Dissent or Stupidity

The right wing talking points about the jackasses disrupting town hall meetings are that (1) this is just Americans dissenting and speaking out like our forefathers did and (2) that the Democrats are calling this unpatriotic.

Both assertions are absurd. Dissent is welcome. Compare what is happening in town hall meetings to the previous administration who interviewed people and kept dissenters out of W's events. Seems to me that the Democrats are inviting discussion. What they are not inviting is the insipid, putrid, obnoxious behavior of many of these "dissenters." Since when is yelling "Heil Hitler" at a Jew patriotic dissent? And who actually thinks it is a good idea to allow weapons to be allowed into a meeting where emotions will undoubtedly run high? Republicans!

Then we get to the stupid claim that Democrats, and even President Obama, are calling dissent unpatriotic. This is a lie. Republicans seem to believe that if you tell a lie often enough, people will believe it. Unfortunately, they seem to be correct about that. Truth is, no Democrat has called voicing dissent or displeasure at town hall meetings (or anywhere else for that matter) unpatriotic. Oh, some have called screaming and shouting and lying and Hitlerizing (this is what I call non-Internet examples of Godwin's Law) unpatriotic... and they're right... err, I mean, correct!

By the way, it is quite likely that the Hitlerizing was adopted as a popular right wing tactic after that blowhard pig-boy Rush Limbaugh did it (although there are examples of it occuring before Rush, it kinda blew up after he oinked it out on the radio).

WWJP - Who Wants a Jesus Puppet?

Came across this on the web and thought it was amusing. You, too, can own your own "big-mouth professional puppet" that is "30 inches tall with legs attached and approximately 19 inches with legs removed."

Why you might want to remove Jesus' legs is beyond me, but hey, I am definitely not their target audience.

Reading further, I learned that "(a)ll clothes are completely removable and interchangeable." Now we're getting somewhere. Jesus in a tutu? Wearing a kilt? Galoshes and a yellow Gorton's fisherman slicker? Now any of those sound like a lot more fun than merely removing his legs, doncha think?

But don't rush over there to buy one... unfortunately, it looks like Jesus sold out.

Boycott Kellogg's

Pot activists aren't taking Kellogg's very public snub of Olympic champion Michael Phelps lightly: four national organizations are calling for a boycott of all the cereal and snack company's products – and asking their members to contact Kellogg with complaints.

The Marijuana Policy Project, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the Drug Policy Alliance are all urging a Kellogg boycott.

"Kellogg's had no problem signing up Phelps when he had a conviction for drunk driving, an illegal act that could actually have killed someone," said Rob Kampia, the Marijuana Policy Project's executive director.

I don't really give a damn about Michael Phelps, but Kellogg's is being kinda hypocritical here, aren't they?

Seasteading? I hope they get ransacked by pirates!

...former Google software engineer, (Patri) Friedman is 32 but comes off much younger, with close-cropped hair and a slightly nasal voice. He is executive director of the Seasteading Institute, the nonprofit he founded in April 2008..."This isn't enough to create a whole new civilization," Friedman says. "But this is a seed."

This story is about people who want to build platforms in the ocean and create their own little nations on them. Hey, if that's what you want, go for it. But these people seem like rich brats intent on getting their own way all the time. Fuck them, I hope their "seasteads" get invaded, raided, and destroyed...

Toke 'em Up for Zoroaster, Boys

Here an interesting story our of Phoenix... The Arizona Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether there is a religious right to possess marijuana.

Without comment, the justices granted to hear Daniel Hardesty's argument that the First Amendment protections of free exercise of religion entitle him to use marijuana as a "sacrament'' of his church. Both a trial judge and the state Court of Appeals rejected those arguments.

If the high (snicker, snicker) court decides otherwise, it would be the first time in Arizona that judges have concluded there is a legal defense for those who use marijuana.

Hardesty was arrested in 2005 after being stopped by police while driving in Yavapai County.

At trial, Hardesty testified he had been a practicing member of the Church of Cognizance since 1993. A church official said that the religion, founded in 1991, is based on "neo-Zoroastrian tenets'' and that marijuana provides a connection to the divine mind and spiritual enlightenment.

...

There is a precedent for what Hardesty wants.

Arizona courts have allowed the possession of peyote for religious use by the Native American Church. But Weisberg said that is different, as prosecutors in that case never showed that peyote was addictive or being used in quantities harmful to the health of the participants.

Weisberg said the long and continuous use of peyote by a "discreet and well-defined group'' makes it different than drug use claims by other religions.

Yes, this is stupid, but if it takes the guise of religion to break down the criminalization of pot, then maybe, finally, there is something that religion is useful for...

Fox Sucks (and they are racists, too)

As if Americans needed any more reminders of how closely aligned with the Republican party the Fox News network is, New Year's Eve brings us this new tidbit.

During it's broadcast from New York City, the network encouraged viewers to send in text messages which, if approved by moderators, would scroll across the Fox ticker at the bottom of the screen.

Moderators, however, let this one slip: "HAPPY NEW YEAR AND LET’S HOPE THE MAGIC NEGRO DOES A GOOD JOB. LOVE JEN AND JOHN C."

"Slip," meaning the comment either just 'got past' a negligent moderator, or said moderator thought it was appropriate for broadcast.

Can One Text From the Grave?

It was five years ago when Frank Jones' wife and son died unexpectedly. His son, Steven, died of a brain tumor at an early 32. Three months later, his wife, Sadie died from a heart attack at the age of 69.

Sadie was a cell phone addict. "She always had a mobile with her," Jones told the Blackpool Gazette. So, of course, they buried Sadie with her cell phone.

Now Jones believes Sadie is getting service six feet under, and she has been sending him text messages with words only Sadie would say. Of course, there is no return number on the messages or missed calls, leading Jones to believe the communications are form his deceased wife.

I feel for this guy's losses, but how fucking gullible can people be? I chalk this kind of stupid shit up to the continually declining ability of Home Sapiens to use his brain to reason.

Pledge Rulings

As reported at Law.com: The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected a First Amendment challenge to a Florida law that says students must get a parent's permission to get out of a daily classroom recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

But the court ruled that a part of the law requiring all "civilians" to stand during the pledge in schools is unconstitutional.

Christine Frazier had brought suit on behalf of her son, Cameron, in 2005, when her son was in the 11th grade. A federal district judge agreed that the rule "robs the student of the right to make an independent decision whether to say the pledge."

On appeal, 11th Circuit Chief Judge J.L. Edmondson, Senior Judge James C. Hill and visiting 9th Circuit Senior Judge Arthur L. Alarcón noted that the U.S. Supreme Court held over a half a century ago that local government authorities can't compel a salute to the flag.

But the panel said the Florida law protects parents' constitutional rights to bring up their children as they see fit. "The State, in restricting the student's freedom of speech, advances the protection of the constitutional rights of parents: an interest which the State may lawfully protect," the panel said Wednesday.

The panel warned that it considered only Frazier's challenge to the law on its face and not whether it might be applied constitutionally to any particular student.

On the question of standing during the pledge, the state acknowledged that students have a right to remain seated but had urged the court to read the requirement as applicable only to those students who don't get a parent's permission to not say the pledge. The 11th Circuit panel said that interpretation was too "improbable."

So, I guess parent's have no say over their children's posture (the child can sit), but they do over what they pledge to (the child cannot opt out of the pledge without parental say-so)?

Contraception = Abortion?

The New York Times reports that the Bush Administration wants to require all recipients of aid under federal health programs to certify that they will not refuse to hire nurses and other providers who object to abortion and even certain types of birth control.

While current law allows health care providers and professionals to refuse to provide abortions based on their religious beliefs, this provision would threaten the funding of organizations and health facilities if they do not hire people who would refuse to provide birth control and defines abortion so broadly that it would include many types of birth control, including oral contraception.

This is so fucking ridiculous - - it is the type of shit that religion creates. If you don't want to provide legal medical assistance to people who require it, well, then here's an idea, don't become a nurse or a doctor, you stupid shithead! Maybe I'll become a construction worker and then tell the boss that my religion forbids me to use tools. Or I'll get a job as a chef and then tell the boss I cannot cook with any seasoning because my religion forbids it... better yet, I'll go to work at a pizza place but then refuse to put pepperoni on the cheese because I'm Jewish!

And what's with making contraception the equivalent of abortion? Hey, let's go all in, and make it illegal not to fuck every woman you come in contact with... because, well, if you don't fuck her then she can't get pregnant and that is the same as aborting your hypothetical child...

These Bushies are some sick mother fuckers.

More Religious Stupidity with Corpses

Two children and their mother are said to have lived for about two months with the decaying body of a 90-year-old woman on the toilet of their home's only bathroom.

Wisconsin authorities say a religious "superior" had claimed the corpse would come back to life.
The children, ages 15 and 12, cried hysterically Wednesday after a deputy who came to the Necedah, Wis., home looking for the woman, Magdeline Alvina Middlesworth, ordered them out because of the stench from the body.

According to the criminal complaint, Middlesworth's sister called sheriff's officials Wednesday and asked them to go to the home about 80 miles north of Madison to check on the woman, who had not been heard from for some time.

The children are in foster care. Their mother, Tammy Lewis, and self-described "bishop" Alan Bushey remain in custody on felony counts of being a party to causing mental harm to a child.
Lewis told a deputy that Middlesworth, who one of the children referred to as "grandmother" in the criminal complaint, had appeared to pass out as Lewis helped her into her underwear.
She said she propped Middlesworth on the toilet and left the room to call Bushey, who told her to leave the woman alone and pray for her, the complaint said. He said he had received signs that God would raise her from the dead with a miracle.

Lewis went on to say she thought Middlesworth was still breathing when she put her on the toilet and called Bushey, instead of an ambulance. She later told a detective she put the woman on the toilet on March 4.

An autopsy has been performed, but results won't be available for some time, Juneau County Sheriff Brent Oleson said.

To me, the most amazing part of this story is that the house had only one bathroom. Where do you suppose these idiots defecated since March 4th?

Barack Obama is Not a Muslim

Barack Obama is Not a Muslim

Barack Obama is Not a Muslim

Barack Obama is Not a Muslim

Barack Obama is Not a Muslim

Barack Obama is Not a Muslim

Barack Obama is Not a Muslim

Barack Obama is Not a Muslim

Barack Obama is Not a Muslim

Barack Obama is Not a Muslim

Barack Obama is Not a Muslim

Barack Obama is Not a Muslim

Barack Obama is Not a Muslim

Barack Obama is Not a Muslim

That is for the search engines! I post it here because of a recent poll showing: One in 10 voters believes Barack Obama is Muslim, a mistaken impression that lingers across party lines, a poll showed Wednesday. And you'd think with all of the furor over Jeremiah Wright - a christian preacher - that people would know better, wouldn't you?