Government Sponsored Praying... Yeccchh!

Susan Narvaiz, mayor of San Marcos, Texas, sent a letter to area clergy and congregations inviting them to "a community wide prayer gathering" to pray for the city's sister city, Santiago, Mexico, and its mayor who was recently tragically killed. This prayer event took place Aug. 30, 2010.

Adding to the inappropriateness of a government-sponsored community prayer event, the mayor wrote the clergy:

"Also, August 30th marks the one year anniversary since we held a prayer meeting for rain, we will give thanks for the rain that we have been so blessed with this year. Please let me know if you have any questions, we believe this is the right thing to do to show our support for Santiago, and we need your help!"

It is a serious violation of our treasured constitutional principle of the separation between church and state for any elected official to hold a public prayer service, or to enjoin citizens to pray at all. Prayer is something that Thomas Jefferson as president pointed out was beyond the purview of elected officials. Elected officials hold civil powers alone.

This is not the first time that San Marcos is in the news for mixing religion and government. The San Marcos city council prays at its meetings. San Marcos Mayor Susan Narvaiz backs that too, saying "I think it’s our right (to pray at government meetings). It’s our history. If they can do it in Washington, we can do it in San Marcos. I have a belief that it serves a higher purpose to do so."

An interesting point... but the folks "in Washington" are wrong, too.

Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" Rally - Interviews With Participants

What starts out semi-sane quickly dives down a rat hole of idiocy... the stupid... it burns!

Economists agree: Stimulus created nearly 3 million jobs

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The White House says the multiyear $814 billion stimulus program passed by Congress in 2009 boosted employment by 2.5 million to 3.6 million jobs and raised the nation's annual economic output by almost $400 billion. A recent study by two prominent economists generally agrees, crediting the pump-priming with averting "what could have been called Great Depression 2.0."

If President Obama expected anyone to say, "Thank you," however, he's been disappointed. In a recent USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, 59% of respondents disapproved of the president's handling of the economy. In the partisan war over the economy's performance, the word "stimulus" has became synonymous with "boondoggle," making the notion of a repeat any time soon highly unlikely — especially if Republicans seize control of one or both houses of Congress in November.

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This is the kind of thing that dismays me. The stimulus was not enough -- and it was known at the time that it would not be enough -- but blustering Republicans opposed it and pansy Democrats caved and weasled to a lower amount.

OK, that lower amount probably saved us from a second great depression -- happy about that. But fer fuck's sake, the Dems had majorities everywhere and they couldn't muster up the courage to do what needed to be done? Too bad.

And it is a shame that Obama is getting the blame for all of the economic woes. Sure, some of the blame belongs on him for not doing enough... but when it comes from those blowhard know-nothing fucksticks on Fox, that is ridiculous.

Now the right is crowing about extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy because that will stimulate the economy. Bullshit! I'm tired of hearing the rightwing lie that tax cuts create jobs. They don't! They create more wealth in the pockets of the wealthiest.

Glenn Beck is NOT Martin Luther King Jr.

This idiot Beck never ceases to amaze me...

The Periodic Table of Irrational Nonsense

I happened upon this today and thought it funny enough to share here.

You'll have to click on the image to be able to read the graph.

Bible Quote of the Day

Leviticus 15:17

Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening.

Uh, gee, can't I use bleach?

Let's Not Forget About the Gulf of Mexico

Yes, it was in the news for what seems like forever. And yes, maybe we're all tired of hearing about it. But please, now that the Deepwater Horizon oil well has been capped let's not forget about the shitload of chemicals swirling around in the Guld of Mexico. It will take a lot of money and effort to clean things up - if it is even possible to clean it all up...

Here is the latest:

Today scientists revealed the results of an investigation into the severity of the Deepwater oil spill. The plume of petroleum hydrocarbon chemicals measures a staggering 22 miles long, and has settled in a deep underwater layer (see photo).

The actual existence of the plume was in some doubt until a team of researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution provided incontrovertible proof. The researchers managed to catch up with the plume about three miles southwest of the original blowout location, then used a remote-controlled submarine and an underwater spectrometer to figure out its dimensions. They were able to study the plume for ten days in June before Hurricane Alex forced them from the area. It's still not known whether this was the only plume or whether others formed, and the team said at a press conference today that they would be unwilling to commit themselves either way on that point.

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