And so I posted:

Grickle grass, ham, thumbs and blue fish
I've read more rhymes than anyone might wish.
But i gotta say I have no use
for anyone who buggers Suess
To bugger Suess is a mortal sin
even on the world we atheists is in.
No mortal sin! Impossible says yous?
Just let me catch you buggerin' Suess!

Came the reply:

When fundie-parents want to raise a fundie-ignoramus
They take of learning that is nothing short of shameless.
Would Dr Seuss just shrug and say "Oh well, it doesn't matter"?
The Hell he would! You know he'd soon get madder than a hatter!
I hope - like most - Ted Geisel's ghost now frolicks in Elysium.
And if we use his style for good, I'm sure it won't displysium.

Posted by: cousinavi

"I'm sure it won't displysium."
now THAT'S truly Suessian reasonin'
I admit it provoked my giggletude
but I still insist that buggerin's rude
Theo put some effort, some work
he wasn't sittin' home just havin' a jerk
over convoluted adjectival forms
he really did surpass all norms
not just in rhyming but also plot
a moral wasn't all he sought
he moral'd with great style and flair
and buggerin'...well, let's not go there.

No one posted before I got bored.

I gotta add I'm a little shocked
I would've thought Pharyngulians rocked
at inventing posts ala rhyming Suess
I would've bet heavy on more PZ juice
I keep refreshing eagerly
goddamn it, all that springs is "Beagle Tree"
Suess would never have fallen for that
Fuck you, stupid Cat in the Hat.

Posted by: electricbarbarella

Sorry Cousinavi.. rhyming just is not my thing. I mean I can...but umm, that's best left up to those that actually make sense doing it. :)

Posted by: cousinavi

Rhyming, really not your thing?
You say you could, then fail to bring
an attempt, a try, you might take a swing
young birds don't fly, but they'll flap a wing
Ah, to hell with it - they've buggered Suess
I can't complain...what's the use?
I now retreat to my tiny wism
where i nurse my vicious cynicism.

Posted by: electricbarbarella

Ahh, my cousinavi, don't fret;
I haven't attempted the best one yet
You see when I try to rhyme,
All that comes out is "blah blah, not yet, oh hell, try one more time"
In the end, my rhymes really do suck
Although I can rhyme the end of that with truck
And buck, and cluck, and puck, and Oh Fuck..
What is she doing, you ask?
She warned you previously..
Her rhymes really do suck ass...

:)

Posted by: cousinavi

I've gone too far. I feel obtuse.
All this rhyming ripping the good Dr. Suess.
It's too much...it's really too far
I've played this hole six over par.
It's time to slink - I should have slunk
back to sleep in my cynical bunk.
I apologize to all of you posters
...something about drinks, wooden tables and coasters...
I'm calling it now, should have called it sooner
G'head...do your best...gimme a rhyme for sooner.

Posted by: cousinavi

I've gone too far. I feel obtuse.
All this rhyming ripping the good Dr. Suess.
It's too much...it's really too far
I've played this hole six over par.
It's time to slink - I should have slunk
back to sleep in my cynical bunk.
I apologize to all of you posters
...something about drinks, wooden tables and coasters...
I'm calling it now, should have called it sooner
G'head...do your best...gimme a rhyme for sooner...
And no fucking cheating...you can't use tuner...
Tuner's a fish. Not dolphin friendly.
Charlie was one, now this rhyme is endly.

Posted by: cousinavi

Double posts suck
even updated.
My work here tonight
goddamn overrated.

L'ex presidente Petrone sostituirà i consiglieri Crescenzo Schettini (Sdi) nella prima e seconda commissione permanente e Nicola Acucella (Democratici con Di Pietro) nella terza commissione e in quella speciale Statuto. Il posto di Acucella nella quarta commissione sarà preso dal consigliere Zambella. I due provvedimenti sono stati approvati a maggioranza dei presenti, con l'astensione di Antonio Caivano (Psdi), Manfredelli e Giuliano. Sulla sostituzione di Schettini, Scelzo ha espresso parere contrario.
''Sostituzione - spiega Petrone - resa necessaria poiché il consigliere dello Sdi ha dichiarato già da tempo di non poter partecipare ai lavori delle commissioni per impegni di lavoro. Quanto ad Acucella, essendo diventato capogruppo dei Democratici con Di Pietro, è già presente di diritto in tutte le commissioni''.
Maggiori chiarimenti sulle sostituzioni sono stati richiesti da diversi consiglieri. In particolare, Caivano e Scelzo hanno sollevato il dubbio sulle effettive dimissioni di Schettini e sulla sua sostituzione con Petrone che andrebbe in qualche modo ad ''alterare gli equilibri di maggioranza, con il passaggio dei posti in commissione dallo Sdi al Pd''.
Per Manfredelli e Giuliano, invece, la questione è soprattutto di carattere regolamentare e procedurale piuttosto che politica, ''sempre dando per scontate le dimissioni di Schettini ''. Anche riguardo ad Acucella, Giuliano ha posto la necessità di dimissioni ''in considerazione del fatto che chi ha occupato un posto in nome di un partito, in questo caso del Pd, non può conservarlo nel momento in cui cambia casacca''.
Accuse di trasformismo rigettate da Zambella in sede di dichiarazioni di voto, mentre Di Lascio ha ricordato di ''aver stigmatizzato a suo tempo la creazione del nuovo gruppo dei Democratici con Di Pietro, chiedendo di rinviare qualsiasi azione a fine consiliatura''. Di Lascio ha inoltre precisato che gli equilibri della maggioranza sono in relazione al peso politico dei voti ottenuti nelle elezioni del 2004 dagli allora Ds e Margherita. ''Se noi volessimo avvantaggiare i partiti minori - commenta il capogruppo del Pd - allora sì che si creerebbe un disequilibrio in eccesso''.
Quanto ai dubbi sulle dimissioni di Schettini, sono stati fugati dal suo capogruppo Vito Bochicchio (Sdi). ''Abbiamo comunicato già da tempo a Petrone la volontà del consigliere di non prendere più parte alle commissioni per mancanza di tempo. Le dimissioni ci sono dunque, anche se non scritte''.

"See, at the Last Supper, Jesus handed his guests some bread and said, “This is my body,” and then handed them some wine and said, “This is my blood.” Had Jesus sang “I’m a Little Teapot,” then today we’d see Catholics worldwide carefully choosing communion vessels of appropriate height and stoutness, ensuring that each one has both handle and spout for the dispensing of His Holy Oolong.

Metaphor: not the fundamentalist’s strong suit."

Beautiful.

For those just joining the whole fiasco, there's a good succinct summary of "Wafergate" in Rebecca's post.

And I would like to point out that the last time I wrote about religious folks wanting to kill people wasn't that long ago. Take it seriously, PZ. These people will hurt you, if they can.

The post that started the whole kerfuffle at PZ's blog.

According to the Hartford Courant:

Saying they felt obligated to listen to the voices of the people, members of the planning and zoning commission voted 4-3 Wednesday night to shoot down proposed new regulations that would have allowed strip clubs to operate in two largely residential neighborhoods.

Commission members decided to maintain the town's current regulations, which allow for such establishments in various industrial pockets throughout town. The vote was met with applause from several residents in the audience at town hall, including a group of residents who live in one of the neighborhoods where the new rules would have allowed adult-entertainment establishments.

As expected Kim Coleman, legal counsel for Mark Chu and Masters Club LLC, intends to refile a lawsuit challenging the existing regulations according to the Courant.

The town council through the ordinance committee is simultaneously working to reform the adult establishment regulations. The committee met on the 19th to review draft ordinances governing adult establishments. Among these according to the meeting minutes are licensing of employees which would involve a criminal background check, fingerprinting and recording of social security and drivers license information. Also the club would have to maintain a monthly list of employees and information on management. I expect that such a list, being submitted to the town, would be public information meaning anybody could see just who in a given month is working at an adult establishment.

I guess that means no more stripping your way through college on the sly.

14.     ZONE CHANGE APPLICATION: To re-zone a portion of Business III (B-3) to Business (B-3A) comprised of 132 parcels, also know as a portion of the “North Meadows Area” behind the car dealerships on Connecticut Boulevard, located adjacent to the Connecticut River, easterly along the existing railroad track, southerly along the rear property line of land fronting on Thomas Street, westerly along the rear property line of land fronting on Governor Street, northerly along the center line of Village Street, and is comprised of 86.72 acres of land & a portion of Industrial III (I-3) to Industrial (I-3A)  comprised of 17 parcels, also know as a portion of “Prestige Park”, located along the existing railroad tracks, northerly to the center line of School Street, easterly to the center line of Prestige Park Road, southerly along the railroad spur line, westerly along the exiting railroad tracks, and is comprised of 64.27 acres of land.

Applicant:  Town of East Hartford Planning and Zoning Commission

(Action Postponed from April 30, 2008)

I expect there to be a public presence and I encourage you to come out. As usual there is a public hearing preceding the regular session tonight however the zone changes are not on the agenda for the hearing.

If you attend please do report back the result. I won't be able to attend as tonight is my anniversary.

The results of this new poll so far have been quite interesting.

The TPZ will not take action on the proposed Adult Entertainment zoning regulation changes during their next meeting on May 14th.

It appears to me that the TPZ was listening and heard the residents speak.

Now for the video...
Feel free to comment if I didn't get a name right or I have no name for you.

Start of the public hearing
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8783132151741655230&hl=en]

Mike Dayton's Testimony
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5481561988366872831&hl=en]

Hugo Benettieri's Testimony
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7168885925202950493&hl=en]

Phil Michalowski's Testimony
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1116742656490555714&hl=en]

Mike Dayton's Testimony 2
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3104869214782383952&hl=en]

Public Testimony

Patrick Sanzo
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7410122125864069805&hl=en]

Reginald (?)
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=204646853598248022&hl=en]

Catherine Stevens
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6230271538889375564&hl=en]

Barbara Austin
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-777909045368453571&hl=en]

Susan Kniep
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4826426773938044965&hl=en]

Michael Sylvestor
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3241042285851883611&hl=en]

Susan Kniep 2
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3377900106958277293&hl=en]

Irene (?)
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4295272501323942452&hl=en]

George Franek
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5534731641515391930&hl=en]

Peter Santoro
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6441809549551636232&hl=en]

Jonathan Keller
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1147219206541810618&hl=en]

Mike DeGregario
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4368769788736833410&hl=en]

Kim Coleman
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8158289272832326139&hl=en]

Kathy Lombardo
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8506726968021155175&hl=en]

Janet Rice
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=591673795680000163&hl=en]

Greg Foran
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3174224560640911351&hl=en]

Unknown
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4068385231981160109&hl=en]

Karen Howe
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7901084634896906148&hl=en]

Unknown
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2372174106279897271&hl=en]

Michael Sylvestor Jr.
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1418919514888430617&hl=en]

Steve Livingston
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5908961909187717257&hl=en]

Salvatore Ingallinero
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9070715958164534125&hl=en]

Clara Pierceton
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7953983522359120584&hl=en]

Unknown
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3752488304026996785&hl=en]

Anita Morrison
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5793757251265910872&hl=en]

Peter Santoro 2
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8863953660385219123&hl=en]

Greg Foran 2
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8737490786104865995&hl=en]

Susan Kniep 3
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3433246283750096253&hl=en]

Patrick Sanzo 2
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1293747739701479833&hl=en]

Don Pitkin
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4017878779288567697&hl=en]

Kim Coleman 2
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8728496470612585029&hl=en]

Reginald ? 2
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8122080886508593396&hl=en]

Marc Weinberg
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3570124340051417617&hl=en]

End of hearing and P&Z action
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8906421080912648961&hl=en]

Many people turned out and all told I have about 3 hours of video to sort through so more will come later.

The message was clear tonight. Not in my town. Not in my backyard. The P&Z will continue investigating alternatives but it looks like it will be our town and our back yards.

If you live in North Meadows or the Prestige Park area you need to be there.
The topic of discussion will be the zoning changes to allow strip clubs in the North Meadows and Prestige Park sections of town.

I hate to say it, but it is.. honestly... over.

Although Expelled took in a whopping $1 million in its opening weekend (compared to $23 million for a Michael Moore movie that opened in less theaters), critics say that it's a failure. Not only did it fail commercially but remains one of the lowest rated movies of all time on Rotten Tomatoes.

I made a whole blog for this? I spent countless hours raving and ranting for this?

I'm not sure how they'll spin it. Whatever spin they give it, $1 million dollars doesn't even pay for the $3 million they used making this masterpiece (heh heh). Even with the monster "controversy" it caused, the huge crowds of raving lunatic creationists who shouted (and remain shouting) "DOWN WITH DARWINISM", et. al. they couldn't make any significant impact commercially or critically. I expect the usual suspects (Tools: Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, and Rick Santorum of Failure Failing Failed, Inc.) will be raving lunatics over the subject matter in every form.

We might even see (gasp!) public debate on the issues raised in the film. Like overuse of "Darwinism", misuse of the freaking holocaust, the tricking of scientists, the illegally used songs and bits of film, etc.

Overall, this film has failed. In fact, I expect that someone will cite this film in a court case against evolution, for ID, what have you, and Mark Mathis and company will love it. They will be at the edge of orgasm by the time it actually hits the courts. Then they'll be shot down in flames when it fails, and shout "BIG SCIENCE!!" as yet another "activist judge" (read: Christian conservative) rules their bullshit just that: bullshit.

I'm grateful that this movie came out, actually. It's given me dedication to something, it's given me something to be devoted to. It's given me a reason to fight for science. It's given me a lot more than it's given the producers. In fact, all it's given the producers is the title of "idiots of 2008" and no doubt a ton more enemies (myself included). Maybe they should consider the forces of little science, like myself, on the level of big science.

If anyone has learned anything from my blog, it should be that creationism may be true, but it's not scientific. Furthermore, they should realize that evolution isn't just a theory. It's just a theory and a fact.

Will this be my final blog? Of course not. This film will be beaten like a dead horse in the coming months and someone has to hold up the stop sign to Ben Stein (lol). Even if it wasn't, someone has to stand up to the bad board of educations out there, someone has to stand up to all the anti-intellectuals, and so forth. That someone is now me. But I don't ever expect to do it alone. Nor do I expect that I even came close to making a valid contribution to this case. All I expect is that I did my part, and I hope you did too.

My final word for Expelled right now would have to be... a few words, actually: your foolish compulsions sent you to the grave.

How does it feel to fail, Mark Mathis? Ben Stein? Intelligent Design?

The town retained the firm Harrall-Michalowski Associates Inc. to do a study of our current zoning and regulations concerning adult establishments and the zoning and regulations of other areas that have faced this issue previously. They presented some suggested regulatory changes to the council and zoning changes to the P&Z. Changes suggested include allowing adult establishments in the areas known as Prestige Park and the Meadows.

The topic of the night was secondary effects. Secondary effects are important, as explained by Kim Coleman (legal council for Masters Club LLC.), because a way the town can restrict the free speech rights of an adult establishment (or any other group) is by demonstrating secondary effects sufficiently harmful to warrant a restriction.

For his part Mr. Dayton, the town planner, presented a considerable compilation of police reports and incidents to councilors and commissioners demonstrating the secondary effects of the existing adult establishments. Was it enough to make the case? Kim Coleman says no.

In my discussion with Coleman after the meeting she conveyed that although secondary effects can be a valid reason for limiting free speech rights the argument doesn't work here because the town has made a mistake in the areas they chose to recommend for adult establishment use because as the maps distributed by the town's consultant show the two designated areas have a considerably greater residential concentration and therefore greater likelihood of secondary effects than the currently disputed site on Robert's Street.

In reviewing the maps I can't help but to agree with her on that point. While Prestige Park has a benefit in that the club would be somewhat cordoned off inside the industrial park it has a large negative in that it's positioning provides for no direct highway access and worse it's central location in proximity to surrounding highways guarantees that visitors would come from every direction and would have to use residential neighborhoods and streets throughout town as their route to the club which would likely translate into a lot more intoxicated persons driving in the surrounding residential areas day and night.

While the Meadows location does have some of the benefits that the Roberts Street location has, such as almost direct highway access from Rt 2, I-84 and I-91 as well as relative isolation, it's a very mixed area with about a quarter of the properties being residential. The location of the residential properties makes it unlikely that any of them would be able to escape exposure to adult establishments located in that area.
To add insult to injury the largest vacant lots to be developed are located directly adjacent to residential properties.

With the shortcomings of these areas in mind it must be considered that more than just Masters Club LLC is on the table here. The town is required to make it possible for future developers to have the opportunity to come to town and this isn't a town with a lot of real estate to consider which wouldn't have a close proximity to undesirable properties such as houses, schools and churches. In that thread these areas may not be better than the Robert's Street location but they may be the best we can get and still allow for future development as required.

So what happens now? Well have to wait and see. The lawsuit filed by Masters Club is at least temporarily halted in trade for the town paying their legal fees to date totaling over $13,000 and as my conversation with Coleman suggests temporarily is the key word so long as the town fails to provide a zone with ample development potential which would suffer less secondary effects than the Robert's Street location.

On Wednesday the 30th at 7PM there will be a public hearing on the proposed zoning changes at town hall in the council chamber. I strongly encourage anyone who can to attend and bring talking points. Especially if you live around prestige park or in or around the meadows area.

Video and documents are below.

Video of Joint Meeting of Town Council and P&Z
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5783303058047656075&hl=en]

Video of Interview with Kim Coleman
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1159489258476165436&hl=en]

Adult regulations from other communities.
Adult Establishment Regulations - Seattle, Washington
Adult Establishment Regulations - Freetown, Massachusetts
Adult Establishment Regulations - Burlington, Iowa
Adult Establishment Regulations - Delaware County, Ohio

Maps of recommended adult zones.
Adult Establishment Map
School and Church Location Map
Proposed Prestige Park Zone
Prestige Park Land Use Map
Proposed North Meadows Zone
North Meadows Land Use Map

<a href="http://expelledexposed.com/"><i>Expelled</i></a>

put it into anything you write about the movie.

And by the way, Expelled is Bullshit.

Expelled

Before reading what comes next, check Part II to get up to speed on the whole issue -- and how PZ Myers has been boned by the producers for absolutely nothing. Part III is also recommended, but not required, as this is more about their recent exploits as opposed to the beginning.

(Continue to the next page at your own discretion because this may just be more of a buzzkill for the Expelled team than any of the other things that I've posted.)

While hitting up Google to see how much the word about Expelled is getting around as compared to his story (read: the correct answer is not at all), I found something that made my stomach turn and should make yours as well if you're a decent human being. The term(s) I googled in their entirety would be simply "PZ Myers"

I'm not entirely sure if this is theirs just based on the use of the word "Creationism", but I think the point it proves is rather obvious, if a bit "revealing" for them. I love how it makes no mention of intelligent design (aka neo-creationism). So not only are they (whoever they may be) taking advantage of a controversial situation for their advantage, but they're also forgetting one of their fundamental principals: Intelligent design IS SCIENCE, NOT CREATIONISM! (it's creationism in a cheap tux, not just creationism)

However, there's a second one that is less revealing. It lets them keep their tux, but opens up the floodgates to PZ Myers related infamy.

Now call me crazy, but this seems to be the exact same thing as before, only it exchanges the PZ Myers' name as merely a keyword and actually includes it. This seems to be fairly recent, as I hadn't seen anything like this before. There's also a big yellow ad at the top sometimes that is related to Expelled which I myself clicked about thirty times just to be able to laugh at causing them additional expenses rather than just the money spent on the movie, the money spent on paying people to come, and the money to turn people away who they were supposed to let in.

Speaking of which, they've been caught lying again. They're not even straightfaced about it, and it seems that the same folks they'd lied to are the ones who have found them out, and I digress: this is the internet age. Aside from people being able to find out information on anything, you can also spread the story yourself, and then people like myself pick up on it and support you. We also know when there are low down dirty liars and know that there is no excuse for this nonsense.

They plan to make this nonsense viral so they can provide a convincing case for a dead argument: intelligent design was permanently struck down in flames in 2005, and is not coming back no matter what you do. It's as alive as creation science. While this film will cater to closed mind religious types, thus making it a wank film, no one else will take it moderate seriously, which is why we're left with this recent bit of news:

Remember the e-mail I received stating that tonight’s Expelled screening in Tempe was canceled? The e-mail simply stated:

The Tempe, AZ Screening has been canceled.

Well, Ken McKnight called the theater today two or so hours before the screening. Ken says:

I just called the Arizona Mills Harkins theater and said that I had heard that the private screening of Expelled had been moved from 7:00 to 6:00 (I didn’t mention that I had been emailed that the showing was canceled). The person I spoke to confirmed that the movie is showing today at 6:00. Clearly the promoters are somehow screening the attendees and then sending out cancellation notices to the "undesirables."

There you go. Lying. Plain and simple and there is no way they can spin that.

Update: Brad was there and offers this report. The show indeed went on, despite being "canceled".

Update 2: Ken has provided his account of the event.

Kudos to John M. Lynch for this fun moment. I'm sure he's amused as the rest of the scientific community is. Yes, I stole the link from one PZ Myers, but I think the reasons behind this speak for themselves.

Now: let's rack up the supposed details of this film:

1. It was called crossroads at the time of the interviews.
2. Intelligent design is science, not religion.
3. Creationism is not intelligent design.
4. Evolution is the cause of all societal evils of today.
5. They "Expell" (sic) no one.

Let's inject a bit of reality:

1. Online records prove it was known to be Expelled, since the official site was registered months before interviews.
2. If this were true, why are interviewed members of the scientific community being turned down openly?
3. If this were true, why is the above most definitely true while at the same time getting church support and religious endorsements?
4. Evolution was known as far back as 2000 years ago, it just wasn't made into a full-fledged science until Darwin's time, and he wasn't even the first in his time to suggest it. In fact, I believe it was in ancient Greece that started breeding people selectively for things such as war. That's pretty much the same as Hitler's eugenics programs. Not only that, but it seems as if when humans started growing their food, they figured out how to selectively breed it in order to get better taste and et cetera. This is true for dogs, cats, and every other domesticated animal as well.
5. They've expelled many. John Lynch, PZ Myers, and several others from various fields of true science for seemingly no reason. They change their story every five minutes regarding PZ Myers.

It's a bloody shame. All of it. They think all the attention they're getting is good since they're pissing people off, but it's not, because we're getting a laugh and anyone but a hair brained moron would see right through this bullshit.

Ah well, that's life.

Just for reference the standard fee for a copy of any standard document not fortunate enough to be featured on the town website or unfortunate enough to have aged off the site is 50 cents per page. In the case of a double sided document that is 50 cents per side.

For a bit of reference the last P&Z meeting I attended had an information packet about 96 pages in length not including over-sized drawings and the minutes of previous meetings. For the math impaired that translates into a fee of greater than $48 for the average citizen to  have access to the same information as the P&Z members. Granted the information is available for review in the Town Council office (I believe) and on site at the meeting, but it's hardly practical for one person to review 96 pages plus drawings and minutes prior to a meeting or while sitting in the council office. It's not expected that commission or council members should have to do so and it should not be expected for citizens to do so.

I took this a step further and investigated just how much money the town takes in through copy fees. According to data from the finance department since July 1st 2007 the town has taken in just $1,200 across all departments in copy fees. Weigh that sum against the capital expenditures in the budget that many called discretionary to say the least and it demonstrated just how minuscule that amount really is. There is clearly no risk of loss of a substantial revenue stream by making documents freely available.

Here's what I'd like to see happen. I'd like to see every committee, commission and council document made available either online at the town website or for free at the council office.
I'd like to see the town website archive all electronic documents in perpetuity. There is no excuse for the events of last year to fall off the site eliminating the simplest way for residents to know what has happened in the past.

I'd like to see all EHCTV broadcasts made available on the town website and archived.

I realize all this takes time and money, but the technology is here and there is no excuse for it to cost the residents of East Hartford anything to exercise their right to be informed citizens.

There is nothing more vital to healthy government than an informed citizenry. Without transparency everything else is just a show.

That's what I think. What do you think?

Superstition, from rats to apes, mechanisms that mediate a rat's "decision" to re-emit a response that might determine for prevention of ultra short-acting awareness precedes activation that is a prerequisite already present. Intergenerational fairness documenting and generating a simple feedback loop by [▼a]-nalogy in an adaptive preserved order of the mechanisms evolutionary function regulators of development entities may be an underestimate typically an antisimetrical underestimate of a dual-use system. While reiterating and trafficking certain points can be generated 'artificially complementary' as complementary explanations that mutually inform each other between the biological and social sciences as Intergenerational fairness.
for additional background information:
Will look like this:

[[http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2006/10/enough-blasting-dennett-and-dawkins.html#c2266928565744842232]]

The apparent molecular sequence as deduced from cDNA assignment to 16p11.2 increased expression of Mac1 ^[▼a] of all 3 leukocyte membrane surface antigens except for 2 conservative substitutions resulting from a 3bp shift the genome size of M. pneumoniaes, adenylated kinase alternate bodies permutation of the first body , 阝polymorpism a (2) 5-nucleotide (nt) oligoadenylate nonsense trimer mutation, single amino acid changes elsewhere in the protein generally represent benign polymorphisms as well as the membrane and cytosolic subunits p67phox membrane adaptor to the beta2 integrin CD11b ^[▼a] with an activated adhesion molecule phenotype CD11b indicating a potential pathophysiological role for anti-PR3 highlight the clinical potential of the glial modulating agent Propentofylline at the protein level, in the 'absence of (2) 5 mRNA level changes'. The monoclonal antibody Leu-M5 (anti-CD11c) revealed a founder effect particularly sensitive to missense p67-phox mutations 5-nucleotide (nt) deletion in 'exon 13' (nts 1169-1173-;(9 nts 55-63)) [the genetic component moves closer to the single instance ^[1.] as Ser-139 artificially complementary to 12 nt of mutant KRAS in at least three [▼a] autoproteolytic cleavages] first intron of exon 9, 9-nt in-frame deletion in exon2; oxidase-X-linked dependent-mutation reactive in chromosomes 1, 7, and 16 in a 7 nt bulge of the anti-terminator RNA disobeying^[2.] the oxoreductase-ligase, was confirmed by stromal cell-derived factor (SDF)-induced migration and up-regulation of the integrins, and downmodulation is fully reversable, the effects extend to triads that are two positions removed^[1.] with a significant relationship between these three eosinophil proteins CD11b ^[▼a] detects only one of three distinct glycosylated forms of ECP^{7:05 PM 4/2/2008} and the 12nt counts^[▼a] were not different, and differs from that found in the EDN-RNASE gene G to an A^[2.] difference^[HTML] has disappeared and further more inversley, by a single nucleotide and selection of oligoadenylate nonsense trimers stable integrants.

• James Randi, and
• PZ Myers

I know -- I'm sort of a n00b at this. I knew about Dawkins from other things, such as South Park's parody and a friend of mine from Vegas by the name of Danny. So I'm not completely out of the loop, I like to think. Just a wee bit behind, but it seems once I found these people I couldn't get away from them... which is a good thing!

According to the website which lists information on The Amaz!ng Meeting, I found this about last year's TAM:

Held at the Riviera Casino and Resort in Las Vegas. Our biggest yet, with Trey and Matt from Southpark, Adam and Tory from Mythbusters, shows by Julia Sweeney, Jill Sobule, Banachek, Jamy Ian Swiss and Hal Bidlack, as well as Peter Sagal, Scott Dikkers, John Rennie, and many others. Many have said it was our most succesful TAM to date. Anderson Cooper talking on Sylvia Browne with Randi was a highlight.

Trey and Matt from South Park! That's a show that lead, in part, to my skepticism, because they make such good points in such funny ways. Then we have one of my long-lasting idols: Adam Savage from my also long-standing favorite show Mythbusters. I don't watch TV much anymore, but whenever I'm in the mood for it, nothing beats some good ol' Mythbusters. Tory, also from the Mythbusters, has worked on some awesome films, like the Matrix which has been a favorite of mine (the entire series) since around 2000.

I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but the same people that immersed me in science retain all of my respect since day one. My old teacher, we'll call her Mrs. Smith, was my science teacher in 1st grade and I believe 4th grade of elementary school. She was a Christian, and although I'm sure she didn't agree with a few things she taught, such as evolutionary theory and the big bang (yes, we had both in those days), she did it with a smile and made it fun. When she retired, it was a big blow for the school. I always looked forward to my younger nephew having her class(es?), but sadly he never got far enough before she quit. It's a bit strange though, because of what she taught many took issue with her as a teacher, which I always find interesting. She was a good teacher, and one of two I had in about eight years that made science as interesting and fun as it should be made and really is.

It's people like her, though, who brought about my divergence from myths (no pun intended towards the earlier busters) and unknowingly made myself, as well as my former classmates, so much more interested than normal people are. We desperately need people like her, or science doesn't stand much of a chance in public view. What we don't need, however, is representatives for science that are more like pop culture icons who don't know any difference between evolution and how life started. (yes, they're two different things, neo-creationists)

Scientists are often disliked in America simply because they speak straight and are often seemingly uninteresting characters. Many in America are anti-intellectuals because of the straight talking scientists that they see as a threat. Our president is an anti-intellectual. I'm not sure who said this, since I cover so many science blogs, but someone said that scientists shouldn't have to be entertaining, comedians, actors, etc. They've got their own jobs to do, and they do 'em well. What people need to do is... to start listening. Call me crazy, but I don't care if they have the voice of the singer from Fall Out Boy, it's what they're saying that I care about.

This is, sort of, where The Amaz!ng Meeting (referred to as TAM from this point) comes in. Public figures who actually make science fun and interesting, such as the Mythbusters team, go there to speak and (apparently) have fun. Who would have guessed? This is why things like TAM are SO needed! OK, so even if it weren't fun per se, it's still an awesome event. As said prior, people like the South Park guys show. That seems like it would be awesome just based on that alone!

Check this:

You can't stop James "The Amaz!ng" Randi, and he's at it again with the Amaz!ng Meeting 6. Our theme this year - I, Skeptic: Modern Skepticism in the Internet Age.

New speakers this year include Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, PZ Myers, Matthew Chapman, and Sharon Begley. Many of our old friends will be joining us as well, including Phil Plait (the Bad Astronomer), Penn & Teller, Richard Saunders, Dr. Richard Wiseman, Dr. Michael Shermer, Adam Savage (from the Mythbusters), Steve Novella, and Christopher Hitchens.

I best remember Neil DeGrasse Tyson from an event where he asked Richard Dawkins a question and Dawkins responded tactfully, "our philosophy here at New Scientist is that science is interesting, and if you don't agree, you can fuck off." Of course he was quoting someone who worked at New Scientist (obvious!), but it was still awesome. It was also funny. Men of science can be funny, you just have to look (hard).

(Original Clip Here)

Other people of interest are Dr. Michael Shermer, who is a skeptic that I've admired for a very long time after having seen him on the History channel discussing weird things, such as alien sightings, and what-not. Whenever I listen to him, I can't help but smile, and I would imagine there are many others like me.

I must say, possibly the most interesting one out of them all would have to be Matthew Chapman. Seems like a normal name, doesn't it? Normal sounding person, and by all means he's pretty normal. Except for one teeny tiny thing: he's the great great grandson of the one and only Charles Darwin. Just wow. Think about that for a second: the fucking great great grandson of the man who "fathered" evolution! He's also funny, having given interviews for the PBS Documentary Intelligent Design on Trial where he cited himself as living disproof of evolution, as his great great grandfather made one of the most influential texts of all time, and he's a screenwriter. In his own words: this is not evolution! (laughs)

Another one that I mentioned earlier is Adam Savage from the Mythbusters. I remember being at a church gathering in 2003 (everyone was in a back room, I was in the lounge room with their incredibly big for its time 50" plasma), watching Tremors: The Series, which was dumb but fun to watch as far as Sci-Fi goes, and then flipping over to Mythbusters. During that time I was still a (young) Christian and was still a skeptic towards evolution, go figure, but here's a guy I respected so much who I had no clue was an atheist and skeptic of creationism. I only found this out fairly recently, but it's still quite amazing to know. Maybe he subliminally influenced me in some way? Adam has always reminded me of my uncle Tommy, in attitude, humor, and even looks to some extent. Only Tommy is probably in the realm of 20 years older. Finding out all these people, in whom I hold in high regard, are just like me is very gratifying. No, I don't know why.

PZ Myers, to whom I owe my success with my FaceBook atheism group, will also be there, as expected. I'm not sure what more I can say about him, since I've got about four blog entires almost entirely about him. I respect PZ highly, and think he's a very awesome guy. But there's really not more to say.

Other interesting people who are gonna show will be Phil Plait (BadAstronomy), Penn & Teller from Bullshit!, and many, many, many more. Of particular interest is atheist rapper (had to do it!) Greydon Square, simply because he's an atheist who raps. Not seen much of that, honestly. Usually they're pimping Jesus (See also: Kanye West), or pimping their hoes. I'm not sure what gardening tools have to do with anything but...

I won't be there because we're (almost) entirely out of money due to stuff mentioned elsewhere, because my other side of the family won't help out with expenses (feel the Christian love!), and et cetera. Ah well, may see you all next year -- not sure.

It's funny though, last night I saw my aunt Gay (yes, that's her name) who came to my grandmother's public viewing with her two daughters (one by adoption), and told me about her trip to New York. I then said something like, "that's cool, I'd like to hit TAM, and once she found out what TAM was, she got onto me for it. It's very funny, really. I explained that it was mostly about the cool speakers, and not because of my atheism (isn't Neil DeGrasse Tyson agnostic? Like, publically?), but people don't seem to listen all too much once you mention the evil A word.

I may find a way to get to TAM still yet, and if so, can't wait, but if not there's always next year. Maybe we'll get some Richard Dawkins up in here next year!

Expect me to be reporting on TAM after TAM regardless of whether I end up there or not. Just because it's far too awesome to just forget about. Am I right or am I right? As expected: totally right.

1. Grandmother died mere minutes ago.
2. Mother got money on Friday.
3. Mother ended up with a $3000 hospital bill on Saturday.
4. Copache is adopted, and his biological mother lied about him on Monday.

But strangely, even with all of our problems, that's not what this entry is about. If you can read and have read the title, you should know what comes next, and why the title ends in failure.

My mother listens to the radio show Focus on the Family featuring James Dobson in the mornings whilst she makes her 30-mi. trek to the elementary school where she works. During the time that my nephew, 12, went to said elementary school (he now goes locally), he also listened to -- and enjoyed -- Focus on the Family.

I've been wanting to tackle Focus on the Family all day long, but just now got the courage to actually go for it. With Wikipedia statistics such as...

Focus on the Family reaches 220 million listeners daily, on over 7,000 stations in 160 countries.

... one can see why this is a group one would absolutely not want to fuck with. This blog has gotten near one hundred hits in three days. They get 220 million every day.

Clearly, not a small organization, and much more influential than other Christian/creationist conservative "think tanks" like the Disco 'tute. In fact, some of what they do had me laughing out loud earlier. You don't think I'm serious? Here's a gem from their Wikipedia entry:

Focus on the Family has been a prominent supporter of intelligent design, publishing pro-intelligent design articles in its Citizen magazine and selling intelligent design videos on its website.^[9][10] Focus on the Family co-published the intelligent design videotape Unlocking the Mystery of Life with the Discovery Institute, hub of the intelligent design movement.^[11] Focus on the Family employee Mark Hartwig is also a fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, a connection which has helped to publicize intelligent design extensively; James Dobson often features intelligent design proponents on his Focus on the Family radio program. Focus on the Family's Family.org is a significant online resource for intelligent design articles.^[12][13]

Heh, call me crazy but... Focus on the Family is not just a speculated but a confirmed Christian group. Yet they publish articles, work with intelligent design groups like the awkwardly named Center for "Science" and Culture which is tied to... you guessed it... the Disco 'tute.

How is it that they can claim to be a center for Science (and culture, no less, two things which hate each other) and promote something that the scientific community calls pseudo-science? Yeah, something is wrong.

I think it's safe to say that this nonsense needs to stop. You want to Focus on the Family, you have to focus on the failure. They claim to focus on the family, but what we really see is that their focus is on the anti-homosexual, anti-evolution, and pro-neo-creationism agendas.

There's one thing that the creationists have yet to explain that would provide a slightly compelling case against evolution: their yearly flu shot. We humans require a yearly flu shot because the flu evolves year-to-year, but they want to sweep that under the rug and call it micro-evolution and dispute what they refer to as macro-evolution, when in reality they're the same thing. This supposed micro-evolution is ironically the same thing that leads to what they refer to macro-evolution: small changes over a long period of time.

Sorry about divulging into more neo-creationism nonsense, but Focus on the Family wants the focus to be on what they want, and not what is, in fact, best for my family, your family, or their own family.

How about we focus on loving each other as well as telling children where they really come from, and no, I'm not speaking of god, I'm talking about evolution. Tell them where the universe really came from: the big bang.

Maybe I'm a bit biased, but I came from a Focus on the Family type of family, so I know that in the long run I have been done more harm than good.

Clearly, errors in translation between forms of intelligent life and lesser lifeforms are bound to be riddled with errors. Take, for example, the conversion of dog barks to English.

Dog: Bark bark woof bark bark

In English: Hi, my name is Sparky!

That's not a literal translation, it's just the best I can translate it given that he's a lower life form and what he really said was actually along the lines of "Sparky, Hello <unintelligible> I'm Dog!"

We see where translation errors come from, when taken into account different point of views often cause such errors, and there's a case I've seen with the Disco 'tute that is really beyond belief. Only click through if you're ready to have your IQ drop by about ten points. I'm not sure if my way of explaining can clear it up well enough to save your IQ points, so yeah...

First off, let me say yet again that evolution is accepted by 99.9% of the scientific community. Let me also say that a large number of scientists are atheists as a direct result of their education in said subjects, and most of the time those who dissent simply do so because it conflicts with their faith. Now you know where intelligent design comes from.

OK, so we know the Disco 'tute are a bunch of two-faced liars, but this is really beyond anything I've seen from them before... almost.

In the link that I'll be giving in a second, the following is said:

In Expelled (video above), Dr. Myers explains his goal for science education:

…what we have to do is get it to a place where religion is treated at the level it should be treated— that is, it should be something fun, that people get together and do on the weekends, and really doesn’t affect their life as much as it has been so far…

What will the world look like, if Dr. Myers gets his wish? Dr.Myers:

…greater science literacy, which is going to lead to the erosion of religion, and then we’ll get this nice positive feedback mechanism going where as religion slowly fades away we'll get more and more science to replace it and that will displace more and more religion which will allow more and more science in and we’ll eventually get to the point where religion has taken that appropriate place as a side dish rather than the main course. And if you separate out the ethical message from religion — what have you got left — you got — you got a bunch of fairy tales, right?

In the midst of a furious national debate about intelligent design, Darwinism, and metaphysical bias and indoctrination in science education, one has to wonder why Dr. Myers would state plainly that the agenda of Darwinists is to advance atheism in the classroom. Why would Dr. Myers state unequivocally on film that a fundamental goal of science education is the suppression of religious belief?

I think it's safe to bring up the following points:

1. There is not, has never been, and never will be any discussion of intelligent design in the scientific community because it is pseudo-science.

Oh, wait, that's one point. Well here's the second: that's not what he said. He never said that religion was being oppressed, suppressed, or likewise. He's a teacher, his goal is simply to teach how the world works, and that's how it goes. It just so happens that he, and many others within the scientific community have noticed that religion profoundly contradicts science. He's not going to flunk any student for being religious unless they were to answer on a test that god created them and not evolution. But Copache, isn't that discrimination? Isn't that's oppression? Isn't that suppression?

No. That's how it works. If you're asked 2 + 2 by your mathematics teacher and you answer 5, you're going to be wrong. Just as if you're asked how humanity got here, we weren't created by god, we evolved from lesser lifeforms. If you contest that, you're free to go to a private educational learning facility where they won't blind you with the truth of sciences.

Anyway, I think it's fair to say this Disco 'tute associate (probably Mark Mathis) completely missed the point.

It's true that science, true science, leads to atheism. That's because bronze age myths don't stand up to modern scientific knowledge. Serious. I used to be a conservative Christian, but now I'm a moderate Atheist and proud of it.

As they say... and so it begins. Again.

Many of the nice scientific folks interviewed, including both Richard Dawkins and PZ Myers were, to my understanding, told originally that Expelled was a movie called Crossroads at the time of the interviews.

As many have pointed out, this is just completely, and utterly false. I believe those interviewed were given interviews in the summer (bookmark that word) of 2007... What was found out next is interesting.

If you take a look at the date of registration for the official site of Expelled, you find that it was registered in the beginning of March, 2007. This in stark comparison to the title of Crossroads which was the movie's claimed title at the time of the interviews -- months later.

That's right, they registered ExpelledTheMovie.com a month before requesting any of the interviews. So why did they call it Crossroads?

Investigative journalism has never felt so good, believe me.

Essentially, if they registered Expelled before the interviews and still called it Crossroads, they're...

Liars.

We've seen previously that the Disco 'tute calls Intelligent Design a scientific theory and disputes anything related to or near creationism while at the same time taking in trying hard to get support from Christian and creationist groups, and they do. In fact, Christians are the only people they really get any support from. Which is why they do this.

So we know now that they're two-faced liars. Adding to their repertoire of completely worthy insults...

Not only do they promote it to creationist groups, lie to the interviewees, but promote the view throughout Expelled that evolution is somehow linked to Nazis. Yeah, you read that right.

I believe it's a bit obvious that Hilter never renounced Roman Catholicism and in fact stated in the early 30s that faith in god was pretty much essential in all of society. 

But why should we believe anything he says? He's Hitler!

Before Charles Darwin, before evolution, before any of that, people were bred for certain purposes. I believe it was in ancient Greece that warriors were bred, as were workers and what-not. Really. Farmers have known for centuries the things Darwin stated, but no one ever put it into that perspective: that everything changes over time, or evolves. Evolution is not some mythical beast that has to be slain to avoid slaughter of innocents.

Even if evolutionary theory was the catalyst upon which Hitler himself decided to act, that doesn't make it bad, or a taboo in the least. You want true death? Look up the exploits of every religion ever. It's very interesting to note we hear about all those that Hitler slaughtered, but the movie never brings up the crusades. Could it be *gasp* biased?

Now they're biased two-faced liars. This is quickly turning from a conservative creationist think tank into Fox News!

As my final statement for now, I'm going to openly accuse them of intellectual dishonesty.

I assure you, this will definitely continue in the coming weeks and months, so look for many, many more parts in addition to the normal programming of scientific knowledge.