February 12th has become a special day for me, but not necessarily for the reasons you might expect.

Abraham Lincoln, our 16th President was born 200 years ago today. He is perhaps the most remarkable of all of our leaders, presiding over a nation split by the wound of slavery. He was also a tremendous orator, his speeches succinct and written with a rhythm and cadence reminiscent of poetry.

Lincoln was also our first Republican president, helping found the party… but I don’t hold it against him. We need more Republicans in the vein of Lincoln… and Democrats too.

As a kid growing up in Chicago I knew very little about Lincoln, other than always getting the day off from school, which I thought was pretty cool. But lately my interest in Lincoln has grown, thanks in part to our new President, Barack Obama.

While the parallels between Lincoln and Obama have been well documented, the most striking for me is their gift for language, using it to inspire and show a way forward though the most difficult of times.

That is why I celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s birthday today.

Lincoln happens to be in very good company today. Another famous historical figure was also born on February 12th 1809: Charles Darwin, the man behind the theory of evolution.

I’ve taken a keen interest in Darwin of late thanks to my growing disillusionment with organized religion. Though I have long considered myself agnostic, witnessing the hypocrisy, greed, and out-right hate over the last several months has fueled my latent atheism and distrust of all things religious. Its steady and relentless assault on science, placing mankind’s fate in the hands of some invisible omnipotent being instead of repeatable and observable evidence, has put us all at risk. Delays in stemcell research. The growing movement to the teach creationism and Intelligent Design in schools. The delay in our acknowledgment of and response to global warming. These are just a few of the symptoms.

So for me Darwin is a symbol of reason in this sea of mysticism and superstition that threatens to drown all us all. His theory of evolution survives despite being under constant assault. Only 39% of Americans believe in evolution, which to me is both astonishing and scary. But they do believe in a talking snake.

That is why I celebrate Charles Darwin’s birthday today.

Our Zoe celebrates her birthday today too… Number four. So who is this Zoe? Well she’s our cat. Four of our years roughly translates to 32 in cat years. Wow. I had no idea she that old until just now. Wow.

A beautiful ragdoll with a diva complex, she has added so much balance and love to our lives. I remember her first day home, lying on the floor next to her until she felt safe enough to cuddle up next to me. And then we both fell asleep. Later I woke up with crook in my neck and Zoe on my belly, purring like a little steam train.

I don’t know if we will ever have children. But for now Zoe is enough. Any latent paternal instinct, and I mean LATENT, seems to be is satisfied. She has brought me and Chad closer together, as someone to care for often does.

That is why I celebrate Zoe’s birthday today.

And oh yeah, I almost forgot… it’s my birthday too… I’m 42. Ack!

Frankly the number 42 makes me a little nervous, as that’s how old my namesake (Elvis Presley) was when he kicked the bucket and shuffled off his mortal coil. I guess as long as I don’t keel over in the john, I should be fine 🙂

So now I am going to celebrate my birthday by taking a few days off… there maybe be a post or two, but it’s not likely. I wish all of you a safe and relaxing President’s day weekend.

It’s amazing the lengths some religious types will go to convert people to their flock, even calling up the employees of Circuit City who are shepherding the store through its final days.

Below is one such exchange (it’s a big long, but worth the read):

See, for some reason some folks seem to love bragging about God, being one of the folks who have to call people you’d be amazed how many voice mail boxes you get with people going “God is good all the time, and all the time God is good”, or “God loves you!”, or and I shit you not, the voice mailbox plays some Christian style music, used to drive me nuts! So, on one of my last day at the store I decide to work the front register and this one lady calls up the store and I happily pickup the phone

Me: “Thank you for calling Circuit City, how can I help you today?”
Her: “Yeah, I wanted to know what the discounts were at now on laptops?”
M: “They’re 10%”
H: “But the sign says 30% outside?”
M: “Up to 30%, laptops are still 10%”
H: “Oh, is it true you guys are going out of business?”
M: “Yes man”
H: “Wow, you guys have been around for ever
M: “Yeah, #2 consumer electronics retail store and we’re forced to close our doors because the economy failed us and now 34,000 employees are without jobs, all because people didn’t wanna go out and spend money to we could keep operating.”
H: “Wow, that’s terrible what’s your name?
M: “Ted”
H: “Well Ted, are you a Christian?”

Now, like I said above, it’s not so much a bad customer, so much as an example of policies going out the window. There I am on the phone with a lady who, while polite and all, was about to do something I did not want to deal with on my last day. She was about to preach to me about how God does things for a reason, and God has a plan, blah, blah, I have no interest in listening to this, customer like this drive me nuts. Really, God made Circuit City fail so that 34,000 other people could lose their jobs, among other companies doing lay offs and such. While I am Christian, I was not in the mood for this. I hung up on her. Wow, that was rude of me, probably one of the worst things I’ve done in retail, especially to a customer who was trying to be polite and caring and what not, I just had no interest in hearing it. So I stand at the register for a couple moments and the phone rings again, so I decide to try something slightly different, so in as thick a Russian accent as I can put on I answer the phone.

M: “Zank you for callink Zirkuit Zity, how kan I help you?”
H: “Hi, I was just talking to Ted a moment ago”
M: “Zorry ma’am but Ted valked avay, how kan I help you?
H: “I wanted to know if Toshibas were on sale?”
M: “Yez ma’am, Toshibas are all 10% off, as are all laptops”
H: “Ok, well I know it’s you Ted and I just wanted to mention that you’re an asshole”

Uh oh, the gig is up

M: “Alright, thanks ma’am buh bye!”

And hang up again. For a christian about to preach to me she sure didn’t mind calling me an asshole, while probably not the story you were expecting I want you to play that out in your head and tell me that’s not hilarious. The way she said it “I know it’s you Ted”, man it was awesome. Prime example of the rule book being tossed. I actually used the name Ted too, every person I talk to finds the story funny cause she was like “I know it’s you Ted”.

Nice zinger at the end, and how very Christian of them.

More stories from Circuit City employees at Gizmodo.

Iraqi woman Samira Jassim confessed to organizing the rape of more than 80 women, and then convinced them to be suicide bombers to escape their shame.

28 times.

People do the most horrible things because their “belief system” demands it… and this is the worst I’ve heard in a very long time. Put succinctly by PZ Meyers over at Pharyngula, “This is where a pathologically religious culture can end up: with parasites like this who exploit the fear and hatred to create more fear and hatred.”

Full story.

Ted Haggard, former pastor of New Life Church and a “heterosexual with issues” has been at the center of a media circus the past few days with an appearance on Oprah, the debut of an HBO documentary called Trials of Ted Haggard, and the revelation his church might have bought the silence of a teenager with whom he was inappropriate with.

In the media and documentary Haggard comes across as amicable, if somewhat pathetic and lost; someone who might be worthy of a little pity, or at least his family anyway.

The clips below which show a different Haggard at the height of his power and influence as founder and senior pastor of New Life Church.

From Richard Dawkins’ BBC program The Root of All Evil.

and from Jesus Camp (at 3:45).

Nope. Not one ounce of pity.