This is one dangerous man: it’s George Bush with brains

This is one dangerous man: it’s George Bush with brains | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

On Giuliani:

But forward he will charge, telling more lies with even more impunity. And immunity, because in a culture where a sense of history is largely limited to remembering certain stirring television images, he will for the most part get away with it, confident in the knowledge that the main thing most Americans will ever recall about him is the film clip of him running from the rubble of the World Trade Centre on September 11. A far smaller percentage will know that the reason he had run was because he had catastrophically decided to place his emergency command centre in the tower complex – the only building in New York that had previously been the target of a major terrorist attack.

The whole article is well worth reading. This is a scary, scary man – and I am continually dumbfounded by people who think he’s somehow moderate or liberal on social issues. Continue reading »

Holy motherfucking offensiveness batman!

Crooks and Liars » Bush taps birth-control opponent for family planning office

I can’t really say it any better than C&L said it:

But this is ridiculous. It’s as if the Bush administration is trying to find the most offensive choices possible for public-health posts.

Please take action here to oppose her nomination and confirmation to this important post. I mean, for fuck’s sake – really.

Your Brain is Not Your Friend – lifehack.org

And of course this affects everyone but me.

*snort*

Your Brain is Not Your Friend – lifehack.org

Good people’s talents are overlooked because we don’t like the looks of them. The worst aspects of our personalities are brought to the fore because of a subtle environmental cue, like a briefcase on a table. We imagine things that aren’t there — and get offended when others have the audacity to question our observations.

Last night on CSI, (OK, last night when I was watching Tivo’d CSI from Thursday) Grissom was interviewing a man who had tried to exorcise a demon from a girl. He asked Grissom if he believed in a separate evil entity. I can’t find the script online yet so, paraphrased, Grissom said something like “You’re out on the savannah and you see movement from the corner of your eye. You assume it’s a hyena and you run. You’re safe. You assume it’s just the wind, and you’re wrong, you die. We have the genes of those who ran. We’re predisposed to believe in things we can’t see.”

What would the world be like if we were able to truly behave rationally?

Also I dreamed that my bottom canine teeth broke off at the root all of a sudden because I didn’t floss enough.

And today I am painting that bedroom, goddammit.

Killer law: special report from Nicaragua on abortion

Killer law: special report from Nicaragua on abortion | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited

“It’s cynical and it’s sad, especially when you consider our high rate of sexual violence and very young mothers,” says Moisés Arana, a former mayor of Bluefields. “Here there is a lot of religiosity but only a little Christianity.”

It’s estimated that 82 women have died so far because of this ban, which has no exception even if the mother’s life is in grave danger. One woman died of septic shock because doctors would not abort her non-viable but not-yet-dead fetus. All this at the hands of the Catholic church. Religion should be illegal, abortion should not.

London “Bomb” is a bunch of nonsense

Beavis and Butthead in London jihad | The Register

I have to admit I wasn’t a science type in HS or college, so until I read this I beleived that there may have been a serious threat. Whatever. Not like the media wouldn’t lie their asses off for ratings.

What Else Don’t Creationists Believe?

Then there’s this

There are some really nice images in DAZ’s monthly galleries, like this one by Black Dahlia. Beautiful expression, lovely skin, and check out the eyes – maybe a bit bloodshot, but pretty darn realistic all the same.

Then there’s stuff in the Studio gallery like this. I mean, come on. The hair is on sideways, the dress is very ill-fitting and her nostrils glow enough to light up my backyard at night.

 OK here’s some other stuff I have been reading:

>> Just another logical atheist. Those Fanatical Atheists

>> This gets a big WTF from me, and pretty much everyone with a brain. Hallucinating, vomiting and unable to stand, but guides refused water to dying trekker

>> This should be required reading for all memebers of Congress. Disgusted Beyond Belief: My Views on Abortion

So Many Wrong Things

Ste. Genevieve in ‘shocked silence’ over child abuse case

This story is wrong on many levels. It’s about a man being arrested for molesting 40 kids in 30 years at his wife’s informal “day care”. And sad as that is, it’s not something that exactly surprises most of us. However what’s astonishing to me is in the lead of the article, about how the parish priest couldn’t find the words to talk about what happened – so he just didn’t talk about it in this week’s service. Those Both of you who read me regularly know how I feel about religion, particularly the organized variety. But even I will allow that in times of emotional need one’s “spiritual advisor” can be comforting to both the individual and the masses. The clergy’s one legitimate role in my eyes is as a sort of freebie counselor/advisor, using their faith’s teachings to help others process and understand traumatic events. So this is especially wrong:

But the priest, like many people here, did not know quite what to say…. It seemed too much for this rural community of 4,400 to bear.

So the priest at St. Joseph Catholic Church decided to say nothing.

Continue reading »

Real Life: Why I Chose Abortion – MSN Lifestyle – Mind, Body & Soul

Real Life: Why I Chose Abortion – MSN Lifestyle – Mind, Body & Soul

Oh Mah Gahd

Does Real ID Contain the Mark of the Beast?

People are retarded. I am embarassed to live in this state, for real now.

See, what I love …

Husband rips wife’s eyes out after she refuses sex | Herald Sun

…about these (primarily Islamic) male-dominated countries is how their attitudes about women don’t lead them to treat women badly – oh no, not at all! I mean, he ripped out her eyeballs with great love and respect! The future mother of his children, his property! Why would he damage his property? Oh yes, Muslim women are the luckiest women!

Apart from shoving schoolgirls back into a burning building because they weren’t properly attired, this is one of the more horrific things I recall reading about Muslim men and their “respect” for the women in their lives, respect which leads to the women being cloistered, objectified, sold, bartered, beaten, raped, used, murdered and now – blinded for refusing to fuck.

Fuck.

Even if you decide to rip someone’s eyeballs out in a rage, how do you not stop after the first one? I mean, unless you go in there with both hands at once, wouldn’t you kind of gross yourself out when you got the first one out of there?

Christians crusade against cancer vaccine

Christians crusade against cancer vaccine | Salon.com

People don’t get the vaccine for typhoid and say, “Great, now I can drink the sewer water in Bombay.” It’s like saying if you give a kid a tetanus shot she’ll want to jab rusty nails in her feet. It’s like being against a cure for blindness because it’ll encourage masturbation. It’s like being for salmonella poisoning in peanut butter because it’ll discourage weirdos from spreading it on their ass and calling the dog.

Great op ed from Bill Maher, snarky and true. Though I was disturbed to learn about the governor of Texas only mandating the vaccine after he took kickbacks from Merck. Nice. Bet he’s a good Christian.

The Passion of Mary Cheney

The Passion of Mary Cheney – Dan Savage

Thank the flying spaghetti monster that someone is paid to say what I wanted to say but couldn’t put into coherent sentences (at least without using “fuck” WAY more)

Edit: and of course John Stewart says it best.

Right-wing zealots and corporate lawyers say “screw the truth!”. Again.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/1/3/202110/2838

If You’re a Christian, Muslim or Jew – You are Wrong

The Blog | Cenk Uygur: If Youre a Christian, Muslim or Jew – You are Wrong | The Huffington Post

Wish I had read this when it was written, but of course nothing’s changed now, so it’s still completely relevant. Perhaps moreso, since things have arguably gotten worse.