Comments on: Obama’s superstitious, too

By: Jeffersonian

Jeffersonian — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:27:31 +0000

Again, Obama’s minister (jeremiah wright) is an issue because Obama has spent significant effort in his life listening to the guy and making decisions based on his nonsense (else why would he put the effort in?). If that’s not a high degree of superstition….
But then, if McCain does this, he’s an idiot; if Obama believes in a man in the sky it’s merely interesting.

Just an observation. I fully understand that a person has to cowtow to xtian nuts to hold high office. (Obama goes to far for my liking but whatever).

By: Dave D

Dave D — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:07:21 +0000

Centipede–

Dood, I am so in ur Area 51, stealin ur alienz . . .

By: The Centipede

The Centipede — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:46:37 +0000

This comment thread already has nearly everything: claims of bias, dismissal, calls of “Testify!” and even a surprise visit by e e cummings.

These comments are lacking, however, conspiracy theory. You see, superstition was invented by the Earth Goddess Cult of Ur to keep people in line, and said EGC has retained the keys to the basic code of human superstition and memetic warfare up through the time they redefined themselves as first the Freemasons and later the Illuminati. What everyone has wrong isn’t that the Freemasons/Illuminati are part of the New World Order; what’s actually going on is a shadow memetic war between the current powers that be (the Earth Goddess Cult) and the wannabe powers to be. The MK-ULTRA experiments were actually an attempt to replicate the EGC’s memetic control, and Majestic-12 are attempting to use alien technology to rewrite the human source code. The recent environmentalism is a counterforce operation of the EGC trying to ‘return to its roots’ of Earth-Motherism.

By: MH

MH — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:31:41 +0000

“Tiny monkey god”? Wtf?

By: Almost every second German is superstitious :: cimddwc

Almost every second German is superstitious :: cimddwc — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:00:41 +0000

[...] Addendum: Julia reminded me about the extreme superstitions of US presidential candidate McCain and, to a much lesser extent or maybe not at all, Obama. [...]

By: Anarchist

Anarchist — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:11:56 +0000

So you are basically saying
McCain has “bizarre beliefs” but Barrack’s superstitions are not that bad and maybe they are nothing because I like Barack so I’m going to point out that Time is bias against Barrack for showing multiple things he believes in?

By: Richard Eis

Richard Eis — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:54:59 +0000

-a bracelet belonging to a soldier deployed in Iraq-

If Obama has it, it can’t have been too lucky for the soldier.

By: shane

shane — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:40:40 +0000

a tiny monkey god

See, he is a closet Darwinist. Woo hoo.

I don’t put much stock in what superstitious charms people carry around and I know they can give some of you comfort but they really are… um… I can’t come up with a word that wouldn’t be offensive to at least some people but choose the word least offensive for you… quaint, childish, stupid, ignorant, ridiculous, irrational, etc etc etc.

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 23:27:53 +0000

I dunno what’s more irrational, a good luck charm or obsessing about it endlessly like it matters.

By: Kleeblätter im Weissen Haus | DER MISANTHROP

Kleeblätter im Weissen Haus | DER MISANTHROP — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:55:10 +0000

[...] oder – noch schlimmer – McCain merkt, dass er sein Hufeisen zu Hause vergessen hat? Bad Astronomy – Obama’s superstitious, too [↩]Bad Astronomy – McCain’s bizarre beliefs [↩] « Spiele töten… [...]

By: David D

David D — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:11:16 +0000

BA, I’m glad you pointed this out, even though you still managed to bash McCain at the same time. I hope you don’t think that if you carry just ONE talisman that somehow makes you less loony than the guy who carries a few more. Superstition is superstition.

There are obviously vast political differences between these two candidates, but I don’t see how one has an advantage over the other when it comes to science, or more specifically, anti-science.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:05:00 +0000

@Zeb: they rarely admit that God speaks back, so I think it’s cool on the hearing voices part. They’re just talking to themselves.

By: zeb

zeb — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:52:08 +0000

Whenever I hear about politicians being superstitious or saying they pray regularly, it really scares the s— out of me. Take the president (anyone, not just the incumbent): He has literally thousands of nuclear devices at his disposal that can deliver radioactive death to any and all parts of the world, and freely admits to hearing voices in his head (which he calls God).

It seriously makes me want to leave the planet as quickly as possible.

By: rob

rob — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:30:12 +0000

hey, josh, phil also has another word in the title of his blog:

bad

Oh, phil is a naughty person and he must pay the penalty, and here in castle anthraxbad astronomy comment posts, we have but one punishment for failing to discuss astronomy…

By: matttand

matttand — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:29:58 +0000

My lucky charms are magically delicious.

Of course, I had to bludgeon that stupid leprechaun to death to get them, but that’s between me and the Irish authorities.

Matt A

By: tacitus

tacitus — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:17:05 +0000

asd == cut-and-paste troll. Ignore him/her/it.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:16:29 +0000

@Josh: YOU! Yes YOU, server owner! Write about what I WANT! I say so! Do eet… or I’ll pout!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:15:26 +0000

Asd… Take a breather. And take note: I doubt anyone will be truly arsed to read such a long, boring and miswritten text. You gotta focus your blabber, man!

About lucky charms… I do have my own “charms”. Well, trinkets at least. I don’t think they have powers, but I like having them with me and I feel naked without ‘em!

By: Josh

Josh — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:11:26 +0000

What the hell do good luck talismans have to do with anything? I come here for the awesome astronomy (you know, that word in the title of your blog?) but it’s so bogged down with childish commentary that I don’t even know why I bother.

By: rob

rob — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:06:05 +0000

here is a description of some of mccain’s luck totems:

“In addition to a lucky penny, John McCain carries a lucky nickel, and a lucky rubber band, which he wears around his wrist. He also has a lucky sweater and a lucky hotel room in New Hampshire. ”

do you suppose the hotel room thing *really* works and he gets lucky?

By: matttand

matttand — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:56:29 +0000

ASD:

Capitalization is your friend, as is space between paragraphs.

Matt A

By: themadlolscientist

themadlolscientist — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:50:16 +0000

Time to play “Spot the Loony”……….

By: rob

rob — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:48:20 +0000

what the heck is that post above by asd? the answer to the essay question:

please drone on and on in one billion words or less.

whoever becomes our next president, i just hope they discard their personal luck charms and do the only sensible thing when facing tough questions facing the nation. call up a $4.99/min psychic to find out the answers to tough problems facing the world. they better stay away from the phone sex numbers though! we don’t want our government officials wasting tax payer money on those!

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:47:13 +0000

Wow, I must be one of the “wackos” because I carry things around all the time as well. I’ve got a pocketknife I’ve had since I was nine years old, and I misplaced it for a few days. I was kind of upset until I found it.

So I guess I’m an ignorant fool.

By: Ken S

Ken S — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:26:25 +0000

Heavens to Mergatroid! They carry around things they like! Better not vote for either of them. (If only there were someone decent to vote for.)

And here’s a news flash. Someone feels that the media isn’t treating the candidates equally. Film at eleven.