 2019:

Hah! Should be BurgerJesusKing. Home of the Whopper! And what a whopper it is. :-)

Does anybody really still think that accusations of treason against the President are ridiculous ...

David1955 comments on Jan 14, 2019:

I don't know if it's treason or not. The definition seems precise. But Trump has clearly acted to the benefit of an external and hostile power at the expense of his own country. Betrayal and collusion, without doubt. Even his supporters know it now. They just can't accept, can't acknowledge that we were right all along. Typical cult behavior.

Mueller looks to tack Trumps hide to the barn wall. [newsweek.com]

David1955 comments on Jan 14, 2019:

My fear is that the core Trump Cult that we now know comprises 25% or so will never, as cultists do, renounce their cult leader, and will be oblivious to all facts, findings and evidence, like cultists are religionists always are, and dig in and become more toxic and belligerent and a dangerous base for Trump or Trump like figures. Some will never see this as anything more than "the system" which their "hero" took on, destroying him. It's fantasy. There is a system, but Trump is part of it, albeit a fringe crazy, and he never had any intention of doing anything other than rorting it for himself. Discrediting Trump won't make this toxic base evaporate, I'm sure if it.

Hopefully the first contact aliens will have a universal translator.

David1955 comments on Jan 13, 2019:

Yes, I can see it now. Humans: "Hello aliens" (universally translated) Aliens: "Blip blip blu blu blu" Universally translated. "You humans are toast. Good bye". :-)

CNN has quoted the NYT that the FBI has opened an investigation of 45 being a Russian asset, which I...

David1955 comments on Jan 12, 2019:

Like we haven't known that from the beginning. One of my early posts here, well over a year ago, I called Trump The Siberian Candidate, and I got comments of a negative kind, but I have thought so from the very beginning. Trump is the most audacious Russian subsersive operation ever, and had Trump been less stupid he might have gotten away with it. Putin all but admitted it. It's shocking.

Here's a question for the group: Does anyone know if Mueller has interviewed the Keebler elf ...

David1955 comments on Jan 11, 2019:

Since he had dealings with Russians, hence his recusal, I'd say he would have to be at some point. Since he's now a Trump weasel, I hope he gets himself into trouble for falsehoods. But that guy, to quote a Blackadderism, is as slippery and as as slimy as a slippery slimy thing.

I spent ten years in a Christian cult here in Texas.

David1955 comments on Jan 11, 2019:

Really liked your post, apart from .....Satanist? Really? Satanism is another form of religion. I don't get that.

When in defence of religion, people say ‘Well the church does a lot of good’ but is it not like ...

David1955 comments on Jan 10, 2019:

It's one of the worst defences of religion I hear. Churches "do a lot of good." I retort sharply: "Well then, do genuine good, spare us the Bronze Age mumbo jumbo, and clean up your act." It's pointless of course. The "good" is a ruse, a cover. Reminds me of gangsters like Al Capone, who used to give money to the poor and help people, letting everyone know it. All the time he was peddling bad booze, running brothels and protection rackets, not to mention murder to the point of mass slaughter. Won't do.

According to CNN, 7 independent investigative studies undertaken within the last two years, have ...

David1955 comments on Jan 10, 2019:

I've said before, and it's an opinion of mine, that at any one time around a quarter or more of a population is authoritarian inclined. They are attracted to simplistically described problems, simplistic solutions, and most of all scapegoats to blame. Your post also describes them in part. In compulsory voting systems their votes are spread across various extreme politicians, or right wing parties. In non compulsory systems they often don't vote. When messianic or demagogic leaders come along, they coalesce around them and they feed their need for authoritarian slogans and banter. Trumpism is a classic example of that. We should remember that in the 1930s, and even into WW2 itself, there was solid support amongst portions of the populations of the western countries in support of fascism and nazism. After the war this was conveniently forgotten, except by historians.

The cows are coming home.

David1955 comments on Jan 8, 2019:

I'm not sure Professor, but are you perhaps possibly suggesting that Mr Trump's preference for living in a fantasy world of his own making might perhaps be beginning to unravel? Lordy, who'd have thought it? :-) Careful Professor, but there are some shall we say more conservative minded folk on this site who get just a wee tad bit upset if their favourite President is attacked. We don't want to that now, do we? Speaking for myself I'd like to do a Dirty Harry on Trump and say to him, "You've got to ask yourself one question: Do you feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?" :-)

I know, uncomfortable.

David1955 comments on Jan 8, 2019:

It's a phenomenon wider than Clinton. Tony "Kiss Ass" Blair did the same in the UK, though the Labour Party there has swung back now. In Australia it happened in the 80s and early 90s with two right wing Labor leaders who helped push the entire spectrum to the Right, much to the loss of working people. (They still argue over who was greater, assholes). It was based on a false strategy. Namely, move parties of the Left to the Right, adopt right wing policies, and wedge conservatives out electorally. It failed. Instead, they implemented right wing policies, moved the whole debate to the right, the Right Wing parties came back, pursued even more right wing policies, and wedged left parties into electoral oblivion. It has been catastrophic, with the results we now see.

The liberals running this website tolerate all kinds of crap from the Trump bashing left wing ...

David1955 comments on Jan 8, 2019:

Do you know the irony of this issue? For decades, conservatives have been in the ascendant, attacking progressive social and economic policies, imposing loopy free market fantasy economics on centre and centre left parties, attacking liberals, progressives and socialists personally, dismantling structures created after WW2 to create social safety nets, skewing taxation and income policies to create massive wealth inequality, flirting with authoritarianism ... And NOW that forces of the left are finally rallying and saying ENOUGH! and the balance needs to be restored to socio-economic policy, the forces on the Right squeal like stuck pigs, and claim they are being unfairly treated and they want respect for their discredited philosophy and economics. Like on this site. What a joke.

The liberals running this website tolerate all kinds of crap from the Trump bashing left wing ...

David1955 comments on Jan 7, 2019:

If Conservatives, or more accurately reactionary conservative extremists, can't take the heat of this predominantly progressive kitchen, then I suggest they seek the comfort of some other reactionary conservative abode, *as I would, were I to find myself in a place where I felt out of place*. Such whining, really. Their Trump is unravelling in his own cesspool of lies and corruption, possibly treason, and they blame us! Sublimated anger, I believe it is called.

MITHRA.

David1955 comments on Jan 6, 2019:

Oh yes. Telling Christians that their Jesus has scant historical basis, or is a composite of various pre-Christian figures, or may have been several Jewish preacher-saviours from the first century blended together, or was just a story that became so "real" to people over time they forgot it was a story (like if people forgot that Sherlock Holmes was a fictional character), and so on, only gets their backs up and makes them dig in. Citing historians with Doctorates and lists of peer recognized publications only ticks them off further. Is it so different now? Trying telling Trump supporters that he's not a billionaire; that he isn't a great deal maker; that he isn't making America great again; that his word means nothing; that he doesn't give crap about 'the little guy'; that he isn't draining the swamp but rather snorting the swamp in every way, and so on, the evidence so obvious. It's called faith based belief. The reasoning part of the brain is turned off. It's tough dealing with people like that.

Hi all.

David1955 comments on Jan 5, 2019:

Why oh why are right wingers and religionists on this site? I would never spend my time on a right wing discussion group, or a religious one. Are they so insecure they feel the need to attack cyber windmills?

At what "level" do your aspirations end?

David1955 comments on Jan 5, 2019:

What I am going to do is, when I reach level 8, assuming I do before I drop off the twig, I am going to get a shirt made with Unbelieve.Org on it. I decided it wouldn't be cricket to do it before reaching level 8. As an atheist, agnostic on my chest is a little problematic, and unbelieve.org still promotes the site and links it back. Anyway, that's where I am with the levels.

Happy new year to admin dude and site support and everyone who is giving me this site .

David1955 comments on Jan 1, 2019:

Totally.

Of course the Australian Federal Governments have their citizen's backs - or do they: ...

David1955 comments on Jan 1, 2019:

The Australian political parties are a club, a club of self interest, competing for the prize, and the prize is Government, with all the trimmings and goodies that go with it. The irony is that they still think we don't know, that we still believe their focus-group based pretend policies. At one time I had some hope for the Greens, but now they've turned into a scene from Life of Brian, fighting amongst themselves and not the Romans. Dispirited am I.

Happy new year, all.

David1955 comments on Jan 1, 2019:

I'm a couple of years younger, but I get you on this. In fact I feel it more and watching TV shows and listening to this era music, and other media. Without wanting to insult McCartney and Starr, I also feel the loss of the lost two; Lennon, extraordinary, for all his faults, a Harrison, who was making great music right up to the end. Lennon, taken so cruelly at 40, and Harrison taken so sadly at just 57 or so. I think a lot us in this generation feel the same.

Do you believe in the concept of "a soul"?

David1955 comments on Dec 30, 2018:

Since it can't be located and there's no agreed definition of what it is, I cannot see how anyone can "believe" in it. Colloquially some people use it to mean the essence of a person, their core personality perhaps. Ok, I won't argue with someone about that. It's matter of semantics. But as a kind of metaphysical "thing" that lives on after us, floats to heaven, or a parallel universe or whatever, no, I don't buy that.

Would it be hypocritical for an agnostic/atheist website to hold a prayer vigil to petition God to ...

David1955 comments on Dec 30, 2018:

Well, if he's an Impersonal God, he won't do anything, since an IG follows non-interventionist free will, but if he's a Personal God then you are also out of luck, since a PG probably sent, or at least allowed Trump to be, so no reason to assume he would take corrective action against the Rocky Horror Trump Show, which, by the way, due to omniscience a PG would have foreseen, as well as your prayer to stop Trump. So, all in all, you're screwed.

New Jersey AG has obtained evidence of possible crimes at Trump's golf club — and Mueller, FBI are...

David1955 comments on Dec 29, 2018:

And the noose tightens. If they go back to Trump's lemonade stand when he was 10 years old, they'd probably find he stole the recipe, cheated with small cups, and swindled his friend out of the take. Honestly.

So much of what is billed as "news" isn't really factual news at all.

David1955 comments on Dec 29, 2018:

When I was a young sprog, the TV stations would only have "Breaking News!" splashed over the screen for real things, like assassinations and huge events. Now, CNN, for example, has "Breaking News!" just about every five minutes, for every half-baked rumour, minor nothing story, or beat up report. At some point news stopped being about reporting information about the world, to become infotainment. Sad.

The fastest growing group of people in the country has been measured as being those who have no ...

David1955 comments on Dec 28, 2018:

Let's be clear. By saying "As conservative atheists we...." you are referring to a subset of people who call themselves atheists, and a small one at that. From research, eg Pew, we know atheists are generally politically and socially progressive. So, please address yourself to your small subset choir. You'll find them in the Conservatives Group here, cheering Trump, clutching their guns, and having parties hating "liberals" and "lefties". From my experience of so-called conservative atheists, they are much more conservative than atheist.

MSNBC ratings top Fox News for first time in 18 years

David1955 comments on Dec 27, 2018:

I stream NBC a lot, and like Maddow, O'Donnel, and Williams, and others, but jeez I wish they would cover real progressive left, not just Democratic Party phoney left. I can't remember seeing any Sanders et.al people ever on it. A constant stream of approved Democratic Party people appear. No wonder the anti corporatists and left activists have nothing but scorn for NBC.

My daughter, who move in with me this year, thought I ought to have a Xmas stocking of my own.

David1955 comments on Dec 27, 2018:

Falling pictures, glitter cover.... your poor cat does have some challenges, doesn't she. :-)

If you think Jesus was born in the year 0 you're dead wrong - Science & Health - Haaretz.com

David1955 comments on Dec 26, 2018:

My understanding is that if, and it's a big if, a single person, Joshua, later turned into the Christ figure, had been born, it was around 4BC. But honestly, the scholars argue over this, and no one really knows for sure, even if you believe in a historical figure, which personally I don't. Then again, there are scholars like Richard Carrier who speculates that several preachers called Joshua may have existed in the first century, fulfilling the earlier Jewish prophecy of such a preacher turned saviour of the Jews, and over time these got moulded into the Jesus story. Historically speaking it's a mess, and only believers believe otherwise.

An interesting article on out growing religion and why those belief systems remain long after we no ...

David1955 comments on Dec 26, 2018:

For some, not all. There are those who go through the weening off period, and still have residue religious or mystical traits in them. I indeed call them residue religionists. New Age nonsense believers fall into this category, and some agnostics, I'm sorry to say. It's like they have a side bet on Pascal wager, kind of. But many of us never believed religious nonsense, not even slightly, not a scrap of it, even as children, even if our arguments were basic. There was no guilt or fear, just an internal knowledge that it was all crap. When we got older we were able to present mature arguments. If I had to guess I'd say our brains are not wired, meaning suspectible, to religion. If a person says they don't believe, but inside they sort of do, or at least a bit, or some mystical nonsense holds them, then there is problem. But if you truly believe it's nonsense, whatever your age, then you are free of it.

Karma, real or imagined?

David1955 comments on Dec 25, 2018:

Imagined. In human lives, as in science, there is cause and effect, and there is probability. Effects resulting from causes, the probability, greater and lesser, of things happening. Karma is a typical result of human subjective thinking, the human brain's need to create patterns and structures to explain what we call reality. We subjectively combine observation of cause and effect and probability outcomes, and create a mystical "law" or "principle" of karmic retribution, and somehow we fool ourselves into thinking we understand reality a little better. It's an illusion. Worse, it's dangerous. I've lived in a Buddhist country and have seen how this concept is contorted to human biases and prejudices. Example? Beggars in the street - explanation? Bad karma. Charming.

The caption for Spock sounds more like something Sheldon Cooper would say. :P

David1955 comments on Dec 25, 2018:

Spock could always mind-meld with the Xmas tree. He mind-melded with everything else, including once a rock creature, so no problem there.

The one thing that religion offers that secularism fails to equal is the transcendence of self, the ...

David1955 comments on Dec 25, 2018:

This post is a thinly disguised typical religious argument, namely that religion is about the "bigger" issues in life, the big profound questions, and fulfils our need to connect to something bigger than ourselves, while secularism is about our selfish selves and needs. Baloney. Philosophies are about ideas bigger than selfish selves, not religion. Religion is not based on reason, so how can it produce anything but lack of reason. If you consider the Dark Age, endless religious wars, religious destruction of human knowledge, regressive attitudes on you name it, corruption, hypocrisy, and scandal, as escaping beyond our selfish limits, then that would a strange argument. I've heard these kinds of emotional blackmail arguments from religionists all my life, and have never believed them. Secularism doesn't have to be defended from assertions like these. They are false.