The Minnesota Atheists posted a list of 34 Unconvincing Arguments for God. It gives a brief rebuttal of almost every reason I've heard for believing that a god exists. If you don't want to download the pdf version, here's an html version.

The Real Clear Politics Iowa poll average now has Obama ahead by four points. Recent Zogby polling shows that Obama is the candidate that can defeat any of the Republicans. He still trails in the national Democratic primary polls, but it's now clear that he can win Iowa, he can win the nomination and he can win the general election. I think he's the candidate that would be the best President, so this is great news.

Cooking With Pooh - Someone didn't think this title through.

(via Digg)

Last weekend was the football game between MU and KU. I don't give a damn about sports, but it is interesting that this rivalry is called the Border War because there really was a time when the citizens of Kansas and Missouri were at war with each other. I'm currently reading The Border Between Them: Violence and Reconciliation on the Kansas-missouri Line by Jeremy Neely which explores the causes and effects of that war on six of the border counties. I live in one of those counties and it's been fascinating to learn more about the history of the area. I recommend the book to anyone who likes history, especially if you live in the area like I do.

Keep in mind that according to our President, we're keeping troops in Iraq to create breathing room for their fledgling democracy to stabilize. The US embassy in Iraq is giving instruction on democratic principles to Iraqi lawmakers through its Office of Legislative Statecraft. So far so good. Who did the Bush administration appoint to direct this office? Manuel Miranda.

Where did Miranda hone his own legislative statecraft? At the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this decade, where he led an 18-month effort to pilfer documents from the Democratic staff.

Miranda, who moved on to work as judicial nominations counsel for then-Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) in 2003, was forced from his job in early 2004 after an internal Senate investigation determined he and a junior aide had swiped 4,670 documents, memos and e-mails.

Miranda subsequently acknowledged doing so. He said that because the committee had no internal password protection at the time, no laws were broken when he looked through and printed out other aides' electronic files. (Washington Post)

After months of talking about it and mentally converting various sums of money to the equivalent number of Wiis (1 iMac = 6 Wiis), I finally broke down and bought a Nintendo Wii. I picked up Wii Play and Super Mario Galaxy. We set it up last night and had a lot of fun. Sara destroyed me in tennis and bowling. Emma and I made Miis that look like us and I added the Check Mii Out channel and downloaded a few celebrity Miis. Ever wondered who would win in a boxing match between Chuck Norris and Jesus? If you have a Wii and want to exchange Wii # so we can send each other Miis, email me.

Nova | Judgement Day: Intelligent Design on Trial - I just finished watching this PBS documentary about the trial in Dover, PA. Like the trial itself, the film gives a good overview of the science of evolution and the criticism leveled against it by proponents of ID. I highly recommend it. You can probably catch a rerun on PBS, or watch the whole program online.

The PBS site has some extra information, including several examples of transitional fossils.

In Basra, violence is a tenth of what it was before British pullback, general says - International Herald Tribune

BAGHDAD: Attacks against British and Iraqi forces have plunged by 90 percent in southern Iraq since London withdrew its troops from the main city of Basra, the commander of British forces there said Thursday.

(via TruthDig)

Missouri Governor Matt Blunt is in hot water over a former employee who says he was forced out for trying to get the administration to follow the law. Here's an overview of the scandal:

Eckersley: Hey boss, I don't think you're retaining emails as public records like you're supposed to.

Blunt: Guess, what. You're fired.

Eckersley: Hey reporters, the governor fired me for telling him he was breaking the law.

Reporters: WTF, Blunt?

Blunt: No, he never mentioned mentioned anything of the sort to me. And not all emails are state records.

Reporters: Uh, yeah they are. Have you read the Sunshine Law?

Blunt: Anyways, I fired him because he was working on an outside project on State time.

Eckersley: It was 2 hours of work over 9 months. And I had permission from my boss.

Blunt: Well, we really fired him because there were dirty emails in his inbox.

Reporters: Dude, that's called spam. You don't know anything about computers, do you?

Blunt: Scott Eckersley does drugs.

Eckersley: The hell I do. Hey, Matt, remember that email I sent your staff telling them to stop deleting emails because it's against the law?

Blunt: No such email exists.

Eckersley: I have a copy of it right here.

Blunt: I don't, because I delete my emails. Crap, uh, attention state bar association, I'd like to file a complaint against Scott Eckersley because he repeated his private advise to me in public.

Everyone: So, you're admitting that he discussed email retention with you?

Blunt: Oh, shit.

Ike Skelton, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and my congressman, spoke in Kansas City this week about the effect of the war in Iraq on our military readiness.

Why should any of us worry about a military readiness crisis? The lack of readiness of our Army forces that are not currently deployed is of great concern because we depend on those forces to be able to answer the nation’s call in the event of some unforeseen future conflict. Make no mistake, the American military remains a formidable force, even when stretched. But the way things are now, it would be difficult for those forces to respond in a timely manner. Readiness is our insurance policy for national security. ...

Clearly, the most urgent national security issue facing the United States today is the tremendous burden that the war in Iraq is currently placing on our military, in particular the Army and Marine Corps. We must ask whether our significant commitment of forces in Iraq serves our broader national security interests. In my estimation, the answer is no. We are not properly prepared to respond to numerous and readily conceivable security challenges outside of the Middle East. We are taking on a significant level of strategic risk, and it will be years before this problem can be fully solved.

Give 'em hell, Ike!

(via Fired Up Missouri)