The baby comes tomorrow...

So, my beautiful wife and partner Shanon is going to the hospital in about 90 minutes to start the process of induction. She is at 40 weeks 6 days today. The doctor said he things everything is cool but he wants to get the ball rolling. I will try and keep this updated, as I know I haven't been.

Atheist Madness 2014 - ROUND TWO!

2014 Atheist Madness Tournament

1) You can vote on each matchup or just the ones you like. It’s totally up to you. 

2) Voting is unlimited. So, vote now and vote often. 

3) Voting for each level will be open for 72 hours. So come back and vote for the next round on Monday (3/24)

Round two starts NOW!!!

Secular Sunshine: What Did David Silverman Actually Say?

Secular Sunshine: What Did David Silverman Actually Say?: David Silverman, president of American Atheists, has recently been featured in an article on The Raw Story , in which he first asserted tha...

Secular Sunshine: A Common Miscarriage

Secular Sunshine: A Common Miscarriage: I've certainly taken more than a brief hiatus from writing much over the past few months, and every time I thought to write anything, I...

God: Credit vs Blame

Oh Gabby! America loves you, and I do to. 

     Gabby Douglas seems like a great woman, no doubt. She won two Olympic gold medals and many other medals in national and world gymnastics competition. At the age of eight, Douglas won the Level 4 all-around gymnastics title at the 2004 Virginia State Championships. She also was named an Associated Press named her the Female Athlete of the Year, led the Pledge of Allegiance at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte and received two BET Awards for her accomplishments.

She has been training and working hard her whole life. Missing out on many childhood things in order to practice what she loves. Her family sacrificed untold hours to make sure that she was able to get the gear she needed and to the places she needed to go and she turns 18 years old in a couple of week. Gabby and her family did these things. 

Not God. 

My friend and colleague Mark Sandlin, posted an interesting question on Facebook. 

He simply asked "Do I give God too much credit?" 

To me, that is an astounding and eye opening question for a man who is an ordained minister currently serving at Vandalia Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, NC with a M.Div from Wake Forrest.  He is also a regular Huffington Post Contributor and a co-founder of The Christian Left. 

I don't believe he is asking because he doubts god. I say that because I have learned a new form of devotion and dedication to faith by talking to him over the past several months. His isn't asking because he wants some person to prop up his faith. He doesn't need it.  He is asking because it is a valid question that needs to be asked. God no more deserves the credit for Jonas Salk developing the polio vaccine than he deserves the blame for J. Robert Oppenheimer leading the team of the Manhattan Project.  So, why does he deserve credit for your bachelors degree or blame because of your bad credit?

Being an atheist, I credit everything to something else, even when those things haven't been discovered or would be something to ask Krauss about.. because I certainly don't know. I DO believe that everything happens for a reason, but not for the reason that people often think. Gods plan. 

But my friend Mark, while maintaining a steadfast and honestly admirable faith he has been able to take the approach of learning and challenging the norms of the Christian theology. He doesn't blame god for his mistakes and although he may thank God for helping him see things clearly or inspiring him, I have a hard time believing that he credits his masters degree to God. 

Take credit for your success. 

Take responsibility for your failures. 

Seek motivation and clarity where you will, but you ultimately succeed or fail based on your actions. Going a set further, we as humans succeed or fail based on our common successes or failures. 

-Nebo

Missing White Woman Syndrome... Greek Style.

Natalee Holloway, Lori Hacking, Laci Peterson, Madeleine McCann and now Maria?

Maria isn't missing or dead... but she is white. 

This past Wednesday Greek authorities raided a Roma gypsy camp on suspicion of drug trafficking. In the process, they rescued a girl who apparently was not related to either of the adults that she was living with, nor anyone else in the camp. The though being that she maybe have been abducted and a victim of human trafficking.

A tragedy that is on its way to be being corrected. Possibly. An adopted child taking illegally from her parents?  Maybe.

A world wide news worthy story? Only because she is white and blonde.

If this girl was ______________ (take your pick of any non-white ethnicity) or possibly even not cute and blonde, this would have been shelved for all new outlets not in Greece, or possibly the countries they are GUESSING that she may be from, Scandinavian and eastern European countries.

This is MWWS at its zenith.

Regardless of the outcome, be it that the police were over zealous and took this child from her adopted family illegally, or if she was abducted and was rightly rescued, or she was the product of a black market adoption pipeline etc... the news coverage is outlandish, especially considering that hundreds of people died around the world due to suicide bombings, many people were killed here in the US due to gun accidents (including children) and drug violence...just during the week they found Maria.

She is adorable, and I hope that the right outcome is on its way... but the fact that I even heard about it is ridiculous. 


-Nebo

STORY: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/21/21059335-10000-possible-clues-after-mystery-blonde-girl-found-in-greece?lite

Psychics being consulted in the Avonte Oquendo case...

You are probably all familiar with the Avonte Oquendo story by now.. heartbreaking.

 "Avonte Oquendo, a Rego Park teen who can't speak, was seen on surveillance footage running away from the Riverdale School at 1-50 51 Ave. in Long Island City just before 12:40 p.m. last Friday. "We only get a few hours of sleep every day, our mom can't stop crying, we can't eat," said Danny Oquendo, Avonte's older brother. "It's very tough on our family, but we believe he is still alive."

Huffington Post Article

Then.. today I see this....

"As the search for missing autistic teen Avonte Oquendo continues, psychics are being consulted to help find the 14-year-old mute child from New York City, who disappeared from his Queens school last Friday.

NY Daily News

Fuck you. It makes me want to puke. Even if the "psychics" donated their time and "skills" they are still monsters to be shoving this shit down the throats of an already terrified family.

If there was a hell, it would be filled with people like this.

-Nebo

PHOTO: NY Daily News