Angels and Demons: a stupid, stupid book

Ugh, how much time am I going to have to spend talking about this? I try to be optimistic about society, but how can people take Dan Brown's trash novels seriously? As someone who likes to think of myself as a (semi)serious academic--my whole life is orientated toward the search for and proclamation of the truth--these books really bug me. I know that they shouldn't get to me, but I throw-up a little each time Brown talks of "research" and the "facts" in his books. I guess what really bugs me is not so much Dan Brown himself, but how many people consume his work and take it seriously. As much as the powers that be try to pretend like this is "just fiction" (while nonsensically claiming it is based on facts...), the truth is the libelous insinuations and mistruths further the anti-Catholic narrative which has become the norm for western culture. Imagine if a book like this was published about any other religious or ethnic group? (Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion and The Jewel of Medina come to mind, both faced international condemnation and Tom Hanks would never even think about staring in those movies....)

Anyway, here is a good article if you need some refutation of Angels and Demons (In theaters soon!).

http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=330690

If you were cool, you would like ska

Song of the day:
Five Iron Frenzy - Dandelions

Dandelions - Five Iron Frenzy

We're all terrorists now

Jack Hunter commenting on the "Tea Party" and the state of conservatism:

http://www.takimag.com/site/article/tea_party_terrorists/#When:13:49:37Z

Possibly the best song ever.

Allegri's Miserere

Allegri: Miserere - Peter Phillips; Tallis Scholars

That "Zeitgeist" Movie

I have been telling people this youtube movie is dumb for a while. Here is a little debunking:

"rightwing extremist"

Washington Times:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/14/federal-agency-warns-of-radicals-on-right/

Catholic News:
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=15670

"According to a Homeland Security Report distributed to law enforcement organizations, abortion opponents are as great a threat to national security in the immediate future as white supremacists."

The government says that opposing abortion makes you a "rightwing extremist." Calling one an extremist is the 1st step to outlawing ideas and groups. How far will this go?

Colbert on the Historicity of the Scriputres.

A fun video w/ commentary by Mark Shea:
http://markshea.blogspot.com/2009/04/in-his-own-curiously-subversive-way.html

While I am not going to waste any time reading Bart Ehrman's silly book, you can tell from the cover/interview and Ehrman's MO, that it is the same old junk scholarship that gets recycled every few years. Honestly, why do they bother publishing this stuff?