Avatar and District 9

Here’s the most interesting review of Avatar I’ve seen so far, comparing and contrasting Avatar to District 9. (spoilers below the break)

Greg Koukl vs. Michael Shermer on Hugh Hewitt

The Hugh Hewitt show hosted a three hour debate between Greg Koukl from Stand To Reason and Michael Shermer from Skeptic Magazine on the topic of the existence of God.  The transcript is here.   About two thirds of the debate was on meta-ethics and the Argument From Morality, which was interesting and very unusual.  Also unusual was the fact that the atheist, Shermer, took a moral realist position.  Most atheists are meta-ethical anti-realists.

Unfortunately, the MP3 file is only available with a subscription.

Review: Dances With Smurfs

Here’s a roundup of some good reviews of Avatar:

Here’s Ross Douthat.

Here’s John Podhoretz.

And here’s Jonah Goldberg.

Forbes.

Douthat again.

I’m mostly with J-pod.  The movie was one long cliche, but it really was visually spectacular and well worth the ticket price if you see it in 3-D.  In terms of plot, characters and story though?  Well, I wouldn’t bother seeing it in 2D.

A Question of Belief

Here are two editorials on the most pressing issue today.  Let me know what you think.

Yes, Virginia

Sorry, Virginia …

The Precautionary Principle and Global Warming

The Precautionary Principle and Global Warming.

A new way of making decisions in uncertainty.

Hope, Change, and Universal Healthcare

The premiere of the new version of “V” aired last night, in which aliens make contact with Humanity by parking huge spaceships  over all the major cities of the Earth.  The aliens, called Visitors, claim to come in peace and offer technology to humanity in exchange for replenishing their supplies.  If the new version follows the 80’s original at all, the aliens will turn out to not be peaceful at all, and in fact the supplies which they intend to replenish will include food — with their favorite food stuff being us.

The script of the pilot has the Visitors explicitly expressing the desire to spread “hope,” bring “change,” and provide Humanity with universal healthcare coverage — all of which echo the rhetoric of the Obama administration.  That really surprises me.  Is the intention of the creators of “V” to suggest that Obama has sinister plans behind his benign image?  I was under the impression that the creative community in Hollywood was solidly pro-Obama.  Maybe I was wrong.  At first glance, anyway, the message of “V” appears to be that one ought to be skeptical of those promising to transform society for the better.

I look forward to seeing where they go with this.

More Intolerance From the Left

Advocates of same sex marriage in Washington state attempted to force the public disclosure of the names of 138,000 signers of a petition that triggered a referendum to be held tomorrow to repeal a state law that some believe establishes same sex marriage in Washington, as described in this George Will column. This is another example of same sex marriage advocates attempting to intimidate their opponents from participating in the political process, similar to what I described here.

Why can’t the Left tolerate the expression of alternate points of view?

(Hat tip Maggie Gallagher)

Update: Rod Dreher weighs in.

Update II: The voters approved the state bill extending additional rights to domestic partnerships.

Want To See Something Really Scary?

Happy Halloween.

The Public Option

This is pretty damning stuff.

h/t @radioblogger

Hewitt v Dawkins

Hugh Hewitt interviewed Richard Dawkins last week about Dawkins new book The Greatest Show On Earth: The Evidence For Evolution.  The whole interview is fascinating, read the whole thing here.  I was particularly interested in a exchange regarding the quality of design apparent in nature and its implications for the belief in God.