Everything Should Be Open To Questioning? Not Quite

photo showing a happy couple

Being an atheist, I have spent a lot of time debating religious people about all sorts of things such as my freedom to be an atheist to the US motto (In God We Trust) being printed on our money. The theist is on the wrong side of the debate all the time but they seem to believe my equality and freedom is subject to debate. No one would rationally support that kind of injustice. Imagine my shock when a fellow atheist, trying to support debating the equality of women, used a line of argument we atheists dismiss out of hand when fundamentalist Christians use it against Evolution.

This all stems from the unending internal Internet arguments over sexism in secular groups that I’ve written about before in this blog. The fighting has devolved into unproductive name calling and whining one sees on the middle school playground. I try to avoid reading blog posts specifically about the conflict because those posts just seem to be attempts by the authors to feel superior to a straw man and no one really listens to what is being said. The signal to noise ratio is very low.

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This Week Is Secular Student Alliance Week 2013

image with the words SSA Week

This week the Secular Student Alliance (SSA) is celebrating the work the student affiliate groups do during the year with the “SSA Week 2013”. During the week some bloggers and other online voices will be posting special content to ask people to donate to the group. The SSA does special work and needs your support to keep the quality up and to reach more students.

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Weed Should Be Illegal Because It Is So Easy To Obtain

color picture of marijuana

An Ohio legislator has decided that it is time to legalize marijuana in the state. Of course some are opposed. In a TV interview, an undercover police officer made the false gateway drug argument and then claimed, without a sense of irony, that it is too easy to obtain marijuana. Yes, a 27 year veteran of the war on drugs basically said it has failed yet he doesn’t support legalization of marijuana.

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Tell Your Senator: Just Say No To CISPA

image says Stop CISPA

Last week the US House passed the The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) and like all of these types of bills that have come through Congress, this bill only seems to protect businesses at the expense of people’s rights. It also gives more power to the Government to violate your 4th amendment rights in the name of “cybersecurity”. The White House has threatened to veto the law but now is the time to contact your Senator and tell them to say no to CISPA.

What is CISPA and why is it a bad law. Let the Electronic Frontier Foundation explain:

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Separating fact from fiction for the Boston and Texas tragedies

famous image of Police going into action after Boston Marathon bombing
Police go into action after Boston Marathon bombing

It was a rough week for a lot people last week. Two bombs were set off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. A fertilizer plant blew up in Texas on Wednesday. The manhunt for the Boston bombing suspects heated up early Friday morning then concluded with the final suspect captured Friday evening. It is still early in these events and we don’t have all the information but I wanted to share some thoughts on the week where the known facts don’t match what is being said by other people.

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