Verbatim

From The Denver Post online edition

DENVER AND THE WEST

Toy robot detours traffic near Coors Field

By Kyle Glazier
The Denver Post

A robot met its end near Coors Field tonight when the Denver Police Department Bomb Squad detonated the "suspicious object," bringing to an end the hours-long standoff between police and the approximately eight-inch tall figurine.

Denver Police Spokesman Matt Murray said that a citizen called police at 3:27 p.m. to report the presence of the plastic white toy robot cemented to the base of a pillar supporting a footbridge near the intersection of 20th and Wazee streets. Police closed 20th Street between Blake Street and Chestnut Place, but did let a few people past the police tape to retreive cars parked in nearby lots. Nobody was allowed within about 100 yards of the robot.

"Are you serious?" asked Denver resident Justin Kent, 26, when police stopped him from proceeding down 20th Street. Kent said that he lived just past the closed area, but was told he would have to go around via Park Avenue.

"I can't believe it. This is ridiculous," said Kent.

Traffic piled up at adjacent intersections as rush hour commuters were forced to detour around the closure.

Some pedestrians, unable to reach their vehicles at a lot adjacent to the robot, decided to wait it out at a bar on 20th Street, asking uniformed officers to let them know when the road reopened.

A bomb squad robot was sent it to examine the troublesome robot before a bomb squad officer, dressed in heavy protective gear, took a turn.

Murray said that the bomb squad couldn't be sure if the robot was safe or not, and so remotely detonated it at about 5:30 p.m. to "render it safe." The robot exploded into several chunks.

"It was cemented in. That's odd," Murray said.

Murray said that suspicious objects do not automatically warrant a call to the bomb squad if patrol officers are able to determine that there is no threat. He said that the robot was strange enough to warrant precautionary measures. In the end, it proved harmless.

"A whole lot of nothing," Murray said.

20th Street reopened after police finished cleaning up the remains of the robot. Murray said that police have no leads on who put the robot there, or why they did it.

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Louisiana is smarter than Texas

Texas, Kentucky and Louisiana have been in a close race to see who can out-stupid whom. It's official...for now at least...that Louisiana is smarter than Texas.

The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Schools voted 8-2 today to approve new biology textbooks that creationists relentlessly attacked because of their coverage of evolutionary science. Today’s vote represents a huge setback for religious-right pressure groups like the Louisiana Family Forum, which demanded that the textbooks include creationist ideology based on junk science.

The Louisiana Coalition for Science, which championed sound education throughout the debate,has more here. The National Center for Science Education has details here.

The anti-science religionists are working to keep Texas in last place, but Kentucky is still in the running neck and neck with South Carolina, with neither very far behind.

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H/T

God is good

The shameless loons of the now infamous Westboro Baptist Church plan to once again demonstrate the softer side of Christianity.

"God hates Elizabeth Edwards," the anti-gay activists said in a statement. "Flee her example."

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Failure to pull the head out

Armchair Generalist Jason Sigger has a very succinct way of telling the DoD that they have their heads up their collective asses, suggesting that it is Time for a New Leader.

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Some Christians get it

Perhaps the religious nuts in this country should take lessons from some in other countries.

Christian blasphemy law not needed, says bishop.

The money quote:

"Jesus does not need a worldly law for His honor"

We don't need no stinkin' laws in this country either.

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Religious Right Refudiated

Adullam Films

Filmmaker Christian Pinto, ironically, is an evangelical Christian. He is also the founder and owner of Adullam Films, which has produced several films promoting the Biblical point of view. Interestingly, he has recently produced a documentary refuting the Religious Right's Christian nation claims.

The three-hour DVD, The Hidden Faith of the Founding Fathers, includes details of the early contributions of Thomas Paine in the formation of this republic. The film provides documentary evidence that our Constitution’s call for separation of religion and government is exactly as Thomas Jefferson describes.

Pinto also shows that the lies and distortions offered by David Barton and his ilk are nothing other than a covert effort at subversion of our founder’s and our Constitution’s intent.

Thomas Paine was the foremost promoter of Deism in his time, doing more to promote that philosophy than anyone in history. Pinto quotes from Paine's most important works, Common Sense, and The Age of Reason, demonstrating beyond doubt that Paine was far from Christian. Pinto further draws direct lines tying Paine's influence to the Revolutionary War, and to our Founders, most of whom were also Deists.

The latter parts of the documentary provides good resource for those desiring to challenge the religious right’s attempts at historical revisionism, showing it to be a complete subversion of our Constitution, and that the attempts at creating a Christian theocracy are based upon lies. In this part of the film Mr. Pinto points an accusing finger specifically to WallBuilders founder, David Barton.

Barton is well known for distorting American history and misleading Americans with his revisionism. The WallBuilders website is rife with distortion and outright lies. In this film, Barton's assertions that our Founders were Christian, and that our republic was built on Biblical principle, is roundly debunked. This documentary goes further, doing a good job of showing how the neocon lies pose a real danger to our freedoms, our country, and threaten our Constitution.

In many ways the documentary is quite good, but certainly not perfect. While Pinto cites Thomas Paine's works, revealing his Deistic beliefs and detailing Paine's influence on our Declaration of Independence, his Christian evangelical bias against Paine’s Deism are obvious. As an example, Pinto unnecessarily cites age-old and unproven gossip implicating Paine as participating in a ménage à trois with a French friend and his wife. This adds nothing to the conversation and serves only as a distraction.

More so than Deism Pinto focuses on the influence of Freemasonry on our Founders. Both Paine and Jefferson were undeniably Deists, but neither were Freemasons. Pinto offers no evidence, yet speculates that they may have been. Inversely, Freemasons George Washington and Ben Franklin were also Deists, and Pinto documents these facts quite well.

More speculation presented by Pinto is that Benjamin Franklin, while living in London, may have been involved in Satanic sacrifice while a member of The Hellfire Club. The Hellfire Club was little more than a 16th century swinger's club that spent more time conduct orgies and mocking traditional religion than conducting satanic rituals. While it is documented that Franklin was a member and undoubtedly participated in the debauchery, there is nothing more than speculation linking him to the rumored sacrifice ceremonies.

You probably shouldn’t expect that an evangelical Christian would produce a film without some attempt to proselytize. Pinto does not disappoint, but oddly enough the proselytizing is done in a way that seems to fit in with the documentary and can easily be overlooked.

In spite of Pinto’s Christian bias this documentary is well worth the $30.00 price tag. The producer has compiled an impressive arsenal of resources for Americans and true constitutionalists in their quest to keep our nation true to our founding roots.

The film trailer is on YouTube.

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Was this the guy I transported back in '79?

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H/T