tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post9134036692342465332..comments2024-03-28T09:49:57.021-05:00Comments on Althouse: "How are you?" "I'm... I'm dying."Ann Althousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01630636239933008807noreply@blogger.comBlogger105125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-32484452808518041032010-08-09T13:02:00.256-05:002010-08-09T13:02:00.256-05:00Drinking hard liquor and smoking heavily are a par...Drinking hard liquor and smoking heavily are a particularly bad double whammy because the smoking exposes body cells to mutagens which mutate cells in random directions (providing one half of the two required elements of evolution) while the ethanol kills esophageal tissues, necessitating that its cells divide rapidly in order to heal the damage. Rapid reproduction of mutated cells provides an ideal environment for the multiple cell-generation evolutionary struggle (natural selection, the other element of evolution) referred to before that can result in the emergence of a cancerous cell line.Michael McNeilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09264006157583629644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-19668884335313213152010-08-09T12:01:42.269-05:002010-08-09T12:01:42.269-05:00"Is chemo akin to when we used to bleed peopl...<i>"Is chemo akin to when we used to bleed people in the hope of curing pneumonia or some such thing?"</i><br /><br />No, because unlike bloodletting, chemo sometimes, you know, works.sonicfroghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17243418673004541047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-25339399920414614322010-08-08T15:47:23.703-05:002010-08-08T15:47:23.703-05:00I seriously hope Hitchens gets better. Though I wi...I seriously hope Hitchens gets better. Though I will not pray to him because that's a waste of time. Religious people are the ones that ought to be in the "fox holes", because they can't tell which religion is the right one to convert to. To me, the logical position has always been:<br /><br />"well, I wasted my life being religious. I have a 1/9, possibly less, chance of getting my religion right and I have come no closer toward proving it. This is a stupid waste of time. To hell with it." <br /><br />The responsibility of validation is on the religionists shoulders, not the atheist. <br /><br />Get well soon Christopher. It would be a fatal blow to contemporary intelligentsia without you.Miles Whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11109050801660774160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-4071650231307116812010-08-08T14:43:11.429-05:002010-08-08T14:43:11.429-05:00@Crack Emcee
Talk about dumb. If I had a pig as ...@Crack Emcee<br /><br />Talk about dumb. If I had a pig as stupid as you, I'd be afraid to eat him. It might be catching.<br /><br />I don't even begin to see why the burden of proof is on me, and the fact that you can't even mount an argument means you are one dumb motherfucker.Tyrone Slothrophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12304508836038921013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-87442136522054928272010-08-08T14:07:17.381-05:002010-08-08T14:07:17.381-05:00Kirby Olsen,
"Maybe Hitchens will have a con...Kirby Olsen,<br /><br /><i>"Maybe Hitchens will have a conversion of some sort, too, as he faces infinity."</i><br /><br />What was life like, for you, before you were born? What is it like when you're asleep and don't dream? That's fucking death, my friend.<br /><br />To keep imagining some other existence after this is where believers do their worst reasoning. We're animals, and we die just like fucking animals. Kill a fly. Has he/she gone to Heaven or Hell? No, it's just dead. <br /><br />Exit question: can anybody give me a scenario that justifies a fly going to Hell?The Crack Emceehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08366101526773588864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-45312667955538625242010-08-08T12:52:05.627-05:002010-08-08T12:52:05.627-05:00I liked his book on Orwell. Orwell has some passa...I liked his book on Orwell. Orwell has some passages where he almost accepts God, or at least accepts Christians, and Hitchens presented them somewhat fairly. It's weird to see him go to pieces so quickly, but he said on Tv the other night that he chain-smoked and drank heavy liquor for years, and now he has to pay the piper.<br /><br />Sartre admitted that he believed in God in his last book, Hope Now. Maybe Hitchens will have a conversion of some sort, too, as he faces infinity.Kirby Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05952289700191142943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-37182452389828298252010-08-08T09:50:28.170-05:002010-08-08T09:50:28.170-05:00Tyrone Slothrop,
"(1) Provide a citation of ...Tyrone Slothrop,<br /><br /><i>"(1) Provide a citation of a religious person demanding proof of the non-existence of a deity from an atheist."</i><br /><br />Damn, you can be thick: there will be no citation because even believers know it's not up to the atheist to provide such evidence - it's up to the believers. They are the ones saying there's something here, or out there, that no one in the history of mankind has ever seen. <br /><br /><i>"(2) Failing that, prove to me there is no deity."</i><br /><br />What part of "no one in the history of mankind has ever seen" don't you understand? It's just talk.<br /><br /><i>"You won't be able to do either one. What you don't like is the implication that you might be the irrational one. Atheists are always short on humility."</i><br /><br />Dude, if accepting reality - as it is - is irrational, then I'm guilty as charged.<br /><br />And yea, as far as humility goes, not only am I not shooting for it - I ain't no Buddha-loving NewAge puss: I'm an American in the land of the free and thew home of the brave - <a href="http://themachoresponse.blogspot.com/2010/08/ha-lady-gaga-shows-em-something.html" rel="nofollow">you can't even start to imagine how big my head is.</a> <br /><br />I'll leave the humility and being humble to the mediocre types and those with talent who come by it naturally. I've been around long enough to know that any demand, by someone like you, to control my behavior is nothing more than you exhibiting your own sense of control over others - a control you'll NEVER have over me.<br /><br />Now take your guru bullshit to somebody weak-minded enough to think you're wise.The Crack Emceehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08366101526773588864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-9774948846267646392010-08-08T08:09:36.912-05:002010-08-08T08:09:36.912-05:00The Crack Emcee said...
Winner for illogical sta...<b> The Crack Emcee said... <br /><br />Winner for illogical statement of the thread.</b><br /><br />OK.<br /><br />(1)Provide a citation of a religious person demanding <i>proof</i> of the non-existence of a deity from an atheist.<br /><br />(2)Failing that, <i>prove</i> to me there is no deity.<br /><br />You won't be able to do either one. What you don't like is the implication that <i>you</i> might be the irrational one. Atheists are always short on humility.Tyrone Slothrophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12304508836038921013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-43215926693130583972010-08-07T23:44:10.659-05:002010-08-07T23:44:10.659-05:00Lem said:
@4:58 Thank you Michael McNeil..
The qu...Lem said:<br /><i>@4:58 Thank you Michael McNeil..<br /><br />The quotes you have given me while making sense.. also makes the “battle” at hand almost seem insurmountable.. I say almost because to deny that would be akin to giving up.. and I don't think we should ever give up.<br /><br />It also looks as if the promise of the Genome project (while a necessary first step) was oversold.</i><br /><br />Thanks, Lem. Concerning the human genome project, I agree that perhaps expectations of enormous immediate benefits were too high, but the longer-term beneficial consequences will be tremendous. The article I pointed to discussing decipherment of the varieties of cancer genomes is just one aspect of this. Once we know in detail precisely how cancer functions in all its multitudinous, multifaceted forms, then there are undoubtedly any number of ways that it can be attacked — and with far greater efficacy than the old basically trial and error approach to finding new drugs and treatments that we've hitherto depended on. In the future we'll be able to plan out treatments and drugs based on an intimate understanding of just what it is we're seeking to do.<br /><br />I'm reminded of a <i>Scientific American</i> article I encountered as a teenager (which was actually a pretty mundane piece about the cycles of air and water) — but I was struck by a diagram therein showing those cycles not in the usual manner of circles and arrows looping from the air into the sea and back out again — instead presenting the system as a <i>chemical factory</i>: a complexity of boilers, condensers, connecting pipes, and control points — together with the annotation (which has remained with me ever since): <i>“Notice the large number of valves and switches.”</i><br /><br />Well, biological organisms, including single-celled ones such as cancer cells, are just such factories — and when we (almost) fully understand <i>in detail</i> just how they operate (which the ongoing biological revolution including the genome decipherment project are presently revealing to us), then we'll be able to just turn a dial here, twiddle a valve there — and what had heretofore been an appalling menace will jump to attention, salute, and ask: <i>“What are your orders, master?”</i><br /><br />There was a story in the science fiction magazine <i>Analog</i> that I read at an even younger age (can't recall the author or title, sorry), in which the characters were enthusing to each other about the present (to them) highly developed technology of organ and (lost) limb regeneration. One fellow, however, then frowns and says (paraphrased from memory): “But wasn't there something about it that used to be <i>frightening</i>… and <i>dangerous</i>?”<br /><br />The other person then pauses thoughtfully, and replies: “Yes, there was. Before we got it fully under control and made it serve <i>us</i>, it used to run wild, killing people — and we called it… <i>cancer</i>.”<br /><br />(If anybody here recalls the name of that story, and its author, I'd appreciate you letting me know.)Michael McNeilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09264006157583629644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-91892177216403462602010-08-07T23:33:47.761-05:002010-08-07T23:33:47.761-05:00William,
"Atheism wasn't Hitchens' d...William,<br /><br /><i>"Atheism wasn't Hitchens' deepest belief. He believed in stylish dissolution and partaked of the sacraments of liquor and cigarettes with fervent devotion. I wonder if he's rethinking those values now."</i><br /><br />I can't speak for Hitch (I only met him once) but I don't buy any of that shit. People seem to think that just because we can now name what kills us (cancer) that makes it worse or how we lived our lives "bad". It doesn't. We are born to die, don't you guys get that? <br /><br />Elizabeth Edwards has breast cancer - what do you say to her clean living ass? Nothing. What do you say to the person in a car accident? Slipping in the bath tub? Nothing. You shouldn't be saying shit to Hitch either:<br /><br />Death comes for everyone.The Crack Emceehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08366101526773588864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-12348830009453072872010-08-07T23:28:32.664-05:002010-08-07T23:28:32.664-05:00Fred4Prez,
'Obviously eating well, good nutri...Fred4Prez,<br /><br /><i>'Obviously eating well, good nutrition, and supplements are a good way to avoid cancer. Not all alternative treatments are completely bogus, but almost all of them are limited. <br /><br />Once you have advanced cancer like Hitchens has, you really do not have a lot of options in avoiding chemo."</i><br /><br />Are you kidding? These fools aren't happy unless you go out blowing your family's money on quackery, con men, and crooks - and then letting those crooks use that money to fund even more misery - or does anyone still buy the NewAge vision of unicorns coupled with Andrew "Uri Gellar is real" Weil's integrity?The Crack Emceehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08366101526773588864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-30637034781656672812010-08-07T23:23:50.958-05:002010-08-07T23:23:50.958-05:00Tyrone Slothrop,
"I try to live and let live...Tyrone Slothrop,<br /><br /><i>"I try to live and let live regarding other peoples' religious beliefs, or lack of them. It's always personal, and it's never rational. That goes for the atheists as well as the religious. Atheists demand proof of the existence of a deity. The religious never seem to demand proof from atheists."</i><br /><br />Winner for illogical statement of the thread. There's nothing for an atheist to prove. All the weight is on the believer who refuses to concede that belief ain't worth dick - especially all the hot air they spew on the subject.The Crack Emceehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08366101526773588864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-15515775407097706862010-08-07T23:21:16.362-05:002010-08-07T23:21:16.362-05:00Pasta,
"His answers to the questions put to ...Pasta,<br /><br /><i>"His answers to the questions put to him seemed perfectly unobjectionable -- he appreciates prayers, as long as they're for his recovery and not his demise, or conversion; and he answers with some grace and humility the question of whether he might have some deathbed conversion.<br /><br />As much as I hate to see the man die, I don't mind at all that he's choosing to remain in the public eye. He's setting a good example. He's showing people how a skeptic can face death."</i><br /><br />Not in this loony bin - you gotta join the delusional army or else you're scum. People who have never witnessed a shred of God in their lives - the "fools for Christ" and all the rest - demand you join religiously sexy Prince, with his dick out, saying "Let's go crazy!" before they'll ever accept maturity about anything.The Crack Emceehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08366101526773588864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-66915338869509661082010-08-07T23:12:22.905-05:002010-08-07T23:12:22.905-05:00AC245,
"In the entirety of your utterly clas...AC245,<br /><br /><i>"In the entirety of your utterly classless sermon on how people should behave, James, at no point did you manage to wish for Hitchens to get well. Weird."</i><br /><br />Not really: atheists don't do wishes.<br /><br />Do you even know what atheism is?The Crack Emceehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08366101526773588864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-2809574011952653422010-08-07T23:09:36.745-05:002010-08-07T23:09:36.745-05:00John,
"It is not God's responsibility. H...John,<br /><br /><i>"It is not God's responsibility. He is everywhere. You just have to listen."</i><br /><br />Funny, Mr. Everywhere just got me to listen to the <i>True Sound of Liberty</i>'s <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpZJLjrb4vU" rel="nofollow">"Code Blue"</a> - a great punk song about necrophelia.<br /><br />He sure does work in mysterious ways.The Crack Emceehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08366101526773588864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-3100964126485295272010-08-07T23:04:12.225-05:002010-08-07T23:04:12.225-05:00John,
"He is going off into the abyss when h...John,<br /><br /><i>"He is going off into the abyss when he could be going off to be with the God he has rejected."</i><br /><br />Who said he rejected anything? Don't you understand what "God doesn't exist" means? That's not rejection but a statement of fact.The Crack Emceehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08366101526773588864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-53831440999930262782010-08-07T22:58:27.627-05:002010-08-07T22:58:27.627-05:00Mark O said...
I will miss Hitchens for his clarit...<i>Mark O said...<br />I will miss Hitchens for his clarity of thought.</i><br /><br />I still don't understand why he was against the Bush I's war, but supported Bush II's war. Has he ever explained that? I have to admit I got tired of reading him a couple of years ago so I might have missed it.Paul Kirchnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03426412455102496912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-13910757951355000622010-08-07T21:39:51.784-05:002010-08-07T21:39:51.784-05:00Pastafarian by making what you call a "critic...Pastafarian by making what you call a "critical tone" Althouse is, if only secondarily, acquiescing to Hitchens wishes.<br /><br />I think we should admire that.Lem the artificially intelligent https://www.blogger.com/profile/03569712564034666751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-53538764916019812602010-08-07T21:25:32.205-05:002010-08-07T21:25:32.205-05:00Lem - AA? You cannot be serious!
I'm not a su...<i>Lem - AA? You cannot be serious!</i><br /><br />I'm not a subscriber no..Lem the artificially intelligent https://www.blogger.com/profile/03569712564034666751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-37178878332494502562010-08-07T21:22:19.242-05:002010-08-07T21:22:19.242-05:00@4:58 Thank you Michael McNeil..
The quotes you h...@4:58 Thank you Michael McNeil..<br /><br />The quotes you have given me while making sense.. also makes the "battle" at hand almost seem insurmountable.. I say almost because to deny that would be akin to giving up.. and I don't think we should ever give up. <br /><br />It also looks as if the promise of the Genome project (while a necessary first step) was oversold.<br /><br />wv - smater .. yes we are not smart enough to beat cancer.. at least not yet.Lem the artificially intelligent https://www.blogger.com/profile/03569712564034666751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-14443805868045539272010-08-07T21:06:27.647-05:002010-08-07T21:06:27.647-05:00Give a child a choice between a lollipop right now...Give a child a choice between a lollipop right now or two lollipops in an hour. The child with divorced parents will opt for immediate gratification; the child from a stable family will hold out for the two lollipops. God is the ultimate lollipop. People who have endured a great deal of betrayal, abandonment, neglect, and abuse early in their life find it hard to conceptualize a benign deity......Atheism wasn't Hitchens' deepest belief. He believed in stylish dissolution and partaked of the sacraments of liquor and cigarettes with fervent devotion. I wonder if he's rethinking those values now. At any rate, his urbane defense of atheism allows him to strike one more heroic pose before his cells mutate into chaos. I don't knock him for his atheism. It didn't kill him. But if he wishes to find meaning in his last struggle, he might want to post a warning about the excesses of booze and nicotine.Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07837540030934495651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-9501921494967522982010-08-07T21:05:28.144-05:002010-08-07T21:05:28.144-05:00Lem - AA? You cannot be serious!Lem - AA? You cannot be serious!The Dudehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05354536924604187137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-63898745642292727252010-08-07T20:50:12.602-05:002010-08-07T20:50:12.602-05:00jr565,
Obviously eating well, good nutrition, an...jr565, <br /><br />Obviously eating well, good nutrition, and supplements are a good way to avoid cancer. Not all alternative treatments are completely bogus, but almost all of them are limited. <br /><br />Once you have advanced cancer like Hitchens has, you really do not have a lot of options in avoiding chemo. <br /><br />Again, I pray, wish, hope for his speedy recovery.Fred4Preshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01574159710712259945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-70953639360639380412010-08-07T20:49:07.546-05:002010-08-07T20:49:07.546-05:00I try to live and let live regarding other peoples...I try to live and let live regarding other peoples' religious beliefs, or lack of them. It's always personal, and it's never rational. That goes for the atheists as well as the religious. Atheists demand <i>proof</i> of the existence of a deity. The religious never seem to demand proof from atheists.<br /><br />That said, I guess I have to join one camp or the other, right? Instead I will sit on the fence. A Zen <i>koan</i> compares us to tadpoles swimming in a pond. Becoming a frog is inevitable, but no matter how hard we try we can't imagine what it is like to be a frog. I think it is OK to be a tadpole.Tyrone Slothrophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12304508836038921013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-63037125519889766402010-08-07T20:38:29.855-05:002010-08-07T20:38:29.855-05:00Althouse said: "Christopher Hitchens has, it...Althouse said: "Christopher Hitchens has, it seems, decided to perform the drama of dying of cancer on camera, being interviewed by whatever media people are willing to step up and ask him how does it feel..."<br /><br />I don't understand the critical tone here.<br /><br />The man's dying, and he's facing it with dignity. Maybe I'm misinterpreting your tone, but the way I read it, you'd prefer that he crawl off into a cave somewhere to die, so that you don't have to look at his hairless and withered form.<br /><br />Or is it his continued atheism that you don't want to see? That doesn't seem very Althousian.<br /><br />Seriously, clue me in here. What am I missing?<br /><br />His answers to the questions put to him seemed perfectly unobjectionable -- he appreciates prayers, as long as they're for his recovery and not his demise, or conversion; and he answers with some grace and humility the question of whether he might have some deathbed conversion.<br /><br />As much as I hate to see the man die, I don't mind at all that he's choosing to remain in the public eye. He's setting a good example. He's showing people how a skeptic can face death.Pastafarianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09008215139954260401noreply@blogger.com