So there I was, hiding behind the Kitchen Waste bins, smoking a sly ciggy with Maureen from the Electro-Shock Theatre and pondering on the Demeaning of Life, when she reached into her coat pocket and handed me an article she’d ripped out of a magazine in the Visitor’s Centre...

Bush: Intelligent Design Should Be Taught

President Bush said Monday he believes schools should discuss "intelligent design" alongside evolution when teaching students about the creation of life.

During a round-table interview with reporters from five Texas newspapers, Bush declined to go into detail on his personal views of the origin of life. But he said students should learn about both theories, Knight Ridder Newspapers reported.

"I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought," Bush said. "You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes."

The theory of intelligent design says life on earth is too complex to have developed through evolution, implying that a higher power must have had a hand in creation.

Christian conservatives — a substantial part of Bush's voting base — have been pushing for the teaching of intelligent design in public schools. Scientists have rejected the theory as an attempt to force religion into science education.

...rest of article here

“Bleedin’ Nora,” I exclaimed. “I thought Dr. Strangelove had got George’s delusional state under control… You can’t have the President of the United States running around promoting supernatural Creationist Myths through the schools curricula, fer Chrissakes! It’s barred by their Constitution, isn’t it? Surely he knows that he’s expected to completely separate his personal superstitious fantasies from The Day Job?”

Maureen rolled her eyes and started making another roll-up.

“There you go again, forgetting this is an Inmate we’re discussing here,” she muttered. “Know what I mean? He was never treated properly for his alcoholism, or his cocaine addiction. His family just let him run around for all those years after Yale, getting arrested, doing drugs, getting wrapped up in all sort of corrupt business practices. It runs in the family, you know..”

George Bush's Cocaine Accusations Resurface

…Rumors of heavy cocaine abuse by Bush have been floating around for many years. The most pointed and public work was released by James Hatfield in his book, Fortunate Son. The book details an alleged 1972 drug conviction by Bush that was supposedly later removed from the record. In July of 2001

…full article here

“OK, OK. So he was out of control for a decade or so. Who wasn’t?! Hell, I had my own share of fortified wine when I was a student nurse. It didn’t make me believe the Earth was flat! What’s this got to do with all this Intelligent Design stuff?” I replied

Carefully rolling the tobacco and licking the gummed edge of the Rizla, Maureen answered “Look - Inmates like him, especially when they’re from an autocratic dynasty who’ve been abusing power, uncontrolled, for generations and getting away it, tend to develop Messianic tendencies. He’s an out of control Megalomaniac, dear!“

Understanding the U.S. War State

Presupposition 2 is that America is the ultimate source and moving line of the world’s freedom and goodness, God's material embodiment on earth.

This assumption too is presupposed as true by definition, the prime article of faith of a fanatic religion. Full-spectrum dominance and pre-emptive attack of threats before they appear are not merely clinically paranoid delusions of power and persecution. They follow from the underlying and increasingly absolute assumption that America is God, the source of all Freedom and Goodness on the planet. The expressions of this deranged presupposition are evident in every speech of the former alcohol and cocaine addict occupying the White House, and there is no evident opposition from the parishioners of U.S. official culture.

...full article here

As Maureen lit up her roll-up and sucked in a satisfying cloud of smoke, I handed her back the by-now grubby newspaper clipping. “Well,” I said “I can see how someone who’s supposedly running the most powerful nation on the planet might begin to delude himself that his country’s status is kind of God-like, but you aren’t seriously telling me he actually BELIEVES all that mumbo-jumbo, are you? That would be insane.”

Maureen snorted derisively “It’s worse than you think, sweetie.”

Bush says "God Speaks Through Me"

It was an odd location for George W. Bush to make his big announcement. No television cameras were present. Yet, as Mr. Bush walked into the offices of the Lapp Electric Service plant in Smoketown, Pennsylvania, he must have known that his words would be reported around the world.

There, waiting to talk to Mr. Bush, was a group of about 60 local Amish, one of whom had made a quilt for the visiting President. Mr. Bush shook a few hands, tried on a straw hat, and then made his announcement to the small crowd.

"God speaks through me," he said.

…rest of article here

I laughed nervously. “OK, so he’s got some eccentric self-obsession. We can treat that, right? That’s what we do here at Asylum Earth. Surely he can’t be THAT crazy? They wouldn’t let him sit behind that big old desk right in front of that big old Red Button if he was suffering serious psychotic delusions, now WOULD they?”

Bush's War on Liberty and America - and Reason

‘’Just in the past few months,’’ Bartlett said, ‘’I think a light has gone off for people who’ve spent time up close to Bush: that this instinct he’s always talking about is this sort of weird, Messianic idea of what he thinks God has told him to do.’’ Bartlett, a 53-year-old columnist and self-described libertarian Republican who has lately been a champion for traditional Republicans concerned about Bush’s governance, went on to say: ‘’This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He believes you have to kill them all. They can’t be persuaded, that they’re extremists, driven by a dark vision. He understands them, because he’s just like them. . . .

‘’This is why he dispenses with people who confront him with inconvenient facts,’’ Bartlett went on to say. ‘’He truly believes he’s on a mission from God. Absolute faith like that overwhelms a need for analysis. The whole thing about faith is to believe things for which there is no empirical evidence.’’ Bartlett paused, then said, ‘’But you can’t run the world on faith.’‘ ...

...rest of article here

I felt a shudder run through my soul, and pulled my threadbare regulation nurse’s cardigan around me. “There must be some mistake, Maureen. There must be. Maybe this is just other people’s jaundiced observations. It can’t be possible that George Bush actually says he’s in direct contact with his Imaginary Friend? There’s got to be a logical, medical reason for all this!”

“Oh, sure,” said Maureen. “When we’re zapping the little suckers down in Electro-Shock Therapy we play a little game; the one who makes the most Inmates suddenly think they’re talking to God gets to sneak off early on Fridays. Been doing it for ages…”

Is Belief a Psychological Condition?

Synopsis: Findings seem to point to a region of the brain commonly referred to as the 'God Spot' or 'God Module', that when stimulated creates hallucinations that are interpreted as mystical or spiritual experiences.

This 'spot' is stimulated during meditation and prayer and is affected by electromagnetic fields and epilepsy. The resulting hallucinations may be the cause of mystical, spiritual and paranormal experiences as they can give feelings such as a presence in the room or an out of body experience. In the case of epileptics, this may be the reason for many of them becoming obsessed with religion.

For those who experience the stimulation it is explained related to their own personal beliefs; a visit from an angel or lost loved one, an extraterrestrial encounter, a higher plane of consciousness or a visit from God.

...rest of Article here

Maureen stuffed the article back in her pocket and sniffed. “You know what he’s like, though. These untreated alcohol and coke addicts often suffer Deist Megalomania fantasies. The man’s got serious issues going all the way back to his teens. His dopamine levels are shot to shit. Add all that to his enormous sense of personal Inadequacy, and his bizarre lack of real human emotions, you can kind of understand why he’s like he is.”

The Coalition of the Stupid

To have the leader of the country, the leader of the party, and the person who proclaims that he wants to be known as the ‘education president’ to state, even casually, that he thinks intelligent design should be taught alongside evolution is lunacy of the first order. First, the facts:

1.) Intelligent design is not a theory. There is no theoretical basis to it. It is not scientific theory, and it is not just bad scientific theory, it is simply not theory. It is ascientific. It is a flight of fancy. It is a call to discard mountains of evidence, throw up ones hands, and state: “This is all too confusing and complex, and science is hard, so some ‘intelligent designer’ must be behind all this.”

2.) Intelligent design is creationism. It may not be quite as audaciously stupid as the nonsense peddled by the ‘young earth’ crowd, but it is creationism. Just who do you think this ‘intelligent designer’ is? One more time, let’s review who the candidates are for the title of ‘intelligent designer’ is:

... rest of article here

I nodded, thoughtfully. “So this Intelligent Design issue is just one more smoke-screen to keep people from focusing on him and his mental disorders? To keep the media running round in circles?”

“I reckon.”

“Hmm. OK. Well… What’s Intelligent Design asserting, then? It all sounds very scientific… lots of people claiming to be scientists popping up on TV saying the Universe is soooo complicated it couldn’t possibly have happened without some kind of superior intervention. Bush claims to be the ‘Education President’, and he’s got lots of scientific advisers around him…”

Maureen opened her handbag and pulled out a leaflet.

“Read this. This explains the core of the ID claims.”

A Critique of Intelligent Design Theory and Neocreationism

A new brand of creationism has appeared on the scene in the last few years. The so-called neocreationists largely do not believe in a young Earth or in a too literal interpretation of the Bible. While still mostly propelled by a religious agenda and financed by mainly Christian sources such as the Templeton Foundation and the Discovery Institute, the intellectual challenge posed by neocreationism is sophisticated enough to require detailed consideration.

Among the chief exponents of Intelligent Design (ID) theory, as this new brand of creationism is called, is William Dembski, a mathematical philosopher and author of The Design Inference . In that book he attempts to show that there must be an intelligent designer behind natural phenomena such as evolution and the very origin of the universe. Dembki's argument is that modern science ever since Francis Bacon has illicitly dropped two of Aristotle's famous four types of causes from consideration altogether, thereby unnecessarily restricting its own explanatory power. Science is thus incomplete, and intelligent design theory will rectify this sorry state of affairs, if only close-minded evolutionists would allow Dembski and company to do the job.

… Aristotle identified material causes, what something is made of; formal causes, the structure of the thing or phenomenon; efficient causes, the immediate activity producing a phenomenon or object; and final causes, the purpose of whatever object we are investigating. For example, let's say we want to investigate the "causes" of the Brooklyn Bridge. Its material cause would be encompassed by a description of the physical materials that went into its construction. The formal cause is the fact that it is a bridge across a stretch of water, and not either a random assembly of pieces or another kind of orderly structure (such as a skyscraper). The efficient causes were the blueprints drawn by engineers and the labor of men and machines that actually assembled the physical materials and put them into place. The final cause of the Brooklyn Bridge was the necessity for people to walk and ride between two landmasses without getting wet.

…complete article here

It took a while to wade through the leaflet, by which time it was time to go and give the Inmates their lunch. I met Maureen again later on when I was taking Mugabe down to Theatre for his lobotomy, but he was going a bit bonkers and had to be restrained by Carl from Security, so we didn’t have time to chat. She’s coming round to my room in the Nurses Block later on for a Gin and Tonic, so we’ll carry on with this later…