Not a dinosaur

I am responding to a letter published in the Friday edition of the Helena IR written by Mr. Albert Wareham. Mr. Wareham claims that the carcass of a plesiosaur was found in 1977. The incident to which he is referring happened aboard the Zuiyo Maru and was indeed photographed and chronicled by the crew. Although the carcass was dumped, samples were collected and analyzed.However, the common concensus among scientists is that the carcass was that of a decomposed basking shark and not a plesiosaur. The closest thing to a “living dinosaur” being found was the discovery of the coelacanth, a fish long thought to be extinct. I for one, believe that it is naive to think that there are not species out there that have never been found, however, there has never been any concrete proof of a “living dinosaur.”
Jaysin Arthurs814 Cole

Thanks Jaysin
I am so tired of Christians writing in and spreading these myths. Its so frustrating to have too keep pointing out thier flaws and misinformation. I know the people who spread these lies are not swayed, but the general public needs to know the "facts" I do think most people know better, but its sad so many don't

I was on TV!

Missed it darn it! My sister called and said I was on the T.V. tonight. I blogged back in August about my interview with a couple from BBC. Well they published it and its called Godless in America. From my web surfing results its mostly about Ms. OHare and her murder. So, I am not sure if I like being compared to or lumped in with her, but then that was the chance I took when I did the interview. I can't really comment on the documentary since I did not see it. I do not get the Sundance Channel. I wish I had been given some warning about it from the two who did the interview so I could have had someone record it for me. I did email them tonight and asked for a copy. I hope they will send one. I'm not sure if I want to really see myself and dread it. I never considered myself photogenic and I do not know what parts of the interview they used. Its killing me to know though. I can only hope it was a postive portayal.

Evolution all wet/Letter to the Editor

Another letter to the editor from someone who knows nothing about evolution.

Scientists have wondered whether an “extinct” dinosaur would ever be found alive.

Then, in April 1977, a Japanese fishing vessel caught a 4,000 pound, 33 yard creature off New Zealand. A qualified zoologist was on board and photographed, sketched, carefully measured and flipper samples were kept for tissue analysis.

Indeed, it was a plesiosaur, a sea dwelling dinosaur, which supposedly had been dead for one million years! But, recognizing that the creature would disprove their fossil/strata theory, western scientists said it must have been a sea lion! There was almost total news blackout on this in the West, with the exception of a few publications (New York Times, July 24, 1977; Nature, July 28, 1977.) If some dinosaurs were to be found alive today, then evolutionists think this would weaken their theory. But, actually that neither prove not weaken their theory, since dinosaurs — past or present — present no evidence of the evolutionary process.

In museums all over the world, dinosaur bone displays are exhibited as a proof of evolution. But, a living dinosaur has been found.

Consider this, only about 500 years ago, the aepyornis, a dinosaur bird nearly 10 feet tall and weighing half a ton still lived on the island of Madagascar (see National Geographic, October 1967, p 493.)

Albert Wareham

Box 445

Boulder

Pagan Christmas

Pagan ChristmasRegarding the controversy over ads saying “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas,” Laughing Water is correct in pointing out that Christmas is a renamed pagan festival that had nothing to do with the birth of Christ, which, I add, was never celebrated by His disciples or apostles. It never entered their minds to institute or teach any such a thing. You will not find birthday celebrations in the Bible, except being held by those without faith, such as Herod.Those who call themselves Christians should have nothing whatsoever to do with Christmas and the Name of Christ being polluted by pagan feasts, now allegedly kosher because mixed with another pagan ritual, the “mass.”Surely anyone calling him or herself by the Name of Christ should not expect the world, which does not know Christ, to give him or her “merry” greetings in His Name. What confusion! “Christian,” you should be living as Christ, a light to the world, and not following in its ways, outdoing it in self-importance and self-indulgence. The tragedy is not that Christ is not in Christmas, but that you are not in Christ!
Paul Cohen413 ½ N. Beattie Street

Wow, This guy wants to cancel Christmas and he is claiming he is a true Christian. Of course again, we know Catholics borrowed/stole the Pagan celebrations, they are not true Christians according to fellows like Paul.
Once way back, Paul called my home and left a message on my answering machine. He was calling in response to a letter to the editor I wrote about Hell. He did not call back, but I can safely assume he did not agree with what I had written. He is as Fundy as they get. I wonder which church he worships.

A reponse to Mr. Wise

Gay ‘facts’This is in response to Mr. Wise’s article dated 12/15Thoughts and questions:Where do you get your “fact” that 92 percent of gays are atheists? I thought the IR made you have proof.Do you forget about the crusades when you make the comment “No good religion has ever brought the downfall of a nation.” Do you forget about the Romans? Do you forget about the middle east? You involve Muslims in your last paragraph. How about our own president that invades a nation in the name of God?Please again print FACT. Which religions do you mean when you say “left?”Here’s another “fact.” Science, you know the thing that has FACTS and DATA behind it, has isolated a gene that gay people carry. AMA Sept. 2001.Homosexual acts are wrong and sinful in your intolerant eyes. Gay people scare people like you. It has been the demise of no society. Fear what you don’t understand.
Bob Cypers6635 Sleeping Giant View

Mr. Wise is not so wise

Not gay bashingIn a recent loony left editorial by Tom Teepen, dutifully reprinted by the IR, he begins by refering to “gay-bashing churches.”In the mind of the homosexual community and their supporters any disagreement with their agenda is gay bashing.They ignore that 92 percent of homosexuals are avowed atheists, along with the majority of the “left.” Catholic/Christian churches teach that life should be respected whether that life is of a murderer, prostitute or homosexual.What these people can’t seem to understand is that respect for life does not equate to respect for “lifestyle.” If homosexuals want to have anal and oral sex with each other that is their choice. It is their choice, it is not genetic.While Teepen et al zero in on Christian churches, they forget or don’t know that the Shinto, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim religions all teach that homosexual sex acts are wrong/sinful. None respect the lifestyle. We do fear the menace of secular humanism because it has not done any society any good and has been the major factor in the demise of several great societies.No good religion has ever brought the downfall of a nation.
Bill Wise10 Wallace Road, Clancy

This letter is so bad I do not know where to even begin tearing it apart. Where did he get his stats/ideas? From his church I am sure. Were did the 92% figure come from? No good religion has ever brought down a nation. Excuse me, I think Rome fell after the Christians took over. Iraq? Oh yeah, Islam is not a good religion. Of course he had to throw in the usual slam against humanism, its almost a requirment for this type of letter. And name calling, lets not forget that. "looney left". to make it even more ridiculous, he compare homosexuals to murders and prostitutes. Shouldn't prostitutes be insulted also? I think he is referring to the demise of a great nation as the Soviet Union. Again they assume all athiests are communist. Its crap!

Oh My! (I knew this Casino was doomed)

Memorial in Calif. for 'Flying Elvis' dead after Montana mishap
LAS VEGAS (AP) - A memorial is scheduled this month in California for a "Flying Elvis" who died of severe injuries including a broken pelvis suffered in a September skydiving mishap in Montana, a family member said Monday.Paul Moran, 52, who lived in Canyon Lake, Calif., and skydived with the "Flying Elvi" skydiving troupe in nearby Perris, Calif., died Nov. 24 at HarborView Medical Center in Seattle, said his half-sister, Jane Blacow, of Stockton, Calif."This was not a joke as it had been perceived on all the Web sites and the newspaper articles," Blacow said of broken bones and internal injuries that left her brother on a respirator since the Sept. 29 mishap. "It was a lot more serious than people thought."Moran crashed to the ground during a skydiving demonstration marking the opening of the Glacier Peaks Casino in Browning, Mont.Members of the troupe said at the time that Moran apparently misjudged the landing before hitting a concrete parking lot at an estimated 50 mph.Blacow said a memorial was planned Dec. 23 in Perris for Moran, a building contractor in Stockton and Canyon Lake, who had been a member of the Flying Elvi parachuting team for about 13 years. Blacow told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that her brother loved sports including sky diving, water skiing and snowboarding.

Claimed he was God

Couple accused of string of sex abuses
THOMPSON FALLS, Mont. (AP) - A Heron man who authorities say claimed he was God has been charged with a string of sex offenses after a family member recounted being abused and held in virtual isolation from society for years.James D. Guill, 54, faces six sex offenses in all. His common-law wife, Nicole Christensen Guill, 36, also is charged with four sex offenses. Both are being held on $1 million bail pending appearances in District Court later this week. They initially declined public defenders at a court hearing last week. It was not clear Tuesday whether they had hired private attorneys.Sanders County Attorney Bob Zimmerman said more charges against the two are likely.Guill and his common-law wife were arrested after the victim, now 22, told authorities she had escaped from the family property, where she claimed to have been sexually abused by Guill since the age of 6, court records said.She said Nicole Christensen Guill, who moved into the home after the sexual abuse started, began taking part in the abuse when the victim was about 14, court documents said.In court records, investigators said the victim told them the abuse continued until she was able to leave in mid-September.

The woman told a sheriff's deputy that Guill kept her isolated from outsiders and that she rarely left the property _ and then only in the presence of Guill or his wife. She said she'd never been to school, had very little knowledge of the outside world and was limited to reading only the Bible most of her life.In court documents, Zimmerman said the woman told investigators that Guill justified the sexual abuse by telling the victim he was God and "that he decided who would go to heaven and who would go to hell.""James Guill told (her) that if she ever told anyone what they were doing that she would go to hell," Zimmerman wrote.

Irresponsible ad

A few years ago, I found a pamphlet on my car windshield from Tony Alamo Christian Ministries that contained disturbing anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish propaganda. Shortly thereafter, the IR published an excellent article exposing the group’s malicious teachings (see “Anti-Catholic Literature Distributed” by Allison Farrell, Aug. 25, 2004). I was therefore completely shocked to see the IR publish a full-page advertisement by Tony Alamo on Page 7 of the Sunday paper (Nov. 26). Although the text in the advertisement was largely sanitized relative to other writings by Alamo, it was completely irresponsible to approve any advertisement in the IR by this group. Surely this was a mistake. I cannot believe the IR would knowingly publish advertisements by an organization that overtly espouses hate speech. The IR needs to examine its advertising policy and institute safeguards to ensure that this type of advertisement does not appear in the future. The IR owes its readership an apology.

Kyle Strode

1011 Missoula Avenue

Tribal Soveriegn Government

BISMARCK, North Dakota (AP) -- A church group that protests at military funerals around the country will be barred from services for an American Indian soldier on a reservation, tribal officials say.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, planned to demonstrate at National Guard Cpl. Nathan Goodiron's funeral on Saturday at the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

Church members say the deaths of soldiers are punishment from God for the country's tolerance of homosexuals.

Tribal leaders passed a resolution Friday that prohibits the group from protesting on the reservation, said Marcus Wells Jr., chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes.

"We will not tolerate any harassment that is intended to provoke ill feelings and violence," he said.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of the Rev. Fred Phelps Sr., pastor of Westboro Baptist, said her group planned to protest outside the reservation "on public rights of way."

"We don't get into anyone's private area," said Phelps-Roper, the church's attorney and its spokeswoman. "We don't go on private land."

Goodiron, 25, of Mandaree, known on the reservation as Young Eagle, was killed Thanksgiving Day in Afghanistan when a grenade struck his vehicle while he was on patrol. He was a member of the 1st Battalion of the North Dakota National Guard's 188th Air Defense Artillery.

Tribal officials said he was the first member of the Three Affiliated Tribes to be killed in the war on terror.

American and tribal flags are being flown at half staff on the reservation to honor Goodiron.

"We recognize and respect the right to free speech and the public's right to assemble, but we want everyone to know that the Three Affiliated Tribes, as a sovereign tribal government, has the right to regulate any person or persons who harass and show disrespectful conduct towards our members, within our boundaries," Wells said in a statement.

Wells said tribal police would prevent the protesters from coming on the reservation.