Kristin's Life
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "lil_kit88" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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10:04 am
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Ah, Kansas does it again...
Another school board (actually, a school board that tried before) has watered down evolution instruction in the science classroom to allow for discussion of intelligent design and so-called problems with evolution, such as the "gap in the fossil record" (ok...are we to expect every single thing that ever lived to have managed to die in such a manner that it leaves a fossil? Geesh. We've only been doing this stuff for what - 150 years? and scientists are supposed to have found EVERYTHING? - this also stems from a misunderstanding of evolution and an expectation to find a half cat-half dog animal) and scientific challenges to the "theory" (<=read fact, which it is) of evolution.
This stuff is a load of shit and nothing makes me more angry than people who try to tout religion as science.
Here's excerpts from the press release that's been going around:
"Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power." To me, in order for that to be true, you have to first prove that there is a so-called "higher power." And also, I don't know that intelligent design advocates would be that willing to put it in the corriculum if it meant suggesting that we were "designed" by extraterrestrials, by multiple "designers," or an evil designer...though there are many Christians (I've never heard someone of another faith say this, but perhaps they do) who believe that things of this world are evil (like the human proclivity towards violence and sex) and should be renounced. Hmmm...I'm seeing a new arguement. If humans were "designed" to be the way that we are, then this "intelligent designer" wanted us to like violence and sex...interesting...
Anyhoo, back to my rant... More from the release:
"The new standards...also declare that the basic Darwinian theory that all life had a common origin and that natural chemical processes created the building blocks of life have been challenged in recent years by fossil evidence [not true] and molecular biology [Michael Behe - who I've seen speak and who is a moron]."
And the best... "In addition, the board rewrote the definition of science, so that it is no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena." So, the study of ghosts, astrology and miracles are all now under the definition of science. Woo hoo! I heard on the radio (NPR) a woman commenting on this. Someone on the school board was saying that just because they took the part about "natural" explanations out of the definition didn't mean that they were advocating the search for supernatural explanations. And the woman said, "Mr. So-and-So...if the explanations are not natural, how are they not supernatural?" Duh! But really isn't this ridiculus? Why bother to look for natural explanations at all if that is not required anymore. Why not just skip the whole scientific method bullshit and say, "Why did the trees loose their leaves?" Oh, well, there's no need for a natural explanation anymore. We can simply say god -oh, wait, no, an "intelligent designer" did it! Why did I flunk my test mom? No longer is the explanation that little JOhnny didn't study hard enough necessary...now, it is god - oh stop! an "intelligent designer's" fault! Or maybe it was the aliens...or the ghosts...or the devil :-)
I keep getting side tracked... I can't help it. This is all just so absolutely stupid. But hey, I want to thank the Kansas Board of Education for defining what science is instead of letting that up to the, ah, scientists to decide. But hey, what do they know, right?
On the same subject, I heard this on the radio as well this morning, but nothing was in the press release about it. I heard members of the Board say that the teachers and children are encouraged to challenge evolution and look for new theories on the origin of life. Ah...isn’t this the job of scientists, not school children? Because, you know, school children have access to all the information to really make informed decisions about punctuated equilibrium...God, kids are so smart these days!
Current Mood:  pissed off
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08:47 am
[Link] | PA License plate #DWD 1355 (a trail blazer) is my new driving nemisis.
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10:09 am
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Stranger in a Strange Land
I feel like I'm back in college. It's very dorm like. I hate moving. Now I have to find new places for all my stuff :-0
In fact, I think that my new office is about the size of my room at the townhouse.
Current Mood: lost
Current Music: Raveonettes
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11:15 am
[Link] | Well, 7 of my new cds came yesterday :-) I'm still waiting on Tori Amos and Mick Jagger. They Might Be Giants are AWESOME! My new favorite band :-) My favorite song on all my new cds thus far is "Meant to Be" by Squirrel Nut Zippers. All their songs that are sung by Katherine Whalen ("Meant to Be", "It Ain't You" "Blue Angel," etc) sound like Billie Holliday. Makes me happy :-) And did you know that "Mack the Knife" is originally from "Threepenny Opera?" Neither did I. "Oh the shark has pretty teeth dear..."
Last night he stayed over again :-) I'll post any fun e-mails I or my mother receives from my ex-husband. Crazy bastard. Oh, maybe he actually told the TRUTH for once and went to Louisana. That would make me very happy.
I Love the 80s is back and it ROCKS! YAY! THE 1980s! I had completely forgotten about Barf on You Can't Do That on Television. That show was soooo disgusting!
:-)
Current Music: Squirrel Nut Zippers
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02:36 pm
[Link] | cds i recently ordered
1. NIN - Pretty Hate Machine - I've had this on cassette since 1996, but finally obtained it on cd. My favorite! If someone discovered that Trent Reznor was god, I don't think I'd be shocked (this cd came last week)
2. Raveonettes - Chain Gang of Love - any band who has a member with Jack Kerouac's face tatooed on their arm is a-ok with me...I adore their ep..."Beat City" being my favorite (as if that isn't obvious!)...almost saw them in concert in Pittsburgh two years ago...ah, if only!!!
3. Tori Amos - Strange Little Girls - has a cover of one of my favorite songs, 10cc "I'm Not In Love"
4. Threepenny Opera featuring Ute Lemper
5. Cowboy Junkies - Greatest Hits - I LOVE their version of sweet jane - I actually like it better than the VU's original version, which is saying a lot..."I'm so lonesome I could cry" is on it too
6. They Might Be Giants - an old love of mine, Ben, recommended this to me way back in 1995 and they've stuck in my head as a band I always wanted to look into but never got the chance. Once when I was still in high school, I caught an episode of the Muppet Show, and those rats sang a catchy tune about Istanbul. So, after 10 years of thinking about this band, I finally bought their greatest hits
7. PM Dawn - Yes, finally, "I'd Die Without You" on cd :-)
8. Mick Jagger - Goddess in the Doorway - I've wanted this since it came out. The song "Visions of Paradise" I had dedicated to my current bf back in '02 when I thought I had no shot (who knew?)
9. Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hot - we'll see. I love "Hell"
10. October Project - ok, my one good friend Mike in college was obsessed with this band. One night, I was listening to NPR pretty late, and they had this song on "Return to Me" which was very beautiful. Well, turned out it was by October Project. So, I went out and bought the cd, but at some point between then and now, I sold it or did something with it because I don't have it anymore. Well, the other week I started to think about this band, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember the name of the song that I liked (I remembered there being something about the sea, or the ocean or something, in the lyrics) and I couldn't remember the name of the band, either! For some reason, the letters "O" and "P" were in my head, and I kept thinking that it was "Our Lady Peace" but I absolutely knew that that wasn't correct. So, I started the rather ambitious project of going alphabetically through the music artists directory at yahoo. I started with 'O' and didn't find anything. But then I was in the "p"s and found a bunch of bands with "Project" in their name. For some reason, that sounded familiar, so I went to yahoo launch and looked up artists with the word "project" in their name, and low and behold, there was October Project. So, after all that, how could I not go and order the cd?
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11:10 am
[Link] | If everyone were a non-conformist, then non-conformity would be conforming.
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09:54 am
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Kristin needs... (this was a fun game!)
Kristin needs to be found
Kristin needs monthly prayer and financial support
Kristin needs to move, of course, and check other corners
Kristin needs to add chlorine to the water in the hot tub
Kristin needs a family who can provide her with nurturance, consistency and love.
Kristin needs dust.
Kristin needs a shirt that says "Drama Queen."
kristin needs a nickname cause she a cool lady who needs a cool name too
Kristin needs reinforcers for assignment completion
Kristin needs to stop injecting herself with green goo
Kristin needs to tone down her cuteness.
kristin needs a hug
kristin needs sleep
Kristin needs 4 pounds of grass seed per 1000 square feet.
KRISTIN NEEDS TO STEP OFF A HUGE BUILDING AND DIE SLOWLY!!!
Kristin needs help especially on Election Day
Kristin needs some photos of persons who have been executed
Kristin needs to relax
Kristin needs to be slapped.
kristin needs to kill herself
Kristin needs to be followed by many specialists and undergo extensive, costly diagnostic tests
Kristin needs to do is dye her hair blond and visit the house of three bears, then she can eat all the porridge she wants in true fairytale
kristin needs to float away into The ocean
Kristin needs more money
Kristin needs to do it and she hasn't
kristin needs new panties!
Kristin needs to walk in front of a bus
Kristin needs to smile
Kristin needs a day at the spa
Kristin needs blood
kristin needs another cocktail.
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09:33 am
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Goth.
Hi. So your a goth eh? All color in the rooms you
walk into is reduced to nothingness. Your
depressed manner pisses everyone off and kids
are scared of you. Bing a goth rules because no
one will mess with you because you just may
kill them. use your power wisely young
nightwalker.
What American Stereotypical Subculture are YOU?
brought to you by Quizilla
<td align="center">You should have grown up during the twenties
You are cool, sophisticated and hip – even by today’s standards. You like things before they are considered cool, and you like them long afterwards.
Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com</td>
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02:49 pm
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Elitist Fuck.
Which Subculture Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
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02:27 pm
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Stupid Ex-Husbands
Ok...so now he's e-mailing my mother telling me that seeing someone's car in my driveway was a "direct insult to him" and "a slap in the face." (I'm not sure if seeing someone's car in my driveway was the reason for this outburst, but I really can't imagine what other reason there might be...)
Point #1: It's been almost 10 months since we have been together and 3 months since our divorce was final. Does he think that I'm never going to see anyone ever again?
Point #2: It's so ridiculous that someone's car in my driveway is an insult to him. What - everyone who comes to see me has to park someplace else so that he doesn't have to see that I've moved on with my life? It's not my fault that he drives past my house twice a day to go to work. There are other routes he can take to get there...and he could do what he's said that he was going to do 10 million times: move away! (Whether to Colorado, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, or wherever it is this week...) If it makes you that uncomfortable and angry to see that I've moved on with my life, (and am finally happy, thank you very much)... nevermind.
And his next 'album' is going to 'have a direct affect' on my family and I. I don't know if he means that it's going to be ABOUT what happened, (as in, the writing of the album was directly affected by the implosion of our relationship) or if it's going to directly affect my family in some way... I only hope that he graces the world with his tone-deaf singing (because that's what it is - and I"m not being bitter and making things up)...and perhaps puts to music that wonderful poem about how I smashed his heart or whatever he said I did... Maybe the cover art will be pictures of me that he took stalker-azzi-like... who knows?!?! (Probably not even him because he's so friggin' bipolar/DD psychotic....)
AHHHH!!! Why can't he just not exist anymore? Just...geesh... I wish that he would get a life.
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09:06 am
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Alanis Moissette
From Stylus Magazine:
Alanis Morissette is PJ Harvey without intelligence, Sarah McLachlan without the niceness, Tori Amos without depth, Liz Phair without attraction, Jewel without sweetness, Aimee Mann without insight. She is a jagged little plague and I wish she would disappear for good already.
Well said!
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09:06 am
[Link] |  Found in many lakes and ponds, ducks are a common site the world over. Known for their famous quack, ducks tend to congregate in flocks or go off on their own in pairs. As a duck, you may seem friendly at times but will not hesitate to bite if someone is bothering you. Your love for travel and your ability to swim are some reasons why you are a duck. You were almost a: Bunny or a LambYou are least like a: Squirrel or a FrogCute Animals Quiz |
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03:47 pm
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books....
Ordered a bunch of books. I love Dover Publishing.
La-Bas (commonly known as "The Damned") - Huysmans
The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins
THe Idiot - Dosteovsky
The Gamber - Dosteovsky
Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
A Christmas Carol - Dickens
A Cricket on the Hearth & Other Stories - Dickens
The Return
The Golem
3 Gothic Novels (Vathek, Vampyre, and Castle of Ortrano)
I hope some of these live up to "The Monk" by Matthew Lewis which is one of my favorite books of all time!
It's getting to be Halloween, so it's time to break out the scary books :-) I can't wait until they get here!!!!!!
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03:19 pm
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Quote
From "Tess of the D'Urbervilles"
(Jonathan telling Tess about Retty's attempted suicide over unrequited love)
"I am so sorry you should have heard this sad story about the girls," he said. "Still, don't let it depress you. Retty was naturally morbid, you know."
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09:59 am
[Link] | I didn't get home from work last night until about 10:45 p.m. Yuck. From the time I left for my meeting until the time I got home = approximately 4 hours. And most of the meeting was about zoning and how people cannot have commercial uses in the village zoning district. You just simply can't people - I'm sorry, but those are the rules. The Supervisors cannot help you.
So, I got home and then was up watching television until 12:30 a.m. The new batch of VH1 "reality" shows came on this week! "My Fair Brady" isn't as great as I thought that it would be. I thought that perhaps Adrienne Curry and Christopher Knight might be the romance of the 21st century (please hear the slight sarcasm) but in all honesty, Christopher is kind of a jerk. "Breaking Bonaduce" has, however, turned out to be interesting. He's crazy...the show's crazy... I think he'll be more interesting to watch then Gary Busci on "Celebrity Fit Club 2." I suppose the question that I should be asking myself, however, is why I get such sick pleasure out of watching these shows?
Then I stayed up for about another half hour reading Thomas Hardy.
All this, AND i was to work EARLY this morning. But of course, the boss isn't here.
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11:20 am
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Interesting take on Gay Marriage debate...
from nogod blog...
Marriage -- Not for girly-men
Ah_Nuld
stated today that although he supports gay rights, he is going to veto
Kaleefornia's gay marriage bill, even though it had passed the state
legislature (translation: he does not support gay rights).
As
I see it, the liberal religionists need to play their cards better
here. This is about marriage, which is religious in origin. The
religions made it, the state sanctioned and secularized it -- not the
other way around. Many Atheists refuse to get married for this very
reason.
Conservative religionists insist that the First
Amendment was intended to keep the government out of the church, not
the other way around. BS, of course. In reality, it's both ways. So if
a Unitarian church wants to marry a gay couple, doesn't the
Constitution protect their right to perform this religious ritual?
Isn't the state's refusal to recognize some religious rituals and not
others a direct infringement on the church's rights?
The
state has no right to tell a church who they can marry, any more than
they can tell a Jewish synagogue who they can bar-mitzvah. That's the
tack I wish they'd take.
My take: there isn't enough love in
this world. If you find it, hold on tight. Personally, I'd love to see
a Constitutional amendment allowing gay marriage. I also would have
loved to see a certain governor show a little more compassion and
backbone.
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10:57 am
[Link] | Interesting...It's just
like Bush to declare that instead of actually DOING something to help
the situation in New Orleans and the other areas hit by this hurricane,
we should all just pray. Right...because that's going to help a
lot more than handing out food and water...
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10:47 am
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I <3 WV
Got back from West Virginia last night.
Left here about 6 p.m. Thursday evening. Somewhere around Cumberland Md. (I don't remember specifically where) I saw a sign for Rax, so we ate at Rax. I miss Rax. They need to tear down some of the stupid places on the strip and put Rax back. We got to Morgantown sometime around 10:30 p.m., got a room at the Hotel Morgan (I think that's what it was called) and went out for the evening. We went to two bars, and had one drink at each bar. One place let us in without paying the cover charge. But there were a lot of students out and about, and they were mostly those really annoying girls who irritated me in college...they still irritate me.
Anyhoo...left the bars and were kind of wandering around and then at about 1 a.m. we found, of all things, a hookah bar. I was so happy! We went in and smoked a hookah until about 1:45 or there abouts. The hookah wasn't that bad...there was only an initial smoke taste but then it dissipated. It was awesome.
The next day we were out by about 10 a.m. We went to eat at the Mountainman Market or something like that...it's a vegetarian place. We both at Tofu scramblers, home fries and toast. Very cool. Filled us up until about 8 p.m. that night. Then we kind of did the whole tour thing and went on the monorail thing they've got going there. Then we left Morgantown around 5 p.m. to head south before the place got crazy for the football game on Saturday.
We saw a bunch of deer on the ride down, and we got a hotel in Summersville, near the New River Gorge. We ended up eating at the Cafe Caledonia. We went to try to find this place, and it turned out that they were having some kind of carnival. We were going to get some cotton candy, but we were so full after dinner that we couldn't do it. The Cafe was really cute. I had the "Cowgirl Pasta" which I was slightly worried about, but it was excellent. He had the salmon. I also had a glass of Syrah wine. I wanted the "Fat Bastard Merlot" but they were out :-(
The next day we were kind of lazy. We didn't get out of bed until 10. We ate the continental breakfast at the hotel and for the first time I ate my new favorite food - buscuit and gravy :-) SOOOOOO gooooood.... Anyway...we stole some blueberry muffins and a donut for the rest of the day and managed to shower and get out of there by 11. On the road to New River Gorge. That place was GORGEOUS!!!!! I want to build a little shack at the bottom of that place and live there forever. It really was comparable to Montana or Wyoming, but 10 million times better in every way because I had more enjoyable company :-) We saw a lot of the Gauly river too. It's absolutely gorgeous there. We didn't get as far on the road as we would have like to have done that day, and we didn't want to start up the "scenic route" and not have there be any hotels along the way, so we stayed in Lewisburg of all places. Ah, the irony. That place was such a nice little town. We stayed at the Brier Inn (which had the most retarded parking design either of us ever saw) and we ate at the Tavern 17-- (something). That place was awesome. We sat outside to eat. (There was a guy there, though, who looked like Willie Aames, if Willie Aames was a professor with weird shoes at an uppity community college in the uppity part of west virginia...bet you didn't know that existed did you?!) I had the red snapper and a glass of Pinot Noir and he had the lamb, like always. For dessert, he had the chocolate torte and I ate the merange, which was kind of like eating air...but it was very good. Then we went back and went to bed.
Sunday, we actually managed to wake up (surprisingly) and we were out by 10. Headed along the scenic route and ate breakfast at Martindale or something like that. Ate at Frenchie's diner where he ate ham, eggs, toast and hash browns, while I had...you guessed it...buscuits and gravy! (Yummm....) Took some pictures along the rail trail (because we're geeks). We ended up going to Blackwater Falls State Park - gorgeous, again and then were on our way home, which seemed to take forever. I want to go back tomorrow.
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11:58 pm
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Can a nonreligious person experience religious persecution/discrimination
Well, if you have no religion, then you can't be prevented from practicing your religion. But, I suppose this is where the distinction between freedom 'of' religion and freedom 'from' religion. You can't practice a religion if you don't have one, so the freedom 'of' part is kind of a moot point. But, on the other hand, the freedom 'from' religion is a very important. I might not be prevented from practicing something that I don't have, but I certainly don't want to have to anyone elses religion shoved down my throat...so, in terms of that, in terms of freedom 'from' religion - in that way, a nonreligious person can definately be discriminated against.
And then we have the issue of the prejudices that many religious people have against nonreligious people. This is really rampent in our society, and being nonreligious - especially labeling yourself as 'atheist' - is pretty much the equivalent of being gay...but the president (George Bush I) never said that gays shouldn't be considered citizens just because they're gay. But he did say that about atheists. I can name thousands and thousands of other examples of this. Isn't that religious discrimination? But if atheism isn't a religion of some sort, how can it be religious discrimination? And if it isn't religious discrimination, then what is it?
But again it comes back to the question of whether a group that meets to discuss the non-existence of god is involved in a fundamentally religious activity of some type, and it still seems to me that the answer is yes. Another way to look at this - if you're applying for a job, and they say they are an equal opportunity employer who does not discriminate on the basis of belief or religion, does that permit them to discriminate against people who have no belief or religion?
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03:35 pm
[Link] | I wish that I could think of something really smart and intelligent to say, but ah, nothing comes to mind. Is is possible to get dumber with age?
Ok...here's something intelligent.
About this KAUFMAN v. MCCAUGHTRY case. Basically, this prisoner wanted to start a discussion group for Atheists, but was denied so he took it to the supreme court and won. Now, everybody in the Atheist camp is upsest that the court ruled that for the purposes of the law, Atheism is a religion and therefore Kaufman's First Amendments rights were violated by the prison. At first, I was completely ready to agree with this decision. Michael Newdow argued the same thing when he was trying to get "Under God" taken out of the pledge. Ok...atheism might not be a religion because it doesn't involve faith nor a belief in a higher power (see Websters definition), but how else are atheists or other non-traditional "religious" groups supposed to get equal treatment without invoking the First Amendment? I think Michael Newdow put it this way: Should the state/government give money to teachers of the Christian religion...as in, say, teachers at a private religious school. No, of course not. Why? Because that would be a violation of the first amendment/separation of church and state. The answer, of course, is the same if the teachers are teaching at a Buddhist school, or a Muslim school. Well, of course everybody would say the same thing about an Atheist school. Why? Because in terms of the law, it's the same thing. Atheism holds a position or opinion about the existence of supernatural powers, so even though it denies their existence (meaning it doesn't meet the dictionary definition of religion), the fact that it has an opinion on the existence or nonexistence should classify it as some form of religious belief. This seems to me to be logical.
Ellen Johnson states that instead of trying to claim that his group was religious in nature, and trying to get it approved as such, Kaufman should have challenged the prison laws that allowed him only to use the 'religious group' avenue to form a discussion group. Ok, that makes sense too.
Then, what other people have said also got me thinking. If Atheism is a religion, then the religious right could start using that "legal designation" as a means to challenge the teaching of evolution and keeping god and religious displays out of the public forum. One could easily see how Pat Robertson and those of his ilk could jump on this and claim that Atheism is being taught in school (as in, god is left out) and that the Atheist version of the origins of the universe, i.e. evolution (even though a "belief" in evolution doesn't necessarily mean that a person holds a specific viewpoint on the existence or nonexistence of a supernatural being), is a religious viewpoint. Therefore, not being allowed to insert god into the public forum and teach creationism along with evolution in public schools in tantamount to religious discrimination and a violation of the first amendment because the state is favoring Atheism over Christianity or any other religion. AHHH!
So...I don't know what to think about it anymore.
*Phew* ok...that was my smart thought for the day.
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