Recently in Letters to the Editor Category

You know, since QuePirate abandoned us, we've not really had much by way of quality kook correspondence here. We get nothing of the quality of this missive sent to BoingBoing on the matter of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

A common use of the contact form is to draw my attention to loony fundie sites I might have missed. Very occasionally, and for reasons I cannot begin to fathom, my attention is drawn to loony fundie sites by the loony fundies themselves. Take this missive, which contains a load of stuff from Behold! The Age of Man the Choicemaker by James Baxter. I will only bother with the first part, enough to give you a taste.

Consider:
The missing element in every human 'solution' is an accurate definition of the creature.

The way we define 'human' determines our view of self, others, relationships, institutions, life, and future. Important? Only the Creator who made us in His own image is qualified to define us accurately. Choose wisely...there are results.

In an effort to diminish the multiple and persistent dangers and abuses which have characterized the affairs of man in his every Age, and to assist in the requisite search for human identity, it is essential to perceive and specify that distinction which naturally and most uniquely defines the human being. Because definitions rule in the minds, behaviors, and institutions of men, we can be confident that delineating and com- municating that quality will assist the process of resolu- tion and the courageous ascension to which man is called. As Americans of the 21st Century, we are oblig- ed and privileged to join our forebears and participate in this continuing paradigm proclamation.

The rest of the message is this incomprehensible article, but surely Hallowe'en 365 Nights-a-Year or "Why un-Believers Can't THINK" would have been a much better choice for us?

As well as providing a somewhat challenging comment recently, 'reidh' also corresponded via the contact form, supplying an original contribution to The Great Tsunami Conspiracy List. I reprint it here, so that I can link to it from the list:

I think it is entirely within the realm of both possible, and feasible, as well as plausable, that the great shift in the shelf causing that tsunami, could have been triggered by already in place horizontal oil drill holes, paralleling the plate overlap line. Oil Companies do not advertise it NOW, but they have been horizontally drilling into deposits and fields for decades. They also have steam and lubricating mud injection capabilities. They also take LNG and inject it into drill sites and use it to wash the traces of oil off the interior walls of oil deposits underground. Now, the Oil Companies may have no interest in triggering earthquakes through induced fault slippage, or they may have. But some foreign world order might have a profound interest, not only experimentally, but to bring chaos upon a large Muslim (read, potential terrorist support region) populated area. Sure didn't Clinton and Bush (former project mgr with Zapata Oil Exploration Co.) look splendid handing out the big bucks from america? A perfect cover. Anyway, call me loopified, but thats my opinion and i'm stikin' intuit.

QuePirate has sent another missive, this time mercifully short. It appears to be the same as that sent to Red Wolf a few days ago. Let me address it point by point.

so is there actually proof for anything in your lexicon.

No, unless you are using proof to mean test, or in reference to distilled alcoholic beverages. But, through careful observation, we can gather data and use that to formulate a testable hypothesis. Should it survive all that (and, of course, satisfy Occam's Razor), the results are the best model available to us right now. Naturally, this model should continue to be tested (and changed, or thrown out), especially as further observations are made and new evidence uncovered.

What constitutes proof in your mind.

Nothing - we can only have beyond reasonable doubt. See above.

And by the way just how many Ts are you minus at this point?

To the best of my knowledge, I am not HIV+ and therefore it is not important to monitor my T-cell count.

Bampot tags: QuePirate, troll.

As anyone who's a regular visitor to the Prattle knows, we tend to attract some of the more vapid, ranting, clueless members of society who like to remind us that we're going to hell for daring to diverge from their happy little mindset.

Quepirate has been one of the more amusing ranters, he's the one who announced that he was the messiah and when he arrived on Earth he would be taking down the internet. Apparently heaven to Earth transport is a bit iffy as the internet saw fit to ignore the messiah.

I'm not sure what he's selling this time, but it really looks like his medication needs to be adjusted. For your viewing pleasure, with all coding uglies and lack of punctuation intact is his latest missive. Oh, and he's no longer the messiah, he's just a very naughty boy the son of Jacob. I'm sure Jacob is so proud.

The Prattle satellite office has received a missive from the seller behind a recent Bargain of the Day. Unlike his attempt at communication with the lovely Feòrag, he was forced to use the commenting form on my site, which does seem to prove that he is capable of using comment forms. It just appears that he doesn't want to directly respond to posts.

Sometimes people mail the Prattle, rather then using the comments. Imagine my surprise, upon my return from the pub last night, to find my inbox graced with a missive from the vendor of a recent Bargain of the Day. Unfortunately, like the auction description, it is not in English:

I see my add cought your attention to the point of adding it to your web site - fine by me - but tell me don't you guys see the absolute mathematical certainty of it - I dont mean just the so called circular argument (which I'd like to know what you mean bye that) but the fact that the numbers I describe to add together = 666 is the correct biblical meaning of this number- I'm not selling you anything - I'm anouncing my arrival - see I make all things new!

I'd buy some canned food if I were you. till you all get over the transition Q

Redwolf corresponds: Does Transcendental Meditation count as loonie fundie nonense?, and points us at this interesting article from HogBlog:

David Lynch is even weirder than you think: he's a devotee of Transcendental Meditation out to raise $1 billion to build 100 peace palaces around America in which crowds of Transcendental Meditators will whip up the fresh, creamy karma that will bring about instant and total world peace, no strings attached.

But he's still going to make disturbing films filled with sex and violence...

Thank you for that one. Pastor Best sends a Humanist press release:

Bishop Declares Jesus' Teachings Wrong

We've gone against, absolutely against, the word of Jesus in revising our regard for divorced people who want to remarry, said Bishop Gene Robinson in an interview in The Daily Telegraph.

He is the newly consecrated Bishop of New Hampshire in the USA and he pointed out that the teachings of Jesus on marriage, sex and slavery, as well as on divorce, were wrong.

This is the first time in recorded history that a Christian Bishop has corrected the teaching of Jesus, said Roy Saich of the Humanists web site.

When the Humanists led the campaign for divorce reform in the nineteen sixties the Bishops opposed it, as they have other important reforms, continued Mr. Saich, but I am pleased the new Bishop is honest enough to acknowledge that, like Humanist morality, Christian morality can change. Of course he is no longer a Christian if he opposes the teaching of Jesus on these issues. He can hardly claim Jesus as God incarnate, concluded Mr. Saich.