954 replies to this topic

[Roll the Bones]

Balloon guy, on Wednesday, December 8th, 2010, 3:04 PM, said:

That's how they start...they take over our brains...then they take our women-folk.YOU'RE PLAYING RIGHT INTO THEIR HANDS

Hey, I'm already looking into nuerocosmetics to improve my sense of humor. It can't make you smarter but it can make you giggle alot apparently. Wait, we should make list of people that we would do it to. God, I'd love to stick an electro-prod in the brain of that Cramer dude who does Mad Money on cnbc.

[Roll the Bones]

http://www.kentucky....lity-study.html

Quote

When Gov. Steve Beshear held a Capitol news conference to announce potential state tax incentives for an amusement park built around a life-size Noah's Ark earlier this month, he cited a feasibility study that predicted the park would attract 1.6 million visitors in its first year. However, neither Beshear nor other state officials had seen or read the study, which was commissioned by Ark Encounter, LLC, the group building the theme park. "The press release was a joint effort, and the Ark Encounter provided the numbers for the release based on their own research, much like how we work with companies on jobs announcements — they give us the info about their job numbers and investment and we work together on a release," said Beshear spokeswoman Kerri Richardson in an e-mail. The state doesn't have a copy of the report, according to responses to requests under the Open Records Act sent by the Herald-Leader to the state tourism and economic development departments and to the governor's office.Officials with Ark Encounter also declined to give the Herald-Leader a copy of the 10,000-page report, including its 200-page executive summary.

Read more: http://www.kentucky....l#ixzz18m06YsVFSo the same people that say the earth was created in 7 days only 6,000 years ago are also telling us the park will attract 1.6 million visitors in it first year but refuse to provide the feasibility study. Forgive me if I question their math skills.

[Skeleton Jelly]

Roll the Bones, on Tuesday, December 21st, 2010, 10:43 AM, said:

So the same people that say the earth was created in 7 days only 6,000 years ago are also telling us the park will attract 1.6 million visitors in it first year but refuse to provide the feasibility study. Forgive me if I question their math skills.

I don't think that first claim was based on math.

[Roll the Bones]

Skeleton Jelly, on Tuesday, December 21st, 2010, 1:47 PM, said:

I don't think that first claim was based on math.

Unfortunately it is. The back out bible quotes and subtract back to those dates. Unfortunately in places where it says things like 700 years or 400 years they think that always translates to 1 year when they see fit.

[Roll the Bones]

And another local article just went from 800 jobs to 14,000 jobs. MATH!

[Balloon guy]

Roll the Bones, on Tuesday, December 21st, 2010, 12:02 PM, said:

And another local article just went from 800 jobs to 14,000 jobs. MATH!

So putting out optimistic projections of future jobs is grounds to discount their integrity?Cool, I was feeling conflicted about hating democrats but you have now confirmed that I am right to hate them.

[Roll the Bones]

Balloon guy, on Tuesday, December 21st, 2010, 3:11 PM, said:

So putting out optimistic projections of future jobs is grounds to discount their integrity?Cool, I was feeling conflicted about hating democrats but you have now confirmed that I am right to hate them.

Ken Ham is a profiteering joke and the fact the state is subsidizing him and his non-profit anti-science campaign it ridiculous and embarrassing for Kentucky and well, people in general.

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A lot of left-wing media and bloggers have reacted very negatively, writing a lot of false information.They only represent a minority of the people in this nation. The majority of people in this area and across the nation are supportive. The statistics show about 200 million people would want to come if the ark were rebuilt. Locally, the majority of people are really thrilled because it's family-friendly and it would bring hundreds of jobs to the region.

The current US population is a bit over 300 million…so Ken Ham is waving around two thirds of the population of the country as prospective customers, if only the state will give him some support? Does anyone believe this guy?Imagine you're a tourist visiting the Cincinnati area. You've got the choice of taking the family to Kings Island, a major recreational park nearby, or the equivalent of Heritage USA, an evangelical Christian park with no rides, presided over by a creepy Australian dude who demands that you obey his 'literal' interpretation of the Bible or burn in hell.Do you think the creepy dude actually has a realistic business plan? This is all cronyism and good ol' buddy politics.Even the Wall Street Journal is weighing in...Rebuilding Noah's Ark, Tax Free http://online.wsj.co...=googlenews_wsj

Quote

What is more interesting about Ark Encounter is what it tells us about the paradoxes of American evangelicalism, a non-worldly belief system with a restlessly entrepreneurial and commercial spirit. The term "fundamentalism" generally denotes a comprehensively anti-modern movement. But this is only partly true. Far from being a counter to modernity, American fundamentalism often embraces it with far greater enthusiasm and finesse than its mainline competition. Look at the effectiveness with which conservative evangelicalism has made use of television, radio and the Internet. Or consider the eagerness of "creationism" to claim the mantle of science, which is quite a different matter from rejecting modernity altogether. In commercial enterprises like the Christian music industry, or Ark Encounter, the packaging of products is the same as it is in the most successful secular businesses; only the content is different. Evangelicals assume that all such modern techniques can be redeemed through certain proper uses. The medium, in this view, is not the message.

And PZ Myers nails it,

Quote

That's the striking thing about the Creation "Museum": it is not a reverent place. It does not exhibit any of the serious religious solemnity of the so-called sacred: it is a place dedicated to making money, and to aping the trappings (but not the substance!) of modern science. It's as if a church opened a gift shop, and the shop was so successful that it grew and grew, and people stopped coming for the church and instead came for the sales, and eventually the church part was quietly demolished and nobody noticed.When you go through it, too, the way it slickly copies the façade of a real museum — a rather cheesy and commercialized children's museum — is weird and disturbing. They will put on a display of some detail of the construction of the ark, for instance, and present it as a real museum would a collection of ancient tools, but it's all fake, completely made up, a model of an imaginary effort. As the op-ed states, this is a capitalist enterprise that has fully embraced modern packaging and marketing.I suggest a compromise. If the state wants to recognize the Ark Encounter as a commercial effort to bring money into the state, fine; but then Answers in Genesis should be stripped of its tax exempt status and recognized as a beard for a profit-making enterprise. Alternatively, if they get to keep their status as a church-like entity, yank any attempt by the state to prop up their shell game with government support.And anyone ought to recognize their phony legal games as a sham. They've set up multiple entities, some that are claiming religious status, others that are the admitted for-profit commercial arm, but all of them are funneling money in to support the promotion of a religion.

[Balloon guy]

Reminds me of the whole Baker fiasco. He was accused of overbooking his hotels and charging a lot in his Bible land park or something.Meanwhile Disney reported 400X the profit margin. And every hotel and airline in the country overbooks.But he's a Christian...get him.He got greedy with $40 million, 'stolen' from people who donated it never expecting any monetary returns at all. He was sentenced to 20 years.In the same year, Milkin was found guilty for stealing $200 million from people who expected all their money back with interest. He was sentenced to 2 yearsHypocrisy; thou knowest no shame.

[vbnautilus]

Balloon guy, on Tuesday, December 21st, 2010, 2:41 PM, said:

Reminds me of the whole Baker fiasco. He was accused of overbooking his hotels and charging a lot in his Bible land park or something.Meanwhile Disney reported 400X the profit margin. And every hotel and airline in the country overbooks.But he's a Christian...get him.He got greedy with $40 million, 'stolen' from people who donated it never expecting any monetary returns at all. He was sentenced to 20 years.In the same year, Milkin was found guilty for stealing $200 million from people who expected all their money back with interest. He was sentenced to 2 yearsHypocrisy; thou knowest no shame.

That's a nice whitewashing of what Bakker did. He told people he was raising money to build a hotel. People who gave him money were supposed to have memberships that gave them a hotel room in the hotel. He raised twice as much money as he needed to build the hotel, kept the rest of the "donations" for himself, and then... never built the hotel. He defrauded thousands of people. Some of that money was also used to keep his secret lover quiet. We wanted to "get him" not because he was a Christian, but because he was a hypocrite, preaching morality while embezzling and philandering. (Also he was only in jail for five years.)

[solderz]

Balloon guy, on Tuesday, December 21st, 2010, 3:41 PM, said:

Reminds me of the whole Baker fiasco. He was accused of overbooking his hotels and charging a lot in his Bible land park or something.Meanwhile Disney reported 400X the profit margin. And every hotel and airline in the country overbooks.But he's a Christian...get him.He got greedy with $40 million, 'stolen' from people who donated it never expecting any monetary returns at all. He was sentenced to 20 years.In the same year, Milkin was found guilty for stealing $200 million from people who expected all their money back with interest. He was sentenced to 2 yearsHypocrisy; thou knowest no shame.

Your ignorance knows no bounds

[Balloon guy]

vbnautilus, on Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010, 7:49 AM, said:

That's a nice whitewashing of what Bakker did. He told people he was raising money to build a hotel. People who gave him money were supposed to have memberships that gave them a hotel room in the hotel. He raised twice as much money as he needed to build the hotel, kept the rest of the "donations" for himself, and then... never built the hotel. He defrauded thousands of people. Some of that money was also used to keep his secret lover quiet. We wanted to "get him" not because he was a Christian, but because he was a hypocrite, preaching morality while embezzling and philandering. (Also he was only in jail for five years.)

How long was Milkin in jail?And how much did he bilk people out of?And who was expecting a return on their 'donation?

[vbnautilus]

Balloon guy, on Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010, 10:23 AM, said:

How long was Milkin in jail?And how much did he bilk people out of?And who was expecting a return on their 'donation?

Why are we comparing a noted philanthropist (Milken) to a slimy charlatan (Bakker)? As part of Milken's plea deal he paid back the investors, and paid a huge fine to the SEC, that's why his sentence was reduced. He paid out over 1 billion dollars. Bakker paid back no one. He actually still owes millions in personal income taxes.

[Balloon guy]

vbnautilus, on Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010, 11:48 AM, said:

Why are we comparing a noted philanthropist (Milken) to a slimy charlatan (Bakker)? As part of Milken's plea deal he paid back the investors, and paid a huge fine to the SEC, that's why his sentence was reduced. He paid out over 1 billion dollars. Bakker paid back no one. He actually still owes millions in personal income taxes.

Again...Where did this money come from?And what was the implied purpose of every penny given to him, now compare that to the purpose of the money given to Baker.And he's dead, so only a democrat can get his money now.

[vbnautilus]

Balloon guy, on Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010, 1:46 PM, said:

Again...Where did this money come from?And what was the implied purpose of every penny given to him, now compare that to the purpose of the money given to Baker.And he's dead, so only a democrat can get his money now.

Jim Bakker is not dead. The money people gave to Bakker was intended as hush money for Jessica Hahn?

[Balloon guy]

vbnautilus, on Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010, 3:14 PM, said:

Jim Bakker is not dead. The money people gave to Bakker was intended as hush money for Jessica Hahn?

At least she was hot.And pretty sure he is dead, I know Tammy is. She lived out here for the remainder of her Mascara laden life.

[vbnautilus]

Balloon guy, on Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010, 3:18 PM, said:

At least she was hot.And pretty sure he is dead, I know Tammy is. She lived out here for the remainder of her Mascara laden life.

Yeah she died, but he got remarried and moved to missouri. Has a tv show in syndication. http://www.jimbakkershow.com/

[Balloon guy]

vbnautilus, on Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010, 3:37 PM, said:

Yeah she died, but he got remarried and moved to missouri. Has a tv show in syndication. http://www.jimbakkershow.com/

Cool.I should send him some money...

[Skeleton Jelly]

timwakefield, on Wednesday, December 1st, 2010, 5:53 PM, said:

The "creation museum" is embarrassingly un-scientific.

Did you see this line in Seanbaby's last article?"It all started with Amir's takedown attempt. He got close to Gary and tried a basic judo hip throw. Gary countered it by ignoring physics and falling right on top of him. The hip throw went so unaccording to plan that Christian scientists show it to their students to disprove levers."

[timwakefield]

Skeleton Jelly, on Monday, June 27th, 2011, 5:55 PM, said:

Did you see this line in Seanbaby's last article?"It all started with Amir's takedown attempt. He got close to Gary and tried a basic judo hip throw. Gary countered it by ignoring physics and falling right on top of him. The hip throw went so unaccording to plan that Christian scientists show it to their students to disprove levers."

Ha! No I actually just skimmed through that article. I might have read it more carefully had there been more videos.Edit: Apparently 4 of the 6 entries include a video. I guess I'm just not that into MMA.

[Mercury69]

Is this fuckin' park open yet? I want to combine it with a trip to Cleveland's R&R HOF (also a Creationist museum). I am stoked to see who I will be paired up with on the Ark.