So a couple are driving in their SUV on a freeway here outside of Seattle yesterday. A pickup truck was driving in front of them with an unsecured load. Suddenly a pickaxe flies out of the back of the pickup and into the windshield of the SUV. The pickaxe smashes through the windshield and goes right between the couple, not injuring either of them.

When interviewed, the woman in the passenger seat says she thanks god for protecting them.

...

Now, if I believed there was a god, I'd say it's more likely he just missed.

But, since I don't believe there is a god or gods, I can only shake my head ruefully at the sheer stupidity of such people who think there is a big sky daddy up there looking out for them, and why a middle-aged couple in a Mercedes SUV deserves his protection more than thousands of people in Haiti, or any other extremely pious country stricken by an "act of god".

Some say Seattle is one of the "smartest" cities in the US. I don't think so.

Apart from "god" hating Haitians, Chileans, Chinese, and cops, "god" apparently hates small children.

I'm talking about the little girl, Nadia, who went missing in Florida for 4 days, and was "miraculously" found yesterday.

Why does "god" hate her? Because he left her to rot in an "alligator-infested swamp" for 4 days, instead of guiding searchers to her within hours of her disappearance.

And apparently "god" did the guiding, because the guy who found her said so. On The Early Show this morning, he told the morons on that show [paraphrasing] "God led me right to her". However, after more questions were asked, he said that the family gave more information of likely places she'd go. When there, he found the only possible place she could have entered the swamp, next to a guard rail along the road, and then he spent 4 HOURS searching for her at that point. Great guidance there, "god".

And what about all the children who go missing who end up dead. Where was "god" then? This is the problem with religious idiots. They only attribute the hits to "god", the rest are forgotten about, even though millions are praying to "god" while the searches for those other children take place. This is the epitome of cognitive dissonance. Actually there's no cognition involved. I'm amazed that these people can dress and feed themselves.

I've been watching a lot of old UFC and Pride fights lately, and am still amazed at the level of stupidity displayed by the vast majority of the contestants.

Don't get me wrong, I love MMA fights. But, like most sports, the players so often thank god for a win, but never blame god for a loss. How's that work exactly? The cognitive dissonance is simply astounding.

I'm going to single out one fighter who isn't normally so "god-overt", Rich Franklin.

Rich is billed as an intelligent guy, a former high school math teacher from Ohio. He's very literate, speaks very well, seems intelligent. But when he won the Middleweight title belt from Evan Tanner back in UFC 50-something, he made this statement after the fight:

I'd like to thank god for protecting me in the ring.

So let's look at this innocuous-sounding statement.

If god was protecting Franklin, we have to assume he wasn't protecting Tanner. Does that mean god had a vendetta against Tanner? What did Tanner ever do to god?

And where was god when Franklin later lost his belt to Anderson Silva? Was Silva more pious than Franklin, therefore Franklin was stripped of his belt by god? Did Silva sacrifice more unblemished rams to god than Franklin that month? And where was god when Franklin lost to Lyoto Machida before Franklin was a champion? Was Machida more pious than Franklin then?

Franklin lost twice to Silva. God must REALLY like Silva, except when Silva lost to a Japanese fighter in a Pride fight before he became UFC Middleweight champ. I guess the Japanese guy was more pious than Silva that day.

In a later UFC event, Franklin gave his opinion on who would win the big fight (not a fight he was in) coming up. At no time did he mention god protection as a determining factor, but discussed the skills of the two opponents. Strange.

I know, I'm talking about people who get punched repeatedly in the face for a living. But you'd think after all that time they'd have some sense knocked into them and realize it's skill and chance, not the protection of the big sky daddy that wins fights.

Idiots

Revenant

We'll have to keep an eye on this one. Al Gore says the north polar ice cap will be completely gone in 5 years. Maybe he should stop flying all over the world then. So, in December 2013 we can see how accurate the Goreacle is.

UPDATE 04/23/10: Looks like Al doesn't like people pointing out what an idiot he is. So, the video has been pulled from Youtube. But we all saw it, Al. You can't run away from what you said. Three more years...

I'm a big fan of MMA fights (That's Mixed Martial Arts, to the uninitiated). I'm not a sports fan otherwise. I don't know what it is that attracts me to MMA, but I think it's the skill that so many of the fighters show.

But there are a couple of things that really ruin it for me.

One of those things is poor sportsmanship. Often times at the beginning of a round, usually the first round, the fighters will touch a glove, put out a hand, etc, to show respect. Some of them use this moment to attack instead of showing respect. To me this shows an extreme lack of sportsmanship, and lack of honor. And then when the fight is over, the fighters usually embrace, once again to show respect. The ones who don't do this are just assholes, IMHO.

The other thing, as you may have guessed by the title of this post, is attributing the win to "god" or "jesus". I don't care if these guys have religious beliefs, but to think that "god" if such a being existed, would favor one fighter over another is just ludicrous. And would Jesus, if he existed and we can believe what was written about him, condone such fights and enjoy the attribution? Would Jesus condone a fighter who uses his name and relishes beating up their opponents for money and glory? I don't think so. Some of the biggest offenders of this are Kimo (not sure if he's still fighting), and Diego Sanchez.

Kimo fought in UFC 1 or 2, don't remember which, against the legend Royce Gracie. Kimo, is covered with god and Jesus tattoos, and entered the arena bearing a life-sized cross. Gracie beat him. So does this mean Jesus preferred Gracie over Kimo? No, it means Gracie was the better fighter.

This probably wouldn't bother me so much if the jesus boys didn't win so much. They're such fanatics that they tend to overwhelm their opponents. But they still lose some of the time. Some of them lose constantly, so it's apparent that either there is no god, or that if there is, he doesn't play favorites.

Revenant