read more… »

Not a trace of insincerity - just a fantastically well delivered (and presumably memorised - no teleprompters will be needed for this president) speech from a sincere, down to earth, intelligent man. In comparison, G.W always came across just the opposite. His body language betrayed his (written by others) words and we just ignored anything he said as rhetoric nonsense. Good riddance to bad rubbish as my Mum would have said.

Any downsides? David Letterman will have to find a new segment. No more ‘Great Moments in Presidential speeches’ for a start!

His inclusion of the words ’science’, ‘technology’ and ‘knowledge’ were all promising as well. Maybe finally this will be the death knell of the I.D nonsense and the U.S will be able to claw back some of the technological expertise and intellectual standing that they have lost over the last few years.

Here’s Obama’s Victory Speech. Part 1:

Part 2:

« hide more…

read more… »

They actually thanked her for her honesty which was pleasant enough I guess, but didn’t mean we weren’t annoyed that they should presume to come to our door and tell us their brand of fairy story…

Spiritualists, astrologers and those who pretend to be able to chat to your dead relatives piss me off just as much as mormons. Not to mention the ‘clairvoyants’ who appear on reality TV shows and pretend to solve ‘unsolvable’ crimes - they’re all fruit-loops and charlatans. There was a show on telly over here (Sensing Murder) recently that had an assortment of these nutters that appeared to get remarkably accurate results - but as is mentioned in fine print at the end ‘parts of the show are ‘edited’ to improve the program’. The ‘improvements’ are to deliberately mislead in my opinion.

This page at the Victorian Skeptics website has some interesting info about the show including this little gem. Quote: “A contact from the crew of “Sensing Murder” has revealed another part of the reason why the psychics did so well at sensing details from the murders. Apparently the psychics were filmed while they were picking up ‘vibes’ about the case and then their comments were matched up against the known facts. The show was subsequently ‘improved’ by editing out the mistakes. The correct statements were left in, as well as those mentioned by both psychics. The crew member was very unimpressed by the psychics’ abilities and claimed to feel “morally bankrupt” for having worked on the show.”
There always has been shows on telly with this theme like Touched by an Angel and other such drivel but now we have the Ghost Whisperer, Ghost Hunters, The Mentalist, Sensing Murder, The One etc which all seem to be portraying this nonsense as having some kind of a factual basis - but it doesn’t - none whatsoever.

Look, if you are so desperate to get some reassuring words from your dead relatives that you need to go to a clairvoyant or call 1900talktothedead or whatever (usually at outrageous per minute charges) - well fine, I don’t care, it’s your money. But honestly, we are actually in the 21st Century now and charlatans, voodoo and witch doctors belong in another era - so why not just face reality as it is?

« hide more…

read more… »

There’s not many people in NZ and the channels have to pay the bills somehow. I can’t imagine the networks would pay for this rubbish, they must get advertising revenue out of the churchies surely.

The ‘Chasers War’ comedy show here on the ABC just love poking the stick at silly people, including christians. Their Hillsong one is still one of their best I reckon, but here’s one they did a while ago about the late night christian shows on here -

Remember the Westboro Baptist loonies?
The Chaser’s did a hilarious ‘flirting with a Westboro church man’ skit -

« hide more…

It happened when Todd Koontz, a guest speaker at the “Miracle Crusade” told the 18,000 believers at the Coca Cola Dome near Johannesburg that God had created a “two minute” window of opportunity, during which time the Almighty would make hundreds into millionaires, or even billionaires.”

Sigh… there’s an idiot born every minute. Read the rest of the story here.

Of course, Benny the Hair has made some outrageous claims in the past too - the following transcript details Hinn’s exact words on the October 19, 1999, Praise the Lord show :

“Here’s what I see for TBN. You’re going to have people raised from the dead watching this network. You’re going to have people raised from the dead watching TBN … I’m telling you, I see this in the Spirit. It’s going to be so awesome-Jesus I give you praise for this-that people around the world-maybe not so much in America-people around the world who will lose loved ones, will say to undertakers, “Not yet. I want to take my dead loved one and place him in front of that TV set for 24 hours.” …

I’m telling you, I can feel the anointing talking here. People are going to be canceling funeral services and bringing their dead in their caskets, placing them-my God! I feel the anointing here-placing them before a television set, waiting for God’s power to come through and touch them. And it’s going to happen time and time-so much it’s going to spread. You’re going to hear it from Kenya to Mexico to Europe to South America, where people will be raised from the dead. So much so that the word will spread that if some dead person be put in front of this TV screen, they will be raised from the dead and they will be by the thousands …

I see rows of caskets lining up in front of this TV set and I see them bringing them closer to the TV set and as people are coming closer I see loved ones picking up the hands of the dead and letting them touch the screen and people are getting raised as their hands are touching that screen.”

Ok, I rest my case, he’s certifiable…

« hide more…