Daily Blend: Friday, September 30, 2011 – late edition

Anwar al-Awlaki

• U.S. finally succeeds at murdering its own citizen ^[pictured] without any hint of due process. (Don’t get me wrong: I have zero sympathy for al-Awlaki. I just wish he’d been dealt with legally.)

• Another reason to like Canada: Supreme Court rules that Vancouver, B.C.-based safe injection site, Insite, can stay operational and should be exempted from drug laws.
  (via Rob F)

• Get ready to headdesk: NYPD officers routinely warn women to cover up to prevent being raped.

• Facebook rightfully refuses to delete rape joke pages. Disgusting speech is still free speech. Censorship is always wrong, regardless of who cries ‘foul’.
  (via @ebertchicago)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Anwar al-Awlaki • terrorists • assassination • Obama administration • due process • Insite • safe injection sites • Canada • Canadian Supreme Court • NYPD • victim-blaming • rape • rape jokes • Facebook • free speech • rape victims

Canadian newspaper apologizes for anti-transgender ad

I don’t say this often, but I really am glad to live in a place as boring as Canada. The whole reason why it’s so politically uninteresting (at least to me) is because kooks and bigots just don’t get much traction here. And here’s a great example: Yesterday, the conservative paper National Post ran this horrible ad from our equivalent to the U.S.’s American Family Association, the egregiously misnamed Institute for Canadian Values:

PETA stays classy: Shark attack edition

Once again illustrating the utter cluelessness of ideological vultures:

According to the Daily News, PETA hasn't yet found a home for the ad, and are currently trying to get it up on Anna Maria Island in Florida, where a man was attacked by a bull shark on Saturday. A PETA spokeswoman says, "With sharks in the news, we thought it would be a good time to bring up the fact that sharks are not actually the most dangerous predators on the planet—we are. We hope that after this painful and horrible experience he and other fishermen will consider the pain that fish feel and we hope they will consider taking up another pastime." On their blog they describe the ad as "biting," and say that the man in question "found out what it was like to be speared by a fish when a shark bit his left thigh actually." Stay classy, PETA.

I can’t tell whether this is more offensive because of its complete tastelessness or its sheer idiocy. It’s hard to say whether PETA actually believes in the oogie-boogie nonsense that nature is supposedly capable of intelligently retaliating against perceived threats (about which George Carlin had it right – the only thing threatened by environmental issues is human civilization, which the Earth at large probably couldn’t give two shits about), or whether this is just the group’s idea of a yet another effective PR stunt. Because past ones have obviously worked so well in their favor, what with not making them look like a bunch of abject cretins in the slightest and everything.

What’s more, it’s also as counter-productive to their cause as virtually anything they do. As commenter Marco at Joe. My. God. notes, all this billboard would accomplish is to further demonize sharks as rampaging monsters out for human flesh. Because when you’re trying to protect animals, the best way to do it is to get everyone both angry at and terrified of them. That’s not gonna have any negative effects on shark conservationism at all.

Why is it that so many groups who espouse erstwhile noble causes are such flaming morons? The goal of any advocacy group is to garner people’s support, not their condemnation. What in the world is so bloody difficult about this to comprehend?

(via Joe. My. God.)

Tags: PETA • sharks • shark attacks

Friday Canine: Some people have all the best spots

[source | full size (1024×768)]

Tags: dogs

Daily Blend: Thursday, September 29, 2011

President Barack Obama

• Admittedly less-than-hilarious Onion story actually spooks D.C. cops.
  (via @radleybalko)

• Excellent write-up of President Obama’s ^[pictured] disastrous approach to civil liberties in the L.A. Times.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• U.S. border police now turn their focus to that other great passageway for terrorists and other criminals … the Canadian border.

• Recommended reading material. (Except for that last one, which should be banned just because.)
  (via @PersonalFailure)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: U.S. Congress • hostages • The Onion • Capitol Police • Barack Obama • Jonathan Turley • civil liberties • USA • United States • U.S. Customs • And Tango Makes Three • The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian • Brave New World • Crank • The Hunger Games • Lush • What My Mother Doesn't Know • Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America • Revolutionary Voices • Twilight

Fail Quote: Vox Day, working women and child-raising

Pictured: Irresponsible non-child-raising woman

From everyone’s favorite sexist prig plain-talking visionary, Vox Day:

The consequences of the global depression aren't all bad; more women might actually stay home to raise their children. But once it becomes clear that a working mother doesn't actually make any net profit from her job, it should be readily apparent that she is only "working" in order to socialize and avoid the harder work of raising her children[.]

Those lazy, airheaded gossip-wenches just can’t be trusted to work, no siree. All this “feminism” stuff is obviously just one big scheme to curtail their noble work as human incubators and destroy society and all that. ’Cause what else are they good for, anyway?

Tags: Vox Day • women

Daily Blend: Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Kainat Soomro

Inventor of Doritos dies, to be buried with his brainchild. Now that’s an exit.

• It must make you think about your culture when refusing to slaughter your daughter ^[pictured] for being raped gets everyone else pissed at you.
  (via @rdfrs)

• The Right’s crusade against Planned Parenthood continues apace.
  (via Right Wing Watch)

• English judge rules that permanently comatose woman shouldn’t be allowed to die, despite family’s wishes, because “her life retains ‘positive elements’”. Like an 8-year-long nap, I guess.
  (via @BreakingNews)

• Religious pests crow over terminal baby’s long-artificially delayed death. A sickening show of what’s wrong with “pro-life” mentality.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Kainat Soomro • Pakistan • gang-rape • honor killings • Human Rights Commission of Pakistan • Cliff Stearns • Planned Parenthood • anti-abortionists • Scott Baker • Baby Joseph • Joseph Maraachli • Moe Maraachli • Sana Nader • Christians

National Cancer Institute endorses medicinal marijuana

Anti-marijuana activists have never had much of a case. After all, despite their frenzied (if not outright hysterical) fear-mongering to the contrary, the facts remain that pot is non-addictive, is not a gateway drug, has never directly caused a death, and even has a few scientifically established health benefits to its credit. And that’s not to mention its equally well-established medicinal properties that enable multitudes of people suffering from chronic pain or terminal illnesses to obtain quick and effective relief. (Oh, and there’s the whole “consenting adults should have the right to put whatever they want into their own bodies on their own time and dime” bit, but seeing as you can’t so much as whisper that without making prohibitionists’ heads explode, we might as well not go down that personal-freedoms road just yet.)

And now, as if to further nail the lid onto the coffin of anti-pot fervor (at least in the U.S.), a federal agency has come out and now openly advocates for cannabis’s medicinal properties, becoming the first government-affiliated entity to do so:

The National Cancer Institute (NCI), a division of the National Institute of Health, which itself is part of the US Department of Health and Human Services, added to its cancer treatment database an entry on the benefits of medicinal marijuana. Not only does the NCI recognize cannabis as a palliative remedy, it also went so far as to say there may be a “direct antitumor effect” from using the drug. Here is an excerpt:

The potential benefits of medicinal Cannabis for people living with cancer include antiemetic effects, appetite stimulation, pain relief, and improved sleep. In the practice of integrative oncology, the health care provider may recommend medicinal Cannabis not only for symptom management but also for its possible direct antitumor effect.

Now, this development is already several months old, and although the Obama administration has not yet shown the slightest inclination to take the rational road and recognize that medicinal cannabis isn’t the devil, we can always bide our time and hope that mounting evidence will finally sway the bullheaded functionaries in power to finally accept reality and follow the will of the majority of the American people.

Even while they’re having their cancer treatments stolen and destroyed.

(via @todayspolitics and @radleybalko)

Tags: medical marijuana • medicinal marijuana • marijuana • pot • National Cancer Institute • NCI

Scientists can see your thoughts! (or almost)

There must be some strain of voyeurism inherent to science. Why else would experts be so dang keen on viewing people’s thoughts inside their heads?

The above is the brainchild of researchers at UC Berkeley, who explain their work thus:

The brain activity recorded while subjects viewed the first set of clips was fed into a computer program that learned, second by second, to associate visual patterns in the movie with the corresponding brain activity. Brain activity evoked by the second set of clips was used to test the movie reconstruction algorithm. This was done by feeding 18 million seconds of random YouTube videos into the computer program so that it could predict the brain activity that each film clip would most likely evoke in each subject. Finally, the 100 clips that the computer program decided were most similar to the clip that the subject had probably seen were merged to produce a blurry yet continuous reconstruction of the original movie.

There’s more technical info on the video’s YouTube page. Now, s’cuse me while I go brush up on my Occlumency.

Don’t bother pointing out that it only works against actual Legilimency or I will smite you. I fear for my neurological intimacy, dangit!

(via @ebertchicago)

Tags: UC Berkeley • brain activity

Daily Blend: Tuesday, September 27, 2011

• Seattle, WA police ^[pictured] manage to “lose” tens of thousands of dash-cam videos.
  (via The Agitator)

• Japanese teen killed during exorcism.
  (via @BenCOGrimm)

• Houston, TX cops arrest man for having pot brownies. … which the cops eat. … and then brag about it.
  (via @radleybalko)

• Five common crime-fighting tactics that are statistically bullshit. Of course, I now expect police departments everywhere to drop them and adopt more efficient techniques … right?

• CNN’s LZ Granderson: The government is broken because of stupid voters.
  (via @todayspolitics)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Seattle Police Department • KOMO News • Japan • Kazuaki Kinoshita • Atsushi Maishigi • Tomomo Maishigi • Nicholas Hill • pot brownies • Houston, TX • interrogation • Reid technique • false confessions • composite sketches • police lineups • jails • LZ Granderson • voters

Review | Ray Comfort’s ‘180’

So, I’ve just spent the last half-hour or so (since before writing this post, that is) watching Ray Comfort’s new anti-abortion propaganda documentary, 180. All I can really start off by saying is that when you preface your argument with nearly fifteen minutes straight of “Hitler was evil, m’kay?”, that does not bode well. You wouldn’t think it’d be possible to Godwin oneself so quickly, but if so, then you obviously haven’t encountered the likes of Ray Comfort yet.

I won’t embed the video here because, frankly, I don’t want to give it any more viewings than I can avoid. (You can click the link above if you must see it for yourself.) But you don’t even need to watch it, anyway, because if you’ve ever so much as browsed Comfort’s blog out of sheer boredom at some point (or maybe you were doing research for a report on the harmful effects of evangelism on the brain or something), you’ll already have seen pretty much everything that’s depicted in the video:

• Hitler was evil! (And hated Christianity!)
• Holocaust = bad!
• Argumentum ad populum = solid, compelling arguments!
• Babies in the womb!
• Taking life = bad!
• Ergo, taking babies’ lives in the womb = super-bad!
• Ergo, abortion = America’s Holocaust!

That’s it. Every single argument contained in those 33 minutes of brainwashing material (intercut with obligatory ghastly imagery and complete with creepy, melodramatic music) is nothing but the same rehashed tripe that’s been steadily dribbling from Comfort’s own proselytizing outlet for years with exactly nothing new added. It’s horrendously predictable: Nazis are bad, Nazis killed people, babies are people, don’t kill babies or you’re just like Hitler, amen. It would be amusing in its predictable lameness if it weren’t so artfully and glaringly dishonest, almost to the point where the perceptive viewer starts wondering why these interviewees aren’t picking up on the framing of it all.

Because it’s all about framing, the manner in which arguments are delivered, and it’s done with the sort of practiced deceit that rivals the skill of any talented con-artist out there. (After all, that’s all a Liar for Jesus^TM is.) It’s got all of Comfort’s usual tricks: impressing simpletons with cheesy tricks, confusing them with halfway clever turns of phrase and intimidating them with accusatory rhetoric and threats of divine judgment and eternal damnation into reforming from their heathenish ways. You really have to either marvel or rage at the Jesus-shaped chutzpah on display during these scenes (which comprise most of the film, anyway).

Street preacher on trial in England for insulting gay couple

Michael Overd

While insulting a passing gay couple and threatening them with hellfire officially makes one a bigoted zealot, it should not make one a criminal. Unfortunately, England begs to differ:

A Christian street preacher has appeared in court charged with verbally abusing a gay couple.

Michael Overd, 47, from Creech St Michael in Somerset, allegedly told the men that they were “evil” and would “burn in hell”.

He appeared at Taunton Deane magistrates’ court and denies two charges under the public order act of intentionally causing “alarm or distress”.

The couple, Craig Manning and Craig Nicholl, said they were walking through Taunton’s town centre when Mr Overd began shouting at them.

Dean Lampard, prosecuting, said Mr Overd had repeated the phrases and “upset” the couple.

Mr Overd will go on trial in February.

Any society that claims to be free must inherently espouse free speech as a core principle. While some reasonable exceptions to freedom of speech are necessary (such as death threats, harmful defamation, incitement to violence, etc.) in order to maintain security, I doubt it could be reasonably argued that merely hurtling religious invective at others poses a credible risk to their immediate well-being. In all fairness, Manning and Nicholl should simply have either insulted Overd back or (preferably) simply ignored him, rather than go running to the authorities like upset children in a schoolyard.

One must always remember that the notion that no-one is immune from offense goes both ways. Unless Overd made any credible threats to their persons, then the gay couple is simply out of line in trying to have him prosecuted for his disgusting, yet entirely harmless, rhetoric.

(via Joe. My. God.)

Tags: Michael Overd • Craig Manning • Craig Nicholl • hate speech • street preachers

Daily Blend: Monday, September 26, 2011

Dick Cheney

• WikiLeaks uncovers another case of an innocent bystander being wrongly captured and unjustly detained for months without due process (for being Brown).

• Human Rights Watch urges Canadian government to charge Dick Cheney ^[pictured] for war crimes when he visits on his book tour next week. I didn’t know I could be this hopeful about a pipe dream.

• ACLU informs town of Bay Minette, Alabama that forcing non-violent offenders to choose between jail or church is against the law.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Cracked.com on the miracle that is crowdsourcing. Awesome stuff.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: WikiLeaks • Khaled Ismail • Bagram • Dick Cheney • Human Rights Watch • Canada • war crimes • Bay Minette, AL • ACLU • Establishment Clause • Separation of church and state • church • crowdsourcing • Somali Pirates • piracy • pirates • MMOWGLI • Foldit • Phylo • DNA • genetics • gamers • CAPTCHA • reCAPTCHA • Morton Thiokol • Zooniverse

Saudi Arabia grants women right to vote and run in elections

UPPITY

Yet another example of a classical patriarchal society succumbing to the destructive will of those raging radical feminists:

Saudi Arabian King Abdullah has granted women the right to vote and run for office in forthcoming local elections, the Guardian reported today. The changes will occur after this week’s election, in which women are barred from voting or standing for office. “We have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulama [clerics] and others … to involve women in the Shura council as members, starting from the next term,” Abdullah announced. “Women will be able to run as candidates in the municipal election and will even have a right to vote.”

Next thing you know, those uppity wimmenz are gonna wanna take to them streets, too. No society is safe from the anti-freedom breasted scourge.

Tags: Saudi Arabia • women • voting rights • human rights • King Abdullah

Patton Oswalt does the Bible and gay marriage

There’s a reason I hold an unyielding love for comedians: No-one in the whole wide world is better at cutting right through the bullshit and exposing the core of any given argument than someone who makes it their life’s work to poke fun at the idiosyncrasies of modern society. (For example, a comedian would probably take the mickey out of me for that pointlessly contrived introductory sentence. And for using the Englishism “taking the mickey” just now. Wow, I suck.)

Anyway, here’s the legendarily trenchant Patton Oswalt hilariously tackling Bible-thumpers’ opposition to same-sex marriage from his new album, Finest Hour:

My transcript: (click the [+/-] to expand/collapse →)

[−]

Y’know, people that are against gay marriage – if they just openly said, ‘I’m against gay marriage because thinking about two men having butt-sex, or two women having scissor-sex, kills my boner, dries up my vagina; I can’t have sex, it ruins my life – that’s why I’m against it.’ That would be a valid argument! We’d have to actually debate you on that! But these lunatics always go, ‘Well, ’cause it says in the Bible.’ Oookay, stop, hang on.

I’m glad you like a book. I really am. At this point, I’m glad anybody’s reading anything! And I’m not even putting – the Bible is terrific. Give it a read. It’s got monsters, and adventures, and hey, if you like torture porn, check out the Old Testament. Oh, man. Any Saw fans out there? Whooo! Get the Old Testament.

But just because you like something in a book doesn’t mean you can have the thing you like in the book happen in real life! That’s what crazy people want! I can’t go to the White House with a bunch of Green Lantern comics and go, ‘I want a Green Lantern ring! I saw it in a book I like! Make the thing in the book I like be here, now!’ I would be justifiably tased if I did that. Nobody would go, ‘Hey, we have to respect his beliefs. You know, you gotta respect everybody’s beliefs.’

No, you don’t. That’s what gets us in trouble. Look, you have to acknowledge everyone’s beliefs, and then, you have to reserve the right to go, ‘That is fucking stupid. Are you kidding me? That’s great, but I’m not gonna respect it.’ I have an uncle who believes he saw Sasquatch. We do not believe him, nor do we respect him.

I’ve got to get my hands (or cursor) on that album.

(via Friendly Atheist)

Edit: 09/29/11 3:59 AM – Fixed a typo in the transcript.

Tags: Patton Oswalt • same-sex marriage • comedy • Finest Hour • Bible

Top myths about atheism and skepticism

There’s little that’s more tiring than having to address and refute the same stupid, ill-informed and malicious claims over and over again, and so, I’ve decided to do something about it (for whatever little it may be worth). Below are some of the most common smears, attacks, canards, lies and general myths that the godless and the rational-minded find themselves encountering seemingly no matter where they go, constantly belched out by people either too ignorant or dishonest to know any better.

Feel free to link to any of these as an excuse not to hammer out your own lengthy rebuttal; that’s certainly what I plan to do from now on whenever applicable. Just click on the little anchor indicator (“A1”, “S3”, etc.) to get the URL anchor for each individual item.

As always, suggestions for further myths to debunk are encouraged. This list is periodically updated with new entries.

(Please note that while this list is written from the perspective of a dominantly Christian culture, terms like “God” and “believers” are meant generally and are intended to apply to all religious adherents and all the deities they believe in.)

ATHEISM:
A1 | “Atheism is a faith/religion”
A2 | “Atheists are (just) angry at God”
A3 | “Atheists are mean and aggressive”
A4 | “Atheists are immoral and/or evil”
A5 | “Atheists are selfish hedonists”
A6 | “Atheists live without purpose or meaning”
A7 | “Atheists believe in nothing”
A8 | “Atheists were abused as children”
A9 | “Atheists are mostly/all old White guys”
A10 | “There are no atheists in foxholes”
A11 | “Atheists can’t cope with death/loss of loved ones”
A12 | “Atheists hate and/or want to destroy religion”
A13 | “Atheists hate and/or want to end religious traditions/holidays”
A14 | “Atheists are angry at and/or hate religious people”
A15 | “Atheists really do believe in God, deep down inside”
A16 | “Atheists are just ignorant about religion”
A17 | “Hitler/Stalin/Mao/Pol Pot/<etc.> were atheists/led atheistic regimes”
A18 | “Atheists/Evolutionists believe in social Darwinism”
A19 | “Atheists are their own god”
A20 | “Atheism is a childish belief”
A21 | “Atheists cannot love or grieve”

SKEPTICISM:
S1 | “Skeptics don’t think anything is real/true”
S2 | “Skeptics want absolute truth”
S3 | “Same evidence, different interpretations”
S4 | “Skeptics treat science like a religion”
S5 | “Skeptics deny the possibility of paranormal phenomena”

Daily Blend: Friday, September 23, 2011

Rick Santorum

“Cheering an execution, then cheering letting an uninsured man die, now booing a soldier in Iraq. GOP debate audiences, you never disappoint.” — @MarkHarrisNYC

• Canada has stupid drug laws, too: New anti-pot legislation could overwhelm British Columbian jails.

• Today in fucked-up: Rick Santorum ^[pictured] brought his dead, prematurely born infant son home for his young children to “[kiss] and cuddl[e]” for hours.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Mother orders two school-bus bullies to leave her son alone, gets banned from school grounds and bus stop. I wish I could applaud her in person.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Oh, dear.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Republicans • GOP • British Columbia • marijuana • pot • jails • Rick Santorum • Gabriel Santorum • Karen Santorum • Tanya Sidney • Sovante Griffin • churches • church signs • sexual exploitation • Clairmont Baptist Church

Friday Canine: Playing or fighting to the death?

[source | full size (1209×1686)]

Tags: foxes • Fennec fox

Daily Blend: Thursday, September 22, 2011

[citation needed]

• Atrocious report on the hellish job of escorting girls and women to abortion clinics amidst mobs of soulless degenerates ^[pictured].
  (via Pharyngula)

• There may be murders, burglaries and corruption, but why not go after sex workers with cheap tactics instead?
  (via @radleybalko)

• Dennis Markuze/Dave Mabus diagnosed: Bipolar, compounded by alcohol and substance abuse. Let him be treated for a nice, long time.

• More actually useful relationship advice from Cracked.com’s life stuff guru. Worth reading for the last few lines.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: anti-abortion protestors • abortion clinics • abortion clinic escorts • Tampa Bay, FL • Christina Vavra • Dennis Markuze • David Mabus • trolls • John Cheese • marriage

“Ground Zero Mosque” opens!

Too late

It is done: The peaceful Muslims terror-muzzies who’ve been trying to plant a center for Islamic culture symbol of terrorizers’ victory over the infidels have finally succeeded, and the Cordoba House-turned-Park51-labeled-“Ground Zero Mosque” has opened several city blocks away from right next to the WTC site with little to no reaction great secret fanfare:

An Islamic cultural centre close to the site where New York's World Trade Center once stood has opened quietly in spite of scenes last year of vehement protests from those who said the area should not house a mosque.

The opening ceremony for the Park51 centre on Wednesday featured a photo exhibit called "NYChildren", displaying over 160 portraits of immigrant children living in New York.

Oh, ha! Children! Of course they’d go after the young malleable minds of America’s acquired youth and start perverting them right from the start in order to breed future terror-makers! Their evil motives are exposed! And look: They’ve got things like “social and recreational services, as well as word-class health, wellness and educational facilities”. Educational facilities! They wanna turn us all into evildoers!

No place is safe, not when we’ve got cultural centers popping up all around America’s heartland and offering interfaith spas and workshops. You just know there’s gotta be a secret bomb-making class in there, somewhere.

(via @todayspolitics)

Tags: Park51 • Ground Zero Mosque • Cordoba House • Cordoba Initiative • Islamophobia

Troy Davis, possibly innocent man, executed in Georgia

Troy Davis (1968–2011)

Meet Troy A. Davis. He was a death row inmate in Georgia. He stood convicted of the 1989 shooting death of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail. He’d been awaiting his court-ordered execution behind bars for the 22 years since.

There’s just one problem, though. Of the nine eyewitnesses who testified that Davis was the killer, seven of them have since recanted, changing or outright retracting their accounts of what happened that day and dropping their accusations against Davis.

There’s another problem. There has since been numerous allegations of procedural issues throughout the case, including accusations of coercion of witnesses by police (notably of the seven who recanted), problematic racial composition of the jury (seven of the twelve were Black), generalized misconduct, and repeatedly preventing Davis and his defense from presenting evidence that may have shown his innocence due to legal technicalities.

There’s also another problem. There is zero physical evidence tying Davis to the crime at all. The murder weapon was never found, and there was no blood or DNA to be tested. The only evidence against Davis were nondescript shell casings found in the vicinity that were “linked” to an earlier shooting that Davis was convicted of, and the aforementioned seriously flawed eyewitness testimony.

There’s also yet another problem. Doubts throughout the case were so grave and persistent that entities such as Amnesty International, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Vatican, former President Jimmy Carter, former FBI Director William Sessions, Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and various European dignitaries all denounced the decision to execute Davis, demanding that the state at least work through the problems before sending a man to die based on increasingly shoddy evidence.

And so, of course, to put an end to all this confusion and to preemptively rectify any possible future mistakes and to avoid having to deal with yet more delays, the state of Georgia has finally gone ahead and killed the man once and for all.

That’s what you get for being a possibly (if not probably) innocent (Black) inmate who’s caused all this trouble for state and federal L.E.O.s and bureaucrats in a desperate attempt to try and get the courts to even consider the possibility that you might be innocent. But, after all, as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has made clear, what matters is due process, not actual guilt or innocence.

But, remember: The U.S. has the very best justice system in the world. And don’t you ever let anyone tell you different, no matter how many presumed or confirmed innocents get put to death along the way.

Tags: Troy Davis • Georgia

R.E.M. calls it quits: Single-video tribute

The news is in: R.E.M. has “decided to call it a day”. I barely know their music (and know nothing at all about the group, itself), but nonetheless, here’s a tiny little tribute with my favorite song of theirs:

Lyrics: (click the [+/-] to expand/collapse →)

[−]

[Verse 1]
Oh, life is bigger
It’s bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no, I’ve said too much
I set it up
That’s me in the corner
That’s me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don’t know if I can do it
Oh no, I’ve said too much
I haven’t said enough

[Chorus 1]
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

[Verse 2]
Every whisper
Of every waking hour
I'm choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt lost and blinded fool, fool
Oh no, I’ve said too much
I set it up
Consider this
Consider this
The hint of the century
Consider this
The slip that brought me
To my knees failed
What if all these fantasies
Come flailing around
Now I've said too much

[Chorus 2]
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

[Bridge]
But that was just a dream
That was just a dream

[Verse 3]
That’s me in the corner
That’s me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don’t know if I can do it
Oh no, I’ve said too much
I haven’t said enough

[Outro Chorus]
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try
But that was just a dream
Try, cry, why try?
That was just a dream
Just a dream, just a dream, dream

(via @BreakingNews)

Tags: R.E.M. • REM

And you thought it was safe to get out of the water

Those damn sharks. They’ve finally made the evolutionary leap necessary to widen their food reserves: Open air is no longer a barrier. Run, mammals!

My transcript: (click the [+/-] to expand/collapse →)

[−]

Large and very cool-looking helium-filled RC shark and clownfish navigate rooms, corridors and lounges, surprising kids and adults alike.

(via Gilbert)

Tags: Air Swimmers

Daily Blend: September 20, 2011

Sheriff Joe Arpaio

DADT officially and finally dies three months before it turns 18. Now, where are those sweaty gay barrack orgies the Right’s been promising us?

• Maricopa, AZ sheriff Joe Arpaio ^[pictured] hires five-man “Cold Case Posse” to investigate President Obama’s birth certificate. Guess he wasn’t laughable enough yet.

• Atlanta, GA cop manhandles and arrests disabled woman for sitting in vacant lot in wait of ice cream.
  (via The Agitator)

• “The grave site of David Arthur Hickman is one among dozens of children buried at the Followers of Christ cemetery outside Oregon City.”

• Ex-fan exposes “Britain’s best-loved psychic” Sally Morgan for hearing voices from the other side … via a hidden earpiece.
  (via @BadAstronomer)

• Bill O’Reilly’s ego now has its own moon.
  (via Right Wing Watch)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: DADT • Don't Ask, Don't Tell • US Military • Joe Arpaio • Barack Obama • Birtherism • Birthers • Cold Case Posse • Shequita Walker • Kenneth Thomas • disorderly conduct • Dale Hickman • Shannon Hickman • David Hickman • faith healing • Followers of Christ • Sally Morgan • psychics • frauds • con artists • Bill O'Reilly • Barack Obama

Help out a fellow exposer of religious insanity?

I don’t usually do this sort of thing, but perhaps due to the lateness of the hour or simply because it’s an important issue, I feel I must ask for your help in rectifying an injustice. Consider it a shameless plug for a good cause.

Many of you who follow generally atheistic and anti-religious blogs will undoubtedly have seen more than a few videos of Christianist nuts doing what they do best, all caught on tape for the world at large to see and mock (or, oftentimes, feel both bewildered and terrified). One of the most proficient producers of these vids is the eponymous blogger at On Knees for Jesus, who regularly posts evidence of Christianity’s amazing mind-rotting capabilities. His material has been reposted far and wide, including here. (Though, I could’ve sworn I’ve posted more than one, but I can’t find any others. Eh.)

Now, naturally, there’s a number of risks that come with the territory of tirelessly exposing influential whackjobs, and for the longest time, OKfJ has been playing hopscotch over at YouTube when one account after another gets terminated due to his videos being repeatedly flagged for copyright violation (a favorite tack of censorial bigots’, made especially irritating by YouTube’s apparent policy of “delete first, ignore later”) and “hate speech” – which is especially laughable and ironic, given how his videos are nothing more than segments showing the raving deluded spout their spiel in their own words. In effect, Christianist zealots are flagging their own material as “hate speech”. The irony would be delicious if it weren’t totally lost on them … and if it didn’t come with such frustrating consequences for those who take the time and effort to post these videos.

And now, yet another of OKfJ’s accounts – the fourth, in fact – has been terminated for the usual reasons. OKfJ is understandably rather upset at this point:

Youtube account terminated again (fourth time)

very stressed out

no donations in last three months
can't type properly.

Stay tuned to see what I do

He has previously expressed how difficult it is to constantly reupload his videos every time he’s forced to start a new account. So, here’s where you come in, folks.

What the guy needs is support, in any way it can be offered to him, so go and make the justice fairy proud. Leave comments encouraging him to go on. Give advice on how to deal with the free-speech-hating trolls that keep knocking his videos down. Send suggestions for other video hosting sites that take the Fair Use doctrine more seriously. And most of all, if you have the ability, please dig around in your coin tray and offer whatever loose change you can for the cause (via PayPal). Consider it financial motivation to keep on exposing the cheaters and the bigots, the dangerous kooks and the deluded weirdos, the generally insane Liars for Jesus^TM.

His is an important voice in the community, and we cannot afford to lose him over the petty thuggery of those who cannot abide criticism. Help never goes unappreciated by those who deserve it.

Tags: OnKneesforJesus • On Knees for Jesus • YouTube • Christians • Christianists

Fail Quote: Rep. Fleming whines about only having $400K a year after expenses

Rep. John Fleming (R-LA)

From Rep. John Fleming (R-LA), appearing on MSNBC with Chris Jansing to talk about (ie. cluelessly attack) President Obama’s deficit reduction plan and denounce all the “class warfare” (ie. sensible criticism) being waged against the “job creators” (ie. obscenely rich folks):

Fleming is himself a businesses owner, so Jansing asked, “If you have to pay more in taxes, you would get rid of some of those employees?” Fleming responded by saying that while his businesses made $6.3 million last year, after you “pay 500 employees, you pay rent, you pay equipment, and food,” his profits “a mere fraction of that” — “by the time I feed my family, I have maybe $400,000 left over.” […]

Jansing pointed out that whining about tax increases while making $400,000 annually is “not exactly a sympathetic position.” Fleming could only respond by saying that “class warfare has never created a job” and that his success is a “virtue.”

Aww, poor guy. After all those soul-crushing expenses, all he’s got left to pay his taxes with are $400 grand a year. Which, of course, is almost 16 times less than what he originally earns … yet still about 8 times more than the average American household income. And God knows how they barely manage to pay their taxes.

The pity card: You’re doing it wrong.

Edit: 09/20/11 – Properly italicized “MSNBC”.

Tags: John Fleming • taxes • class warfare

Doggycide in Providence, Rhode Island

Champ the pit-bull

Cops on stakeout find themselves confronted with the obviously life-threatening evil that is a dog out on a potty break, with the usual tragic results:

Rhode Island State Police say that the shooting death of a woman's Pit bull, "Champ" was an "unfortunate accident".

Accident or not, a beloved family companion is dead.

The tragedy happened on Wednesday morning when a fugitive task force was stationed outside of a home in Providence.

Though the task force was waiting for a fugitive to emerge, they were instead greeted by two dogs who had been let out for a potty break.

Moments after the dogs were let outside, shots were fired.

And what, exactly, gave the officer license to whip out his firearm?

The officer who fired the three shots told the dog's owner that the dog "growled" at him.

Officials claim that the man "feared for his life".

Either that was one mean-looking pit-bull with a growl to make the ground tremble beneath your feet, or that’s one cop who shouldn’t be given a gun.

As is so very often the case, the dearly departed victim’s owner had no connection whatsoever to the fugitive the cops were actually after.

(via The Agitator)

Tags: Providence, RI • pit-bulls

Daily Blend: Monday, September 19, 2011

Frank Skinner

• Belated but good: Dept. of Justice ramps up policing the police to curb corruption and civil rights violations.
  (via @radleybalko)

• Media Matters shows right-wing plutocratic assholes what “class warfare” really looks like.

• Unbelievably inane pro-religion twaddle on the BBC website. Only posting it because it was sent to me, which gives it priority, I guess. (Or, see PZ Myers’ excoriation, here.)

• Catholic comedian ^[pictured] denounces atheists as threat equal to climate change denialists. He certainly sounds like a joke.
  (via RichardDawkins.net)

• Jackie Robinson? Gutenberg? Copernicus? Six famous historical “firsts” you probably don’t know are bullshit.

• Taking gym, textbooks and ‘F’s out of schools. I can live with that.

• This isn’t the word you’re looking for.
  (via The Agitator)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Department of Justice • DoJ • class warfare • Republicans • rich people • John Gray • PZ Myers • Frank Skinner • atheists • climate change deniers • Charles Lindbergh • Spirit of St. Luis • John Alcock • Arthur Brown • transatlantic flight • Jackie Robinson • baseball • Moses Fleetwood Walker • William Edward White • Gutenberg press • Johannes Gutenberg • Goryeo dynasty • Charles Darwin • Theory of Evolution • Erasmus Darwin • Nicolaus Copernicus • heliocentrism • Aristarchus • Pythagoras • Pythagorean Theorem • schools • recess • gym class • textbooks • valedictorians • academic grades • fucking