The Atheist Mama

Maybe it’s too soon to bring this up, but wasn’t Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, just a little over the edge?

Isn’t it safe to say he took a few too many risks, putting his life in danger more often than necessary? Don’t get me wrong, he did have many admirable qualities: he was energetic, dedicated, and sincere. I even sent an e-mail to his family with my condolences, and had tears in my eyes when Bindi, his daughter, spoke during his funeral.

But should we really be shocked that he died so young, or should we be amazed he survived as long as he did?

(By the way, the snake Irwin is fondling inches from his face in this picture is a Fierce Snake–only the most venemous snake in the world.)
–Allen

Took off to Northern Virginia a few days ago. Spur of the moment trip to see the folks!

Be back soon!

I’ve been having a hard time getting the news today because of the kiddos, but from what I can gather, it sounds like North Korea is wanting to test a long range missile that is able to carry a nuclear weapon, and it has the capability of reaching the west coast of the United States?  Is that what’s going on here?

I get that North Korea would like to test it’s missiles, but who could possibly think that this would be a good idea?  Now the U.S. is saying that they will attempt to shoot it down.  Well, yeah!  That makes good sense to me!!

What am I missing here??

Well, Evan and his friend have. They left it in the back seat of a NYC cab on June 6th. As soon as they realized that they didn’t have the Sidekick II, they sent a message to the phone offering a reward for it’s return. After a day, they got no response, and went out to buy a new one. When they put their SIM card into the phone, they discovered that not only did someone have it, but they were taking pictures, and signing into AOL IM on it. They found pictures from the phone on the T-Mobile website.

So Evan has put together a website called “How NOT to steal a Sidekick II” - it’s a long read, but VERY entertaining. I promise, it’ll keep your attention. The following is a message that Evan received from the brother of the girl who has (had?) the phone.

“listen you dumb mother fucker my sister bought that phone from some cab driver so what the fuck do you want. shes not going to return it if she bought it, and am military police so dont give me that bullshit about you going to the cops over a lost phone the nypd has better things to do then to worry about your friend losing her phone. you better stop harrasing my sister or you’ll have to deal with me and you dont want that”

Hey everyone, we’ve made the switch to WP. Now I just have a whole bunch of tweaking to do!

Thanks!!

I hope everyone out there is well! It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, and it’s been even longer since I’ve stopped by my regular reads! We returned from Hawaii last week, and since then, we’ve been trying to settle back into the groove of life, and sleep off the jet lag. We had a wonderful time, and to proove it, here are the pictures! :-) We are missing the snorkeling pictures from Hanauma bay. That was a blast. I also managed to get both feet tattooed while in Waikiki. Wooooo!

Anyway, it was a nice vacation from politics and religion. Those two topics have the power to depress you after a while, if you know what I mean!

But, that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to bring up House Bill 184 in Ohio (sorry if this is old news):

To amend section 3314.03 and to enact section 3313.801 of the Revised Code to require school districts and community schools that receive donated copies of the mottoes of the United States of America or the State of Ohio to display the mottoes in school buildings.

Let me repeat this section: “to require school districts and community schools that receive donated copies of the mottoes…”

To require the display of donated copies?? Are you kidding me?? Oh, and let me remind you what the motto of the US is - “In God We Trust.”
What’s the Ohio state motto? “With God All Things Are Possible” of course!!

Of course, the ACLU is considering a lawsuit if this passes, and of course, they’ll win. Just what this country needs. More useless lawsuits. If this country would just follow the whole First Amendment thing, we wouldn’t have these problems.

Ann Fisher has a few things to say about this issue in The Columbus Dispatch.

Anyway, I hope you all had a great Memorial Day, and a great weekend!

So I’ve posted some pictures from my younger years on Myspace. If you look at my list of friends on Myspace, almost all of them are friends from highschool. There is even someone on there that I haven’t seen in about 20+ years (yes, since I was 6 or 7). Myspace has actually turned out to be so great!

Anyway, I posted some pictures from my highschool graduation day, and some random pictures from highschool, and then some pictures from the 8th grade.

I think that you will be able to see them without registering there… But I’m not sure. Let me know.

Enjoy!!

Me at 13.

This is for all atheists, humanists, skeptics or those of you who recognize the absolute necessity of the wall that belongs between church and state. I received this email from a fellow Ohioan who is as concerned as I am about the United States and the erosion of this essential wall:

>On Thursday, May 4, 2006 - exactly two weeks from today - many
Americans will be observing a National Day of Prayer. This is an
annual event that is observed on the first Thursday of every May and
has been endorsed by many goverenment officials from President Bush on
down.

>A National Day of Prayer rally is scheduled to be held (for the 16th
year in a row) on the west (High St.) side of the Ohio Statehouse from
11:30am until 1pm.

>I plan to be there with a sign and literature, protesting this
terrible breach in the wall of separation between church and state.

>I am doing this not as a member of any organization but as an American
citizen who is fed up with the drift towards theocracy in this country.

>I am also fed up with the way prayer, faith, and religion seem to be
increasingly eclipsing reason and science.

>[…]

Again -

What: To protest the National Day of Prayer and the breach in the wall between church and state
Where: Columbus, Ohio - Statehouse
When: Thursday, May 4, 2006 - 11:30am until 1pm

Before or after this event, I encourage you to give blood or volunteer somewhere! We all know that prayer does not work!! What we need is ACTION!!!

GET OFF OF YOUR KNEES AND DO SOMETHING!!

On surfing around some blogs this weekend, I stumbled across an alarming number of Christian blogs out there. I mean, I know they’ve always been there, but it seems today, I’m seeing tons more than the norm.

On this blog, I found a post about entitled “More on Prison Ministry.”
He posts a story that one man wrote about his life and his prison ministry. It’s a sad story of a child whose mother was murdered by his father, who was abused, and who ultimately “came to know Christ as my savior.” It goes on to talk about how he “witnessed” to his father, how his father blew him off, and was killed in the end by a fellow inmate. Then, the comments all say things like “God is Love.” Oh man… It’s a strange post. Maybe it’s just the fact that I’m an atheist, but I don’t understand how such a tragic story can lead to “You just have to have faith.”

Another one that I came across mentions the Gospel of Judas and how it’s just absurd that “Some are claiming this new document will force a complete reformulation of Christianity and our understanding of both Judas and Jesus.”

>The document claims to be the work of Judas, even though it certainly was written long after his death. If it has any value for Christians its very existence, written just 300 years after Christ,gives us a picture of the struggle early Christian leaders faced in defining and defending the authentic Gospel against the Gnostics. 2000 years from now a copy of the National Enquirer might also be dredged up claiming that Elvis was an alien sent to subvert the US government. I wonder how the people in the future will view that discovery?

This coming from someone who believes in the Bible? What’s the difference??

Impeach the Motherfucker Already

This is just great!! I ordered 3 buttons. :-)

It looks like this guy just started this up a month ago (at the most) and he’s getting inundated with orders for buttons and pins. Shipping is free at this point, but in his recent post he talked about how the cost of shipping is catching up with him.

If you scroll down the page, you’ll find links to other ITMFA products and images. Enjoy!!

I guess I have “writers block” lately. I’ve also been pretty busy. We set up another fish tank (this one is downstairs). The upstairs tank has all goldfish. They’re beautiful. We’ve got a Black Moor, a Calico Fantail, a Calico Oranda, and another bright orange fan tail. The goldfish tank is a 29 gallon.
Here’s a picture of it -

The one that we set up downstairs is just a 10 gallon, with a couple of cat fish and a tetra.

There is some excellent news about my 3 year old and his medication intake, if you’re interested! :-)

We’ve been planning out the details of our trip to Hawaii coming up in 45 days, 13 hours and 45 minutes (gotta love countdown clocks). We are going to Oahu, but my husband really wants to go to Volcanoes National Park, so we’re trying to come up with a plan to get to the Big Island for a day while we’re there. Wooo Hooo!!

I’m going to be taking belly dancing classes starting tomorrow night. LOL!! I took some classes back when I was 15 and I loved it, but stopped for some reason. I’ve always wanted to do it again, but haven’t until now. I’m pretty excited. Here is a video of the woman that I’ll be taking lessons from. She’s beautiful and really talented.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say. :-) Life has been busy and good lately. I’m sure I’ll be back to my normal religion-bashing posts soon.

So, in about an hour and a half, BlogMad will be open for public beta. Not only that, it’ll be double credits for a day (I’m guessing 24 hours). Excellent.
So check it out if you haven’t already. It’s pretty cool.

…because sometimes I have nothing better to do.

From a comment by Gratis on the previous entry:

>I personally think that Iran has a certain right to invest in nuclear energy and the U.S. should quit trying to police the world with “rules” that they make up as they go along.

So what about it? Does Iran have a right to invest in nuclear energy?
I am personally a bit torn on that one, I suppose…

I was talking to my husband about it for his take. I would say that he’s a Libertarian Centrist, and we really line up when it comes to our take on a lot of issues. Not all, but most.

He asked me this: “If we don’t stop Iran from obtaining nukes, who will?”

Of course, my answer at first was - No one! Why shouldn’t they be allowed to have nukes?? We do. China does. Several other countries out there do. Why not Iran?

His take is that Iran’s government is a theocratic republic.
According to this, 89% are Shi’a Muslim (that’s one of the sects involved in all of the crap going on in Iraq right now).
The citizens of Iran aren’t allowed to leave (ok, we both don’t know much about this one but this is what we have been told by an Iranian defector).

His thought is Iran + Nukes = disaster.

I think he has a lot of good points. I hate the fact that the U.S. tries to dictate what other countries do, but the idea that one of the sects involved in the sectarian violence in the middle east having nukes is kind of scary. These people are killing each other - their own neighbors - over religion.

Do you disagree?

I haven’t had all that much to talk about lately, but a few interesting things have happend recently that I thought I would write down.

Today I was picking Jesse up from school. Jeremy and I were walking down the hall (I was holding his hand) and he dropped to the floor and his elbow snapped. Nursemaid’s elbow - second time, and probably not the last.
So we were off to Children’s Hospital Urgent Care.

While I was checking in, Jesse was sitting in a chair playing with a puzzle. So I was keeping the corner of my eye on him while I was holding Jeremy and filling out the paperwork.
I begin to hear children getting upset and I turned to find a little girl taking the puzzle pieces from Jesse. He wasn’t happy and started to “panic” (it’s a state that he gets into when someone threatens to take his stuff). The little girls mother went and grabbed her and all was good. I continued the paperwork and then sat down.

Well, as I sit down, I realize that the woman is talking to the woman next to her about Jesse. “What a little brat. What the hell was that mother doing. I’m glad my child don’t act that way…”

Blah, blah, blah. So I look at her and make eye contact. I held her eyes until she looked away and then I hear her tell the other woman, “Did you see dat bitch lookin’ at me like she’s all dat? I’ll slap dat bitch silly n den I’ll stick that mutha fucka. Just bring your ass on over here. I’ll kick that bitch’s ass.”

At this point, I’m in disbelief. WTF?? I stare at her again, but she didn’t even look my way. So I just started to play with Jesse and the puzzle.

Minutes later, the nurse comes out to see Jeremy and then tells us that we’re going back to a room. She tells Jesse that she’s going to help him bring the puzzle back and Jesse starts to get a little nervous. He didn’t know what she was doing with his puzzle and was beginning to cry.

As we’re walking back, I pass the woman and she says to her daughter (who is in her lap the whole time and is about 2 1/2), “I’m glad you don’t act like dat. I’d slap your ass if you were a brat like dat…”

At this point, I turned around and walked right up to her. I told her that he was special needs, and besides that HE’S 3!!! She gets up and starts yelling at me and telling me that she’s going to kick my ass. She’s not even making eye contact with me. She is looking clear over my head behind me (ok, I’m 5′1″, and she’s probaby about 6′). So I turn around and look behind me and then look back at her. I asked her, “Are you talking to me?” She told me that she was and, “who the fuck do you think I’m talking to, bitch?”

Remember, we are in the Children’s Hospital waiting room.

So I told her that she was looking behind me and that if she had something to say to me that she should try looking me in the eye.

Well, at this point, she took her jacket off and was about to pound me into the ground. I turned around and walked away. Hey, I had my kids with me, I’m in the hospital, and besides, I had no interest in getting my ass beat. When I was safely behind all of the nurses, I asked them to call security. She was still yelling at me, and everyone in the waiting room was standing and watching.

All of this took about 45 seconds to take place. LOL! Security was there within about 30 seconds and she ended up being removed from the property.

Jeremy’s elbow was fixed easily and he’s all better now. But when it was time to leave, I was nervous. Children’s Hospital in Columbus is in a pretty bad area, unfortunately. So I asked if I could have security escort me and the kids to my car. It’s a good thing that I did because she was waiting outside of the hospital for me in a car!!! The guy had to go to her car and stop her from getting out.

Man, that was scary.

Ok, the other thing I wanted to post about is Myspace. Have you ever gone there? I’ve heard about it, but I have to admit, I’ve only heard stories of teenagers getting in trouble with their parents for things that they’ve had on their Myspace pages. That’s all I’ve known about it. But I’ve come across a blog or two once in a while so I registered so that I could have more access (access is limited unless you register). Well, little did I know that everyone has a space at Myspace. It’s a regular freaking high school reunion. I’ve already been in contact with 4 or 5 people that I haven’t talked to in about 10 years since last night. I’ve also learned that a few of my cousins are there too. Amazing… It’s pretty cool if you can ignore all of the teenage girls putting pictures up of themselves half naked.

Does anyone actually believe this today?

Back on February 27, River at Baghdad Burning wrote:

>I’m reading, and hearing, about the possibility of civil war. The possibility. Yet I’m sitting here wondering if this is actually what civil war is like. Has it become a reality?

On March 11, Deb Riechman from The Associated Press wrote:

>”There are some people trying to, obviously, foment sectarian violence — some have called it civil war — but it didn’t work,” Bush said.

Over at Watching the Watchers, Lee Russ wrote that “Bush [is] confident about Iraq civil war…which is why I’m not.” He links to another AP story:

>The feared resumption of mass sectarian violence erupted Sunday in a Baghdad Shiite slum when bombers blew apart two markets shortly before sundown, killing at least 44 people and wounding about 200.

The Daily Star out of Lebanon says:

>Meanwhile, U.S. President George W. Bush launched a new public relations campaign Monday to convince Americans that Iraq is not sliding out of control and into civil war three years after the U.S. invasion.

Then there’s the story this morning on CNN.com -

>Authorities said at least 86 bodies were found in the Iraqi capital during a 30-hour period ending midday Tuesday, sparking fears that sectarian reprisal killings are continuing at a grisly pace.

These are just a fraction of the stories coming out of Iraq right now.
Forgive my ignorance, but what qualifies as a civil war?
Is there a certain number of people who are supposed to be killed in a day before it’s officially called a civil war?
What will the U.S. do when they decide to call the constant murdering of people a civil war?

In an Op-Ed piece on The Boston Globe online, Gary Hart said:

>If sectarian violence escalates further, US troops must be withdrawn from patrol and confined to their barracks and garrisons. Mass transport must be mustered for rapid withdrawal of those troops from volatile cities in the explosive central region of Iraq. Intensive diplomatic efforts must be focused on preventing an Iraqi civil war from spreading to Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria.

>[…]

>The United States lost one war not too long ago in Vietnam. Conditions are taking shape that could result in the same outcome in Iraq. Not to plan now for this apocalyptic possibility would be tantamount to criminal neglect on the part of our political and military leadership.

So what’s the problem here? Why is the MSM not telling us that Iraq is infact engaged in a Civil War?? It sure as hell looks like it to me. If I’m wrong, of I’ve missed the news, let me know.

Actually, I was tagged twice - once by Jill, and once by Cindy. :-)

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18 and find line 4

“…about it appeared in its April 4, 1983 issue describing how Ms….” - Bad Astronomy by Philip Plait

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can, what do you find?

A painted picture of a fall tree by my 3 year old (my favorite picture - I should frame it).

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?

Dora the Explorer

4. Without looking, guess what time it is.

8:15 pm

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?

8:58 pm
Damn!!

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?

Nothing… It’s absolutely quiet!!

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?

Coming home from Trader Joes

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?

I was looking at a blog that I found through Blog Explosion (I don’t remember the blog though).

9. What are you wearing?

Old Navy yoga pants and a shirt that has spaghetti sauce that splattered on it while I was cooking dinner tonight.

10. Did you dream last night?

Probabaly…

11. When did you last laugh?

Today at some point.

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?

Oh, it’s a big room.
Kid art, a framed drawing done by my mom, a sketch of a naked woman holding her baby, a painting of a woman breastfeeding, and a bunch of family pics.

13. Seen anything weird lately?

I see wierd things every day.

14. What do you think of this quiz?

It’s long!!

15. What is the last film you saw?

Film?? Madagascar, I think.

16. If you turned into a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy?

An Island in the south pacific - would a multi millionaire be able to afford that?

17. Tell me something about you that I don’t know.

I have a passion for my gold fish!! I am completely obsessed with them.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt and politics, what would you do?

Easy. Remove religion.

19. Do you like to Dance?

Yup.

20. George Bush.

Gag…

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?

If I had had a girl, she would have been Sedona.

22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what would you call him?

My first child was a boy, and he’s Jesse.

23. Would you ever consider living abroad?

I have! And I would do it again.

24. What would you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?

Well, since I don’t believe there’s a God, there’s nothing that I would want him to say. But if I were to die, and there was a God after all, I’m sure he would tell me to go to hell.

25. 4 people who must also do this theme in their journal.

Deedee, Gratis, Jen, and Debbie .

Enjoy!

From The Columbus Dispatch online - 2/23/06

Another day in February to celebrate science - Round Earth Day.

>Although most elementary school children know that the earth is spherical, some do not. Round Earth Day is a good day to make sure that all kids are up to speed. And for those smart-aleck students who roll their eyes, Round Earth Day is a good time to remind everyone that once upon a time most if not all cultures on the planet believed (rather strongly) that the Earth was flat. Adults believed it! And it is a good day to remind them that even today, people in some areas on Earth that have been relatively unreached by modern technology and knowledge still retain a belief in a flat earth.

Visit the link above to get some ideas on how to celebrate.

Dinner tonight:
Meatloaf Balls, peas, and onion rings.

Two posts have been getting a lot of attention and there is a lot of info in the comments of both. So I thought I’d take some of the key information being posted in the comments and put it all together here.

First of all, in my original post on Teenscreen, I quoted information from two sources: CCHR and PsychSearch.net.
Ron brought to my attention that both of these organizations have ties to Scientology (Ken Kramer is the founder of PsychSearch.net and a Scientologist and Jan Eastgate is the president of CCHR and has been described as an arm of the Church of Scientology). So this is good info to have, and as Debbie said, we need to keep this in mind.

Debbie has done a lot of seaching around on the subject of Teenscreen too, and found some interesting stuff.

>…virtually all of the gun-related massacres that have made headlines over the past decade have had one thing in common: They were perpetrated by people taking Prozac, Zoloft, Luvox, Paxil or a related antidepressant drug.

>These drugs can cause Akathisia, mental and physical agitation that sparks self-destructive, violent behavior. They can also induce dissociative reactions, making those who take the drugs INSENSITIVE to the consequences of their behavior.

Debbie also found that:
[Link]
>The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force found no evidence that screening for suicide risk reduces suicide attempts or mortality. They report that there is limited evidence on the accuracy of screening tools to identify suicide risk in the primary care setting, including tools to identify those at high risk. The USPSTF found insufficient evidence that treatment of those at high risk reduces suicide attempts or mortality. The USPSTF found no studies that directly address the harms of screening and treatment for suicide risk. As a result, the USPSTF could not determine the balance of benefits and harms of screening for suicide risk in the primary care setting.

She also suggested a BUREAUCRACYANDBULLSHITSCREEN. I have to agree!! LOL!

vjack said “…that screening children for psychological and emotional problems in school is a smart move. […] parents can do this at home, but the sad truth is that many will not. If it is done correctly (and it often isn’t), such a screening program could be an extremely effective way of making sure that needy children receive the care they require.”

Excellent points!! I responded and told him that it was my opinion that it’s proof that the quality of the public education system is poor because of the fact that teachers alone can’t pick out someone who may be suffering from a mental illness. Not to mention the parents… But that’s a whole different discussion.

Dave provided us with a link to the Columbus Public School news (for those of us in Ohio). Thanks Dave!!

I’m sure I missed a few things. But the bottom line is that there is a problem with education in the United States. I can tell you that when I vote this year, the number one thing that I will look for in a candidate is this: What can he/she do for my children and their future?

I just sent this to The Columbus Dispatch. I have to say, I’m actually sick to my stomach right now. I don’t know if they’ll publish it, and I don’t care. I’m putting it here, and I feel like I’ve had my say. Besides, it’s pretty long. They ask for the LsTE to be 200 words and less. I just couldn’t cut it down any more (it’s at 547 words).

I sent a trackback to The Panda’s Thumb because I mentioned RBH’s “Dover Trap.”

To the Editor:

I’m becoming very disappointed in Ohio. We fell in love with Ohio two years ago and and took quite a risk to up-root our family and move to Columbus. It’s a beautiful state and pride just pours out of Ohioans. It really seemed like the perfect place to raise our children.

I am admittedly not always on top of what’s going on in the public education system here in Ohio. I have two small children, one of which will be entering the school system in the fall. It was the mess that the Ohio State Board of Education made of the “Critical Analysis of Evolution” lesson plan that forced me to tune in. Luckily, the board members pulled Ohio out of the “Dover Trap” that they created. But I fear that the Intelligent Design agenda is still very present and our science classrooms are not in the clear yet.

Then we have Bob Taft setting new standards for education. I understand the idea behind Taft’s Ohio Core Initiative. It’s a great idea, in theory, but as the article “Bare Minimum” (in The Columbus Dispatch on January 29, 2006) pointed out, there are schools in Ohio who can’t even afford text books. We need to fix what is broken before we start requiring our teenagers to take algebra II and physics to graduate from high school.

Some of the recent articles and editorials in The Columbus Dispatch have alerted me to the Teenscreen program. I understand that this program is old news in Ohio, but it’s new news to this mother and I’m shocked that more than 60 Ohio schools are straining our children as they pass through the education system. Is there a “failure-to-conform disorder” listed on their labeling checklist? I’m betting that it would be the number one diagnosis. This program is completely unnecessary and is a huge waste of our money! Yes, there are teenagers suffering from mental illness, and there are teenagers out there who are depressed and some may even be suicidal (but according to statistics, it’s a rare occurrence). Parents need to be responsible for their children! The Teenscreen program is a farce and I would challenge parents to really look into the program that our schools are trying to filter our children through.

There is a lot to be proud of when it comes to Ohio’s education, but according to the National Education Association: Ohio public education spending per student has been declining; class sizes are among the largest in the nation; 76% of Ohio’s schools have at least one inadequate building feature, and 83% have at least one unsatisfactory environmental condition; finally, 45% of 8th grade students are in schools where a lack of parental involvement is reported to be a problem. These problems are real, they are big, and they are in desperate need of fixing.

The issues mentioned above are only a few of the problems that Ohio schools are facing. The Gahanna Jefferson School District’s motto is “Where Students Come First.” The rest of the state should adopt this motto and then prove it.

Cassandra Cox