GOP Lawmaker Mike Beard Claims God Will Provide Unlimited Natural Resources

Mike Beard, a Republican state representative from Minnesota, recently argued that coal mining should resume in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, in part because he believes God has created an earth that will provide unlimited natural resources.

"God is not capricious. He's given us a creation that is dynamically stable," Beard told MinnPost. "We are not going to run out of anything."

Beard is currently in the midst of drafting legislation that would overturn Minnesota's moratorium on coal-fired power plants, an effort that he backs due to his religious belief that God will provide limitless resources while ensuring that humans don't destroy the planet trying to get them.

Drawing on his family's childhood property in Pennsylvania, Beard explained to MinnPost his belief that while resource extraction might cause temporary agitation to the landscape, the effects wouldn't be longterm.

...

"It is the height of hubris to think we could [destroy the earth]," Beard told MinnPost, before saying that even devastating nuclear events shouldn't cast doubt on his theory that the earth can always be repaired.

I think hubris does not mean what he thinks it means.

I think the height of hubris would be to expect a God to save your bacon when you intentionally put your bacon at risk. But as an agnostic, I probably don't have much credibility on these questions.

Us agnostics and atheists are very arrogant for not believing an entity that is all powerful over the whole universe considers us humans on our little planet to be important. Or at least that's what I'm told.

Cool picture: Smiling Coelacanth

DIY fizzy fruit

[Rich] over at Evil Mad Scientist Labs took it upon himself to make eating fruit a little more enjoyable for his kids by infusing it with CO2 using his CO2inator. Observing the same principles used in making soft drinks and force-carbed beer, he decided to build a CO2 pressure chamber for use in his kitchen. He gathered a handful of easy to find components to construct his rig, including a household water filter housing and a CO2 cylinder from a paintball gun. He has some helpful hints for those who are not familiar with the process, noting that refrigerated fruit absorbs the gas more quickly than warm, and that considering the water content of the fruit is important when selecting what to carbonate.

Once [Rich] had everything safely connected and checked for leaks, in went the fruit. After about half an hour to an hour, the fruit was carbonated, much to the delight of his children. This looks like a quick and fun project for adults and kids alike, that can easily fit into a busy weekend schedule.

And another spoon for stirring the beans.

Sounds like there was heat. That's totally cooking!

I think the height of hubris would be to expect a God to save your bacon when you intentionally put your bacon at risk. But as an agnostic, I probably don't have much credibility on these questions.

I had a discussion with another theist once where we agreed that even though all of creation is a gift, and a gift freely given certainly does belong to the recipient to do with as s/he wishes, it's more than a little rude to take someone's freely given gift, carve it up, doodle all over it, smash it into the wall and take a crap on it, and then say, "Well, gee, you made it and it's your gift to us. C'mon, fix it! We know you can!"

Mike Beard, dude! COME ON. Is this how you treat a present from God? You're the reason we can't have nice universes!

My upstairs neighbor just asked me to turn down my music when I didn't have anything on. This is the 2nd time in a week this has happened so now he thinks I'm lying to him. I don't know how to approach this.

Also, if you don't like what science says about global warming, you can just pass a law....

Montana Legislator Introduces Bill To Declare Global Warming ‘Natural’ And ‘Beneficial’

A bill has been introduced in the Montana state legislature to declare global warming a “natural occurrence and human activity has not accelerated it,” and that it is “beneficial to the welfare and business climate of Montana.” State Rep. Joe Read (R-MT), a farmer and emergency firefighter who unseated a Democratic incumbent in 2010, introduced HB 549 “to ensure economic development in Montana”:

The legislature finds that to ensure economic development in Montana and the appropriate management of Montana’s natural resources it is necessary to adopt a public policy regarding global warming.

(2) The legislature finds:

(a) global warming is beneficial to the welfare and business climate of Montana;

(b) reasonable amounts of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere have no verifiable impacts on the environment; and

(c) global warming is a natural occurrence and human activity has not accelerated it.

Well, that solves that problem....

ION, I think that as I've gotten older, I've grown more allergic to human stupidity.

My upstairs neighbor just asked me to turn down my music when I didn't have anything on. This is the 2nd time in a week this has happened so now he thinks I'm lying to him. I don't know how to approach this.

But someone is playing music somewhere, right? Can you figure out where it's coming from?