Palin Pitches In

Big Quitter Sarah Palin is now an expert on the environment and science! We're saved from all those scientists and their "knowledge"! Read her thoughts on the false "controversy" dubbed "Climategate".

I've always believed that policy should be based on sound science, not politics.
...
But while we recognize the occurrence of these natural, cyclical environmental trends, we can't say with assurance that man's activities cause weather changes.

This is all, of course, highly ironic coming from someone who doesn't understand or believe in evolution. Who believes the Earth is only 6000 years old. And who belongs to a church that believes witches are real and practices exorcisms.

Our representatives in Copenhagen should remember that good environmental policymaking is about weighing real-world costs and benefits -- not pursuing a political agenda.

And of course economics should be the determining factor. Who cares if ocean levels rise to drown coastal cities around the world, billions starve in interminable droughts and the planet is rendered nearly uninhabitable by humans? At least our economy will be in good shape.

It's all about your priorities.

Rachel, watch this for tips

Math is hard again

Oy.

I admit it

I have been hiding the truth for too long. I had hoped that the media scandal would blow over, but it's just too great. I can't avoid it so my only reasonable course of action is to come clean.

I also have been having an affair with Tiger Woods.

There. I said it. I feel much better.

I expect the media circus will descend upon me at this startling, but totally foreseeable and inevitable, revelation. I am ready for it.

As proof, I offer the following.

Overreact Much, Fox News?

I really don't think they understand that two-thirds of the people who live on this planet are NOT Christians.

Participants at Copenhagen's global climate summit will be meeting during the holiday season, but they will not be surrounded by festive Christmas decor, according to Denmark's Foreign Ministry.
...

A sponsor providing fir trees for the conference's Christmas trees learned this the hard way when it was turned away by planners of the international event, the Copenhagen Post reported. Article

Earlier this evening, this article was the top news story at FOX News.

This is news? The participants are supposed to be meeting to discuss climate-related issues. Why is is desirable for them to have Christmas decorations? Really, who gives a crap?

Of course this is just another salvo in Fox's annual "war against the (imaginary) war on Christmas". Those evil UN guys are destroying Christmas.

Can you imagine the uproar if the conference was being held during Ramadan and decorated accordingly? These same people who want to shove Christmas down everyone's throats would go nuts.

Look, I love Christmas. It's a fun time of year, the music is good, and everything is very pretty. But I understand that more people in the world don't celebrate it than do, and they don't want it in their face all the time. Sheesh.

So long, Butterstick

The beloved Panda at the National Zoo in DC, Tai Shan a.k.a "Butterstick", is being sent to China. China owns all the Pandas at the National Zoo and after an extension on the original two-year contract for Tai Shan, who was born at the zoo, his time in America is up.

Many Americans are taking it hard.

"People have different emotions," she said. "Some people think it's best for him to go. And some people are dealing with just hearing the news. It's a shock. We knew the time was going to come. We just didn't know when."

The Chinese, of course, are absolutely delighted and can't wait for his arrival as they consider giant Pandas to be a wonderful symbol of their homeland and absolutely delicious.

Reap what you sow

Attention anti-gay Christians.

Below is the logical conclusion of your bigotry against homosexuals. If many American Christians had their way, this proposed Ugandan law would also be the law in the United States and everywhere.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 is going through Uganda’s Parliament after receiving its first reading last month.

According to Clause 2 of the Bill, a person who is convicted of gay sex is liable to life imprisonment. But if that person is also HIV positive the penalty — under the heading “aggravated homosexuality” — is death.

The Bill proposes a three-year prison sentence for anyone who is aware of evidence of homosexuality and fails to report it to the police within 24 hours. And it would impose a sentence of up to seven years for anyone who defends the rights of gays and lesbians.

Think carefully. Is this REALLY what you want?

Shame on you, New York

A "progressive" state legislature demonstrates their bigotry as up to 8 Democratic state senators switch their vote for the continued denial of rights to a minority. They are on the wrong side of history and will eventually be ashamed of their vote to deny marriage equality.

Five years ago, no one would have believed that in 2009 five states would allow gay marriage. In a few years, no one will understand why anyone was against it.

This is brilliant:

Something doesn't seem right here

The CBO, or Congressional Budget Office, is a non-partisan group that crunches the numbers for Congress. Their report is pretty clear:

– “As the Senate opened debate Monday on a landmark plan to overhaul the nation’s health-care system, congressional budget analysts said the measure would leave premiums unchanged or slightly lower for the vast majority of Americans, contradicting assertions by the insurance industry that the average family’s coverage would rise by thousands of dollars if the proposal became law.” [WP, 11/30/2009]

– “The Congressional Budget Office said Monday that the Senate health bill could significantly reduce costs for many people who buy health insurance on their own…” [NYT, 11/30/2009]

– “On average, 134 million Americans insured through large employers will see no rise in premiums and may pay 3 percent less than they would if Congress failed to pass a health-care overhaul plan, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said yesterday. Subsidies also will lower costs as much as 59 percent for 18 million people buying their own insurance.” [Bloomberg, 12/1/2009]

So why is FOX News reporting that the CBO says Health Care Reform won't lower premiums?

2009 Fall Round-Up

The last two months have probably been the busiest I've ever been in my life save for a couple of months a dozen years ago when I worked on a litigated case at work. Over the past several weeks I've had numerous work projects coming to a head, an orientation video I was asked to create, and a whole bunch of home projects. I'm not done yet, but I've jumped several hurdles and things have slowed down a bit.

Still, despite the work we managed to engage in some of our traditional fall activities.

We went to the Maryland Renaissance Festival in late October. We were heading to the festival on Saturday the 24th, Carol's birthday, in an absolute downpour. We decided to bail and a good thing we did; it rained hard all day. It would have been miserable. (Although I am very curious to know how it played out. Were there a handful of visitors running from booth to booth all day? Did they hold the joust? Were all the entertainers there?)

The next day we went to what had to be the muddiest Ren Fest ever. Huge areas of the fair were mud pits. Not wet mud and puddles, but thick, gloppy mud several inches deep. That, and the huge crowds (there was not only greater demand because of the rained-out Saturday, but it was the last day of the Fair), made it a difficult day, but we had fun as always.

While I was at work late every night the week of Halloween, we still managed to host our annual Haunted Forest thanks to some prep work by Carol and a lot of work the day of Halloween. We had around 70 trick-or-treaters (I lost count) and it was probably our most successful effort to date. I am really happy that we managed to put on such a good show in such a short time.

And finally, even though it conflicted with Rachel's fall show, Alice in Wonderland, we were able to make an all-day trip to EuroQuest on the Saturday of the convention. That was a nice respite of seeing friends and gaming from all the work I've been doing.

Bring on Christmas vacation. I'm tired.

Reasons to be thankful for having to work on Thanksgiving Friday

1.  Have job.

2.  Very few people on bus and Metro.

3.  Faster commute; actually arrived early to work!

4.  Quiet day at office.

 

I’m out.  That’s all I’ve got.

Biggest Cruise Ship Ever

At what point does it cease to be a “cruise” and just become “sitting on an island”?

Math is hard

Sorry, I think I stroked out a bit there

“I addressed her as ‘President Palin,’ ” said Debbie McMillan of Orlando. “She said, ‘I like that very much — I could live with that.’” Link.

AAAAAAAUUUGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
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HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Why I must speak out

America is a unique combination of thousands of cultures and belief systems. This fact is one of the things that makes us strong as a nation. It's also a reality denied by many Americans who put the promotion of their own selfish beliefs above other people's rights.

City council members in Marietta, Ga., will consider changing the oath of office that the city's police officers take so that recruits can swear to uphold the law without saying the phrase "so help me God."

This sounds like progress; a recognition that not all the city's police recruits are religious or that they may object to swearing on "God's" name and then allowing them an alternative. Predictably, the Mayor won't have it.

But a police spokeswoman says that to her knowledge, nobody has ever objected to saying those words, and the city's mayor promises he'll veto any change to the oath that removes them.

The Councilman (who's also the city's deputy assistant district attorney) who suggested the review is very open about it although obviously not too enthusiastic.

Pearlberg said the phrase should not be removed, but he said there could be problems with the oath if a police recruit is an atheist or not religious.

“I don’t think anybody should be forced to say anything,” he said. “I just don’t know what the alternative would be.”

Others aren't so charitable.

But another councilman, Anthony Coleman, who chairs Marietta's Public Safety Committee and works as a pastor at a church in Mableton, Ga., said he “adamantly” opposes any change to the oath.

“I just see no justification, I don’t care if the person is an atheist,” he said. “We’re a Christian nation.”

Apparently the Constitution of the United States and other people's rights aren't enough of a justification for him. So long as he's forcing people to swear to his god, he doesn't care about their rights. The fact that swearing an oath is meaningless in the first place or that an atheist swearing on a god he doesn't believe in is less than meaningless doesn't occur to Councilman Coleman. He just wants to hear those sweet, sweet words, uttered by as many people as can be forced.

Then there's the old "Christian nation" lie. Look, this is very simple. If the Founders had wanted to make this a "Christian nation" all they had to do is put it right there in the Constitution. "We the People of the United States, under the Divine Providence of our Lord, Jesus Christ, in order to establish a Christian nation . . ." Done. We're officially a Christian nation.

But they didn't do that. They understood what religious liberty meant. They understood that religious freedom ("of" religion and "from" religion) is an inalienable human right. That's why they wrote it into the First Amendment. And that's why there's a prohibition against religious tests for public office. Again, right there in the Constitution.

The Mayor and Councilman Coleman of Marietta, Georgia, not only don't understand that, they don't respect it either.

“In the eight years I’ve been mayor, there’s never been a problem,” he said of the oath. “I don’t think there will be any changes at all. If someone does not want to make that statement, I’m not so sure I want them on our police force.”

This is out and out bigotry. This sentiment not only disqualifies atheists, but also Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jehova's Witnesses and any other group who don't believe in a single "god" or who refuse to swear on their god's name.

Here's a message for you Mayor. There are atheists on your police force. Today. The fact that they haven't spoken out and objected to the statement probably means they fear for their lives if they make their "difference" known among the oh so tolerant Christians they work with. Christians who might not bat an eye at allowing an evil atheist cop to be hurt. It's a hard accusation, but it's been known to happen.

This is why we must speak out and publicize bigotry. This is why we must go to court to have our rights enforced. This is why the radical Christian right demonizes the courts in an attempt to prevent them from enforcing the civil rights of non-Christians.

I have hope that some day all Americans will understand and honor our Constitution and agree that all rights are worth defending, even if you don't share the other person's beliefs. But that day is not today.

That is why I must speak out.

2012: A year that's coming

Believe that the Earth will be destroyed in the year 2012? Then you're a moron.

If, however, by chance you'd like to be an educated moron, check out this awesome, fun graphic of all the bizarre 2012 Doomsday claims with instant rebuttals.

Information is Beautiful.

Do what Fluffy Commands!

Awwwwwww. Fluffy the bear is SO cute! He's so soft and cuddly!

What's that Fluffy? You want me to do what to whom? Well, you are awfully cute. And he is a Marxist.

Okay, Fluffy, whatever you say.

Favor to a Senator - Commit this to Memory

Utah Senator Republican Chris Buttars is unhappy with Teh Gays.

I meet with the gays here and there. They were in my house two weeks ago. I don’t mind gays. But I don’t want ‘em stuffing it down my throat all the time. Certainly not in my kid’s face.

So that there's no confusion, let's just memorialize the Senator's thoughts:

• He doesn't want gays stuffing it down his throat all the time; he's okay with them stuffing it down his throat some of the time.
• He doesn't want it in his kid's face.
  

Okay, thanks Senator. Good to know.

You should be ashamed.

This is just so hypocritical, wrong, and, I say without exaggeration, un-American.

I just found out today about the new "conservative" catch-phrase appearing on bumpers and t-shirts everywhere:

"Pray for Obama. Psalms 109:8"

Sounds good, doesn't it? Pray for the President. They want the President to do and be well. Okay.

But then you look up the Bible verse:

"Let his days be few; and let another take his office."

Since a President's days are set, for them to be few means he wouldn't serve out an entire term. I wonder what they could mean? Let's check out Psalms 109:9.

"Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow."

The meaning is pretty clear. The Christian Right now has a scriptural code calling for the death of the President, or, less charitably, calling for someone to kill the President.

This is really, really sick. Is it any wonder so many are fearful of these type of "Christians"? What utterly morally bankrupt scumbags they are. How loathsome and contemptuous. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Unfortunately, since there is no Hell, they won't be punished for this outrage. But then again, neither will they be rewarded. And they'll never know how they wasted their one lifetime on hatred.

Bill Maher Strikes Back! (I mean, strikes out!)

Bill Maher tried to calm the flames engulfing him for his anti-vax stupidity. Instead of sounding reasonable, he sounds like a proponent of Intelligent Design. "Teach the controversy." Bleh.

Check out Orac's smack-down.

Weird Web Stats

I keep very informal track of web traffic to this blog. Basically, I signed up with Sitemeter and occasionally go check how the blog is doing. You can always find the Sitemeter link at the bottom of the right sidebar.

Last October, the month before the 2008 Presidential election, my visits nearly doubled then quickly dropped back down in the ensuing months. I attributed it to interest in political posts.

I checked just now for the first time in a couple of months and was shocked to see another huge spike in October of this year. Check it out here.

Anyone have any idea why October is so special in blogland?

Overreact Much, Cincinnati Christians?

Apparently some folk are so insecure in their faith that the very mention that other people don't believe in their god sends them into violent conniptions.

A pro-atheism billboard in Cincinnati was being moved to a different location in response to alleged threats two days after it was put up, sponsors said.

So what was the message on the billboard that caused threats?


Note that this is not the exact billboard but the message was the same. Simply a note reminding non-believers that there are other non-believers. How utterly non-controversial. Surely everyone knows that there are people who don't believe in god.

Jack Jones of Downtown told the TV station he thinks the sign should not be put up.

"It's atheist," he said.

Apparently non-believers aren't entitled to the same rights of free speech as everyone else.

What is telling is that non-believers, who believe that human beings, each other, are all that we have, don't get all bent out of shape over the constant barrage of religious messages in our society (unless they're on public property) while those who believe they are supported by an omniscient, omnipotent god can't handle the least bit of disagreement.

If there is such a superguy watching over you, why would you ever have to get bent out of shape over such a thing? I know that if I REALLY BELIEVED that the creator and ultra-powerful overlord of the entire universe was my personal buddy, I really wouldn't worry about what other people think of me or him. But then, I'm rational.

Superstition Kills

Here's a good article from the Washington Post detailing how many children die each year because of the medical neglect of their ignorant parents. Are these parents punished? In some cases, severely. But not if they claim religious reasons for the neglect.

In the past 25 years, hundreds of children are believed to have died in the United States after faith-healing parents forbade medical attention to end their sickness or protect their lives. When minors die from a lack of parental care, it is usually a matter of criminal neglect and is often tried as murder. However, when parents say the neglect was an article of faith, courts routinely hand down lighter sentences. Faithful neglect has not been used as a criminal defense, but the claim is surprisingly effective in achieving more lenient sentencing, in which judges appear to render less unto Caesar and more unto God.

Why should the religious get a pass on child abuse? Why should your irrational superstitious beliefs exempt you from penalties stemming from the abuse of the most vulnerable people?

The key to the use of such a defense is that it must involve belief in a divine being, not a particular lifestyle. In 2007, Jade Sanders and Lamont Thomas of Atlanta were convicted of malice murder and given life sentences for the death of their 6-week-old child. The defense attorneys cited the couple's strict vegan lifestyle to explain why they fed their newborn son a diet of soy milk and organic apple juice, though during the trial Sanders said she had also breast-fed her son, who died in an emaciated state at 6 weeks, weighing just 3 1/2 pounds. The prosecutor and court had no qualms in treating this couple's beliefs as a poor excuse for murder, calling a nutritionist and vegan expert as a witness to show that a vegan diet can be safe for an infant. The prosecutor even told the jury: "They're not vegans, they're baby-killers."

How is this situation any different than someone claiming religious reasons?

It's because we give a pass to religion in this country and don't hold it to the same standards as everyone else.

If you're a fan of FOX NEWS, watch this

I think it's fair to say that I'm not a big fan of FOX NEWS. By their own admission, they're more opinion than actual news reporting and their personalities are often racist, misogynistic, idiotic (I'm looking at you Glenn Beck) hypocrites.

But if you like FOX NEWS and trust FOX NEWS and think they're fair and balanced, then how would you feel about proof that they're lying to you? Proof that they're manipulating you for their own political agenda?

Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
www.thedailyshow.com
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Now before you excuse this with some cynical "Everyone does it," comment, realize that that's just an excuse. If CNN or MSNBC or any other media news outlet does it, it's wrong too. Oh, and if you have proof of others doing it, you should certainly demonstrate it.

It's very sad that it takes a comedy show to catch this kind of thing while the rest of the media sleeps and lets propaganda influence public perception for a narrow political group.

One lucky woman

This is terrifying and amazing.