I may take the second half of that statement with a grain of salt. ;)

“rock?”

Hope your kitty’s OK.

The problem is that in just thirty seconds of speech or two paragraphs of writing, a person like the types that get mocked around here can throw out so many falsehoods and distortions of the truth that it would take hours or pages of writing to set them all straight. And while you are trying to do that, they’ll just go off on another tangent and have done the same thing in another, related topic, leaving you to deal with the detritus of the new topic when you still haven’t finished with the old topic. If you really want to see a master of this technique at work, watch any one of these Kent Hovind debate videos at Youtube.

Creationists have a slew of pseudo-arguments, all based on a misunderstanding of most maths and sciences, and correcting even one of their errors takes time. For example, they’ll make the claim that there are twenty different amino acids occurring naturally in the proteins that make up life, and the chances of those amino acids having come together to make these proteins is beyond probability. To fix what’s wrong with this, you have to know enough chemistry to explain that not all amino acids bond in the same way, and enough math to explain the difference between selection with replacement and selection without replacement – the evolutionary process is not “random”.

Even if you DO have the requisite background knowledge to explain these things to these people, you have to remember that you are explaining them to people who don’t want to hear your explanation, and are already convinced that everything you say is wrong because you are godless and evil. Ever try to teach probability and statistics to someone with no real background in math and who doesn’t really want to listen to anything you have to say – all in under five minutes? I have, and the results aren’t particularly impressive.

This is really why I think the patented Sadlymethod® for dealing with these folks is preferable to anything else. You respond to honest arguments with honest rebuttals. Tools like we see around here are only worth laughing at, because at a fundamental level, they are not arguing in good faith. All they care about is winning. They are the juicepigs in the game of ideas. And when you agree to play the game of honest debate with them, you lend an air of respectability to their hot air that they do not deserve.

There certainly ARE people with more conservative views than what you normally see expressed here that are worth debating with seriously – but let’s be honest: their arguments are not the ones you find in heavy rotation on Fox News.

And I want to add my congratulations on the weddingness stuff. You guys are so full of awesome that your wedding will be a little awesome-fusion power plant, spewing awesomeness out into the local environment for years to come. Mazel tov!

Mikey: You said:
December 22, 2007 at 2:14

Well the first thing you know, ol’ Fred’s the President
Livin’ in a big White House don’t have to pay no rent
He said: “Nappin’ in the Rose Garden’s the place I oughta be”
And he headed out the back door with the tits of Jeri-Lee
Trophy wife, that is
Where the curtains don’t match the rug…

Mikey, I love you!

… right now though, him and all the rest of you fuckers plain and true.

You know what else is awesome? Marriage.

Congrats to Gavin and the bride-to-be!

(assuming of course this isn’t a double-reverse shot of irony that we all missed)

Nono, she actually seems to want to marry someone-who-is-me, for reasons I understand but have trouble totally fathoming. Apparently there are lots of worse people out there.

How bitter and sarcastic do those of us who can’t legally tie the knot get to be about this? (and I’m not in a mood for any knot tying jokes. or wet suits).

GBear, I thought Gavin lived in Massachusetts? We’re so People’s Republic, we even let White Males marry here! No wonder Jonah is bitterly envious!

Congrats Gavin

Candy, not Cindy (See how good I am with names?)

I blame the biting cold and/or the cold vodka.

Cindy–

We you planning on getting married somewhere cool like the Salsbury House, Val-Air Ballroom or George the Chili King any of those 3 times?